Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/295

1540.] Cromwell, who knew better than others knew the true nature of the King's adventure, was waiting nervously at Greenwich for the result of the experiment. He presented himself on the King's appearance, and asked him 'how he liked the Lady Anne?' The abrupt answer confirmed his fears. 'Nothing so well as she was spoken of,' the King said. 'If I had known as much before as I know now, she should never have come into the realm.' 'But what remedy?' he added in despondency. The German alliance was already shaking at its base: the Court was agitated and alarmed; the King was miserable. Cromwell, to whom the blame was mainly due, endeavoured for a moment to shrink from his responsibility, and accused Southampton of having encouraged false hopes in his letters from Calais. Southampton answered fairly that the fault did not rest with him. He had been sent to bring the Queen into England, and it was not his place to 'dispraise her appearance.' 'The matter being so far gone,' he had supposed his duty was to make the best of it.

Among these recriminations passed the night of Friday, while Charles V. was just commencing his triumphal progress through France. The day following, the innocent occasion of the confusion came on to Greenwich. The marriage had been arranged for the Sunday after. The prospects were altogether dark, and closer inspection confirmed the