Mountjoy and the state commissioners were informed that she was ready to receive them.
As they entered her room she was lying on a sofa. She had a bad cough, and she had hurt her foot with a pin, and was unable to stand or walk. Her attendants were all present by her own desire; she was glad to see around her some sympathizing human faces, to enable her to endure the cold hard eyes of the officials of the council.
She inquired whether the message was to be delivered in writing or by word of mouth.
They replied that they had brought with them instructions which they were to read, and that they were further charged with a message which was to be delivered verbally. She desired that they would read their written despatch. It was addressed to the Princess Dowager, and she at once excepted to the name. She was not Princess Dowager, she said, but Queen, and the King's true wife. She came to the King a clear maid for any bodily knowledge of Prince Arthur; she had borne him lawful issue and no bastard, and therefore queen she was, and queen she would be while she lived.
The commissioners were prepared for the objection, and continued, without replying, to read. The paper contained a statement of worn-out unrealities; the old story of the judgment of the Universities and the learned men, the sentence of Convocation, and of the Houses of Parliament; and, finally, the fact of substantial importance, that the King, acting as he believed according to the laws of God, had married the Lady Anne Boleyn,
