Page:The Queens of England.djvu/322

282 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. description of her charms partakes the exaggeration of the lover as well as of the poet, the more sober one of Chateaubriant, and the less flattering one of Sanders, convey an impression very favorable to her personal appearance. Even with less attrac- tions than "a stature tall and slender, an oval face, black hair, beauty and sprightliness hovering on her lips, in readiness for repartee, skill in the dance and in playing on the lute," and, though last not least, a rare and judicious taste in dress, which led to her being "the glass of fashion" by which all her com- panions wished to attire themselves, Anne must have been very captivating. Naturally lively and witty, with an uncommon facility in acquiring whatever was taught her, Anne Boleyn must have greatly profited by her abode with the clever and brilliant Duchess d'Alencon, whose fascination of manner and sprightly conversation were so universally acknowledged by her contemporaries. But while acquiring accomplishments, and the art of pleasing, with the beloved sister of Francis the First, it is but too probable that the moral principles of Anne were little cultivated, and that to her sejour beneath Marguerite's roof she owed the vivacity and levity, often passing the bounds of strict propriety, with which she was in after years charged, and which furnished weapons to wound her. These peculiarities, which probably formed her greatest attractions in the eyes of Henry when she first won his selfish heart, became sins of deep die when, sated with her charms, he sought to hurl her from the giddy height to which he had raised her. During her residence in France, although greatly admired, the reputation of Anne Boleyn was never assailed, and she returned to England free in heart, and spotless in character. Lord Herbert and others, among whom was Fiddes, state that Anne continued to dwell with the Duchess d'Alencon until some difference grew between Henry and Francis, which caused the English students to be recalled to their own country, at which time she also returned to her family. Fiddes adds, that Francis the First complained to the English ambassador "that the Eng- lish scholars and the daughter of Sir Thomas Boleyn had re- turned home." It is known that Anne's return was advised by the king, for the purpose of arranging a marriage between her and Sir Piers Butler, the heir of him who contested the inheritance of Anne's great-grandfather, the last Earl of Wiltshire, this union being considered the best mode of stopning all vexatious suits between