complains to Will about how shabbily Catherine is being treated, and he expresses qualms about his ability to find the right potion for Anne. Will tells him not to worry-no young woman can resist the king for long. Anne is back at Hever Castle, Kent, the home of the Boleyn family. Henry is writing songs to her and making all kinds of excuses and efforts to run into her there. Will, Comus, Smeaton and other court gentlemen have their own observations about what's going on and how the king is doing. The Chase Henry meets Anne at her castle gate. He says if she won't be his mistress, it's her duty to make him stop loving her. Be ugly. Go bald, he implores. If she comes with him, he promises her titles, estates. Anne refuses to be bought. Then Henry challenges her to hold his love, to be better than all the other women he has used. If you are the Anne I think you are, risk a life at court-gamble on your great power to keep my love forever, because that is what you win if you take a chance. Anne has come to court but still keeps her distance from the king's bed. Smeaton has fallen in love with her and is making his own tentative moves, his own suggestive remarks when Henry comes upon them. He orders Smeaton to leave. Henry tells Anne how ridiculous she is making him look to the world by keeping him off. He reads doubleentendre poems about his failure. When Anne suggests he send the scribbler to the Tower, the king admits he's the poet. He says it's the first time he's ever been rebuffed, that she's got him acting like a juvenile. Anne offers to return home if it causes him such pain. Henry begs her, Never threaten that again. I cannot allow you to leave me. Anne then reminds him if she submits, all he would win is a titled whore. She also admits she loves him and, since Catherine cannot bear him a son, thinks it's perhaps God's will that Henry should love Anne as his queen. Away from You Henry visits Catherine in her chapel. He doesn't often go there, but he has a plan to sell. He wants her to petition the Pope for a divorce. She agrees, with a single proviso: that Henry renounce the throne and enter a monastery as a monk. Mary, their daughter, would become queen. Henry is enraged. "There can never be a woman on my throne", he shouts. When Catherine asks him to return to her bed and try for another son, he reminds her of the futility, that all of their sons have been born dead. She says it is God's will. Henry says they have broken God's law, because she was his brother's wife. And quotes Leviticus, chapter 20, verse 21. Catherine has her own chapters and verses-Deuteronomy, chapter 25, verse 5; St. Augustine, the Patriarch Jacob, the story of Ruth. Henry is stunned at her preparedness, as though she had anticipated this confrontation for years. But he insists on a divorce, no matter what the Pope might say. Catherine vows to remain his wife until the day she dies. Henry is meeting with Cardinal Wolsey, who tells him the Pope has refused his request to divorce Catherine. Henry says he will pay no attention, his own bishops will grant the divorce-that he, Henry, sits on the throne and he will throw off the yoke of Rome and become Vicar of Christ in England. When Wolsey reminds him there is a hell, Henry answers, Every day that passes without a male heir to my throne I live in hell. Wolsey then warns of the likelihood of a Holy War from Catholic Europe and Spanish warships up the Thames in a year. Norfolk pledges his allegiance. Wolsey will not, and is permanently dismissed. Anne enters, and Henry tells her of his unprecedented act. Now he will make her his queen. She will make a paradise for the sons we'll make together." Henry asks her to stay with him that night. Nine months later, in the corridor of Hampton Court Palace, Mary storms at Will Somers. The King has declared her illegitimate, anticipating the birth of a son that night. Will tries to reason with her, to keep her from displeasing her father. Henry comes upon them a moment later. He has something for Mary to sign, an oath of allegiance to the king, acknowledging him as head of her church. She says she cannot forswear her Catholic faith. The king says she is disloyal and must be punished, even though he loves her as a daughter. Just then, courtiers enter to announce that the child is born. It is alive, lusty, bawling. Henry is ecstatic. "Praise God! England has an heir! A son and heir! Anne is in bed, the baby in her arms when Henry walks in. He kisses her, says how happy she has made him and asks, "What shall we call him? Anne answers: Elizabeth. Henry is outraged-at Anne for promising England a son, at Comus for predicting a son. Anne roars with
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