of Anne Boleyn, even before her last confession, strengthened
the friends of the Princess Mary. Elizabeth, the child of a doubtful
marriage which had terminated in adultery and incest, would have had
slight chance of being maintained, even if her birth had suffered no
further stain; and by the Lambeth sentence she was literally and legally
illegitimate. The King of Scotland was now the nearest heir; and next to
him stood Lady Margaret Douglas, his sister, who had been born in
England, and was therefore looked upon with better favour by the people.
As if to make confusion worse confounded, in the midst of the
uncertainty Lord Thomas Howard, taking advantage of the moment, and, as
the act or his attainder says,[608] "being seduced by the devil, and not
having the fear of God before his eyes," persuaded this lady into a
contract of marriage with him; "The presumption being," says the same
act, "that he aspired to the crown by reason of so high a marriage; or,
at least, to the making division for the same; having a firm hope and
trust _that the subjects of this realm[609] would incline and bear
affection to the said Lady Margaret, being born in this realm; and not
to the King of Scots, her brother, to whom this realm hath not, nor ever
had, any affection; but would resist his attempt to the crown of this
realm to the uttermost of their powers_."[610]

[Sidenote: The council and the peers urge the king to an instant
re-marriage.]

Before the discovery of this proceeding, but in anticipation of
inevitable intrigues of the kind, the privy council and the peers, on
the same grounds which had before led them to favour the divorce from
Catherine, petitioned the king to save the country from the perils
which menaced it, and to take a fresh wife without an hour's delay.
Henry's experience of matrimony had been so discouraging, that they
feared he might be reluctant to venture upon it again. Nevertheless, for
his country's sake, they trusted that he would not refuse.[611]

[Sidenote: He marries Jane Seymour.]

Henry, professedly in obedience to this request, was married,
immediately after the execution, to Jane, daughter of Sir John Seymour.
The indecent haste is usually considered a proof entirely conclusive of
the cause of Anne Boleyn's ruin.[612] Under any aspect it was an
extraordinary step, which requires to be gravely considered. Henry, who
waited seven years for Anne Boleyn, to whom he was violently attached,
was not wit