f God, for that her former marriage was
made in blood," the innocent Earl of Warwick having been put to death
owing to the demand of Ferdinand of Aragon.

The King began to indulge in the superstition that his marriage with a
brother's widow was marked with the curse of Heaven. It is perhaps a
strange coincidence that Anne Boleyn should have appeared on the scene at
this moment. Katharine seems always to have regarded her rival with
charity and pity. When one of her gentlewomen began to curse Anne as the
cause of the Queen's misery, the Queen stopped her. "Curse her not," she
said, "but rather pray for her; for even now is the time fast coming when
you shall have reason to pity her and lament her case."

Undoubtedly Katharine's most notable quality was her dignity. Even her
enemies regarded her with respect. She was always sustained by the
greatness of her soul, her life of right doing and her feeling of being "a
Queen and daughter of a King." Through all her bitter trials she went, a
pathetic figure, untouched by calumny. If she had any faults they are
certainly not recorded in history. Her farewell letter to the King would
seem to be very characteristic of Katharine's beauty of character. She
knew the hand of death was upon her. She had entreated the King, but Henry
had refused her request for a last interview with her daughter Mary.

With this final cruelty fresh in her mind she still could write: "My lord
and dear husband,--I commend me unto you. The hour of my death draweth
fast on, and my case being such, the tender love I owe you forceth me with
a few words, to put you in remembrance of the health and safeguard of your
soul, which you ought to prefer before all worldly matters, and before the
care and tendering of your own body, for the which you have cast me into
many miseries and yourself into many cares. For my part I do pardon you
all, yea, I do wish and devoutly pray God that He will pardon you."

ANNE BOLEYN

The estimation of the character of Anne Boleyn would seem to be as varied
as the spelling of her name. She is believed to have been born in 1507.
The Boleyns or Bullens were a Norfolk family of French origin, but her
mother was of noble blood, being daughter of the Earl of Ormonde, and so a
descendant of Edward I. It is a curious fact that all of Henry's wives can
trace their descent from this King. Of Anne's early life little is known
save that she was sent as Maid of Honour to the French Q