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• ANNE BOLEYN. 297 of chagrin to the queen, by her witnessing the sympathy it excited for her predecessor Katharine ; and, although exposure and heavy punishment awaited the instigators or encouragers of the nun's delusion, its effect on the minds of the people did not easily subside. How painful is it to reflect that the great Sir Thomas More, however strongly he denied all par- ticipation in this pious fraud, nevex wholly exculpated him- self from the charge ; and that Fisher, bishop of Rochester, was the dupe and martyr of this artful and wicked woman ! The death of those people, however, was, it must be recollected, owing to their conscientious opposition to the unjust act of Henry in favor of Anne Boleyn's issue, and to the exclusion of the Princess Mary, who was, moreover, branded by it with illegitimacy. Nor can we acquit Anne, after her marriage, of her jealousy of the general consideration accorded to Katharine, and her want of kindness to the Princess Mary. For this last unwomanly conduct, so much at variance with her whole life, we can find no excuse, unless it be the unworthy one of fear- ing to bring forward the Princess Mary, lest it should remind the people more strongly of her claims, and of the injuries inflicted on her mother. The severities practiced against those who refused to take the oath of the king's supremacy and to the new act of succession, denying the legality of the king's marriage with Katharine, and, consequently, the legitimacy of her daughter, kept alive an unpopularity for Anne, which gave great pain to her, one of whose weaknesses, if it might be so called, consisted in a warm desire to be loved by the people ; out, when More and Fisher were among the victims of their conscientious refusal to take this oath, the esteem in which they were universally held created the strongest prejudice against her, for whose interest this act of supremacy and succession was passed. When the account of Sir Thomas More's execution was brought to Henry, he was playing at tables with Anne, and, casting his eyes upon her, he said, "Thou art the cause of this man's death !" and, rising, he left his unfinished game, and shut himself up in his chamber in great perturbation. About this time died Katharine of Arragon, at Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire ; and the indecent satisfaction of Queen Anne on this event did not increase the good-will of her sub-, jects. The persistence of Katharine in retaining the title of