uct not unlike that of his predecessor, Alexander
III., in the quarrel between Becket and Henry II.--but in both cases
purely human, not such as might have been looked for in a divinely guided
Vicar of Christ.

CHAPTER IV.

Anne Boleyn--Letters to her from the King--The Convent at Wilton--The
Divorce--The Pope's promises--Arrival of Campeggio in England--Reception
at the Bridewell Palace--Proposal to Catherine to take the veil--Her
refusal--Uncertainty of the succession--A singular expedient--Alarms of
Wolsey--The true issue--Speech of the King in the City--Threats of the
Emperor--Defects in the Bull of Pope Julius--Alleged discovery of a brief
supplying them--Distress of Clement.

The marriage with Anne Boleyn was now a fixed idea in Henry's mind. He had
become passionately attached to her, though not perhaps she to him. The
evidence of his feeling remains in a series of letters to her--how
preserved for public inspection no one knows. Some of them were said to
have been stolen by Campeggio. Perhaps they were sold to him; at any rate,
they survive. A critic in the "Edinburgh Review" described them as such as
"might have been written by a pot-boy to his girl." The pot-boy must have
been a singular specimen of his kind. One, at any rate, remains to show
that, though Henry was in love, he did not allow his love to blind him to
his duty as a prince. The lady, though obliged to wait for the full
gratification of her ambition, had been using her influence to advance her
friends, while Wolsey brought upon himself the rebuke of his master by
insufficient care in the distribution of Church patronage. The
correspondence throws an unexpected light upon the King's character.

The Abbess of Wilton had died. The situation was a pleasant one. Among
the sisters who aspired to the vacant office was a certain Eleanor Carey,
a near connection of Anne, and a favourite with her. The appointment
rested virtually with the Crown. The Lady Anne spoke to the King. The King
deputed Wolsey to inquire into the fitness of the various candidates, with
a favourable recommendation of Eleanor Carey's claims. The inquiry was
made, and the result gives us a glimpse into the habits of the devout
recluses in these sacred institutions.[36]

"As for the matter of Wilton," wrote Henry to Anne, "my Lord Cardinal here
had the nuns before him, and examined them in the presence of Master Bell,
who assures me that she whom we would have had Abbess has