t 5 6 B O L 
BO'LESLAW, or Buntzi,aw, a circle of Bohemia, 
on the confines of Lufatia and Silefia, from which it is fe- 
pai'ated by mountains. Buntzlaw is the capital. 
BOLESLAWl'EC, a town of Poland, in the palatinate 
of Siradia: twenty-four miles fouth-fouth-weff of Siradia. 
BOLE'TUS,/. [(S&Aith;, Gr. from its globular form. ] 
In botany, is characterized by Linneus as a horizontal fun¬ 
gus, porous or punched with lobes underneath. In the 
Syffema Naturae (edit. 14.) only twenty-one fpecies are 
recited ; eleven of which are parafitical and ftemlefs ; the 
reft are ftipitated. Mr. Hudfon has thirteen fpecies, five 
of which are not in Linneus, but chiefly from Schaeffer, 
who has a vaft many other fpecies not noticed by Linneus. 
From the boletus igniarius, is prepared the amadou, com¬ 
monly ufed on the continent for tinder, to receive the fpark 
ft ruck from the fteel by the flint; and the agaric for iiop- 
jpi’ng haimorrlinges in amputations, &c. 
BO'LEYN (Anne), wife of Henry VIII. king of Eng¬ 
land, and memorable for giving occafion to the reforma¬ 
tion in this country, was the daughter of Sir Thomas 
Boleyn, born in 1507. She was carried into France at 
feven years of age by Henry VIIl’s fitter, who was wife 
of Lewis XII. nor did fhe return into England, when that 
queen retired thither after the death of her hufband ; but 
itaid in the ftuite of queen Claudia, the wife of Francis I. 
and after tlie_death of that princefs went to the duchefs 
of Alencon. The year of her return is not well known : 
fiome will have it to have been in 1527, others in 1525. 
Thus much is certain, that fhe was maid of honour to 
queen Catherine of Spain, Henry Vlll’s firft wife; and 
that the king fell extremely in love with her. She con¬ 
duced herfelf with fo much addrefs, that, by refufing to 
gratify his pattion, (he brought him to the determination 
of marrying her ; and for this purpofe he fet on foot the 
affair of his divorce with Catherine, which was executed 
with great folemnity and form. M. Bayle, a celebrated 
French author, obferves, that “that, which would have 
been very praife-worthy on another occafion, was Anne 
Boleyn’s chief crime; fince her refufing to comply with 
an amorous king, unlefs he would divorce his wife, was a 
much more enormous crime than to have been his concu¬ 
bine. A concubine, fays he, would not have dethroned 
a queen, nor taken her crown or her hufband from her ; 
whereas the crafty Anne Boleyn, by pretending to be 
chafte and fcrupulous, aimed only at the ufui pation of the 
throne, and the exclufion of Catherine of Arragon, and 
her daughter, from all the honours due to them.” This, 
perhaps, in M. Bayle’s time, might have been good rea¬ 
soning in France ; and we have lived to fee the fruition of 
it. But furely, in England, fut$h a doCrine can never be 
admitted; for upon this ground, every virtuous woman 
that an amorous prince chufes to conceive an inclination for, 
muft fubmit implicitly to the gratification of his luff, out 
of cotnplaifance to his family. For this is at beff the con- 
ftrudtion M. Bayle has put upon it. Would it not have 
been much more confident with the charadter of an hif- 
torian and a philofopher to have faid, that the king 
ought to have been Satisfied with the wife he had, inftead 
ot bafely Sacrificing a weak unthinking woman to the vio¬ 
lence of his luff, and thereby plunging into the utmoft 
agony and diftrefs of mind, a good and virtuous queen. 
But kings can do no wrong ! 
This event, however, brought about the reformation. 
Henry could not procure a ratification of his divorce from 
the pope; which made him refolve to difown his autho¬ 
rity* and to fling off his yoke. He married Anne Boleyn 
privately, upon the 14th of November 1532, without 
waiting for an authority from Rome ; and, as Soon as he 
perceived that his new wife was with child, he made his 
marriage public. He canfed Anne Boleyn to be declared 
queen of England on Eafter-cve 1533, and to be crowned 
the 1 ft of June following. She was brought to bed, on 
the.7th of Sept, of a daughter, afterwards the illuftrious 
queen Elizabeth ; and fhe continued to be much loved by 
the king, till the charms of Jane Seymour had fired that 
B O L 
prince’s heart, in 1536. Then his love for his wife wsg 
changed into violent hatred: lie pretended that fhe was 
unehafte, and caufed her to be imprifoned and tried. 
“ She was indidted of high-treafon, for that fhe had pro¬ 
cured her brother and other four to lie with her, which 
they had done often; that fine had faid to them, that the 
king never had her heart; and had faid to every one of 
them by themfelves, that fhe loved him better than any 
perfon whatever, which was to the Slander of the iffue 
that was begotten between the king and her. And this 
was treafon according to the ftatute made in the 26th year 
of this reign; fo that the law, which was made for her 
and the iffue of her marriage, is now made tife of to de- 
ftroy her.” This was the charge ; and fhe was condemned 
to be either burnt pr beheaded ; the latter of which took 
place, on the 19th of May 1536. When fhe was impri¬ 
soned, fhe is faid to have adted very different parts; fome- 
times feeming devout and fhedding abundance of tears, 
and then all of a fudden breaking out into a loud laughter. 
However, it is agreed that fhe died with great refolution, 
taking care to fpread her gown about her feet, that fhe 
might fall with decency. 
This unfortunate queen is thus deferibed by lord Her¬ 
bert, from a relation taken out of a MS. of mafter Caven- 
difh, gentleman-ufher to cardinal Wolfey. “ Anne Bo¬ 
leyn was defeended, on the father’s fide, from one of the 
heirs of the earlesof Ormonde, and on the mother’s from 
a daughter of the houfe of Norfolke ; of that Angular 
beautie and towardneffe, that her parents took all care 
poflible for her good education. Therefore, belides the 
ordinary parts of virtuous inffrudtions, wherewith fhee 
was liberally brought up, they gave her teachers in play¬ 
ing on mufical inftruments, Tinging, and dancing; in- 
fomuch that, when fhe compofed her hands to play and 
voice to fing, it was joined with that fweetneffe of coun¬ 
tenance that three harmonies concurred. Likewife, when 
fhe danced, her rare proportions varied themfelves into 
all the graces that belong either to reft or motion.” 
Orders being iffued by Henry VIII. that all ftrangers 
fhould be removed out of the Tower of London previous 
to the execution of Anne Boleyn, mafter Kingfton, lieu¬ 
tenant of the Tower, wrote the following letter to Thomas 
Cromwell, afterwards lord Cromwell and earl of Effex. 
The letter is preferved in lord Herbet’s Hiftory of the Life 
and Reign of Henry VIII. 
“ Sir, If we have not an hour certain (as it may be 
known in London), I think here will be but fewe, and I 
think a reafonable number were beft. For I fuppofe fhee 
will declare herfelf to be a good woman for all men but 
for the king, at the hour of her death. For this mornin^ 
flie fent for me, and protefted her innocency. And now 
again, and faid to M. Kingfton, ‘ I heard fay I fhall not 
die afore noon, and I am lorry therefore, for I thought 
to be dead by this time and part my pain.’ I told her it 
fhould be no pain it was fo fotell, [fubtil, fudden,] for fo 
is his word,” (adds lord Herbert.) “ And then (he faid, 
flie heard fay the executioner was very good, ‘and I have 
a little neck;’ and put her hand about it, laughing hear¬ 
tily. 1 have feen many men and women executed, and 
they have been in great forrow ; and, to my knowledge, 
this lady hath much joy and pleafure in death. May 19, 
1536.” 
“The 19th of May- being thus come, (fays lord Her-- 
bert,) the queen, according to the exprefs order given, 
was brought out to a fcaifold eredted upon the green in 
the Tower of London, where our hiftorians fay flie fpoke 
before a great company there affembled, to this effect r • 
“Good Chriffian people, I am come hither to die. 
For according to the law, and by the law, I am judged 
to die, and therefore I will fpeak nothing againft it. I 
am come hither toaccufe no man, nor to fpeak any thing 
of that whereof I am accufed and condemned to die. 
But 1 pray God fave the king, and fend him long to 
remain over you. For a gentler nor a more merciful 
prince there never was \ and to me he was ever a good, a 
gentle, 
