ted of no doubt. As soon as the
commissioners were satisfied that there was nothing further to be
discovered, the Nun, with the monks, was brought to trial before the Star
Chamber; and conviction followed as a matter of course.[654]

The unhappy girl finding herself at this conclusion, after seven years of
vanity, in which she had played with popes, and queens, and princesses, and
archbishops, now, when the dream was thus rudely broken, in the revulsion
of feeling could see nothing in herself but a convicted impostor. We need
not refuse to pity her. The misfortunes of her sickness had exposed her to
temptations far beyond the strength of an ordinary woman: and the guilt
which she passionately claimed for herself rested far more truly with the
knavery of the Christ Church monks and the incredible folly of Archbishop
Warham.[655] But the times were too stern to admit of nice distinctions. No
immediate sentence was pronounced, but it was thought desirable for the
satisfaction of the people that a confession should be made in public by
the Nun and her companions. The Sunday following their trial they were
placed on a raised platform at Paul's Cross by the side of the pulpit, and
when the sermon was over they one by one delivered their "bills" to the
preacher, which by him were read to the crowd.[656]

After an acknowledgment of their imposture the prisoners were remanded to
the Tower, and their ultimate fate reserved for the consideration of
parliament, which was to meet in the middle of January.

The chief offenders being thus disposed of, the council resolved next that
peremptory measures should be taken with respect to the Princess Mary.[657]
Her establishment was broken up, and she was sent to reside as the Lady
Mary in the household of the Princess Elizabeth--a hard but not unwholesome
discipline.[658] As soon as this was done, being satisfied that the leading
shoot of the conspiracy was broken, and that no immediate danger was now to
be feared, they proceeded leisurely to follow the clue of the Nun's
confession, and to extend their inquiries. The Countess of Salisbury was
mentioned as one of the persons with whom the woman had been in
correspondence. This lady was the daughter of the Duke of Clarence, brother
of Edward IV. Her mother was a Neville, a child of Richard the Kingmaker,
the famous Earl of Warwick, and her only brother had been murdered to
secure the shaking throne of Henry VII. Margaret Plantagenet, in rec