115

LIST OF PLATES

HENRY VIII. _Frontispiece_

CARDINAL WOLSEY _Facing page_ 42

KATHARINE OF ARAGON " " 76

ANNE BOLEYN " " 96

KING HENRY VIII

_His Character_

Holbein has drawn the character and written the history of Henry on the
canvas of his great picture. Masterful, cruel, crafty, merciless,
courageous, sensual, through-seeing, humorous, mean, matter of fact,
worldly-wise, and of indomitable will, Henry the Eighth is perhaps the
most outstanding figure in English history. The reason is not far to seek.
The genial adventurer with sporting tendencies and large-hearted
proclivities is always popular with the mob, and "Bluff King Hal," as he
was called, was of the eternal type adored by the people. He had a certain
outward and inward affinity with Nero. Like Nero, he was corpulent; like
Nero, he was red-haired; like Nero, he sang and poetised; like Nero, he
was a lover of horsemanship, a master of the arts and the slave of his
passions. If his private vices were great, his public virtues were no less
considerable. He had the ineffable quality called charm, and the
appearance of good-nature which captivated all who came within the orbit
of his radiant personality. He was the "_beau garcon_," endearing himself
to all women by his compelling and conquering manhood. Henry was every
inch a man, but he was no gentleman. He chucked even Justice under the
chin, and Justice winked her blind eye.

It is extraordinary that in spite of his brutality, both Katharine and
Anne Boleyn spoke of him as a model of kindness. This cannot be accounted
for alone by that divinity which doth hedge a king.

There is, above all, in the face of Henry, as depicted by Holbein, that
look of impenetrable mystery which was the background of his character.
Many royal men have this strange quality; with some it is inborn, with
others it is assumed. Of Henry, Cavendish,[1] a contemporary, records the
following saying: "Three may keep counsel, if two be away; and if I
thought my cap knew my counsel, I would throw it in the fire and burn
it." Referring to this passage, Brewer says, "Never had the King spoke a
truer word or described himself more accurately. Few would have thought
that, under so careless and splendid an exterior--the very ideal of bluff,
open-hearted good humour and frankness--there lay a watchful and secret
mind that ma