be surprised that the Convocation accepted the conclusion which was sanctioned by so high authority, and we rather wonder at the persistency of Catherine's denials. With respect to this vote, therefore, we need notice nothing except that Dr Clerk, Bishop of Bath and Wells,[1] was one of an exceedingly small minority, who were inclined to believe that the denial might be true, and this Bishop was one of the four who were associated with Cranmer when he sat at Dunstable for the trial of the cause.
The ground being thus opened, and all preparations being completed, the Archbishop composed a formal letter to the King, in which he dwelt upon the uncertain prospects of the succession, and the danger of leaving a question which closely affected it so long unsettled. He expatiated at length on the general anxiety which was felt throughout the realm, and requested permission to employ the powers attached to his office to bring it to some conclusion. The recent alterations had rendered the Archbishop something doubtful of the nature of his position; he was diffident and unwilling to offend; and not clearly knowing in the exercise of the new authority which had been granted to him, whether the extension of his power was accompanied with a parallel extension of liberty in making use of it, he wrote two copies of this letter, with slight variations of language, that the King might select between them the one which he would offi-
- ↑ Lord Herbert, p. 163. Burnet, vol. iii. p. 123.
was written the same day, and which, if forged, was forged by Catherine's friends, there is no forsan. The fact is stated absolutely.
