Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-07-21
IDA GILBERT MYERS.

lOh UALnEnI EMS.
HENRY THE EIGHTH Francis Hack
EFT. Horace Liveright.
Y r AvING read It, some declared
the book to be primarily a
pageant of Tudor queens-two
l. i Katherines, three Annes and a
Jane-all consorts in line Of
Henry VIII. One, however, said that
in effect the study was no more than
the opening out of a siiltan's harem
Another passed 1t of as but a peep
through the half-swung door Of Blue
boards chamber. You are all wrong"
ventured a certain reader, for instead
there is encompassed here the spectacle
Of great dynast. These royal women
but the provocative tools Of fulfillment
These princes Of church and state,
mere instruments for the carving out
and settling into permanency the
Tudor dynasty of that earlier England"
Most readers will. I'm sure, go along
with this certain reader" in such sum-
mary Of the purpose and development
and effect of Henry the Eighth" by
its clearly triumphant author, Francis
Hackett. More than this, they will go
along also in complete and enthusi-
aStic acceptance OF Mr.. Hackett'S pro-
lection of Henry VIII as an incurable
adolescent. For his whole life long this
youthful stage of human development.
Arrested up to death itself was Henry
Tudor in the Self-exaltation OF Adde'S
cence, with its gusty passions, It's lust
of power and supremacy and the
familiar heady misuse of these at this
sensitive span OF life. Here, too,
throughout is the deep emotional fervor
that passes for piety. And accompany
ing IT in his case is the power TO
declare right things wrong. wrong
things right. An absolute era when
the voice of the king was the voice of
God.
Not a monster, this Henry. A product
Of his nature and his times instead.
A full-blooded male animal, set in q
place Of unlimited power. Embedded
within the situation. within the man.
was the passion for posterity-for sons
and more sons to carry on in the
Tudor line. So, when delinquent queens
failed to deliver sons according to royal
specifications. they were beheaded or
divorced In the summary fashion Of the
day. Two beheaded for detection from
duty among these, two divorced for the
same cause. The last one, Katherine
Parr, childless sort of a female, sat
trembling in her chair at the specter
of either one or the other of these
marks Of sovereign diSpleasure that so
surely was nearing her. Happily-that
Is, happily for Katherine Parking
Henry died.
And the Tudor line? oh, q somber
and unpromising line to consider. Left
behind this great Henry, despite his
beheading and divorcing and polit-
ically righteous amours without num-
Der, there are left but three Spindling
and pathetic children. Mary. daughter
of Katherine Of Spain. wooden figure
% .SsI~
child OF grave demeanor. Edward.
sickly lad, rheumy-eyed. with falling
hair, and nails dropping from toes
and fingers. That sums the Tudor
legacy left to England by Henry VIII.
Murders, treacheries to the people and
the crown itself, the mighty abased.
the unworthy exalted. insincerities
abroad. ruthlessness at home-and
three Spindling and diseased children
Two of these, daughters-worthless
dynastic material.
The book Is chaptered by this group
of Tudor queens-the two Katheriue&
three Annes and a Jane. 1t Is by way
of such potent medium that the male
animal, the naughty autocrat, Henry
VIII, steps out into these present years.
as animate, as impressive, as vivid as
he could have been in his own day OF
pioneering for a dynasty And what.
in the court Of actual history, did this
Tudor achieve? Just two things
Elizabeth and the Church Of England.
born at the same moment, as Francis
Hackett puts it.
An amazing recreation stands here
In the body Of Francis Hackett's
Henry the Eighth" Every intelligent
reader has many a time gone over this
period of history. But not before has
he had the history take on personality
as it does here, become alive with each