intrigue and jealousy in other quarters. The Princess Mary
also had not yet receded from the defiant attitude which she had
assumed. She had lent herself to conspiracy, she had broken her
allegiance, and had as yet made no submission. To her no favour could be
shown while she remained in this position; and it was equally
undesirable to give Elizabeth, under the altered circumstances, a
permanent preference to her sister.

[Sidenote: The parliament grant the king a power to bequeath the crown
by will.]

The parliament, therefore, with as much boldness as good sense, cut the
knot, by granting Henry the power to bequeath the crown by will. He
could thus advance the Duke of Richmond, if Richmond's character as a
man fulfilled the promise of his youth; and he could rescue his
daughters from the consequences of their mother's misfortunes or their
mother's faults. It was an expression of confidence, as honourable to
the country as to the king; and if we may believe, as the records say,
that the tragedy of the past month had indeed grieved and saddened
Henry, the generous language in which the legislature committed the
future of the nation into his hands, may have something soothed his
wounds.

[Sidenote: The reasons alleged for this measure.]

"Forasmuch as it standeth," they said, "in the only pleasure and will of
Almighty God, whether your Majesty shall have heirs begotten and
procreated from this (late) marriage, or else any lawful heirs or issues
hereafter of your own body, begotten by any other lawful wife; and if
such heirs should fail (as God defend), and no provision be made in your
life who should rule and govern this realm, then this realm, after your
transitory life, shall be destitute of a governor, or else percase [be]
encumbered with a person that would count to aspire to the same, whom
the subjects of this realm shall not find in their hearts to love,
dread, and obediently serve[623] as their sovereign lord; and if your
Grace, before it be certainly known whether ye shall have heirs or not,
should suddenly name and declare any person or persons to succeed after
your decease, then it is to be doubted that such person so named might
happen to take great heart and courage, and by presumption fall to
inobedience and rebellion; by occasion of which premises, divisions and
dissensions are likely to arise and spring in this realm, to the great
peril and destruction of us, your most humble and obedient servants, an