Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-04-23
MISC Ell l. A \ Y.
..UNRY yIII,s FIRST SIGHT OF ANNE
BOLEYN.

"How say We she is called' Buleyn-
Anne Buleyn, daughter of Sir Thomas, down
here at Hever Castle? Gods truth the
wench is fair. Methinks, Lord Surry, thy
Geraldine would scarcely bear comparison" !"
"Nay, nay, my legeI' replied the party
thus addressed "believe thou not lover
will admit that there are others fairer than
his mistress. She is to him the brightest
star of any that shineth in the galaxy OF
Heaven, the sweetest flower that blooms to
beautify his pathway here; the rarest gem
that glitters in his sight. But, to say truth,
Won maiden is comely and a fair. She
hath step stately as Juno's, yet hghs and
graceful as the frollc nymphs that wait on
buskined Dian; form Of natures delica-
test fashioning; Cyiheria, when rising from
the briny element looked not more beauti-
full. Her eyes, how large and lustrous and
the glance she sends, how fraught with Loves
own eloquence and what smile of most
bewildering sweetness plays round her lips,
so ripe and cherry-ike %
enough, my lord p' somewhat inpatient
ly interrupted the lastspeaker. "Youpoets
make deity of woman, investing her with
all those attributes which least may fit her
for this workday world. For me, care not
for your goddesses, your fair divinities, too
pure, too holy for mortaPs love no, by my
soul with all her imperfections and her
faults, give me living, breathing loving
creature, one that can entwine mine arms
about, and feel her heart responsive beat to
mine. But hush she comes this way.
will retire, my lord: do thou with pleasant
speeches so beguile the time, that she shall
never heed the going ont It'll | have changed
this dress, all travel-soiled, and stand before
her as a monarch should"
The reader is by this time doubtless a
ware that the speakers in the foregoing di-
alogue are Henry VIII. and the Earl Of
Surrey and the beautiful Anne Buleyn
is the maiden who has attracted the notice
of the amorous monarch, kindling that flame
in his bosom which shall light her to the
scafFold. The scene is the garden at Pens
hurst, where, amid the trim parterres,
straight paths leading to quantity fashioned
aroors, and shrubs clipped by the hand Of
man into a thousand fanciful devices, she
was wont to pass many hours of happy ex'
istence, musing sin maiden meditation, fan
cy Free" upon the beauties of Art and Ma
ture that surrounded her.
Penshurst Place-which afterwards became
so celebrated for having given birth to that
accomplished warrior, statesman, poet, and
philosopher, Sir Philip Sidney, justly nam
ed the "incomparable" then in its
palmy state of splendor and magnifcence.
the grounds having been freshly laid out and
beauti6ed, and the mansion fitted up as an
occasional residence for royalty, it having
reverted to the crown on the attainture Of
its late possessor, the Duke of Buckingham
for high treason.
The steward ofthe demesne, a gentleman
of good birth and breeding, with whom heI
father was on terms of intimacy, had inyi-
ted the lovely Anne to come as often as she
listed, and wander at "her own sweet will,'
amid the shady groves and sunny lawns Of
this enchanted spot, and she had ridden
over from Hever Castle on the day in ques.
ton, being unaware of the presence of the
King, who had arrived somewhat unexpect
edly that morning. and little dreaming how
momentous to her would be the visit.
Slowly the maid advanced towards tht
leafy screen which hid the noble poet from
her view, and pausing to inhale the fragrance
of tiower-now to admire a statue-noN
lingering by fount, whose chrystal jets
cleaned in the sunshine, and glittered like
shower of diamonds, as the water return
ed scattered and broken to the basin. Ir
one hand she held book; it was Cover:
"Confessio Amantis," poem, as its title
sufficiently indicates descriptive of the ten