Well might Suffolk write, as he did,
to Norfolk: "We find here the most obstinate woman that may be; inasmuch
as we think surely there is no other remedy than to convey her by force to
Somersame. Concerning this we have nothing in our instructions; we pray
your good lordship that we may have knowledge of the King's pleasure." All
this petty persecution was, of course, laid at the door of Anne by
Katharine's friends and the Catholic majority; for Cromwell was clever in
avoiding his share of the responsibility. "The lady," they said, "would
never be satisfied until both the Queen and her daughter had been done to
death, either by poison or otherwise; and Katharine was warned to take
care to fasten securely the door of her chamber at night, and to have the
room searched before she retired.[113]

In the meantime England and France were drifting further apart. If Henry
finally decided to brave the Papal excommunication, Francis dared not make
common cause with him. The Bishop of Paris (Du Bellay) once more came
over, and endeavoured to find a way out of the maze. Anne, whom he had
befriended before, received him effusively, kissing him on the cheek and
exerting all her witchery upon him; but it was soon found that he brought
an ultimatum from his King; and when Henry began to bully him and abuse
Francis for deserting him, the bishop cowed him with a threat of immediate
war. The compromise finally arrived at was that if the Pope before the
following Easter (1534) would withdraw his sentence against Henry, England
would remain within the pale of the Church. Otherwise the measure drafted
for presentation to Parliament entirely throwing off the Papal supremacy
would be proceeded with. This was the parting of the ways, and the
decision was left to Clement VII.

Parliament opened on the 15th January, perhaps the most fateful assembly
that ever met at Westminster. The country, as we have seen, was indignant
at the treatment of Katharine and her daughter, but the instinct of
loyalty to the King was strong, and there was no powerful centre around
which revolt might crystallise. The clergy especially--even those who,
like Stokesley, Fox, and Gardiner, were Henry's instruments--dreaded the
great changes that portended; and an attempt to influence Parliament by a
declaration of the clergy in Convocation against the King's first
marriage, failed, notwithstanding the flagrant violence with which
signatures were sought. With difficulty, ev