ventured the suggestion to king Henry ❝ that it would well become his greatness to rear a stately monument to her memory." He answered, that he would have to her memory one of the goodliest monuments in Christendom." This was the beautiful abbey church of Peterborough, which he spared, on account of its being her resting-place, from the general destruction that soon after overwhelmed all monasteries. Thus the whole of that magnificent structure may be considered the monument of Katharine of Arragon, although the actual place of her repose was never distinguished, excepting by a small brass plate.' It will be shown in the course of these biographies, that her daughter Mary intended that her beloved mother should share her tomb.

The chamber, hung with tapestry, in which Katharine of Arragon expired, is to this day shown at Kimbolton Castle; the tapestry covers a little door leading to a closet still called by her name. One of her travelling portmanteaus has remained at Kimbolton ever since her sad removal from Bugden. It is covered with scarlet velvet, and the queen's initials, K. R., with the regal crown, are conspicuous on the lid; there are two drawers beneath the trunk. Its preservation may be attributed to its having been used as the depository of the robes of the earls and dukes of Manchester."

The grand abilities of Katharine of Arragon, her unstained integrity of word and action, united with intrepid firmness, commanded even from her enemies that deep respect, which her sweetness, benevolence, and other saintly virtues, would not have obtained, unsupported by these high queenly qualities. Sustained by her own innate grandeur of soul, her piety, and lofty rectitude, she passed through all her bitter trials without calumny succeeding in fixing a spot on her name. Among many eulogists, one mighty genius, who was nearly her contemporary, has done her the noblest justice. In fact, Shakspeare alone has properly appreciated and vividly portrayed the great talents, as well as the moral worth, of the right royal Katharine of Arragon.

The spot of her interment was long pointed out by the centegenarian sexton, old Scarlett, who buried her, and lived long enough to inter another royal victim, Mary Queen of Scots, in the same cathedral.

*Kimbolton Castle was the principal residence of the earls and dukes of Manchester.

VOL. IV.-11

ANNE BOLEYN,

SECOND QUEEN OF HENRY VIII.

CHAPTER I.

Descent and parentage-Place of birth-Early education-Appointed maid of honour to Mary queen of France-Her letter to her father-Goes to FranceEnters the service of queen Claude-Her accomplishments-Return to England-Proposed marriage-Becomes maid of honour to Katharine of Arragon -Her first interview with the king-His admiration-Courted by Lord Percy -Jealousy of Henry VIII.-Wolsey divides Anne and Percy- Her resentment-She is sent from court-Refuses to return-King's visit to her-She repulses him-His love letters-Anne resumes her place at court-Henry's persevering courtship-Anne's enmity to Wolsey-She listens to the kingWyatt's passion for her-Steals her tablets-Anger of Henry-Anne's retirement during the pestilence - King's letters to her-Her illness - Henry's anxiety-Anne's letters to Wolsey-Divorce agitated-Anne returns to court -Competes with Queen Katharine-Is dismissed to Hever-Her displeasure -Henry's letters-Anne's establishment in London-Her levees-Incurs scandal at Greenwich-Her letter to Gardiner-Present of cramp rings-Her copy of Tindal's Bible-Effects Wolsey's ruin-Her influence in government King's presents to her-Book of divination-Dialogue with Anne Savage Anne Boleyn's death predicted-Created marchioness of Pembroke-Goes to France with the king-His grants to her-She returns with him to EnglandHer gambling propensities.

THERE is no name in the annals of female royalty over which the enchantments of poetry and romance have cast such bewildering spells as that of Anne Boleyn. Her wit, her beauty, and the striking vicissitudes of her fate, combined with the peculiar mobility of her character, have invested her with an interest, not commonly excited by a woman, in whom vanity and ambition were the leading traits. Tacitus said of the empress Poppea, "that with her love was not an affair of the heart, but a matter of diplomacy;" and this observation appears no less applicable to Anne Boleyn, affording, withal, a convincing reason that she never incurred the crimes for which she was brought to the block.

Unfortunately for the cause of truth, the eventful tragedy of her life has been so differently recorded by the chroniclers of the two great contending parties, in whose religious and political struggle she was involved, that it is sometimes difficult to maintain the balance faithfully between the contradictory statements of champion and accuser. Prejudice, on the one hand, has converted her faults into virtues, and, on the other, transformed even her charms into deformity, and described her as a monster, both in mind and person. It would be well for the memory of the lovely Boleyn, if all the other detractions of her foes could be

disproved by evidence as incontrovertible as that which Hans Holbein's faithful pencil has left in vindication of her beauty.

Her character has, for the last three centuries, occupied a doubtful, and therefore a debateable point in history; and philosophic readers will do well, in perusing her memorials, to confine their attention to those characteristics, in which both her panegyrists and accusers agree, without allowing their opinions to be biassed by the unsupported assertions of either, whether for commendation or blame.

The family of Boleyn, Bullen, or, as it was anciently spelt, Boulen, was of French origin, and appears to have been first settled in Norfolk. Thomas of Salle, in Norfolk, the patriarch of Anne Boleyn's line, was a younger brother of the estatesman of the family; he married Anna, the daughter of sir John Bracton, and bound their eldest son, Geoffrey Boleyn, prentice to a mercer. He was, probably, a thriving London trader himself, for he died in that city, 1411, and was buried in the church of St. Lawrence-Poultney. Geoffrey became very prosperous, and may certainly be regarded as one of the most distinguished citizens of London. He married Anna, daughter of the lord of Hoo and Hastings. He was master of the mercers' company in 1424, and was sheriff of London during the stormy and difficult times of the wars of the Roses, and not unfrequently exchanged the mercer's yard for the sword, to preserve the city from the outrages of the rival factions. He was lord mayor in the year 1457, and by his wisdom, courage, and unremitting exertions, maintained tranquillity in his jurisdiction during the memorable congress between the hostile partisans of York and Lancaster for the accommodation of their differences. He died in 1471, and left the magnificent sum of 10007. to poor householders of London.' He established his family on the sure foundation of landed property, purchasing Blickling Hall and manor, in Norfolk, from sir John Falstolf, and the manor and castle of Hever from the Cobhams of Kent. After the death of this good and great citizen, his son, sir William Boleyn, eschewed the city and became a courtier; he was made knight of the Bath at Richard III.'s coronation. The branch whence the lineage of Henry VIII.'s second queen was derived rose to wealth and station wholly by trade and lucky marriages.

Thomas, the father of Anne Boleyn, was first heard of in the reign of Henry VII., as a brave leader against the Cornish insurgents. He was the son of sir William Boleyn, of Blickling, Norfolk, by Margaret, daughter and co-heir of Thomas Butler, last earl of Ormond, which ancient title was revived in the person of this sir Thomas Boleyn, who was, by maternal descent, the representative of one of the most illus

'Stow's Annals.

'This lady shared patrimony equal to 30,000l. per annum of our circulation, exclusive of considerable domains in Ireland, many rich jewels, and 40,000l. in money: besides Rochford, she had the manors of Smeton, Lee, Hawkswell Hall, and Radings. Her great estate of Rochford Hall had been granted by Edward IV. to his sister, the duchess of Exeter, and on her death to earl Rivers, the brother of queen Elizabeth Woodville. On the accession of Henry VII. it was restored the heiress of the Butlers, its righful possessors.

trious of the Norman noblesse. Sir Thomas Boleyn obtained for his wife, the lady Elizabeth Howard, the daughter of the renowned earl of Surrey, afterwards duke of Norfolk, by his first wife Margaret Tylney. This noble alliance brought sir Thomas Boleyn into close connexion with royalty, by the marriage of his wife's brother, the lord Thomas Howard with the lady Anne Plantagenet, sister to Henry VII.'s queen. He was appointed knight of the body at the commencement of Henry VIII.'s reign, and advanced to many other preferments, as will be seen hereafter. The lady Boleyn was one of the reigning beauties of the court of Katharine of Arragon, and took a leading part in all the masks and royal pageantry which marked the smiling commencement of the reign of Henry.

It was not till long after the grave had closed over Anne Boleyn that the malignant spirit of party attempted to fling an absurd scandal on her memory, by pretending that Anne Boleyn was the offspring of her amours with the king during the absence of sir Thomas Boleyn on an embassy to France. But, independently of the fact that sir Thomas Boleyn was not ambassador to France till many years after the birth of all his children, Henry VIII. was a boy under the care of his tutors at the period of Anne's birth, even if that event took place in the year 1507, the date given by Camden. Lord Herbert, however, says expressly, that Anne Boleyn was twenty years old when she returned from France in 1521, so that she must have been born about 1501. She was the eldest daughter of sir Thomas Boleyn and the lady Elizabeth. Hever Castle, in Kent, Rochford Hall, in Essex, and Blickling Hall, in Norfolk, have each been named by historians and topographers as the birth-place of Anne Boleyn. The evidences are strongly in favour of Blickling Hall the local tradition, that Anne Boleyn was born there, is so general that it pervades all classes in that neighbourhood, even to the peasantry. This is confirmed by Blomefield, the accurate historian of that county; and also by that diligent antiquarian, sir Henry Spelman, in his Icena, in which we find the following passage: "To the left lies Blickling, once the seat of the Boleyns, from whence sprung Thomas Boleyn, earl of Wiltshire, and Anne Boleyn, the mother of the divine queen, Elizabeth. To Blickling was decreed the honour of Anne Boleyn's birth." As sir Henry Spelman was a Norfolk man, and the contemporary of queen Elizabeth, we think his testimony, borne out as it is by the opinion of the late noble owner of the domain, is conclusive.

:

No fairer spot than Blickling is to be seen in the county of Norfolk. Those magnificent arcaded avenues of stately oaks and giant chestnuttrees, whose majestic vistas stretch across the velvet verdure of the widely extended park, reminding us, as we walk beneath their solemn shades, of green cathedral aisles, were in their meridian glory three hundred and forty years ago, when Anne Boleyn first saw the light in the adjacent mansion.

'Brookes' Succession.

'Blomefield's Hist. of Norfolk, vol. iii., folio, 2d edition.

The earl of Buckinghamshire's letters: "Anne Boleyn was born here."

The room where she was born was shown, till that portion of the venerable abode of the Boleyns was demolished to make way for modern improvements. Some relics of the ancient edifice have been evidently united to the new building, and the servants were formerly in fear of a domestic spectre, whom they called "Old Bullen." One room called "Old Bullen's study" was shut up, on account of the supernatural terrors of the household. There are statues of Anne Boleyn and queen Elizabeth on the staircase, of wainscot, painted white. I saw them when very young, and was much impressed with the fashion of their robes, which are truly royal in amplitude and length. The head-dress of Anne Boleyn's statue is not the coif edged with pearls which bears her name, but is a small bangled hat. The full sleeves are confined to the arm, at regular distances, with strings of pearls.'

The first years of Anne Boleyn's life were spent at Blickling with her sister Mary and her brother George, afterwards the unfortunate viscount Rochford. Thomas Wyatt, the celebrated poet, was, in all probability, her playfellow, for his father sir Henry Wyatt was her father's coadjutor in the government of Norwich Castle, and when the Boleyns removed to Hever Castle, in Kent, the Wyatts were still their neighbours, residing at Allington in the same county.

The first misfortune that befell Anne was the death of her mother lady Boleyn, who died in the year 1512, of puerperal fever." She was interred in the splendid chapel and mausoleum of her own illustrious kindred, the Howards, at Lambeth. Sir Thomas Boleyn married again, at what period of his life we have no record, but it is certain that Anne's stepmother was a Norfolk woman of humble origin, and it has been observed that queen Elizabeth was connected, in consequence of this second marriage of her grandfather, with numerous families in Norfolk of a mean station in that county."

After the death of lady Boleyn, Anne resided at Hever Castle, under the superintendence of a French governess, called Simonette, and other instructors, by whom she was very carefully educated, and acquired an

'This sleeve is called "the mode of Francis I.;" indeed his portrait by Titian has this peculiar style of sleeve, which pretty well marks the era when the statue was carved.

After the death of Anne Boleyn's father, Blickling fell into the possession of the infamous lady Rochford, on whom it had possibly been settled as dower. When lady Rochford was committed to the Tower with queen Katharine Howard, Henry VIII. sent his sharks to pillage Blickling. We wonder they spared the statue of Anne Boleyn. After lady Rochford's execution, Blickling was granted to sir Francis Boleyn, a kinsman of the family. If Mary Boleyn had had any peculiar claims on Henry's remembrance, it is scarcely probable that she and her children would have been thus wrongfully deprived of their patrimony. Howard Memorials, by Mr. Howard of Corby.

'The chapel at Laubeth church, from which all traces of magnificence were lemoved in the revolution of 1640.

'Thoms' Traditions, Camden Society. The fact that the lady Boleyn, so promi ment in history, who is evidently the person on whom scandal glances as the mistress of Henry VIII., was not Anne Boleyn's mother, throws a new light on the history of the court. It ought to be noted how completely Mr. Thoms' Norfolk MSS. and the Howard Memorials agree on this point.