, with a hooked
nose that seemed about to dig into his chin. It was he who said first:
'It was merry in England before this New Learning came in.'

The night before, the King had sworn that he would have Privy Seal's
head because Anne of Cleves resembled a pig stuck with cloves. And,
shaking and shivering with cold that penetrated his very inwards, with
a black pain on his brow and sparks dancing before his jaundiced eyes,
the Duke cursed himself for not having urged then the immediate arrest
of the Privy Seal. For here stood Cromwell, arrogantly by the King's
side with the King graciously commanding him to cover his head because
it was very cold and Cromwell was known to suffer with the earache.

'You are Earl Marshal,' the King's voice drowned Norfolk's morning
greeting. He veered upon the Duke with such violence that his enormous
red bulk seemed about to totter over upon the tall and bent figure. A
searing pain had shot up his side, and, as he gripped it, he appeared
to be furiously plucking at his dagger. He had imagined Chapuys and
Marillac, the Ambassadors, coming upon guards with broken heads and
sending to Paris letters over which Francis and his nephew should
snigger and chuckle.

'You are Earl Marshal. You have the ordering of these ceremonies, and
you let rebels and knaves break heads within my very park for all the
world to see!'

In his rage Norfolk blurted out:

'Privy Seal hath his friends, too--these Lutherans. What man could
have foreseen how insolent they be grown, for joy at welcoming a Queen
of their faith,' he repeated hotly. 'No man could have foreseen. My
bands are curtailed.'

Cromwell said:

'Aye, men are needed to keep down the Papists of your North parts.'

The two men faced each other. It had been part of the Duke's plan--and
Cromwell knew it very well--that the City men should meet with the
Lutherans there in the King's own park. It would show the insolence of
the heretics upon whom the Privy Seal relied, and it might prove, too,
the strength of the Old Faith in the stronghold of the City.

Henry rated violently. It put him to shame, he repeated many times.
'Brawling beneath my face, cries in my ears, and the smell of
bloodshed in my nose.'

Norfolk repeated dully that the Protestants were wondrous insolent.
But Cromwell pointed out with a genial amusement: 'My Lord Duke should
have housed the City men within the palace. Cat will fight with dog
the world over if you set them tog