Memoirs Of The Life Of Anne Boleyn. Queen Of Henry Viii. - Elizabeth Ogilvy Benger

Written and published first in 1827. (497 pages) A very thorough and detailed historical account by Elizabeth Benger, a foremost biographer of the times, who died just before publication. Also included is "A Memoir of the Author," by Lucy Aikin.

Excerpts:
.....Whether it were at York House, or at Greenwich, that Henry and Anne Boleyn first met, it appears to have been under Wolsey's auspices that she arrested his attention. In the Queen's presence-chamber she might have been occasionally eclipsed by fairer faces, to which superficial observers would award the prize of beauty. That Anne was a brunette is well known, by description and representation from the artist and the poet; and it is notorious, that on one of her fingers was a supplemental nail; a defect which, if we may credit her encomiasts, she had the address to conceal, or the skill to improve into a perfection.
.....The fascination of Anne appears not to have resided even in her features, though of these the loveliness is almost universally acknowledged; but in her eloquent eyes, the symmetry of her form, the mingled airiness and dignity of her carriage; above all, in those indefinable charms of grace and expression which lend interest to every glance, and intelligence to each movement.
.....The precise period of Jane Seymour's introduction to court is not known; but it is intimated by Anne's biographer, (Wiatt), that she was thrown in the King's way for the express purpose of stealing his affections from his once idolized Queen. Without the talents, the graces, the sensibilities, which gave to Anne such an inexhaustible variety of charms, Jane possessed, however, that first bloom of youth which, now that Henry had lost his youthful susceptibility of imagination, and perhaps original delicacy of taste, was powerfully alluring.
.....Anne Boleyn being on the scaffold, would not consent to have her eyes covered with a bandage, saying that she had no fear of death. All that the divine who assisted at her execution could obtain from her, was, that she would shut her eyes; but as she was opening them at every moment, the executioner could not bear their tender and mild glances: fearful of missing his aim, he was obliged to invent an expedient to behead the Queen. He drew off his shoes, and approached her silently; while he was at her left hand, another person advanced at her right, who made a great noise of walking, so that this circumstance drawing the attention of Anne, she turned her face from the executioner, who was enabled, by this artifice, to strike the fatal blow, without being disarmed by that spirit of affecting resignation which shone in the eyes of the lovely Anne Boleyn.

Contents:
Henry the Eight, his court, and his Character in Youth ---- Of the Descent of the Boleyn's ---- The Introduction of Anne Boleyn at the French Court ---- Letters and Embassies of Sir Thomas Boleyn ---- The Meeting of Francis and Henry in the Plains of Guisnes ---- Return of Anne Boleyn to England ---- Establishment at Court ---- Attachment to Percy ---- Separation of the Lovers ---- Anne Boleyn's Retirement at Hever Castle ---- Recall to Court ---- Celebrated by Sir Thomas Wiatt ---- Progress of Henry's Attachment ---- Commencement of the Process for the Divorce ---- Wolsey's Disgrace ---- Rise of the Reformers ---- Meeting between Francis and Henry at Paris ---- Coronation of Anne Boleyn ---- Sequel of the History of Queen Anne Boleyn ---- Supplemental Remarks on the Family of the Boleyn's ---- Appendix ---- Notes

This book for the Kindle also contains 2 images of Anne Boleyn and are available for viewing at www.digitaltextpublishing.com

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