Pardon me—pardon me!
Queen. We both need pardon.
Let us forget the past. God strengthen us!
Cardinal. Fear not. Henceforth we gaze upon each other,
As the two Cherubim upon the Ark—
The living God between.
Queen. Then take my hand.
It will be colder soon. May God be with you!”
This “immedicable wound” is the poet’s Protestant fancy, yet the pathos of the scene is exquisite.
The prison-scene at Oxford gives us, first, Masters Ridley and Latimer taking leave of Cranmer; then Cranmer watching their execution from the window, and Gardiner, unobserved, watching him. The famous recantation number one takes place; and the subsequent despair of the wretch closes the fourth Act.