"on London Bridge that night, as he was com"manded. The Lady Ann Boleyn, who was "the chief cause of this holy man's death, had

a certain defire to fee the head before it was

"fet up. Whereupon, it being brought to her, "fhe beheld it a space, and at last contemptuously "faid thefe or the like words:-Is this the head "that so often exclaimed against me? I trust "it shall never do any more harm."

Orders being iffued by Henry the Eighth, that all strangers fhould be removed out of the Tower of London previous to the execution of Anne Boleyn, Master Kingfton, Lieutenant of the Tower, wrote the following letter to Master Thomas Cromwell, afterwards Lord Cromwell and Earl of Effex. The letter is preserved in Lord Herbert's incomparable History of the Life and Reign of King Henry the Eighth.

CC SIR,

"If we have not an hour certain (as it may "be known in London) I think here will be but "fewe, and I think a reasonable number were " beft. For I fuppofe fhe will declare herself to "be a good woman for all men but for the "King, at the hour of her death. For this "morning fhe fent for me, and protested her "innocency. And now again, and faid to M. Kingston, I heard fay I fhall not die afore

.

66 noon,

1

"noon, and I am forry therefore, for I thought "to be dead by this time, and past my pain.' I "told her it should be no pain it was fo fotell*, "for fo is his word" (adds Lord Herbert). "And then she said, fhe heard fay the execu"tioner was very good, and I have a little "neck; and put her hand about it, laughing "heartily. I have seen many men and women "executed, and they have been in great forrow; and, to my knowledge, this lady hath much joy and pleasure in death.

"May 19, 1536."

"The nineteenth of May being thus come," fays Lord Herbert," the Queen, according to "the express order given, was brought out to a "fcaffold erected upon the Green in the Tower "of London, where our hiftorians say she spoke "before a great company there affembled, to "this effect:

66 GOOD CHRISTIAN PEOPLE,

"I am come hither to die. For according to "the law, and by the law, I am judged to die, "and therefore I will speak nothing against it. I "am come hither to accufe no man, nor to speak

" condemned to die. But I pray God fave the "King, and fend him long to reign over you. "For a gentler nor a more merciful Prince there 66 never was, and to me hee was ever a good, a gentle, and a foveraine Lord. And if And if any perfon will judge of my caufe, I require them "to judge the beft. And thus I take my leave "of the world, and of you all. And I heartily "defire for me." all to pray you

"After which," adds Lord Herbert, "coming "to her devotions, her head was ftricken off "by a fword. And thus ended the Queen, "lamented by many, both as fhe was defirous 66 to advance learned men, in which number "Latimer Bishop of Worcester and Saxton

66

Bishop of Salisbury are recounted, and as she "was a great alms-giver, infomuch that she is

faid in three quarters of a year to have be "ftowed fourteen or fifteen thousand pounds in "this kinde, befides money intended by her "towards raising a stock for poor artificers in "the realme."

In one of the letters which fhe wrote to Henry previous to her trial, fhe fays, " You have chofen

me from a low estate to be your Queen and "companion, far beyond my defert or defire. "If then you found me worthy of fuch honour,

"let

❝ me.

"let not any light fancy or bad council of mine "enemies withdraw your princely favour from Neither let that ftain, that unworthy "ftain of a difloyal heart towards your good "Grace ever caft fo foul a blot on your most "dutiful wife, and the infant Princeffe her "daughter. Try me, good King, but let me "have a lawfull trial, and let not my fworn ene"mies fit as my accufers and judges. Yea, let "me receive an open trial, for my truth shall "fear no open shame."

CARDINAL WOLSEY

Told Sir William Cavendish, his Gentleman Usher, that by means of his parents, and other his good friends, he was maintained at the University of Oxford, where he profpered fo well, that in a fhort time he was made Bachelor of Arts when he was but fifteen years of age, and was commonly called there the Boy Bachelor.

Wolfey, on his return from Oxford, fettled in the country as a schoolmaster, where happening to displease a powerful neighbour, Sir James Pawlet," he (as his Biographer, Cavendish, says) fet "Wolfey by the heels; which affront," it is

added,

66

4

added, "was neither forgotten nor forgiven; "for when the schoolmaster mounted fo high as to be Lord Chancellor of England, he was not forgetful of his old difpleasure most cruelly "ministered to him by Sir James, but fent for «him, and after a very sharp reproof, enjoined "him not to depart out of London without "licence first obtained; fo that he continued in "the Middle Temple for the space of five or fix years, and afterwards lay in the Gate-house

near the Stayres, which he re-edified, and fumptuoufly beautified the fame all over on the "outfide with the Cardinal's arms, his hat, his "cognizance, and badges, with other devices, "in fo glorious a manner, as he thought thereby "to have appeafed the Cardinal's displeasure."

The eldest fon of the Earl of Northumberland, who was in the Cardinal's household, was contracted in marriage to Anne Boleyn, to the extreme indignation of Henry the Eighth, who ordered the Cardinal to fend for his father to London, to talk to him on the fubject of his intended marriage." The Earl of Northumberland," fays Cavendish," came to London very speedily, "and came first to my Lord Cardinal, as all great "perfonages did that in fuch fort were fent for, "by whom they were advertised of the caufe of "their fending for; and when the Earl was

come, he was presently brought into the gallery