ather. But, after the
experience of the last century, Englishmen of all persuasions were
frightened at the prospect of a disputed succession, which only a
peremptory Act of Parliament could effectively dispose of. The Bill,
therefore, passed at last with little opposition. Cranmer's judgment was
confirmed as against the Pope's. The marriage with Catherine was declared
null, the marriage with Anne valid, and Anne's children the lawful heirs
of the crown. The Act alone was not enough. The disclosures brought to
light in the affair of the Nun of Kent, the disaffection then revealed,
and the rank of the persons implicated in it, necessitated further
precautions. Any doubt which might have existed on the extent and
character of the conspiracy is removed for ever by the Spanish
Ambassador's letters. The Pope was threatening to absolve English subjects
from their allegiance; how far he might be able to influence their minds
had as yet to be seen; a Commission, therefore, was appointed to require
and receive the oaths of all persons whom there was reason to suspect,
that they would maintain the succession as determined in the Act.

The sentence from Rome had not arrived when the Bill became law, and no
action was taken upon it till the terms in which Clement had spoken were
specifically known. Catherine, however, seemed to think that the further
she could provoke Henry to harsh measures, the nearer would be her own
deliverance. She had always persuaded herself that judgment once given at
Rome for her, the King would yield. The Act of Succession was thus
specially galling, and with the same violent unwisdom which she had shown
from the first, and against the direct advice of Chapuys, she had decided
that the time was come for Mary "to show her teeth to the King."[275]

It was not for her to expose her daughter to perils which she professed to
believe were threatening the lives of both of them. But Mary obeyed her
but too well. While the Succession Bill was before the two Houses, Anne,
probably at Henry's instance, went to Hatfield to invite her to receive
her as Queen, promising, if she complied, that she should be treated
better than she had ever been. Mary's answer was that she knew no Queen
but her mother; if the King's mistress, so she designated Anne, would
intercede with her father for her she would be grateful. The Lady, Chapuys
heard, had said in a rage that she would put down that proud Spanish blood
and do her worst wi