MYSTERIOUS QUEEN

Evening Star, Issue 18785, 8 November 1924, Page 10

MYSTERIOUS QUEEN

FATE OF ANNE BOLEYN. The tragedy of Anno Boleyn figures among the most sordid of the tragedies of the English Court. Tho true character of the unhappy Queen is still not clear and definite. She’may bo regarded as an unprincipled girl outmatching by her own ambition the ambitions of her house, playing upon tho sensuality of Henry VIII., attaining her ambition by destroying the very noble lady, Qiiocn. Katharine, and flinging away lloya.lty and life for gratification of the vices of a minor Measalina, or may be interpreted as genuinely in love with Henry, cruelly treated, set aside ultimately through the King's weariness, desire of another male, and longing for a son, and resentful of her husband’s treatment of her, and, knowing her beauty and her sway over the hearts of men, seeking solace, to her heart and mind with such a lover as Sir Henry Norrevs, her husband's friend. The student 'looking for cold and pitiless analysis of the case of Anne Holeyu may find it in AlarLaurin’s essay in ‘ i'osl .Mortem.’ The essay spares him nothing of the idleness of the intrigue which brought Anne into power, and of the intrigue which destroyed her. Or if the student seek conventional presentation of her story, he may find it in the old romance, Harrison Ainsworth’s ‘Windsor Castle,’ the, fiction woven about the legend of .Herne the Hunter, and tho rise and fall of the young queen. And now Philip W. Sergeant has writen on the life of Anne Boleyn a bonk in which he undertakes her defence in a measure by disentangling her story from that of her sister, Mary, who had many lovers in France and England.

The beauty of the girl Anne is in question. Nicholas Bandera, who never paw her, set out in a pamphlet years after her death adverse comments of tho lime upon tier appearance. She was declared rather tall of stature, with black bair ami an oval face of sallowish complexion, with a projecting tooth under tho upper lip. on her right hand six fingers, and under her chin a large wen, to cover which she wore a high dress. Nevertheless, Sanders added inconsistently (hat she was hand some to look at, with a pretty month . she was amusing in her way; played well on tho lute, and was a goed dancer. And in direct contradiction (o the story of the won and the high dress is (ho portrait in the National Gallery with the square cut gown. The wen was apparently nc more than a mole; tho sixth finger was probably pome slight deformity of the nail of ono linger. Notes, professedly from tho memories of Anne’s contemporary and admirer, Sir Thomas Wyatt, credited her with a clear and fresh complexion and a noble presence. An Italian witness told that site was not ono of (he handsomest women in tho world, but was of middling slafnre, with a dark complexion, a largo mouth, and eves black and beautiful. Her portrait shows the aquiline nose and the pointed chin inherited by Elizabeth. Ainsworth's conventional portrait credits her with surpassing beauty; "Anne Boleyn’s features were exquisitely formed, and, though not regular, far more charming than if they had been so. Her nose was slightly aquiline, but not enough sc to detract from its beauty, and bad a little retrousse point that completed its attraction. The rest of tier features were delicately chiselled ; tho chin being beautifully rounded, the brmv.s smooth ami white as snow, while the rose could not vie witli the bloom of her cheek - . Her neck—alas! that the fell hand of the executioner should ever touch it—was long and slender; her eyes large and blue and of irresistible witchery—sometimes scorch, in.g tho beholder like a sunbeam, anon melting him with soul-subduing softness.” AlacLaurin finds that the girl was of medium stature, not handsome, with a long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, eyes black and beautiful, and a knowledge of how to use them. Her hair was long and dark; she departed from custom by wearing it flowing in the house, and "everybody was on the. look-out for more serious false steps. Tho truth seems to bo that she was a bold and ambitious girl who laid herself out to capture Henry, and succeeded.”

The Boleyns were of merchant stock, though intermarried with noble families. They seem to have been a cunning, greedy race, and were gifted in the arts of intrigue—such arts as found full expression in Queen Elizabeth, and tho scheme of destiny wore to be exalted and employed supremely by her for (he cause of England. Anne’s father, Thomas Boleyn. was “squire of the body” to young Henry at his accession. He rose by sheer ability and cunning; he was prepared to employ any means that offered for his advancement. He grasped greedily at opportunities and rewards when" his daughter Mary returned from France, won the favor of tho King, and became his mistress. The girl Anne, with all the cunning of her race and tho accomplishments of a maid of honor at (ho Court of Marguerilo of Navarre, followed her sister back to the English Court, and immediately she. caught tho rye and fired the l.f'art of Henry with a. passion (bat was probably the. supreme passion of his evil life. She ousted Mary speedily from his favor, and she spent years in dislodging Queen Katharine from Hie throne. Doubtless tho sensualist Henry cared little for his queen at- any time. She was older than himself, of d»licato health, and fated not to be. (ho mother of his son. Doubtless ho found in the bold, witty Anno a spirit that seemed akin to his—in the blindness of his passion. Beyond question, tins girl, who, if (lie later charges against tier arc to he credited, played (he wanton, showed in her first relationships with Henry a cunning and a caution measured by which (ho later follies seem improbable. For this time preceding her rise to greatness her tactics were calculated wholly to enmesh the King. She would be no light o’ love of his; if he would win her lie must make her Queen of England. For years, it seems, she resisted Him; he was her slave, and her will accorded with his inclination. She -saw the, Queen sot aside fur her ; she saw the fall of Wolsey and tho great schism of the church. Surely the, girl who wrought her purpose against, all the forces hostile to her had such a skill in intrigue and diplomacy as Elizabeth after her; and such a mind was hers as, equally with her beauty, fascinated Henry. Sire bad her way; she was Queen of England. She was so much elated by her exaltation that she grew vainglorious, vulgarly insolent. She was hated by great and powerful families ; she attached to herself no friend to aid her when she lost her one hold on power—sway of her husband’s heart and mind. With due allowance for tho abilities of the woman, how explain tho nature of the downfall'.’ MacLauvin shows the swift decay of Henry's physical powers, blood pressure, intractable ulcer, effects of over-indulgence, evil temper, neglect of all the manly sports in which, as a magnificent young king, he had delighted. lie surveys the evidence that this accomplished woman, who had resisted Henry for years, turned wanton, and solicited courtiers (Sir Henry Norroys among them, and Smeaton, the musician) to be her lovers. The scandal, reaching Henry’s ears, brought swift destruction for herself and her reputed lovers; a horrible charge was laid against her over and above all tho charges of unfaithfulness. Tho plot for her destruction, if plot it was, was carried out with such cunning and completeness as to make the evidence of her guilt seem absolute. MacLanrin’s interpretation of the woman’s state of health seems convincing, for how else explain the mad folly of the queen who as a mere girl had played with such skill, cunning, patience, and restraint? How, apart from guilt, explain the reticence of Elizabeth* through all her life in reference to her unhappy mother? Anne Boleyn’s reputed lovers died before her eyes, and the wretched woman was beheaded on May 19, 1536. “ The headsman was a noted expert, brought over specially from St. Omer,’’ MacLaurin tells, “ and Anne, kneeling in prayer, and her back, being turned towards him, he stole silently forward, seated the sword from its hiding-place, and severed her slender neck at a blow.’l