of the English people (January 25, 1533), Henry and Anne were married in a small chapel of the palace at Westminster, by Rowland Lee, the learned Bishop of Lichfield. Lee was a supporter of the new learning and the National Church. The affair was private, for the King still hoped the Pontiff would decide for him; and he was willing to avoid an open rupture. François was about to meet the Pope, with whom he was contracting an alliance for his second son, and he had promised Henry to procure a settlement of his case. These reasons led the King to have a private marriage. Norreys and Heneage acted as the King's best men, while Anne, a daughter of Sir John Savage, waited on Lady Anne. Lee pronounced the words which made Anne Boleyn, Marchioness of Pembroke, Henry's wife and Queen.

CHAPTER II.

QUEEN ANNE.

1533.

1. BEFORE the King and Queen appeared as man and wife in public, they desired to have a sentence of the English Church declaring the legality of their marriage rite. Rochford crossed to France with news that Henry, yielding to the counsels pressed on him so long by Popes and Cardinals, as well as by the King of France and his ambassadors, had married Lady Anne. Rochford found the King at Rheims. François was glad to hear his news, but he was in no case, he said, to help the King. Clement was not coming into France for several months. Rochford was quick to see his drift. The truth was, François had gained his object when the King had married Anne. A gulf was dug between the crowns of Spain and England, and François was careless how the King, his brother, settled his affairs in Rome.

2. On Easter Eve, the twelfth of April, Anne appeared at mass in company of the King. She was already known to be his wife, and she was led into the church with all the pomp of Queen. At noon

she was proclaimed. A great establishment was given to her, and all the officers of her household took the customary oaths. Not much remained, except for the primate to pronounce a formal sentence, and for Henry to fix a coronation-day.

3. A bill was introduced into Parliament declaring that the realm of England was an independent state, with temporal and spiritual judges able to decide all causes that arose within the realm, and making it unlawful to appeal in any case to Rome. Two questions were submitted to the clergy, who divided Convocation into a committee of theologians and a committee of canonists. The theologians were asked to say whether the Pope could authorise a man to marry his brother's wife; the canonists whether the evidence already laid before the two Cardinals amounted to canonical proof. A great majority of the theologians, sixty-six against nineteen, answered that a Pope has no such power; a still greater majority of the canonists, thirty-eight against six, answered that Catharine had been proved to be Prince Arthur's wife.

4. Forced back on English law and English strength, the King now laid his case before the national Parliament and the national Church. New men were in authority. More had resigned the seals, having shrunk at last, not from aiding the divorce, but from acknowledging the King as head of the Church. Warham was dead. An old and faithful servant of the Crown, yet dizzy from the

whirl and scramble of events, the old man passed away with something like a protest on his pen. Younger and bolder men were in their seats. Audley, Speaker of the House of Commons, a hard and reckless man, inclined at any cost to do the King's bidding, was entrusted with the seals. Cranmer, a friend of the young Queen, was made Archbishop of Canterbury, with the Pope's good will, though Cranmer had espoused a second wife. Gardiner had been expecting Warham's place. Already Bishop of Winchester and Secretary of State, he felt himself insulted by this choice of a man who held no higher office in the Church than that of a royal chaplain. Bitter was the passion he conceived against the new Queen and the new Primate, though he held his tongue and smoothed his brow until his hour of vengeance should arrive.

5. Four bishops rode with Cranmer to the priory of Dunstable, in the chapel of which priory he held his court. Catharine was at Ampthill, four miles off, and Bryan rode across to serve her with a notice to attend. She paid no heed to his citation. Bryan proved the service, and as no one answered for 'Lady Catharine,' she was declared contumacious, and the court was closed. Eleven days later Cranmer pronounced a final judgment of the English Church.

6. A great and striking coronation followed on Whit Sunday, the 29th of May. No living man had seen so great a day in England. On the night before her crowning, Anne was carried to the Tower, and

lodged in royal state. Next day—a sunny day in May she was escorted through the streets, the city turning out to greet her as she passed with such a bravery of show and heartiness of shouts as had not quickened Cheap and Fleet Street since the King himself was crowned. The splendour of the Abbey was beyond compare. A dozen years of peace had left the nation rich, and every one seemed ready to expend his all in honour of the English Queen. Cranmer anointed her with holy eil, and crowned her with a regal crown.