which he is to solve by a ten-minutes' analysis is-to which of this enormous number of characters does the head before him belong. Ex hypothesi, the product varies according to the least variation in its constituent elements; and as it would be plainly impossible for any one but a mathematical prodigy such as Zerah Colbourn, to perform the necessary calculations off-hand, it follows that, in order to give a correct diagnosis in any one particular case, Dr. Holländer must have the ascertained results of this million and a half of mental combinations at his fingers' ends. And this calculation, I may observe, is one extremely favourable to the phrenologist; for it takes no account of the fact, admitted by Dr. Holländer himself, that 'brains vary in quality in different individuals,' nor of the equally important fact, pointed out by Mill, that the effect of concurring causes is not always precisely the sum of the effects of those causes when separate, nor even always an effect of the same kind with them.' A knowledge of the properties of oxygen and sulphur, for instance, would never enable us to deduce those of sulphuric acid, without specific observation and experiment. So that this theory, while dealing with a part only of what Mill termed 'mental physics,' takes no account whatever of the infinite variations which would necessarily be produced by the combinations of what he called mental chemistry.' On the whole, therefore, taking into consideration the number and complexity of the causes to be dealt with, we need not much wonder that, as Dr. Holländer himself admits, ethology, or the science of human character, is st l a missing science.' And there can be no manner of doubt that if investigations into its nature were to be conducted on phrenological lines only, a missing science it would for ever remain.

JOHN FYVIE.

SOME ROYAL LOVE-LETTERS

LIVES of various persons stand out in our memory, either from the intrinsic interest of their own individual character and personality, from the art of their biographer (vide Life of John Sterling by Carlyle), or because of the more famous actors on this world's stage amid whom it may have been their lot to play a part, albeit a minor one. Anne Boleyn remains a figure prominent on our historical canvas principally because of her influence, direct and indirect, on some of the great Englishmen of her short day-Henry the Eighth, Wolsey, More, Wyatt, Fisher, Cranmer, and others.

Papers and correspondence concerning her are even now often coming newly to light from English and Continental archives and depositories; original documents containing her name linked with scandal or politics can be seen in most of the great European libraries; from the Vatican, where repose the famous love-letters of Henry the Eighth, downwards. Those epistles were stolen from Anne in 1528 and sent to Rome, probably by Wolsey, though much suspicion also fell upon the Roman legate, Cardinal Campeggio.

Sir Thomas Boleyn, afterwards Viscount Rochford and Earl of Wiltshire, was the father of many children, of whom only three lived to grow up, the majority dying in infancy, as was only too usual in those days of unhealthy conditions of life, always ensuring an enormous amount of infant mortality. Perhaps Sir Thomas did not break his heart over the loss of his children, as in a letter to Thomas Cromwell he does not seem to have over-much welcomed their coming. The truth is,' he writes, 'that when I married my wife, I had but 50l. to live on for me and my wife, so long as my father lived, and yet she brought me forth every year a child.' In spite, however, of this lamented inconsiderateness on the part of his wife, after her death, in 1512, in childbirth, Sir Thomas did not hesitate to marry again, and chose as his second wife a Norfolk woman of humble birth, who, unhappily, was of a certain notoriety, as scandal had connected her name with that of the King. His first wife, the

mother of Anne, had been Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of the renowned Earl of Surrey, afterwards Duke of Norfolk.

There is a slight uncertainty about the childhood of Anne Boleyn both as to dates and history, hers being much mixed up with those of her sister Mary. Anne was probably born in 1501, but some historians put it as late as 1507. There is also a confusion as to which of the two girls accompanied the sister of Henry the Eighth, the Princess Mary, to France on the occasion of her marriage to Louis the Twelfth, the princess who soon after as a young widow made the romantic love-match with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. Mary Boleyn was probably the maid of honour, and Anne's first visit may have taken place in 1519, when her father was sent as ambassador to Francis the First. From many contemporary accounts Anne seems to have been very fascinating. Chateaubriand, one of

the French courtiers, speaks of her as having a great talent for poetry, and when she sung, like a second Orpheus she would have made bears and wolves attentive. She likewise danced the English dances, leaping and jumping with infinite grace and agility. Moreover, she invented many new figures and steps, which are yet known by her name, or by those of the gallant partners with whom she danced them. She was well skilled in all games fashionable. fashionable. Besides singing like a syren accompanying herself on the lute, she harped better than King David!' This enthusiastic admirer goes on to dilate on Anne's good taste in dress, her gracefulness, &c. From being maid of honour to the Queen of Francis the First, Anne went in the same capacity to his sister Marguerite, Duchesse d'Alençon, and returned to England in 1522 to take a place in the household of Katherine of Aragon. She there seemed to have set all fashions in dress, constantly devising new modes, and being imitated by all the Court beauties and well-dressed women.

Before entering on her new post she wrote thus to the King: Sir, It belongs only to the august mind of a great King to whom Nature has given a heart full of generosity towards the sex, to repay by favours so extraordinary, an artless and short conversation with a girl. Inexhaustible as is the treasury of your Majesty's bounties I pray you to consider that it cannot be sufficient to your generosity for if you recompense so slight a conversation by gifts so great, what will you be able to do for those who are ready to consecrate their entire obedience to your desires? How great soever may be the bounties I have received, the joy I feel in being loved by the King whom I adore, and to whom I would with pleasure make a sacrifice of my heart, if fortune had rendered it worthy of being offered to him, will ever be infinitely greater. The warrant of maid of honour to the Queen induces me to think that your Majesty has some regard for me since it gives me the means of seeing you oftener, and of assuring you by my own lips (which I shall do on

the first opportunity) that I am Your Majesty's very obliged and very obedient servant without any reserve,

Anne Boleyn was a clever woman, and nowhere did she show her cleverness more than in her letters. In the artless and short' conversation, or at other times, she must have taken the King's measure, and known that no adulation or flattery addressed to himself could have seemed to him unreasonable or absurd! At the English Court she had naturally many admirers, and the one she favoured was Lord Percy, eldest son of the Duke of Northumberland : he was attached to the household of Cardinal Wolsey, who kept up almost regal state. In his elation and happiness, unconscious of any difficulties, young Percy proudly proclaimed his engagement to Anne, and the news soon reached the King's ears. He admired her, and jealousy, though probably at first only that of a dog in the manger, and not with any idea then of possible marriage, made him send in haste for Wolsey, and secretly direct him by any means to at once stop the affair. The Cardinal accordingly did so, and so effectually that very shortly afterwards Percy was hurried into a marriage with Lady Mary Talbot, which had been une affaire arrangée for some time between their two fathers, the Duke of Northumberland and the Earl of Shrewsbury. Anne was dismissed from Court and sent to Hever Castle, in Kent, the home where she had spent most of her childhood, and where her father and his second wife chiefly resided in preference to their other place, Blickling Hall, in Norfolk. Wolsey had done the King's business so well that no suspicion of the real wrecker of their happiness occurred to either of the young lovers, and the whole force of their hatred was directed against the Cardinal, though at the time they were helpless to revenge themselves; but their wrath was stored up to take fatal effect in future days.

Henry the Eighth allowed a little time to elapse for Anne's wounded feelings to recover, and then he paid an unexpected visit to Hever; but, either from feelings of indignation at having been dismissed so summarily from Court, or from her father's not wishing her name as well as her sister's to be spoken of as the object of the King's gallantry, the fair Anne did not appear, but kept to her room under the plea of indisposition.

In 1525 the King bestowed the title of Viscount Rochford on Sir Thomas Boleyn, at the same time making him Treasurer of the Royal Household. Anne may have become conscious of the King's preference for her by these favours to her family, and certainly his letters soon after can have left no doubt about it in her mind.

Retranslated from Leli's Italian version.

VOL. LVII-No. 340

3 T

From about this period she seems to have turned from disappointed love to plans of such joy as ambition finds.

It is conjectured that some of Henry the Eighth's letters written to Hever belong to this time, though, being undated, and the replies not being known, it is difficult to place them. Anne seems to have held out for some time from returning to Court, perhaps to enhance her value! This appears to be one of the earliest epistles :-'To my Mistress. As the time seems very long since I heard from you, or concerning your health, the great love I have for you has constrained me to send this bearer to be better informed both of your health and pleasure, particularly because since my last parting with you I have been told that you have entirely changed the mind in which I left you, and that you neither mean to come to Court with your mother, nor in any other way; which report, if true, I cannot enough marvel at, being persuaded in my own mind that I have never committed any offence against you; and it seems hard in return for the great love I bear you to be kept at a distance from the person and presence of the woman in the world that I value the most and if you love me with as much affection as I hope you do, I am sure the distance of our two persons would be equally irksome to you, though this does not belong so much to the mistress as to the servant. Consider. well, my mistress, how greatly your absence afflicts me. I hope it is not your will that it should be so; but if I heard for certain that you yourself desired it, I could but mourn my ill fortune, and strive by degrees to abate of my great folly. And so for lack of time I make an end of this rude letter, beseeching you to give the bearer credence in all he will tell you from me. Written by the hand of your entire servant, H. R.'

Anne's replies probably were hardly satisfactory to her royal admirer, to judge from the following:-'By revolving in my mind the contents of your last letters, I have put myself into great agony, not knowing how to interpret them, whether to my disadvantage as I understand some others or not. I beseech you earnestly to let me know your real mind as to the love between us two. It is needful for me to obtain this answer of you, having been for a whole year wounded with the dart of love, and not yet assured whether I shall succeed in finding a place in your heart and affection. This uncertainty has hindered me of late from declaring you my mistress, lest it should prove that you only entertain for me an ordinary regard. But if you please to do the duty of a true and loyal mistress, and to give up yourself heart and person to me, who will be, as I have been, your most loyal servant (if your rigour does not forbid me), I promise you that not only the name shall be given you, but also that I will take you for my mistress, casting off all others that are in competition with you out of my thoughts and affections and serving you only. I beg you to give an entire answer