tant in the annals of ecclesiastical history. For the great
changes at that glorious aera, the reformation, when the clouds of
ignorance and superstition were dispelled, we are principally indebted to
the beauteous, but unfortunate Anne Boleyn, whose influence with the
haughty monarch, was the chief cause of the abolition of the papal
supremacy in England; one of the greatest blessings ever bestowed by a
monarch on his country. Intimately associated with, and the principal
scene of these important events, was the ancient palace of Whitehall,[3]
which Henry, into whose possession it came on the premunire of Wolsey,
considerably enlarged and beautified, changing its name from that of York
Place, to the one by which it is still designated.

[3] WHITEHALL was originally erected in the year 1243, by Hubert
de Burgh, Earl of Kent, who bequeathed it to the House of the
Blackfriars, near "_Oldborne_," where he was buried. It was
afterwards purchased by Walter Gray, Archbishop of York, who made
it his town residence, and at his death, left it to that See,
whence it acquired the name of _York House_. Cardinal Wolsey, on
his preferment to the Archbishoprick of York, resided here, in
great state; but on his premunire it was forfeited (or as some
authors assert had been previously given by him,) to the king.
Henry VIII. made it his principal residence, and greatly enlarged
it, the ancient and royal palace of Westminster having fallen to
decay; at the same time he enclosed the adjoining park of St.
James's, which appertained to this palace as well as to that of
St. James's, which that monarch had erected on the site of an
ancient hospital, founded before the conquest for "leprous
sisters." For some curious details of Wolsey's magnificence and
ostentation during his residence at York Place, we refer the
reader to the second volume of Mr. Brayley's _Londiniana_.

In this building, an event, the most important, in its consequences,
recorded in the history of any country, took place,--the marriage of Anne
Boleyn, who had been created Countess of Pembroke, with the "stern
Harry." The precise period of these nuptials, owing to the secrecy with
which they were performed, is involved in considerable obscurity, and has
given rise to innumerable controversies among historians; the question
not being even t