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Show FAMOUS WOMEN OF HISTORY ANNE BOLsEYN. 1507-163S. I By Willis J. Abbot. 1 (Copyright, ltll.) uf the hapless women whom ambition or lotisiJeiaUuns oi elata lad to link their lives with tliai of the most uxorl-uus uxorl-uus ul nionarciia, Henry Vlil., tha story ui Amie jjui.yn is ttie uioal sUhetlo. ft is pitiful because she for so oriel a time enjuyeti the confidence and love of tha King, her huaband, bees. use of tha cruelty ui in. aspersions that war cast upon Oaf character; because of tha fact that, although she desired lu gratify her liege ioiu iu the amultlun which had lad him to marry her, nature thwarted her, and,, finally, uecause ul tha fact that the man whu i. .10 prumijied to iova and cherish tier nut merely sent her to tha block, but a fe huura before tha ax fall persuaded Anna's fortunes began. With tha unreasonableness unrea-sonableness of a spoiled child tha king laid all tha blame on her. He at once began to neglect his wife, though not abridging In any degree her royal stats nor limiting her freedom Hie Infidelities Infideli-ties were as numerous as notorious, and at them the quean waa obliged to wink. Then for one brief sptce there seemed a possibility of a return to the happy days of their early wedded life. Once more t her e seemed prospect of a child, snd ones sgaln the king waa devotion Itself. Tha court turned from conspiring lor her undoing to fawning for her favor. Tha child came. It was the much-desired boy. but It was born dead. Thereupon the king lost all interest In her. Within tha court the ronsnlrscles a phuni archbishop to gi ani him a divorce- and declare the marriage invalid truti i t he very beginning. Anne Boieyn was the daughter of a prosperous t.iigllsh cuuntry gentleman, whose alliance with nobility proceeded from the fact that his wife was tha daughter of the duke of Norfolk. History His-tory lesves us in doubt aa to the data of the girl's birth, fixing It diversely at l&ul and 1&07. '1 hougn there Is no evidence evi-dence that Anne's parents foresaw or even Imagined the brilliant and disastrous disas-trous 4-areer and fate the future held for her, alls was educated In a way to fit her to adorn any court, recalvlng bar final schooling at the gay uod witty court of France. In 1 '-J.' Anne returned to England with all the French airs and gracaa. Mie is described M having been st this time a tall, slender girl, well shaped, with black eyea and a brunette complexion. More thun one writer of the time refers to her beauty as of the gypsy type Her voice was marvetously sweet, both in speech snd song, snd her wit snd ready repartee sparkled even aa did her eyes. Aifiii her age on hor return chroniclers differ, thougn a moat trustworthy account ac-count dsvlaree that whan Henry VIII. lirst met her at a fancy dress ball Immediately Im-mediately upon her return she was but fifteen years old. The king Was Instantly In-stantly .Infatuated snd his pursuit of the girl never relaxed until she became his wife. Anne, while not a prude, was at lesnt prudent, and thougn realdlng at the court as a maid of honor, aha bore herself so that the breath of scandal was not islsed against her. She stood out for the full messure of wifehood and the for hsr downfall doubled with no effort on his part to check them. 1 Anne was In a most direful position. All the Catholic forces of Europe were against her. From every convent, monaatery and church ware sprea-l rumors attacking her chastity chas-tity before and after marriage. Spain had even refused to recognise her as qusen. Her own court, of course, wn hostile. Eager eyes were ever on the watch to detect her In aonie act on which to hang a scandalous tale, and lively Imaginations were ready to Invent scandals scan-dals that had no foundation-Anns foundation-Anns met the impending crisis In s way that could only enhance Its gravity. She waa still queen and relaxed nothing of hsr qussnly haughtiness. In the days of her power, when Henry would refuse her nothing she snubbad the greatest figure tn the kingdom, and now, out of favor, and gliding awlftly to a fall, she did the same. Was her husband cold and sombre som-bre with her? Then she would disguise her outraged feelings by being the merriest mer-riest coquette about ths court. That aha flirted outrageously there seems to b no doubt, but that her flirtations passed beyond the danger point not even the Inquisitors In-quisitors at her trial were able to show. Four young men of the court particularly particular-ly paid lively court to her, loaded her with compliments, snd ogled her before the sinister eyes of the court. One. in his cups, boasted that she sccorded him ths most Intimate favors, and the other thrse being complimented upon like good fortune smiled and did not denty the soft Impeachment. They won the reputation which some men envy of being gay Lo-tharlos, Lo-tharlos, and a few weeks later paid for it with their hssds after preliminary ex- status of u nut . ii Roth ware ultimately ultimate-ly grsnted. both taken sway, snd her young life as well. rfeury wsa at the tlma ons of ths moat splendid and powerful monarchs uf Christendom. He hsd to wife Kath-ertne, Kath-ertne, daughter of Ferdinand and Tsa-hetfa Tsa-hetfa of Hpuin. anel with her he gained the favor of the pope and rlose allien. -e wivh apalu. Rut Kathetine hors him no aons who survived Infancy, and, like all men even our own raptalna of Industry as his power and fame Increased he yearned passionately fur an heir to whom to transmit his cnoa-n. I.ong before hs had Issoome Infatuated with Anne ha had begun plotting to divorce Katharine, but the obstacles In his way seemed Insuperable. Insuper-able. Hpaln, of course, bitterly opposed the divorce and the pope set his face relentlessly re-lentlessly agalast It. Rut the sudden discovery of the sprightly and vlvacloua Anne, who reaponded to all his overtures over-tures only with an-h remarks about s necesssry msrrlsge. spurrsd ths king to desperstn messuras. In the end he defied the pops, ss -cured a decree of divorce from sn archbishop arch-bishop who held his place at the king's will and married Anne, or, rather, rath-er, announced that the marriage had taken plnce two months earlier. Very soon came the news that tha new queen was about to present the king with the long desired heir. The court was In an ecstasy of apparent rapture though most of the courtiers hated Anne ie n of her audden elevation to power. South-sayers, South-sayers, diviners, wise woman, jit tht claque of prophesying humbugs foreartw the birth of a boy, knowing! w.ia: liisy were sxpsctsd to pronhesv. All the omens forecast It. And thrn fate, which often rough hews the lives of royslty as well as of lesser fnik,jsat I he die. On the 7th of ReptsmbV, IMS. the ch'.U was born. H was a girl. Wltb that disappointment the wrk nf perlenrss In the torture tiiamner. Henry's mind was fertile for the sesd sown by those who told him the worst, features of Anne's conduct. He hsd already al-ready determined that, like Katherlne, she waa "an unlucky woman," and that In denying him a son Ood was punishing him for soma technical flaw tn hu marriage. mar-riage. He waa the more wllllnr o take s harsh view of Anna's peccadilloes for that he was now desperately in love with Jsne Heymour, maid of honor to Anne, as the latter had been maid to Cstherlm-. The four gay cavaliers were sent to the tower, Rochford, the queen's hrotUer, followed fol-lowed them, and a few days later Queen Anne herself entered that doorway to dsath. ' It Is Idle to detail the trial lltml ensued. en-sued. Under English law at that time persons accuaed of high treason were denied de-nied all counsel. Their sole method of defense was to Interrupt crown witnesses with questions or make bold denluls of guilt. Anne was pitted against three of the ablest lawyers In the land. The jurv was packed alx held office under tire crown, two were her notorious enemlea. and of the other four nothing Is known. Of course the queen was convicted. Of the host of trials for treason im to that time one only had resulted in an uc- i ul t tal. bera use t he cro w n wan he h I nd all. Wo on the- 19th of Ma v. ir.1. Anne Roleyn went to the scaffold a scant three years sfter ahs went to the throne. At her supplication. Henrv had graciously gracious-ly consented that she be decapitated with a sword Instead of the ax, the cnmmo.t lot of traitors. This roval boon she acknowledged, ac-knowledged, saying: "The kna has been very good to me. He prorrrbted me from a simple maid to be s marchioness. Then he raised me to be a uueen. Vow he will raise me to a martyr." And so. Itks a martyr, tearless snd unflinching, un-flinching, she died. |