eposition. (_Henry VIII. Calendar_, vol. 15.)

[206] The King got a double grant of four fifteenths and tenths, payable
by instalments in four years; a shilling in the pound on all lands, and
sixpence in the pound on personal property; aliens paying double; besides
the confiscation of the great revenues of the Order of St. John. Such
taxation was almost without precedent in England, and certainly added to
Cromwell's unpopularity, already very great, owing to the oppressiveness
of his religious policy with regard to the religious houses and his
personal harshness.

[207] _The Spanish Chronicle Of Henry VIII._, edited by the present
writer. In this record, Seymour, Earl of Hertford, is made to take a
leading part in the fall of Cromwell in the interests of his nephew the
Prince of Wales (Edward VI.), but I can find no official confirmation of
this.

[208] Memo. in Gardiner's handwriting, Record Office. (_Henry VIII.
Calendar_, vol. 15.)

[209] She does not appear to have done so, however, until the King had
received a letter from the Duke of Cleves, dated 13th July, couched in
somewhat indignant terms. She then wrote to her brother that she "had
consented to the examination and determination, wherein I had more
respect, as beseemed me, to truth than to any worldly affection that might
move me to the contrary, and did the rather condescend thereto for that my
body remaineth in the integrity which I brought into this realm." She
continues that the King has adopted her as a sister and has treated her
very liberally, more than she or her brother could well wish. She is well
satisfied. The King's friendship for her brother, she says, will not be
impaired for this matter unless the fault should be in himself (_i.e._
Cleves). She thinks it necessary to write this, and to say that she
intends to live in England, lest for want of true knowledge her brother
should take the matter otherwise than he ought. The letter is signed "Anna
Duchess, born, of Cleves, Gulik, Geldre and Berg; your loving sister." The
English and German drafts are in the Record Office, the former abstracted
in _Calendar Henry VIII._, vol. 15. The King instructed Wotton and Clerk,
his envoys at Cleves, to deal with the Duke in the same spirit, holding
out hopes of reward if he took the matter quietly, and to assume a haughty
tone if he seemed threatening.

[210] Within a week of this--to show how rapid was the change of
feeling--Pate wrote to the King and to