and kings and emperors were to acknowledge his supremacy.

As suddenly as Leo's death, arrived the news of Adrian's appointment to the Holy See, and Wolsey saw himself excluded from the chair of St. Peter.

Through the prosperous vicissitudes of Henry's reign, Catharine of Aragon had been the partner of his throne. She had commanded his respect by her virtues, and borne with his faults. with a patience and forbearance, that resulted from principle and conjugal affection, rather than from a gentle and indulgent character. To Wolsey she ascribed many of the wanderings of her husband, and spoke to him freely on the subject. Her accusations were severe, and were indignantly received; she reproached him with ministering to the licentious pleasures of the King, and using an influence disgraceful to a prelate.

The haughty and overbearing Cardinal could ill endure this language; and, though he suppressed as far as possible his indignation, Catharine was conscious he had become her bitter enemy.

But a

Hitherto Henry had borne in his gay and jovial countenance the index of his character. change seemed to have come over him. His face was no longer clothed in smiles; an expression of care and anxiety clouded his brow; sighs frequently arose; his step became slow and meas

ured. He had taken great delight in tournaments, which gratified his taste for magnificence and his prowess in arms. All were now forbidden; and he was usually seen poring over musty parchments, with hose ungartered and head unkempt.

Henry the Eighth had deviated from the austerity of his father's court. He emulated the romantic gallantry of Francis, the French monarch; but it was uncongenial to him, and often his violence and impetuosity broke forth, even in the presence of the fair ladies of his court, whom he most wished to please. This change from a gay and dissipated course of amusements excited much surprise and conjecture.

At length he announced the cause, - deepseated scruples of conscience were preying upon his health; he had, after much investigation and study, fully convinced himself, that his union with Catharine, who had been betrothed to his brother Arthur, and whom he had married as the widow of that prince, was sinning against the laws of God. He had collected many passages of Scripture to prove the unholiness of the union, which he said was fully demonstrated by their having no male heir to the throne, the Princess Mary being their only surviving child.

What must have been Catharine's sensations when these scruples were announced to her; she who had been his wife for nearly twenty years!

Her suspicions rested immediately on Wolsey, as the instigator of this new-born tenderness of conscience. Probably she accused him wrongfully, and might better have attributed the whole to the caprice of Henry's character. It must be acknowledged, that the subject had been discussed by learned prelates previously to the marriage. However little inclined Wolsey was to the Queen, there seems to have been no adequate motive for thus stirring up his master's conscience.

The

About this time, or perhaps a little before it, Henry met with Anne Boleyn, the accomplished daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn. She had been educated in France, and, on her return to England, became maid of honor to the Queen. winning graces of this lady were heightened by the polish of a French education, which was altogether opposed to the English. Women in England of high rank were usually educated in nunneries. They were taught enough of reading for religious exercises, but confectionery, needlework, and, what is somewhat surprising, physic and surgery, came under the head of female accomplishments. * When removed from these seminaries to the houses of their parents, daughters were placed standing at the table, where they ate their dinners like statues, and were not per

* This is proved by a tract written in the last century, in the "Antiq. Repertory."

mitted to sit, though a cushion was usually placed before them, on which they were at liberty to kneel. It is said, that, even in Sully's time, this austerity was prevalent in France, and that he used to enjoy rural happiness on a bench in his garden, just large enough for himself, while his family stood uncovered, facing him.*

Anne Boleyn's natural vivacity had broken through the restraints of the time. Henry, attracted by her beauty, approached and accosted her at a tournament, with visor down, and masked, and requested leave to wear her scarf of silver tissue. Being, or pretending to be, unconscious that the King addressed her, she playfully replied; "Nay, Sir Knight; do not venture; it was given me by a magician, and whoever wears it, becomes my slave for life."

"That, I am, already;" said the gallant monarch; and, forgetting his assumed character, reached forth his hand to take it, with royal impunity.

Anne hastily retreated, saying; "Nay, Sir Knight; were it the King himself, he takes it not by force."

Henry, unable to restrain his impetuosity, drew off his mask. Anne, gently sinking on one knee, disengaged the silver tissue from her neck, and threw it over the arm of the King.

*This stone bench is preserved at Rosny.

There is no doubt but his scruples of conscience were greatly increased by the charms of Anne, blooming in youthful beauty. Catharine had never been handsome or fascinating. Time had passed heavily over her countenance. She had nothing to plead but her faithful and untiring love, her loyal devotion to his interest. For nearly twenty years she had borne his wanderings without reproach; she was the mother of his children, and her heart was bound up in the one that Heaven had still spared to them. For a time, she resisted the idea that he could separate himself from her; that he could attach a stigma to her name, and proclaim his child illegitimate. But the unwelcome truth was at last forced upon her.

Henry now openly solicited the opinions of the most eminent canonists and divines. He composed treatises himself on the subject, and continued to make proselytes. With the nation at large his cause was unpopular. A queen is known to her subjects. The virtues of Catharine were calculated to awaken the interest of the people; her cause was warmly espoused, and, as Wolsey in all other things had been the director of Henry's conscience, it was naturally supposed he was so in this; and their hatred towards the haughty and domineering Cardinal was greatly increased. It is said, however, that, when he first announced