Page:The Queens of England.djvu/407

MARY THE FIRST. 365 son should be born to him. But neither commands nor menaces could shake the firmness of Mary, who could not be persuaded to bestow any other appellation on the child than that of "Sister." Those commands, coming through Hussey, her chamberlain, she affected to disbelieve them. Henry did not, however, permit her to continue long in doubt that the order for her removal, as also that of her resigning the title of princess, had emanated from him, for he sent to her the Duke of Norfolk, and some other noblemen, to see that his com- mands were carried into effect, at the very time when the Duke of Suffolk, and others of the council, were breaking up her mother's establishment at Bugden. That Anne Boleyn might be concerned in urging this sever- ity may be strongly suspected, for, as long as Mary was treated as princess, Anne's jealousy may have led her to doubt its en- dangering the position of her own daughter Elizabeth ; and that Anne Boleyn was jealous of Katharine of Arragon and the Princess Mary, was afterwards proved by the indecent joy she exhibited on the death of Katharine, and her late remorse, when, condemned to death, she deplored her unkindness to Mary, and, on her knees, implored pardon for it. But, not satisfied with depriving Mary of her title and establishment, Henry, as ruthless towards his own child as he had proved himself to her mother, determined on legalizing his injustice, and had an act of parliament passed, securing the succession to the children of Anne Boleyn. After this step, Mary's establishment being dispersed, she was sent to Hunsdon, where that of her infant sister had now been formed in a style of regal splendor, befitting the heiress to the crown. A system of espionage was practiced against Mary at Hunsdon, that proves how narrowly she was watched. Her true friend and relative, the Countess of Silisbury, who, dur- ing her infancy, had been a second mother to her, was torn from her. Her coffers were surreptitiously opened, her papers seized, the few friends who persevered in. treating her' with the same respect as formerly were punished, and she was strict- ly prohibited from writing. The firmness with which she had resisted the efforts and menaces used to compel her to acknowl- edge her own illegitimacy, and the supremacy of Henry in the Church, had so angered him against her as to lead to his utter- ing curses, not only "loud but deep," against her, and gave rise to whispered rumors that the lives of Mary and her mother were no longer safe. Charles the Fifth heard not these rumors