491; Bacon, _Henry VII._, ed.

1870, p.

376; _Transactions of the Royal Hist.
Soc._, N.S., xviii., 187.] [Footnote 510: _L.

and P._, iii., 1284.] Conscience, however, often moves men in directions indicated by other than conscientious motives, and, of the other motives which influenced Henry's mind, some were respectable and some the reverse.

The most legitimate was his desire to provide for the succession to the throne.
It was obvious to him and his council that, if he died with no children but Mary, England ran the risk of being plunged into an anarchy worse than that of the civil wars.