The Howards
supplanted him in the favor of his people, and usurped the love and
admiration which were due to the king alone, and which should be
directed toward no one but him. He lay on his bed of pain, and
without doubt the people would have forgotten him, if he had not by
the block, the stake, and the scaffold, daily reminded them of
himself. He lay on his bed of pain, while the duke, splendid and
magnificent, exhibited himself to the people and transported them
with enthusiasm by the lavish and kingly generosity with which he
scattered his money among the populace.
Yes, the Duke of Norfolk was the king's dangerous rival. The crown
was not secure upon his head so long as the Howards lived. And who
could conjecture whether in time to come, when Henry closed his
eyes, the exultant love of the people might not call to the throne
the Duke of Norfolk, or his noble son, the Earl of Surrey, instead
of the rightful heir--instead of the little boy Edward, Henry's only
son?
When the king thought of that, he had a feeling as though a stream
of fire were whirling up to his brain; and he convulsively clenched
his hands, and screamed and roared that he would take vengeance--
vengeance on those hated Howards, who wanted to snatch the crown
from his son.
Edward, the little boy of tender age--he alone was the divinely
consecrated, legitimate heir to the king's crown. It had cost his
father so great a sacrifice to give his people this son and
successor! In order to do it, he had sacrificed Jane Seymour, his
own beloved wife; he had let the mother be put to death, in order to
preserve the son, the heir of his crown.
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