the Princess, that her governess, and the other attendants whom the Queen had set to watch her, had assured her that the Dauphin was married to the daughter of the Emperor; but she, the Princess, had answered it was not true-the Dauphin could not have two wives, and they well knew that she was his wife; they told her that story, she said, to make her despair, and agree to give up her rights; but she would never part with her hopes.

'You may have heard of the storm that broke out between her and her governess when we went to visit her little sister. She was carried off by force to her room, that she might not speak with us; and they could neither pacify her nor keep her still, till the gentleman who escorted us told her he had the King's commands that she was not to show herself while we were in the house. You remember the message the same gentleman brought to you from her, and the charge which was given by the Queen.

'Could the King be brought to consent to the marriage, it would be a fair union of two realms, and to annex Britain to the Crown of France would be a great honour to our Sovereign; the English party desire nothing better; the Pope will be glad of it; the Pope fears that, if war break out again, France will draw closer to England on the terms which the King of England desires; and he may thus lose the French tribute as he has lost the English. He therefore will urge the Emperor to agree, and the Emperor will assist gladly for the love which he bears to his cousin.

'If the Emperor be willing, the King of England

can then be informed; and he can be made to feel that, if he will avoid war, he must not refuse his consent. The King, in fact, has no wish to disown the Princess, and he knows well that the marriage with the Dauphin was once agreed on.

'Should he be unwilling, and should his wife's persuasions still have influence with him, he will hesitate before he will defy, for her sake, the King of France and the Emperor united. His regard for the Queen is less than it was, and diminishes every day. He has a new fancy,' as you are aware.'

The actual conspiracy, in the form which it had so far assumed, was rather an appeal to fanaticism than a plot which could have laid hold of the deeper mind of the country; but as an indication of the unrest which was stealing over the minds of men, it assumed an importance which it would not have received from its intrinsic character.

The guilt of the principal offenders admitted of no doubt. As soon as the commissioners were satisfied that there was nothing further to be discovered, the

Il a des nouvelles amours. In | menti che fanno nel regno li fratelli a paper at Simancas, containing e parenti di Anna; e che per questo Nuevas de Inglaterra, written about il Re non la porta la affezione que this time, is a similar account of the soleva per che il Re festeggia una dislike of Anne and her family, as altra Donna della quale se mostra well as of the King's altered feelings esser inamorato, e molti Si di Intowards her. Dicano anchora che ghilterra lo ajutano nel seguir el la Anna è mal voluta degli Si di preditto amor per deviar questo Re Inghilterra si per la sua superbia, si dalla pratica di Anna. anche per l'ins lentia e mali porta

Nun, with the monks, was brought to trial before the Star Chamber; and conviction followed as a matter of course.1

December.

The unhappy girl finding herself at this conclusion, after seven years of vanity, in which she had played with popes, and queens, and princesses, and archbishops, now, when the dream was thus rudely broken, in the revulsion of feeling could see nothing in herself but a convicted impostor. We need not refuse to pity her. The misfortunes of her sickness had exposed her to temptations far beyond the strength of an ordinary woman; and the guilt which she passionately claimed for herself rested far more truly with the knavery of the Christ Church monks and the incredible folly of Archbishop Warham.2 But the times were too stern to admit of nice distinctions. No immediate sentence was pronounced, but it was thought desirable for the satisfaction of the people that a confession should be made in public by the Nun and her companions. The Sunday following their trial they were placed on a raised platform at Paul's Cross by the side of the pulpit, and when the sermon was over they one by one delivered their

1 HALL.

2 I, dame Elizabeth Barton,' she said, 'do confess that I, most miserable and wretched person, have been the original of all this mischief, and by my falsehood I have deceived all these persons (the monks who were her accomplices), and many more; whereby I have most grievously offended Almighty God, and

TOL. II.

my most noble sovereign the King's Grace. Wherefore I humbly, and with heart most sorrowful, desire you to pray to Almighty God for my miserable sins, and make supplication for me to my sovereign for his gracious mercy and pardon.'-Confession of Elizabeth Barton: Rolls House MS.

5

bills' to the preacher, which by him were read to the crowd.1

After an acknowledgment of their imposture the prisoners were remanded to the Tower, and their ultimate fate reserved for the consideration of Parliament, which was to meet in the middle of January.

The chief offenders being thus disposed of, the council resolved next that peremptory measures should be taken with respect to the Princess Mary. Her establishment was broken up, and she was sent to reside as the Lady Mary in the household of the Princess Elizabeth-a hard but not unwholesome discipline. As soon as this was done, being satisfied that the leading shoot of the conspiracy was broken, and that no immediate danger was now to be feared, they proceeded leisurely to follow the clue of the Nun's confession, and to extend their inquiries. The Countess of Salisbury was mentioned as one of the persons with whom the woman had been in correspondence. This lady was the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, brother of Edward IV. Her mother was a Neville, a child of Richard the King-maker, the famous Earl of Warwick, and her only brother had been murdered to secure the shaking throne of Henry VII. Margaret Plantagenet, in recompense for the lost honours of the

1

Papers relating to Elizabeth beth's household expenses an extra Barton: Ibid.

2 State Papers, vol. i. p. 415. 3 A curious trait in Mary's character may be mentioned in connection with this transfer. She had a voracious appetite; and in Eliza

charge was made necessary of 261. a-year for the meat breakfasts and meat suppers 'served into the Lady Mary's chamber.'-Statement of the Expenses of the Household of the Princess Elizabeth: Rolls House MS.

house, was made Countess of Salisbury in her own right. The title descended from her grandfather, who was Earl of Salisbury and Warwick; but the prouder name had been dropped as suggestive of dangerous associations. The Earldom of Warwick remained in abeyance, and the castle and the estates attached to it were forfeited to the Crown. The Countess was married after her brother's death to a Sir Richard Pole, a supporter and relation1 of the King; and when left a widow she received from Henry VIII. the respectful honour which was due to the most nobly born of his subjects, the only remaining Plantagenet of unblemished descent. In his kindness to her children the King had attempted to obliterate the recollection of her brother's wrongs, and she had been herself selected to preside over the household of the Princess Mary. During the first twenty years of Henry's reign the Countess seems to have acknowledged his attentions with royal regard, and if she had not forgotten her birth and her childhood, she never connected herself with the attempts which during that time were made to revive the feuds of the houses. Richard de la Pole,. nephew of Edward IV.,2 and called while he lived the White Rose,' had more than once endeavoured to excite an insurrection in the eastern counties; but Lady Salisbury was never suspected of holding intercourse with him; she remained aloof from political disputes, and in lofty retirement she was contented to forget her great

'He is called frater consobrinus. See FULLER'S Worthies, vol. iii. p. 128. 2 He was killed at the battle of Pavia.