XXXIV. from her which might be perverted into evidence of her guilt. CHAP. Having met the barge in which she was coming up as a prisoner, he informed her that she had been charged with infidelity to the King's bed, and intimated to her that it would be better for her to confess; but, falling on her knees, she prayed aloud, that, "if she were guilty, God might never grant her pardon ;" and no advantage being then obtained over her, she was given in ward to Kingston, the Lieutenant of the Tower. * on the trial of Anne Having been active as her prosecutor, Audley sat as her Audley sits Judge. The trial was nominally before the Court of the Lord High Steward, the Duke of Norfolk, her uncle, Boleyn. being appointed Lord High Steward, as Audley was not yet. raised to the peerage; but he sat as assessor at the Duke's right hand during the trial, and directed all the proceedings. The only symptom of humanity exhibited was in reluctantly granting the indulgence of a chair to the Queen's dignity or weakness. Unassisted by counsel, she repelled each charge with so much modesty, temper, and natural good sense, that before an impartial tribunal she must have been acquitted; for though she had undoubtedly fallen into some unjustifiable levities, the proof to support the main charge, consisting of hearsay and forced confessions by accomplices not produced, were such as in our days could not be submitted to a jury. Yet, under the direction of Audley, she was unanimously found guilty by the Peers "upon their honour;" and the iron Duke of Norfolk, with tears in his eyes, condemned her to be "burnt or beheaded at the King's pleasure."† declared The next proceeding is, if possible, still more discreditable Marriage of King to Audley and the other instruments of Henry's vengeance. with Anne Not satisfied with knowing that she whom he had so pas- Boleyn sionately loved was doomed in her youth to suffer a violent void from and cruel death, he resolved before her execution to have a the beginning. sentence pronounced dissolving his marriage with her, and finding that it had been null and void from the beginning, * In all accounts of the trial, he is represented as one of the Queen's Judges, along with the twenty-six peers who constituted the Lord High Steward's Court; but being only a commoner, it is impossible that he should have voted. † 1 St. Tr. 409. CHAP. not seeing, in the blindness of his rage, that in this case she XXXIV. could not have been guilty of adultery or treason. Never King's marriage with Jane theless, in a divorce suit which lasted only a few hours, which Audley sanctioned, and in which Cranmer personally pronounced the sentence, some say on the ground of a precontract with the Earl of Northumberland, which he on his oath denied, some on the ground that Henry had cohabited with Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne,-that marriage was declared null and void, which Cranmer himself had solemnised, and which had been declared valid by an act of parliament then remaining on the Statute Book. It is well that Henry did not direct that Audley should officiate as executioner, with Cranmer as his assistant; for they probably would have obeyed sooner than have given up the seals or the primacy. The day after the execution the King was married to Jane Seymour, and for a short time his happiness was without Seymour. alloy; but he was reminded that by statute the Crown was still settled on the issue of his last marriage, whom he had resolved to bastardise; and he called a new parliament to meet at Westminster on the 8th of June, 1537, for the purpose of registering the edicts which the altered state of affairs rendered necessary. A. D. 1537. to the two Houses. On the day appointed, the King being seated on the throne, and the Commons being in attendance, Lord Chanlor's speech cellor Audley delivered a very singular harangue, of which the following is said to be a correct outline:-"First he told them, that at the dissolution of the last Parliament it did not enter into the King's mind that he should so soon have occasion to call another; but that for two especial causes, very necessary, both for easing the King's scruples and conducive to the good of the whole kingdom, he had issued a fresh summons for calling this Parliament. The one was concerning the heirs and successors of the King's Majesty, who, knowing himself obnoxious to infirmities, and even death itself (a thing very rare for kings to think of*), and, besides, con • This reminds us of the dialogue between the Dauphin and his tutor, when to the question, "Les rois meurent-ils?" The answer was, "Quelquefois, monseigneur." sidering the state of the whole kingdom, depending, as it were, upon his single life; but willing, above all things, to have it free from all dangers to posterity, he had called this parliament to appoint an heir-apparent to the Crown, who, when the present King had resigned to fate without children lawfully begotten, might, by their own consent, happily reign over them. -The second cause for which the present parliament was summoned was for repealing a certain act made in the last, by the tenour and force of which this whole realm is bound to be obedient to the Lady Anne Boleyn, the King's late wife, and her heirs between them lawfully begotten. Also, by the force of the said act, whoever should say or do any ill against her or her issue should be condemned for high treason.—But now, he said, that they might more rightly understand the reasons of this summons, his counsel was according to these three proverbs of Solomon (to whom our most excellent Prince here may be most justly and worthily compared), 'Operabimini quibus admonemur: 1. præterita in memoria habere; 2. præsentia intueri; et, 3. obventura provideri.' And as to the first, they very well remembered what great anxieties and perturbations of mind their most invincible Sovereign suffered on account of his first unlawful marriage, which was not only judged so in all the Universities in Christendom, but declared unlawful by the general consent of this kingdom in a late act of parliament. So also ought they to bear in mind the great perils and dangers their Prince was under when he contracted his second marriage, in regard to the second of Solomon's proverbs, by considering in what a situation this realm is in by reason of the oath then made and taken for the support of the said Anne and her issue. Which said Lady Anne and her accomplices had been since justly found guilty of high treason, and had received their due reward for it. What man of middle condition would not this deter from marrying a third time? When he remembers that the first was a vast expense and great trouble of mind to him, and the second ran him into great and imminent dangers, which hung over him during the whole time of it, yet this our most excellent Prince, on the humble petition of CHAP. XXXIV. CHAP. XXXIV. Speaker Rich outflatters the the nobility, and not out of any carnal lust or affection, again condescends to contract matrimony, and hath at this time taken unto himself another wife, whose age and fine form denotes her most fit and likely to bring forth children. And therefore, according to the third proverb of Solomon, obventura provideamus, we are now met by the King's command, with unanimous consent, to appoint an heir-apparent to the Crown, that if this our Prince (which God avert) should leave this mortal life without children lawfully begotten, the heir so appointed may lawfully rule and govern this kingdom after him. Lastly, let us humbly pray to God that he would bless this our most excellent Prince with some offspring; at the same time giving him thanks that he has hitherto preserved him from so many and such imminent dangers. Because, it is his whole study and endeavour to rule us all in perfect peace and charity during his life, and to transmit the same happiness to posterity." The Commons were then ordered to withdraw and choose a Speaker. As a reward for the services of Richard Rich, the Solicitor General, as counsel, and still more as witness at the late state trials, he was recommended by the Government to fill the chair, and as a matter of course was elected. When presented at the bar on a subsequent day, he was determined to eclipse the Chancellor in his adulation of the Chancellor. King, and to show himself worthy to succeed to the Seals on the first fitting opportunity. After repeating the heads of the Chancellor's discourse, explaining the reasons for calling the parliament, and extolling his Majesty's consideration for the good of his people, "he took occasion to praise the King for his wonderful gifts of grace and nature, and compared him for justice and prudence to Solomon, for strength and fortitude to Samson, and for beauty and comeliness to Absalom." He concluded by observing that the Commons, having chosen him, the most unworthy of them all, for Speaker, he besought his Majesty that he would command them to withdraw again and elect another, for he had neither learning, experience, nor boldness fit for that office. To this, Lord Chancellor Audley, by the King's command, replied, "that his Majesty had well heard his speech, and was glad to understand by the first part of it, that the members of the House of Commons had been so attentive to the Chancellor's declaration. That as to the praises and virtues ascribed to himself, his Majesty thought proper to disavow them, since, if he really had such virtues, they were the gifts of Almighty God."* Lastly, added he, "as to your excuses, Richard, which the King hath heard, that you have neither learning, experience, nor boldness fit for such an office, his Majesty hath commanded me to reply, that if he did not know that you had all these qualifications, he would not, amongst so many urgent matters as are now depending, admit you into the office, and therefore he does not look upon your excuses as just." Audley immediately prepared a bill which rapidly passed both Houses, the most arbitrary and unconstitutional that had ever yet been put upon the rolls of parliament. By this, the sentence of divorce nullifying the King's marriage with Anne Boleyn ab initio was confirmed, and she, and all her accomplices, were attainted;—the children of both marriages were declared illegitimate, and it was even made treason to assert the legitimacy of either of them;-to throw any slander on the King, Queen Jane, or their issue, was subjected to the same penalty;-the Crown was settled on the King's issue by his present or any subsequent wife, in case he should die without legitimate children he was empowered by his will or letters patent to dispose of the Crown ;-whoever being required should refuse to answer upon oath to a belief of every article of this act, was declared to be guilty of treason, so as to establish a political inquisition into conscience;-and the King was empowered, by will or letters patent, to create new principalities, and thereby to dismember the kingdom.† CHAP. XXXIV. A. D. 1537. power to Crown, &c. At the close of the session there was another contest be- 18th July. tween the Chancellor and the Speaker in praising the King This is a plain admission on the part of his Majesty, that by the gift of God he had the wisdom of Solomon, the strength of Samson, and the beauty of Absalom. ↑ Stat. 28 H, 8. c. 7. Fresh con |