GEOEGE BOLEYNE, VISCOUNT ROCHESTER, FIRST MASTER. 49 



the honours and emoluments which had been conferred upon 

 him by his royal brother-in-law and the vast estates to which 

 he was heir-presumptive reverted to the king.* 



Before concluding our biography of this Master of the Buck- 

 hounds, it may perhaps be excusable if we pause for a moment 

 to glance at the end of his unfortunate sister. She was not to 

 die, as her brother died, by the stroke of an old English axe. 

 In France they had a method of executing criminals by the 

 sword, and Henry, wishing to introduce that method into 

 England, chose to have the first experiment tried on his own 

 wife ! No man in London was accustomed to do the work, 

 and Cromwell had to send to Calais for an expert in this 

 novel craft. Anne shrank in horror from such novelties ; but 

 the Lieutenant of the Tower, meaning to be kind, assured her 

 in his burly way that " her head would be off in no time," as 

 indeed the sequel proved. Two days after her brother's execu- 

 tion, on the morning of May 19, the king, attired for the 

 chase, with his huntsmen and buckhounds around him, was 

 at a meet of the pack at Pleshet, near East Ham, in Epping 

 Forest, breathlessly waiting the signal-gun from the Tower 

 which was to announce that the sword had fallen on the neck 

 of his once " entirely beloved Anne Boleyne." At last, towards 

 noon, the sullen sound of the death salute boomed along the 

 windings of the Thames. Henry started with ferocious joy. 

 " Ha, ha ! " he cried with satisfaction, " the deed is done. 

 Uncouple the hounds, and let us follow the sport." The chase 

 that day bent towards the west, whether the quarry led it in 

 that direction or not, for at nightfall the king was at Wolf- 

 hall, in Wiltshire, telling the news to his elected bride, whom 

 he next morning married. 



* The terrible severity of this attainder extended even to his lordship's debts 

 and obligations. All moneys due to him became forfeited to the Crown, his 

 debts could not be recovered by those to whom they were owing, although the 

 unfortunate Master of the Buckhounds had ample means and was willing to 

 satisfy such claims. For instance, he owed to George Brown, Archbishop of 

 Dublin, 400^., who lent him this sum for " the redempcion of a cuppe of golde," 

 upon the security of his house ; yet the mortgage was invalid, as the whole of 

 his lordship's effects went into the clutches of the king. 



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