Page:The Queens of England.djvu/359

 ANNE OF CLEVES. 319 from an object so distasteful to him. This intention was known to the house of parliament, who prayed him to allow his mar- riage to be examined, and a convocation being summoned par- ticulars of the transaction were laid before it. As an excuse for a divorce, Henry again alleged that a prior contract had .been made for Anne by her father to the Duke of Lorraine at the time she was in her minority, although this had afterward been annulled by the consent of both parties. Moreover, that in marrying Anne himself he had not inwardly given his con- sent, nor had he thought proper to consummate the marriage. These reasons being esteemed satisfactory, the union of Henry and Anne was annulled, and the decision ratified by the parlia- ment. The conduct of Anne, under the trying circumstances in which she was placed, does great honor both to her head and her heart. During the short period she lived with Henry she seems to have assjduously endeavored to please him, and is said to have taken especial pains in acquiring a knowledge of the English language, knowing how uncongenial the "high Dutch" was to the ears of her capricious tyrant. The king's character was, however, but too obvious during even her short acquaintance with him ; the fate of Katharine of Arragon and Anne Boleyn had served Anne as an example. With calmness and dignity she received the intimation of her sentence. So placid was her manner on the occasion, as to induce a belief that her heart was destitute of feeling. That was not the case, however, but clearly Henry had never tried, and certainly had not gained her af- fections, and she resigned her ties with him without regret, so readily, that the vanity of Henry was sensibly mortified. She yielded a ready assent to the propositions made by him, that she should be treated as an adopted sister, and next to the queen or his daughter, enjoy the honors of precedence. These condi- tions, with the still more weightv assurance of an annual settle- ment of £3,000, procured her willing assent to the proposed di- vorce. There was, however, one point on which Anne testified some spirit. She had quitted her native country as Queen of England, and would not return thither under any inferior dig- nity. The residue of her days she accordingly passed in Eng- land. Anne was Queen of England only six months, and ere her divorce from Henry, his fickle heart had formed an attachment to Katharine Howard, who was destined to supply her place on