377]

The King with some hesitation had consented to Chapuys's request that
Catherine's physician should be allowed to attend the Princess. The
presence of this man would necessarily be a protection, and either Anne's
influence was less supreme than the Ambassador had feared or her sinister
designs were a malicious invention. It is unlikely, however, that warnings
so persistently repeated and so long continued should have been wholly
without foundation, and, if the inner secrets of the Court could be laid
open, it might be found that the Princess had been the subject of many an
altercation between Anne and the King. Even Chapuys always acknowledged
that it was from her, and not from Henry, that the danger was to be
feared. He had spoken warmly of Mary, had shown affection for her when her
behaviour threatened his own safety. He admired the force of character
which she was showing, and had silenced peremptorily the Ministers who
recommended severity. But if he was her father, he was also King of
England. If he was to go through with his policy towards the Church, the
undisguised antagonism of a child whom three quarters of his subjects
looked on as his legitimate successor, was embarrassing and even perilous.
Had Anne Boleyn produced the Prince so much talked of all would then have
been easy. He would not then be preferring a younger daughter to an elder.
Both would yield to a brother with whom all England would be satisfied,
and Mary would cease to have claims which the Emperor would feel bound to
advocate. The whole nation were longing for a prince; but the male heir,
for which the King had plunged into such a sea of troubles, was still
withheld. He had interpreted the deaths of the sons whom Catherine had
borne him into a judgment of Heaven upon his first marriage; the same
disappointment might appear to a superstitious fancy to be equally a
condemnation of the second. Anne Boleyn's conduct during the last two
years had not recommended her either to the country or perhaps to her
husband. Setting aside the graver charges afterwards brought against her,
it is evident that she had thrown herself fiercely into the political
struggles of the time. To the Catholic she was a _diablesse_, a tigress,
the author of all the mischief which was befalling them and the realm. By
the prudent and the moderate she was almost equally disliked; the nation
generally, and even Reformers like Cromwell and Cranmer, were Imperialist;
Anne Bole