Page:The Queens of England.djvu/339

ANNE BOLEYN. 299 accouchement of Anne had awakened many grave reflections in the mind of Henry. He now felt how much wiser it would have been, had he patiently awaited for that event — a line of conduct which, now that his passion for Anne was cooled, and a new flame kindled in his heart, appeared very easy, although he had found it otherwise when he loved her. Influenced by his new passion, he was anxious to get rid of Anne, in order to wed Jane Seymour, as he had formerly been to free him- self from Katharine, to wed Anne; but a simple divorce, to be obtained by any pretext, or false accusation to be brought against her, would not satisfy him, because, she would survive him — an event more than probable from her being so many years his junior, and from his own growing infirmities, — she might interfere to prevent the succession of any offspring Jane Seymour might bear him. To prevent the possibility of such a contingency, Anne's life must be sacrificed; and when was the unfeeling and tyrannical Henry ever known to pause in any step that could gratify his own wishes, though purchased by the ruin of another? Courtiers are never slow to discover when a change takes place in the feelings of their sovereign, or to evince their devotion to him by becoming the enemies of those who no longer enjoyed his favor. It was soon observed that Jane Seymour had banished Anne Boleyn from Henry's heart, and as in the former case, the courtiers turned their adulation to Anne from Katharine, so they now directed it to Jane Seymour from Anne. Among the first to notice the king's estrangement from his queen, was the Lady Rochford, who, hating her sister-in-law with an intensity that triumphed over every womanly feeling, became the ready spy of Henry ; when he, aware of the dislike she entertained for his queen, employed her to watch her movements. The result may be easily antic- ipated. This base person, now furnished with an opportunity of gratifying her hatred, brought forward a charge against the queen and her brother, of a crime so terrible that only the vilest could imagine, the most vicious believe. Their frequent interviews, so natural between brother and sister, were made the pleas for a guilt, .the bare notion of which never could be contemplated without horror. The improb- ability of such a charge being credited induced the foes of Anne to prefer other accusations against her, and to name