ure. But this did not satisfy Henry.
Cromwell, desirous, in pursuance of his policy of keeping friendly with
the Emperor without going to war with France, or kneeling to Rome, hoped
to bring about peace between Mary and her father. But the strongest
passions of Henry's nature were now at stake, and he would only accept his
daughter's submission on terms that made her a self-confessed bastard, and
against this the girl, as obstinate as her father and as righteously proud
as her mother, still rebelled. Henry's son, the Duke of Richmond, was now
a straight stripling of eighteen, already married to Norfolk's daughter,
and, failing issue by Jane, here was an heir to the Crown that might carry
the Tudor line onward in the male blood, if Parliament could be chicaned
or threatened into acknowledging him. So Mary was plied with letters from
Cromwell, each more pressing and cruel than the previous one, driving the
girl to distraction by the King's insistence upon his terms.[176] Threats,
cajolery, and artful casuistry were all tried. Again Mary turned to her
foreign advisers and the King's rebellious subjects for support, and again
her father's heart hardened when he knew it. Norfolk, who with others was
sent to persuade her, was so incensed with her firmness that he said if
she had been his daughter he would have knocked her head against the wall
until it was as soft as a codlin. But Norfolk's daughter was the Duchess
of Richmond, and might be Queen Consort after Henry's death if Mary were
disinherited, so that there was some excuse for his violence. Those who
were in favour of Mary were dismissed from the Council--even Cromwell was
in fear--and Jane Seymour was rudely snubbed by the King for daring to
intercede for the Princess. At length, with death threatening her, Mary
could stand out no longer. Without even reading it, she signed with a
mental reservation, and confident of obtaining the Papal absolution for
which she secretly asked, the shameful declaration forced upon her,
repudiating the Papal authority, and specifically acknowledging herself a
bastard.

Then Henry was all amiability with his wronged daughter. He and Jane went
to visit her at Richmond, whither she had been brought, giving her
handsome presents of money and jewels; liberty was given to her to come to
Court, and stately service surrounded her. But it was all embittered by
the knowledge that Parliament had been induced to acknowledge that all the
King's child