Page:The Queens of England.djvu/335

ANNE BOLEYN. 295 barges belonging to the nobility followed, magnificently orna- mented with silk or cloth of gold, gliding on in harmonious order and to measured strains of music. The river was covered with boats, the shores were lined with spectators, and it might be supposed that London was deserted of its inhabitants, but for the innumerable multitudes collected near the Tower, to witness the queen's disembarkation." On the following day, Anne was conveyed in a litter through the streets of the metropolis, attended by a brilliant procession, and attired in a style of regal splendor that lent new charms to her person, and on Whit-Sunday the ceremony of her corona- tion closed. In her uncle, the proud Duke of Norfolk, the queen had a secret enemy; for, a firm supporter of the ancient faith, he looked with aversion on her who was accused of leading to its subversion, and eyed with bitter jealousy her father and brother, whose influence over her he knew to be great. He likewise was enraged that the choice of Henry had not fallen on his own daughter, the fair Lady Mary Howard, instead of on his niece; and thus discontented, and bent on injuring those he envied, he formed an intimacy with one whose enmities were as stubborn and implacable as his own, urged on by a bigotry still greater. This ally was no other than Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, a man more desirous of gratifying his own ambi- tious views than fastidious as to the means to be employed for carrying them into effect. The Earl of Wiltshire, who had looked for greater aggrandizement when he became the father- in-law of the king, was dissatisfied that his expectations had not been realized, and thought that his daughter might have accomplished this point ; so that in only one branch of her family could Anne hope for sympathy and affection, notwith- standing that she had done all in her power to forward the interests of all. The branch to which we refer was the Lord Rochford, her brother, no less endeared to her by the ties of consanguinity than by a congeniality of tastes and pursuits. Lord Rochford, the friend and companion of the Earl of Sur- rey and Sir Thomas Wyatt, possessed, like them, a refinement of taste and manners, and a talent for as well as a love of liter- ature, which rendered his society peculiarly agreeable to Anne. In his fraternal heart all her thoughts and cares were reposed, and in this dear brother she found her truest friend. He had wedded a woman utterly unsuited to him, and who, instead of