but the gallant spirit of Francis revolted at so indelicate a proposal. He was impressed with too much respect, he said, for the fair sex, to carry ladies of the first rank, like geldings to a market, there to be chosen, or rejected, by the humour of the purchaser. Thus disappointed on the side of France, Henry turned his eyes to the families of Germany, being desirous of consolidating the protestant interest, by an alliance with the Princes of the Smalcaldic league-Cromwell, at length, proposed to him a marriage with the Princess Anne of Cleves, to which the King assented.

She was the daughter of John, Duke of Cleves. She seems to have excited little curiosity or interest, previous to her arrival in England. The treaty of marriage had begun with her father; but some difficulties intervening, the negociation was suspended. It was revived, and completed, with Duke William, her brother. The match was opposed by the Elector of Saxony, who had married Sybilla, the elder sister of Anne; but Henry, who had been seduced by a flattering picture of Hans Holbein, was the more peremptory in carrying on his suit. His taste either led him to the admiration of tall and robust women; or he might imagine, that they were better suited to him, who was now grown somewhat corpulent. By those who had seen the Princess of Cleves, he was informed, that she possessed those essential requisites; he therefore gave orders for her immediate journey to England. Impatient to be satisfied with regard to the person of his bride, he went privately to Rochester, where he could examine her unobserved, and unknown; but his expectations were cruelly damped-he found her tall, indeed, and her proportions were as striking

ENGLAND.] ANNE OF CLEVES.

as his most enlarged fancy could suggest; but she was extremely plain, and entirely destitute of dignity, or grace. He swore that they had brought him a great Flanders mare, and that he could not possibly bear her any affection. To complete his dissatisfaction, she could speak no language but Dutch, of which he was utterly ignorant. On his return to Greenwich, he pathetically lamented his hard case,-and was little consoled by his courtiers, who told him, that kings could not, like private persons, chuse for themselves, but must receive their wives from the judgment and fancy of others.

He was indeed so disgusted with his choice, that he deliberated in council, whether the match should not be dissolved, and Anne sent back to her own country; but the situation of his affairs was, at this period of time, unusually critical. The Emperor was then at Paris on a visit to the King of France, and Henry suspected them of some design inimical to his interests. It was necessary to form a counterbalancing league among the Princes of Germany. He knew that if he dismissed the Princess of Cleves, such an affront would be highly resented by her family and friends, who were sufficiently powerful, when united, to revenge any insult wantonly offered them. He was, therefore, notwithstanding his aversion to her, under the necessity of completing the marriage, and told Cromwell, "that as matters had gone so far, he must e'en put his neck into the collar.'

They were accordingly married on the 6th of January, with the usual pomp. Cromwell, who had promoted this union with a perseverance which was fatal to himself,

and whose interest was so nearly concerned in the degree of favour which the new Queen was to enjoy, was anxious to learn from the King, on the morning following the marriage, whether he now liked his spouse better; but Henry said he hated her more than ever :-That her person was still more disagreeable on a nearer approach—that he had not consummated the marriage-and believed he never should. He then entered into some explanations, which strongly marked his disgust and aversion. He even suspected her deficiency in a point upon which he always expressed the nicest delicacy. He, however, continued to be civil to Anne, and seemed to repose usual confidence in Cromwell; but the rage and discontent which he felt at the ill-assorted marriage thus effected principally by his means, though concealed awhile, burst at length upon that unfortunate minister. Upon the most frivolous pretences he was tried, condemned, and executed. He was a man of prudence, industry, and abilities, worthy of a better master, and a better fate.

The Queen herself seems to have been blessed with a happy insensibility of temper. The King's dislike, which he publicly avowed, and which indeed was visible to all the world, appears to have given her very little. trouble or concern, nor was the German phlegm of her disposition disturbed by the mortifications which she daily experienced. That she was not destitute of capacity and intelligence may be surmised from the readiness with which she acquired the English language, and the facility with which she spoke it, even before her marriage was announced. At length the King's aversion becoming too powerful for his endurance, he resolved to

ENGLAND.]

ANNE OF CLEVES.

part with her. The House of Peers and the Commons, well apprised of the King's intention, petitioned that he would allow his marriage to be examined; and orders were immediately given to lay the whole proceedings before the convocation. Anne had formerly been contracted, by her father, to the Duke of Lorrain, but she, as well as the Duke, were at that time under age, and the contract had been afterwards annulled by consent of both parties. Henry, however, pleaded the pre-contract as a ground of divorce, and he added two reasons more, which may seem a little extraordinary,-that when he espoused Anne, he had not inwardly given his consentand that he had not thought proper to consummate the marriage. The convocation was satisfied with these reasons, and solemnly annulled it. The parliament ratified the decision of the clergy, and the sentence was soon after notified to the Queen,

The King had, already, under the pretence that the country air would better agree with her, removed her to Richmond, and there she received, with the utmost calmness, the notification of her divorce. She was, perhaps, not displeased to be released from an union which gave her so little satisfaction, or the impenetrable serenity of her temper was proof even against the dissolution of her marriage, and the loss of a crown. She readily consented to terms of accommodation with the King, and when he offered to adopt her as his sister, to give her precedence next to the Queen and his daughter, with a settlement of 3000l. a-year, she accepted of the conditions, and gave her consent to the divorce. The only instance of pride which she betrayed, was in refusing to return to her own country, and display the sin

gular circumstance of a Princess returning to Flanders in a private condition, after having left it as Queen of England. She continued in England till her death, which happened July 16, 1557, at her house at Chelsea, and was interred, with great solemnity, on the south side of the choir, in Westminster Abbey.