Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/97

1537.] Owing to the preternatural excitement of the public imagination, groundless rumours instantly gained currency. It was said that, when the Queen was in labour, a lady had told the King that either the child must die or the mother; that the King had answered, Save the child, and therefore 'the child was cut out of his mother's womb.' Catherine's male children had all died in infancy. This child, it was soon believed, was dead also. Some said that the child, some that the King, some that both were dead. The Cæsarian [sic] birth passed for an established fact; while a prophecy was discovered, which said that 'He should be killed that never was born, and nature's hand or man's had brought it to pass, or soon would bring it to pass.'

These were the mere bubbles of credulity, blown by the general wind; but the interests which now depended upon the infant prince's life, caused to grave persons grave anxiety. He was but one—a single life—between the King's death and chaos, and the King was again a widower. The greater the importance