She was ready to obey the King, she answered, when she could do so without disobeying God; but she could not damn her soul even for him. Her servants, she said, must do the best they could; they were standing round her as she was speaking; and she turned to them with an apology, and a hope that they would pardon her. She would hinder her cause, she said, and put her soul in danger, if on their account she were to relinquish her name, and she could not do it.
The deputation next attempted her on her worldly side. If she would obey, they informed her that she would be allowed not only her jointure as Princess Dowager and her own private fortune, but all the settlements which had been made upon her on her marriage with the King.
She 'passed not upon possessions, in regard of this matter,' she replied. It touched her conscience, and no worldly considerations were of the slightest moment.
In disobeying the King, they said, seeing that she was none other than his subject, she might give cause for dissension and disturbance, and she might lose the favour of the people.
She 'trusted not,' she replied—she 'never minded it, nor would she'—she 'desired only to save her right; and if she should lose the favour of the people in defending that right, yet she trusted to go to heaven cum famâ et infamiâ.'
Promises and persuasions being unavailing, they tried threats. She was told that if she persisted in so obstinate a course, the King would be obliged to make
