But, sooner or later, the Queen was determined that every one who could be convicted should die,[1] and beyond, and above them all, Elizabeth. Elizabeth's illness, which had been supposed to have been assumed, was real, and as the feeling of the people towards her compelled the observance of the forms of justice and decency, physicians were sent from the Court to attend upon her. Feb. 18.On the 18th of February they reported that she could be moved with safety; and, escorted by Lord William Howard, Sir Edward Hastings, and Sir Thomas Cornwallis, she was brought by slow stages, of six or seven miles a day, to London.[2] Renard had described her to the Emperor as probably enceinte through some vile intrigue, and crushed with remorse and disappointment.[3]
To give the lie to all such slanders, when she entered the city, the Princess had the covering of hei litter thrown back; she was dressed in white, her face was pale from her illness, but the expression was lofty, scornful, and magnificent.[4] Crowds followed her along
- ↑ Renard to Charles V.: Rolls House MSS.
- ↑ The Order of my Lady Elizabeth's Grace's Voyage to the Court: MS. Mary, Domestic, vol. iii. State Paper Office.
- ↑ Renard to Charles V.: February 17: Rolls House MSS.
- ↑ 'Pour desguyser le regret qu'elle a,' says Renard, unable to relinquish his first conviction.
the Queen to severity from the pulpit, Gardiner wrote to Sir William Petre, 'To-morrow, at your going to the Tower, it shall be good ye be earnest with one little Wyatt there prisoner, who by all likelihood can tell all. He is but a bastard, and hath no substance; and it might stand with the Queen's Highness's pleasure there were no great account to be made whether ye pressed him to say truth by sharp punishment or promise of life.'—MS. Domestic, Mary, vol. iii. State Paper Office. I do not know to whom Gardiner referred in the words 'little Wyatt.'
