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FRANCIS LANCELOTT, ESQ. Queens of England. Vol.1.

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FRANCIS LANCELOTT, ESQ.
Queens of England. Vol.1.
page 435



the Earl of Southampton, the Lord Russell, Sir Anthony Brown, Six Anthony Denny, Dr. Chambers and Dr. Butts, the King's physicians, and several of the Queen's ladies, especially the Countess of Rutland, and the Ladies Edgecombe and RochforrL the latter of whom deposed that the Queen had informed her of the King's neglect, declaring that, at night, he showed her no attention, beyond that of saying " Good night, sweetheart," before going to sleep, and " Farewell, darling," when he left her chamber in the morning ; adding, that, for her part, she wanted no more from his Grace. But the most important deposition was that of the King himself, which, with the exception of one passage slightly altered, on account of its coarseness, we give verbatim. " First, I depose and declare that this hereafter written is merely the verity, intended upon no sinister affection, nor yet upon hatred or displeasure, and herein I take God to witness. Now to the matter, I say and affirm, that when the first communication was had with me for marriage with the Lady Anne of Clevcs, I was glad to hearken to it, trusting to have some assured friend by it, 1 much doubting that time both the Emperor, France, and the Bishop of Rome, and also because I heard so much both of her exceUent beauty and virtuous condition. But when I saw her at Rochester, the first time that ever I saw her, it rejoyced my heart that I had kept me free from making any pact or bound before with her till I saw her myself. For then, I assure you, I liked her so ill, and so far contrary to that she was praised, that I was woe that ever she came into England, and deliberated with myself that, if it were possible to find means to break off, I would never enter yoke with her. Of which misliking, both the great master, the admiral that now is, and the master of the horses, can and will bear record. Then, after my repair to Greenwich, the next day after, I think and doubt not but the Lord of Essex [Cromwell] well examined, can and will, or hath'' declared, what I then said to him in that case, not doubting but, since he is a person which knoweth himself condemned to die by act of Parliament, he will not damn his soul, but truly declare the truth, not only at the time spoken by me, but also continued till the day of marriage, and also many times after, whereby my lack of consent, I doubt not, doth or shall well appear. And also lack enough of the will and power to consummate the same, wherein both he, my physicians, the Lord Privy Seal that now is, Hennage and Denny can, and, I doubt not, will testify according to truth, which is, that I never, for love to the woman, consented to marry, nor yet is she, as far as I am concerned, other than a maid." This "brief, true and perfect declaration," as Henry calls it, being fully verified by a letter from Cromwell, and by the oral evidence of the other parties mentioned therein, the convocation came to a determination that there was no certainty that the precontract between Anne and the Duke of Lorraine had been lawfully revoked; that the King had never given his inward consent to the marriage, and never consummated it ; and, therefore, that it was, and had been, from the first, nidi and void. This vote was unanimously pronounced on the ninth of July ; and scandalous as it was to annul the marriage even of a sovereign, on the plea that he had not inwardly consented to it; the obsequious parliament passed an act on the thirteenth of July, also by an unanimous vote, confirming the decisions of the convocation, and, as in the case of nenry's first and second marriage, making it treason, by word, thought, or act, to believe or declare his marriage with Anne of Cleves lawful and valid. The duty of pronouncing1 the divorce fell upon Cranmer, this being the third time ne had divorced Henry the Eighth in seven years. A commission, consisting of Suffolk, Southampton and Wriothesley, waited on the Queen, at Richmond, to obtain her consent to the separation. Terror-stricken at their unexpected appearance, she fainted to the ground, but on recovering and learning tho King's real intention towards her,


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