Page:The Queens of England.djvu/358

 318 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. Cleves, on the subject being named to them, offered to produce a formal renunciation of the contract, which would be in fact an absolute release. Thus no hope of escape was left, and Henry was compelled with reluctance to close the affair with Anne, re- marking, "that as matters had gone so far, he must even put his neck into the collar." Anne meantime awaited Henry's commands at Dartford. The king having decided to marry her even against his will, made a public announcement that Anne should be met and welcomed as queen at Greenwich, and at that place five or six thousand horsemen assembled for a procession, where Henry and the ambassador of the emperor joined them. Anne of Cleves first met Henry in public on the plain of Blackheath, near Shooters' Hill, whence with all the pegeantry of pompous state she was conducted to Greenwich, where the ceremony of her marriage was performed on January 6, with the splendor befitting the oc- casion. Shortly afterward, Cromwell, who had been so zealous to bring about this match, inquired of Henry with no small anx- iety whether he liked his queen better? A decided negative was the reply, to which were added many unpleasant remarks re- specting the queen. After this, although Henry was civil out- wardly to Anne, and apparently treated his minister with his former confidence, such was his real displeasure at the marriage that led ultimately to the ruin of this minister, who, worthy of a better fate, was tried, condemned and executed. After Cromwell's death Henry's dislike to Anne was more openly evinced. On the 12th of April her dower had been settled by the parliament, by which her legal rights as Queen Consort were acknowledged. Not long after, her foreign at- tendants were dismissed. Anne seems, therefore, to have been left quite at the mercy of Henry's caprice, who did not scruple to outrage her feelings. It almost appears as if the death of ^romwell was designed to deprive her of his service and friend ship, for Anne had appeared to seek his counsel on more than one occasion, which Cromwell abstained from giving from pru- dential motives. The last appearance of the king and queen in public together was at Durham House on the occasion of some splendid pageants given in honor of their marriage by Sir Thomas Seymour, Sir John Dudley and Sir George Carew in the month of May. After Cromwell's arrest Anne was sent to Richmond by Henry on pretense that she needed the country air. Henry indeed was bent upon separating himself legally