had been in the worst
school in Europe. On her return from the French court to England, we
have seen her entangled in an unintelligible connexion with Lord Percy;
and if the account sent to the Emperor was true, she was Lord Percy's
actual wife; and her conduct was so criminal as to make any
after-charges against her credible.[546]

If the Protestants, again, found in her a friend and supporter, she was
capable, as Wolsey experienced, of inveterate hatred; and although among
the Reformers she had a reputation for generosity, which is widely
confirmed,[547] yet it was exercised always in the direction in which
her interests pointed; and kindness of feeling is not incompatible,
happily, with seriously melancholy faults.

[Sidenote: Cranmer's evidence in her favour.]

[Sidenote: Early coolness between her and Henry.]

The strongest general evidence in her favour is that of Cranmer, who
must have known her intimately, and who, at the crisis of her life,
declared that he "never had better opinion in woman than he had in
her."[548] Yet there had been circumstances in her conduct, as by her
own after confessions was amply evident, which justified Sir Thomas More
in foretelling a stormy end to her splendour;[549] and her relations
with the king, whether the fault rested with him, or rested with her,
grew rapidly cool when she was his wife. In 1534, perhaps sooner, both
she herself, her brother, and her relations had made themselves odious
by their insolence; her over-bearing manners had caused a decline in the
king's affection for her; and on one side it was reported that he was
likely to return to Catherine,[550] on the other that he had transferred
his attention to some other lady, and that the court encouraged his
inconstancy to separate him from Anne's influence.[551] D'Inteville
confirms the account of a new love affair, particularising nothing, but
saying merely that Anne was falling out of favour; and that the person
alluded to as taking her place was Jane Seymour, appears from a letter
written after Anne's execution, by the Regent Mary to the Emperor of
Austria, and from the letter written (supposing it genuine) by Anne
herself to the king before her trial.[552]

On the other hand, it is equally clear that whether provoked or not by
infidelity on the part of Henry, her own conduct had been singularly
questionable. We know very little, but waiving for the present the
exposures at her trial, we know, by her own conf