n.

[Sidenote: Last words of the Nun at Tyburn.]

"Hither am I come to die," she said, "and I have not been the only cause
of mine own death, which most justly I have deserved; but also I am the
cause of the death of all these persons which at this time here suffer.
And yet I am not so much to be blamed, considering that it was well
known unto these learned men that I was a poor wench without learning;
and therefore they might have easily perceived that the things which
were done by me could not proceed in no such sort; but their capacities
and learning could right well judge that they were altogether feigned.
But because the things which I feigned were profitable unto them,
therefore they much praised me, and bare me in hand that it was the Holy
Ghost and not I that did them. And I being puffed up with their praises,
fell into a pride and foolish fantasye with myself, and thought I might
feign what I would, which thing hath brought me to this case, and for
the which I now cry God and the King's Highness most heartily mercy, and
desire all you good people to pray to God to have mercy on me, and on
all them that here suffer with me."[251]

[Sidenote: Fisher, in spite of himself, is left unpunished.]

The inferior confederates were committed to their prisons with the
exception only of Fisher, who, though sentenced, found mercy thrust upon
him, till by fresh provocation the miserable old man forced himself upon
his fate.[252]

[Sidenote: The Act of Succession.]

[Sidenote: The necessity of it.]

And now the closing seal was to be affixed to the agitation of the great
question of the preceding years. I have said that throughout these years
the uncertainty of the succession had been the continual anxiety of the
nation. The birth of a prince or princess could alone provide an
absolute security; and to beget a prince appeared to be the single feat
which Henry was unable to accomplish. The marriage so dearly bought had
been followed as yet only by a girl; and if the king were to die,
leaving two daughters circumstanced as Mary and Elizabeth were
circumstanced, a dispute would open which the sword only could decide.
To escape the certainty of civil war, therefore, it was necessary to lay
down the line of inheritance by a peremptory order; to cut off
resolutely all rival claims; and, in legislating upon a matter so vital,
and hitherto so uncertain and indeterminate, to enforce the decision
with the most stringent and exac