were incompetent to decypher. This inscription, he conjectures, might be connected with the monument, and was probably an ancient British memorial of some eminent person, and possibly of Boadicea.

Tacitus-Biographia Britannica, Sc.-History of England.

ANNE BOLEYN.

ANNE BOLEYN, the vicissitudes of whose fortunes have rendered her name celebrated, descended, on the side of her mother, from the duke of Norfolk, whose daughter her father, sir Thomas Boleyn, had espoused. Anne was born in 1507, and carried to France at seven years of age, by the sister of Henry VIII. who was given in marriage to Lewis XII. After the death of Lewis, his widow returned to her native country, but Anne remained in France, in the service of Claudia, the wife of Francis I.; and, after her decease, with the duchess of Alençon, a princess of singular merit. The beauty and acccomplishments of Anne attracted, even at a very early age, great admiration at the French court.

The year of her return to England is uncertain; but it appears to have been about the time when

scruples were first entertained by Henry VIII. respecting the legality of his marriage with the betrothed wife and widow of his brother, Catherine of Arragon. In his visits to the queen, to whom Anne Boleyn became maid of honour, Henry had an opportunity of observing her beauty and captivating manners. Anne quickly perceived her influence over the heart of the monarch, whose passion, either from principle or policy, she resolutely resisted. The enamoured Henry, despairing of succeeding with the lady but upon honourable terms, was, by her conduct, stimulated to redouble his efforts to procure a release from his former engagements. For this purpose, he resolved on making applications to the court of Rome.

The virtue of Anne Boleyn, in the peculiar circumstances in which she was placed, must certainly be considered as equivocal; in becoming the concubine of the king, she would perhaps have committed an action less reprehensible, than in being the cause of the dethronement and humiliation of the queen, whose tenderness and fidelity to her husband, during twenty years, added to her irreproachable conduct, deserved a better fate. Not content with robbing Catherine of the heart of her husband, her rival determined to hurl her

from the throne, and to usurp her privileges and dignities; while the daughter of the unfortunate Catherine, whose misfortunes sunk her to a premature grave, was necessarily involved in the unmerited disgrace of her mother.

The amorous impatience of Henry suffered him not to wait for the dissolution of his nuptials with Catherine; a private marriage united him with Anne Boleyn on the 14th of November, 1532. The marriage was made public on the pregnancy of Anne, who, on Easter-eve, 1533, was declared queen of England, and crowned the 1st of the following June. To complete the satisfaction of Henry, the new queen was, on the seventh of the ensuing September, delivered of a daughter (afterwards queen Elizabeth), on whom was conferred the title of princess of Wales. This step was somewhat irregular, since Elizabeth, though presumptive, was not apparent, heir to the crown. But Mary, the daughter of the king by his former marriage, having been honoured with the same title, Henry determined to bestow on the child of Anne Boleyn equal marks of distinction, and also to exclude Mary from every hope of the succes

sion.

The affection of the king for his new queen seemed, for a time, to increase rather than diminish with

possession; by a proper measure of reserve and indulgence, she long contrived to keep alive his passion, and to manage his intractable spirit. During the six years that the divorce was pending, the attachment of Henry for Anne had been constant and fervent, his ardor seeming to increase with the obstacles that opposed it; but with the removal of these obstacles, his love, which opposition had served but to inflame, began to languish and visibly decay. The enemies of Anne, who were the first to perceive the change, eagerly sought to widen the breach, She had brought forth a dead son; a disappointment which produced upon the irritable temper of the monarch, whose desire for male offspring had been extreme, the most violent effects; while his superstition made the innocent mother accountable for this misfortune. But jealousy was the engine which the adversaries of the queen employed for her destruction with the greatest success.

No real stigma has been thrown on the conduct of Anne, but a certain levity of spirit and gaiety of character, which she had probably acquired from her education in France, rendered her manners unguarded. The rigid decorums, practised at that time in the court of England,

were peculiarly adverse to the frank and lively temper of Anne: more vain than proud, she took a coquetish pleasure in beholding the effect of her charms, and indulged herself in an easy familiarity with those who had been formerly her equals. Her popular manners offended the dignity of Henry; if the lover had been blind to the foibles of his mistress, the husband became but too quick-sighted to the indiscretions of his wife. Malignant persons barbarously misinterpreted the innocent freedoms of the queen, and aggravated the suspicions of Henry. The viscountess of Rocheford, a woman of a profligate character, who had married the queen's brother, but who entertained for her sister-in-law a mortal hatred, poisoned the mind of the king by the most cruel insinuations: restrained neither by humanity, truth, nor decency, she accused her own husband of a criminal intercourse with his sister; and not content with a slander so wicked and injurious, she affected to construe into marks of particular affection, every obliging word or action of the queen, to those who, by their offices, had access to her person.

Henry Norris, Weston, and Brereton, gentlemen of the king's chamber, were, with Mark Smeton, groom of the chamber, observed to be