LETTER CXXIII.

Sir William Kingston to Lord Cromwell, apparently May 18th 1536.

[MS. COTTON. OTHO c. x. fol. 223.]

SYR thys shalbe to advertyse you I have resayved your Lett' wherin yo a have strangerys con

veyed yowt of the Towre and so thay be by the

of Richard Gressum, & Will-m Loke, & Wythe

poll, bot the umbrb of stra

not xxx. and not

mony; Hothe and the inbassit'of the emperor had a ther and honestly put yowt. Sr yf we have

not anowrec serten ...d be knowen in London,

e

I thynke he wilbe bot few and I thynk

humbur & ware bes: for I suppose she wyll declare hyr

k

yng she sent for me that I myght be with hyr at . . asshe reysayved the gud lord to the in tent I

for me, and at my commyng she sayd M. Kyngston I

past my payne. I told hyr it shuld be now payne it

f. you would have. bnumber. e an hour. f a reasonable. L. Herb.

8 number. h be a.

d as it may be. L. Herb.
L. Herb. i death.

⚫ here. k for this

morning. L. Herb. 1 I heard say I shall not. L. Herb.

Thys Lady hasse meche joy and plesur in dethe

newaly with hyr and hasse bene syns

The names of those who were called Anne Boleyn's accusers have occurred in the preceding Letters.

The close of her catastrophe shall be detailed in the words of Burnet : "A little before noon, being the 19th. of May,"she was brought to the Scaffold, where she made a short speech to a great company that came to look on the last scene of this fatal Tragedy: the chief of whom were the Dukes of Suffolk and Richmond, the Lord Chancellor, and Secretary Cromwell, with the Lord Mayor, the Sheriffs, and Aldermen of London. She said she was come to die, as she was judged by the Law; she would accuse none, nor say any thing of the ground upon which she was judged. She prayed heartily for the King; and called him a most merciful and gentle Prince, and that he had been always to her, a good, gentle, sovereign lord: and if any would meddle with her cause, she required them to judge the best. And so she took her leave of them and of the world; and heartily desired they would pray for her. After she had been some time in her devotions, being her last words to Christ I commend my Soul,' her head was cut off by the hangman of Calais, who was brought over as more expert at beheading than any in England: her eyes and lips were observed to move after her head was cut off, as Spelman writes; but her body was thrown into a common chest of elm tree, that was made to put arrows in, and was buried in the chapel within the Tower before twelve o'clock.

"Her brother with the other four did also suffer. None of them were quartered, but they were all beheaded, except Smeton, who was hanged. It was generally said, that he was corrupted into that confession, and had his a was so sotell. Herb. ba lyttel neck and put her hand. Herb. VOL. II.

F

⚫ that.

life promised him; but it was not fit to let him live to tell tales. Norris had been much in the King's favour, and an offer was made him of his life, if he would confess his guilt, and accuse the Queen. But he generously rejected that unhandsome proposition, and said that in his conscience he thought her innocent of these things laid to her charge; but whether she was or not, he would not accuse her of any thing, and he would die a thousand times rather than ruin an innocent person.'

" a

On the day of the execution, Henry the Eighth put on white for mourning, as though he would have said, I am innocent of this deed:' and the next day was married to Jane Seymour.

The good Melanchton, whose visit to England was prevented by the afflicting news of the Queen's execution, has elegantly expressed his opinion of her innocence, in a letter to Joachim Camerarius, dated on the fifth of the ides of June 1536:

"Anglicæ profectionis cura prorsus liberatus sum. Postquam enim tam tragici casus in Anglia acciderunt, magna consiliorum mutatio secuta est. Posterior REGINA, MAGIS ACCUSATA quam CONVICTA ADULTERII, ultimo supplicio affecta est. Quam mirabiles sunt rerum vices, mi Joachime, quantam Dei iram omnibus hominibus denunciant, in quantas calamitates etiam ex summo fastigio potentissimi homines hoc tempore decidunt. Hæc cum cogito, etiam nobis ærumnas nostras et nostra pericula æquiore animo ferenda esse disputo." b

To some it has been a cause of surprize, that Anne Boleyn should have passed an encomium upon Henry the Eighth at her death. Indeed it is remarkable that at almost every execution in that sanguinary period, the praise of the Sovereign was pronounced by those who fell upon the scaffold. It seems to have been so directed by the Government. Tyndale, from whose "Practice of Prelates" we have already made an extract respecting the disclosure of Confessions, has another passage upon this point, too important not to be given here:

"When any GREAT MAN is put to death, how his Confessore entreateth him; and what penance is enjoyned him concerning what he shall say when he cometh unto the place of execution. I coude gesse at a practyse that might make mennes eares glowe."

In Anne Boleyn's case, however, it may be in part ascribed to anxiety for the safety of her daughter.

Anne Boleyn's execution was a fatal precedent for succeeding times. Henry having beheaded one Queen, proceeded fearlessly to the beheading of another. Elizabeth familiarized the application of the axe to royalty one step farther; for she beheaded a foreign Queen who had taken shelter in her dominions. Half a Century later, and the people beheaded their Sovereign. a Burnet, Hist. Reform. vol. i. p. 205. b Melancht. Epist. 8° Lips. 1569. c Pract. of Prelates, 120 Marborch, 1530.

LETTER CXXIV.

Lady Rocheford to Secretary Cromwell.

[MS. COTTON. VESP. F. XIII. fol. 109 b. Orig.]

The profligate woman whose smooth Letter now presents itself, was the wife of the viscount Rochford, the brother of Anne Boleyna. Her calumnies against that injured Queen were equally void of truth and humanity. She even pretended that her own husband was engaged in a criminal correspondence with his sister.

Her career, however, was not of long duration. She entangled herself with the real amours of Queen Catherine Howard, and, as will be seen here after, fell with her upon the scaffold in 1542, unpitied.

: The Bill of Attainder of Queen Catherine Howard, stat. 33 Hen. VIII. ch. xxi. states that the Queen had met Culpeper " in a secret and vyle place, and that, at an undue hower of xi. a clocke in the night, and so remayned there with him till three of the clocke in the morninge, none being with them but that Bawde the LADY JANE ROCHFORD, by whose meanes Culpeper came thither.”

MAYSTER Secretory, as a power desolat wydow wythoute comffort, as to my specyall trust under God and my Pryns, I have me most humbly recommendyd unto youe; prayng youe, after your accustemyd gentyll maner to all them that be in suche lamentabull case as I ame in, to be meane to the Kyngs gracyous Hyghnes for me for suche power stuffe and plate as my husbonde had, whome God pardon; that of hys gracyous and mere lyberalyte I may have hyt to helpe me to my power lyvyng, whiche to his Hyghnes ys nothynge to be regardyd, and to me schuld be a most hygh helpe and souccor. And farther more, where that the

She was daughter of Henry Parker, son of Henry Parker Lord Morley and Montegle, who died in his father's lifetime. See Dugd. Baron. tom. ii. p. 307.

Kyngs Hyghnes and my Lord my father payed great soms of money for my Joynter to the Errell of Wyltchere to the some off too thowsand Marks, and I not assuryd of no more duryng the sayd Errells naturall lyff then one hundreth Marke; whyche ys veary hard for me to schyffte the worldd wythall. That youe wyll so specyally tender me in thys behalff as to enforme the Kyngs Hyghnes of these premysses, wherby I may the more tenderly be regardyd of hys gracyous persone, youre Worde in thys schall be to me a sure helpe: and God schall be to youe therfore a sure reward, whyche dothe promes good to them that dothe helpe powere forsaken Wydos. And bothe my prayer and servys schall helpe to thys duryng my naturall lyff, as most bounden so to doo, God my wyttnes; whoo ever more preserve you.

JANE ROCHEFORD.

LETTER CXXV.

John de Ponte, a poor Frenchman, to Secretary
Cromwell.

[MS. COTTON. TIT. B. I. fol. 358. Orig.]

Juste deprecantibus nichil denegari debet. 1536. MONS' I beseche God geve yow thesame that your noble hert desyreth, and Victorye agenst your Enemyes. Amen.