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in a maze of perplexing- thoughts , and altogether unconscious where he was . The eyes of her who sat right opposite to Cranmer were fixed upon his face with such a keen and searching look , that it seemed as if her glance had pierced through the flesh , and coald read the fine and subtile speculations of the mind . She was the only woman among those aged and venerable men ; and from the roundness of her slender
form and delicate limbs , she seemed still in the summer-tide of age . There was that also about her bearing , and the very attitude in which she sat , that showed the easy gracefulness of one used to high and even courtly society ; but from her face , no one could have discovered her ag"e , —scarcely her sex . The deep-set and melancholy eyes , —the breadth of her high forehead , —the haughtiness that knit her brow , — and the scornful curl that seemed natural to her lip , were ill-suited to her small and exquisitely-formed features , and the profusion of lightbrown hair , which , though entirely parted off her forehead , clung in natural ringlets about her neck , and mingled with the veil or wimple that flowed down over her shoulders , almost to her feet . It might be that the many wearying examinations to which she had been brought , and the fatigues of that long and protracted conference , had greatly exhausted her ; but her cheek and forehead wore that ghastly and marble whiteness which is seen only on the face of the dead . After intently observing the face of the . Lord Primate for a long time in silence , she suddenly exclaimed , speaking in short and broken sentences , —
* What , you are gone back to former days ! It doth marvel you to find yourself here , sitting on such a business as the present , Thomas Cranmer . You shone out among your brethren in those darkened times as you do now ; but the light which gathered round you did not flare down as from your brazen cresset . It was the pure and spiritual light of truth . You have known troublous times , and should feel .
methinks , fora persecuted wretch . —Alack , how few there are that can bear power and prosperous times ! ' She paused , and seemed to muse deeply upon her last words . One of the Commission now spoke . ' Many an hour hath passed , and I had need remind you , Mistress Joan , that we look for your decision / * . Peace , man , ' replied she , turning round quietly , but haughtily ; * I shall take my time ; and , if I please to use my woman ' s privilege of speaking , the mood shall have its way . '
• Jf , ' said the man , looking inquiringly round the assembly , and rather asking the question as he spoke , 4 If you would wish to return to the conference , I think these holy brethren would be nothing loth to give their consent . ' Joan looked in his face for a moment , as if she had not heard him , and then laughed bitterly and scornfully .
* The conference ! ' she cried ; * and hear again such miserable reasonings ? I have had enough of what you call your conference ; nor do I wish to hear the fathers of this boasted Church of England expose their weakness to a woman ' s face . Your arguments may have a show * of worldly wisdom , and perchance too much of the heat of human anger ; . but in truth a coal of the Lord ' s kindling hath touched no tongue among ye . I seek in vain a burning and a shining light . Batr 1 . wo ^ ld rather hear the sentence that ye said hang * ovet me ; fo r * if I mistake not , your Christian charity will prove as cold and hwrtloaa
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Critical Notice * . —Fiction . i % &
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No . 66 , 2 H
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Citation
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Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), June 2, 1832, page 425, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1814/page/65/
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