TO ANNE BOLEYN

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 41, 18 February 1937, Page 19

TO ANNE BOLEYN

LETTERS FROM HENRY VIII

The fascination'which Anne Boleyi exercised over Henry VIII is a matter of history. Everybody will be interested in one of the monarch's low letters to her, written before their secret marriage in 1532. The reference in this-strangely-spelt letter to Anne's'brother, Viscount Rochford (who was eventually beheaded with her) shows that the King was using him as a go-between in the lovs affair, writes A. C. R Cartel- in the London "Daily Telegraph." Apart from the orthography, which should both puzzle and delight boys and girls who are weak in spelling and punctuation, the wording of the missive sounds very unintelligible today, and will raise thp question whether, 400 years ago, Henry VIII spoke in the style that he used in writing As it stands the letter makes a good crossword puzzle:— "Darlyng I hartely recomende me to you assertaynyn? now I am nott a lytyll perplexpd with suche thynge as your brother shall on my part Declare Unto you to home I pray you gyffe full credence for it wsre to longe to wryte In my last letters I wrytte to you that I trustyd shortly- to se you whyche is better knowne att london than with any that is abought me were off I not a iytill mervell but take off Dyscrette handelyng must nedes be the cause thereoff/No more to you at thys tyme but that 1 trust shortly ours metyngs shall nott Depend uppon other menys lyght andyllings but uppon your owne/Written with the hand off nys that longyth to be yours Henry.