Page:The Queens of England.djvu/334

 294 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. morning sent her as a present a jewel valued at fifteen thousand crowns. It is asserted that Francis the First, from private motives, en- couraged Henry to follow his own inclination to wed Anne Bo- leyn without waiting any longer for the divorce, and that Henry soon after his return to England, adopted this advice. It has been said that the nuptials were privately celebrated at Dover, on the king's arrival there ; while other authorities state them to have taken place in Norfolk. The strict secrecy observed proves how much Henry dreaded the unpopularity the measure was calculated to create, but which he risked for the gratification of a passion which he had not the self-control to subdue. Sir Thomas Wyatt, as well as other historians, declare that the ceremony was privately celebrated January 25, 1532-3, by Dr. Lee, in the presence of the Earl and Countess of Wiltshire, and other witnesses. Anne was now about thirty-one years of age. Henry felt the necessity of boldly pushing forward measures for the pronunciation of the divorce, and, in consequence, an assembly of the episcopal court was convened, to which Kath- arine was again cited, and on not answering, she was declared contumacious, and the sentence of divorce was pronounced by Cranmer. The following Easter, on April 12, the marriage was again solemnized between the King and Anne, but this time publicly, the position of the new queen rendering such a meas- ure necessary, she being pregnant, and immediately after, a proclamation for the coronation of Anne was issued. Letters were sent to the proper legal authorities, directing them to conduct the new queen, with all accustomed ceremonies, from Greenwich to the Tower, and "to see the city garnished with pageants, according to ancient custom, for her reception." The preface to the regal festival, namely, the conducting the queen from Greenwich to the Tower, presented one of the most brilliant sights ever beheld in England, and well calculated to enlist the patriotic sympathies of the nation at large, by ex- hibiting the splendor of the civic fleet, of which all were proud. "The queen embarked at Greenwich in a state barge escorted by no less than fifty barges, with awnings of cloth of gold or silk, emblazoned with the arms of England, and ornamented with various curious devices, among which the queen's appropriate one of a falcon was eminently consnicuous. The lord mayor's barge was next to the royal one, in which, superbly attired in cloth of gold, sat Anne, surrounded by her ladies. A hundred