BOOK THE SEVENTEENTH. ANNE BOLEYN. (Continued.) CHAPTER IV. Recalled from France. 1521. I. ANNE BOLEYN's father, with all her kinsfolk and connexions, had been forward in this fight. The battle had commenced when Anne was eight years old, and in the outset it had gone in favour of the Duke. Buckingham had snatched from her family the coronet of Wiltshire. Buckingham, and the men of his opinions, had prevented her father rising in the public service, and acquiring a position due to his wealth, his talents, and his high connexions. Yet Boleyn had been fighting Buckingham on public rather than on personal grounds; seeing in him an unwise, and even a dangerous councillor of the crown. Boleyn served on the special commission. Brydges, father of Winifred, his nephew Sackville's wife, opened the inquiry at Guildhall. Wyat served on the Surrey panel. Brooke was one of the committing magistrates. Cobham was a member of the court of peers. Norfolk, as Lord High Steward, presided at the trial, and pronounced the culprit's doom. 2. The Cardinal made a cunning distribution of his spoil. Compton and Marney, as the nearest comrades of the King, were satisfied. Then came Essex and Grey, Dorset and Worcester, each of whom got parks and manors. Afterwards came Boleyn, who received as his reward the manor of Fobbing, in Essex, with various offices in the town of Tunbridge in the manors of Brasted and Penshurst, and in the parks of Penshurst, Northleigh, and Northlands. Norfolk had his share, and Devon had his share. Wingfield got Kimbolton Castle. Norreys got the manors of Southo, Hunts, and Tylbroke. One principle adopted by the Cardinal in disposing of these ducal spoils was to associate father and son in the original grant, so that a permanent party would be ready to resist attempts to reverse the Duke's attainder at a future time. Thus Norfolk's son and Devon's son were parties to the grants by which these noblemen were rewarded. George Boleyn was associated with his father in the several offices connected with the lands in Kent. The ducal house of Stafford was so thoroughly despoiled, that it was deemed an act of charity to make a small provision for the Duchess and her son. Yet, if the strawberry-leaves were gone, the high connexions of their family remained. The Poles and Nevilles, Percies and Plantagenets, were more or less involved in their disgrace. A daughter of their house was married to the heir of Norfolk, |