"I hear," said Anne, "that my friends have a mind to make me some settlement." It is said that the Queen, greatly hurt by an expression which seemed to imply that she and her husband were not among her sister's friends, replied with unwonted sharpness, "Of what friends do you speak?
What friends have you except the King and me ?" [602] The subject was never again mentioned between the sisters.

Mary was probably sensible that she had made a mistake in addressing herself to one who was merely a passive instrument in the hands of others.

An attempt was made to open a negotiation with the Countess.

After some inferior agents had expostulated with her in vain, Shrewsbury waited on her.

It might have been expected that his intervention would have been successful; for, if the scandalous chronicle of those times could be trusted, he had stood high, too high, in her favour, [603] He was authorised by the King to promise that, if the Princess would desist from soliciting the members of the House of Commons to support her cause, the income of Her Royal Highness should be increased from thirty thousand pounds to fifty thousand.