Page:The Queens of England.djvu/343

ANNE BOLEYN. 303 but which are wholly at variance with what might be expected from Anne Boleyn. The queen's love for music furnished another degrading charge against her ; for Smeaton, a low-born musician, was one of the men with whom she was accused of familiarity, because he had occasionally played on the virginals by her command. Such a charge must have naturally excited the liveliest indignation in the breast of any proud woman, but more especially in one who had worn a crown ; yet Anne is reported to have referred to this matter without anger or surprise! That she was fully aware that Lady Edward Boleyn and Mrs. Cosyns were placed as spies over her, is proved by her saying that "the king wist what he did when he put such women as those about her." And yet the assertions of these very persons as to what she said have found believers. Of all those who had offered adulation to Anne when she basked in the sunshine of her cruel husband's favor, Cranmer was the only one who attempted to speak in her defense, and Crom- well alone treated her with respect. Notwithstanding the bitter trials she had endured, there were moments when Anne's heart, touched by the key of memory, opened to hope ; and as she retraced the proofs of Henry's past love for her, she could not believe that one who so lately had all but adored her could will her death. "He does it to try me !" would she say, after one of these deep reveries into which she would sometimes fall, when her present misery seem but as a troubled dream, from which he would at last awake her. But when her most cruel enemy, Lady Rochford, was deputed by the king to convey a message to Anne, com- manding her to make a full confession of her guilt, hope fled from her for ever, and she prepared to meet her fate with dignity. Her last letter to the king was addressed to him soon after her interview with Lady Rochford, and bears reference to it ; and, although its being written by Anne has been doubted, she was so unassisted by friends during her imprisonment, that we may well believe in its authenticity, which is also borne out by its being a faithful transcript of her feelings and her wrongs. The dignified tone of this letter refutes the reported conversations held by Anne in prison with the spies placed over her, and elevates her character.