ing in the social earthquake; and as the
opposing forces wrestle to and fro, those unhappy ones who stand out above
the crowd become the symbols of the struggle, and fall the victims of its
alternating fortunes. And what if into an unsteady heart and brain,
intoxicated with splendour, the outward chaos should find its way,
converting the poor silly soul into an image of the same confusion,--if
conscience should be deposed from her high place, and the Pandora box be
broken loose of passions and sensualities and follies; and at length there
be nothing left of all which man or woman ought to value, save hope of
God's forgiveness.

Three short years have yet to pass, and again, on a summer morning, Queen
Anne Boleyn will leave the Tower of London--not radiant then with beauty on
a gay errand of coronation, but a poor wandering ghost, on a sad tragic
errand, from which she will never more return, passing away out of an earth
where she may stay no longer, into a presence where, nevertheless, we know
that all is well--for all of us--and therefore for her.

But let us not cloud her shortlived sunshine with the shadow of the future.
She went on in her loveliness, the peeresses following in their carriages,
with the royal guard in their rear. In Fenchurch Street she was met by the
children of the city schools; and at the corner of Gracechurch Street a
masterpiece had been prepared of the pseudo-classic art, then so
fashionable, by the merchants of the Styll Yard. A Mount Parnassus had been
constructed, and a Helicon fountain upon it playing into a basin with four
jets of Rhenish wine. On the top of the mountain sat Apollo with Calliope
at his feet, and on either side the remaining Muses, holding lutes or
harps, and singing each of them some "posy" or epigram in praise of the
queen, which was presented, after it had been sung, written in letters of
gold.

From Gracechurch Street, the procession passed to Leadenhall, where there
was a spectacle in better taste, of the old English Catholic kind, quaint
perhaps and forced, but truly and even beautifully emblematic. There was
again a "little mountain," which was hung with red and white roses; a gold
ring was placed on the summit, on which, as the queen appeared, a white
falcon was made to "descend as out of the sky"--"and then incontinent came
down an angel with great melody, and set a close crown of gold upon the
falcon's head; and in the same pageant sat Saint Anne with all her iss