The Mirror and the Light

Early in the book, Cromwell has purchased a striped Damascene cat. She becomes a kind of double for Cromwell in much the way the character of Cromwell is a double of the king. Within a page of her introduction, Cromwell notes, “I am the Damascene cat. I have travelled so far to get here, and nothing they do disturbs me now, nor disquiets me, high on my branch” (19). This comparison also invokes the oft-told fairy tale that cats have nine lives. Cromwell has certainly lived his share, from his childhood in Putney to his time overseas to his English wife and children to his patronage of the Cardinal—whose cat, Marlinspike, Cromwell recalls fondly—to his service to the king. This presages his entry into the last, tumultuous life he will lead. This is made explicit later in the book, as Cromwell recounts his many lives: “His sixth life was as Master Secretary, the king’s servant. His seventh, Lord Cromwell, now begins” (57). Later, as his wealth and influence are at the peak, he is again compared to a feline: “Lord Cromwell settles himself inside his furs, with a soft grunt like a heavy cat” (449). He is content, until he is caught.