erialistic policy had been buttressed by the
"discovery" of Anne's infidelity, not even the nobles of the French
faction dared to oppose it by seeming to side with the unhappy woman. The
Secretary did his work thoroughly. The indictments were laid before the
grand juries of Middlesex and Kent, as the offences were asserted to have
been committed over a long period both at Greenwich and Whitehall or
Hampton Court. To the charges against Anne of adultery with Smeaton, who
it was asserted had confessed, Norreys, Weston, Brereton, and Lord
Rochford, was added that of having conspired with them to kill the King.
There was not an atom of evidence worth the name to support any of the
charges except the doubtful confession of Smeaton, wrung from him by
torture; and it is certain that at the period in question the death of
Henry would have been fatal to the interests of Anne. But a State
prosecution in the then condition of the law almost invariably meant a
condemnation of the accused; and when Smeaton, Weston, Norreys, and
Brereton were arraigned in Westminster Hall on the 12th May, their doom
was practically sealed before the trial. Smeaton simply pleaded guilty of
adultery only, and prayed for mercy: the rest of the accused strenuously
denied their guilt on the whole of the charges; but all were condemned to
the terrible death awarded to traitors, though on what detailed evidence,
if any, does not now appear.[159] Every effort was made to tempt Norreys
to confess, but he replied that he would rather die a thousand deaths than
confess a lie, for he verily believed the Queen innocent.[160]

In the meanwhile Anne in the Tower continued her strange behaviour, at
times arrogantly claiming all her royal prerogatives, at times reduced to
hysterical self-abasement and despair. On the 15th May she and her brother
were brought to the great hall of the Tower before a large panel of peers
under the presidency of the Duke of Norfolk. All that could add ignominy
to the accused was done. The lieges were crowded into the space behind
barriers at the end of the hall, the city fathers under the Lord Mayor
were bidden to attend, and with bated breath the subjects saw the woman
they had always scorned publicly branded as an incestuous adulteress. The
charges, as usual at the time, were made in a way and upon grounds that
now would not be permitted in any court of justice. Scraps of overheard
conversation with Norreys and others were twisted into s