ng international pressure, either for the liberation of the Pope, or
to obtain from the Pontiff the decree of divorce. It was evident that this
process must be a slow one, and Anne as well as Henry was in a hurry.
Unlike Charles, who, though he was falsity itself to his rivals, never
deceived his own ministers, Henry constantly showed the moral cowardice of
his character by misleading those who were supposed to direct his policy,
and at this juncture he conceived a plan of his own which promised more
rapidity than that of Wolsey.[52] Without informing Wolsey of the real
object of his mission, old Dr. Knight, the King's confidential secretary,
was sent to endeavour to see the Pope in St. Angelo, and by personal
appeal from the King persuade him to grant a dispensation for Henry's
marriage either before his marriage with Katharine was dissolved formally
(_constante matrimonio_), or else, if that was refused, a dispensation to
marry after the declaration had been made nullifying the previous union
(_soluto matrimonio_); but in either case the strange demand was to be
made that the dispensation was to cover the case of the bride and
bridegroom being connected within the prohibited degrees of affinity.[53]

Knight saw Wolsey on his way through France and hoodwinked him as to his
true mission by means of a bogus set of instructions, though the Cardinal
was evidently suspicious and ill at ease. This was on the 12th September
1527, and less than a fortnight later Wolsey hurried homeward. When he had
set forth from England three months before he seemed to hold the King in
the hollow of his hand. Private audience for him was always ready, and all
doors flew open at his bidding. But when he appeared on the 30th September
at the palace of Richmond, and sent one of his gentlemen to inquire of the
King where he would receive him, Anne sat in the great hall by Henry's
side, as was usual now. Before the King could answer the question of
Wolsey's messenger, the favourite, with a petulance that Katharine would
have considered undignified, snapped, "Where else should the Cardinal come
but where the King is?" For the King to receive his ministers at private
audience in a hall full of people was quite opposed to the usual etiquette
of Henry's Court, and Wolsey's man still stood awaiting the King's reply.
But it only came in the form of a nod that confirmed the favourite's
decision. This must have struck the proud Cardinal to the heart, and whe