410
REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH
[ch. 5.
the position in which he had entrenched himself, and to induce him to acknowledge that he was amenable to an earthly authority exterior to his own realm.[1] In his offer to refer the cause to a general council, he proved that he was insincere, when in the following year he refused to allow a council to be a valid tribunal for the trial of it. The course which he would have followed if the second alternative had been accepted, may be conjectured from the measures which, as I shall presently show, he was at this very moment secretly pursuing. Henry, however, had happily resolved that he would be trifled with no further; he felt instinctively that only action would cut the net in which he was entangled; and he would not hesitate any longer to take a step which, in one way or another, must bring the weary question to a close. If the Pope meant well, he would welcome a resolution which made further procrastination impossible; if he did not mean well, he could not be permitted to dally further with the interests of the English nation. Jan. 25.Within a few days, therefore, of Bonner's return from Bologna, he took the final step from which there was no retreat, and 'somewhere about St Paul's day,'[2] Anne Boleyn received the prize for
- ↑ So at least the English Government was at last convinced, as appears in the circular to the clergy, printed in Burnet's Collectanea, p. 447, &c. I try to believe, however, that the Pope's conduct was rather weak than treacherous.
- ↑ So at least Cranmer says; but he was not present, nor was he at the time informed that it was to take place.—Ellis, first series, vol. ii. p. 32. The belief, however, generally was, that the marriage took place in November; and though Cranmer's evidence is very strong, his language is too vague to be decisive. See Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, p. 231.
