eng: 
ra'( witneffes, accufing her of incontinency with fome of 
the meaner fervants of th.; court. Four perfons were 
particularly pointed out as her paramours ; Henry Nor¬ 
ris, groom of the (foie; Wefton and Brereton, gentlemen 
of the king’s bed-chamber ; and Mark Smeton, a mufi- 
cian. As thefe had ferved her with much afliduity, their 
refpect was the lpore eafily conffrued into a criminal at¬ 
tachment; and under this pretence (he was committed 
to the Tower. Every perfon at court abandoned the 
queen in her'diftrefs, except archbifhop Cranmer, who 
wrote a lefter to the king in her behalf,, but without ef¬ 
fect. On the twelfth of the fame fatal month of May, 
Norris, - Wefton, Brereton, and Smeton, were tried in 
Weftminfter-hall, when Smeton was prevailed upon, by 
the promife of a pardon, to confefs a criminal correfpon- 
dence with the queen ; but he was never confronted by 
her he accufed ; and his execution with the reft, fliortly 
after, ferved to acquit her of the charge. Norris, who 
had been much in the king’s favour, had an offer of his 
life, if he would confefs his crime, and accufe his mif- 
trefs; but he rejected the propofal with contempt, and 
died, profeifing her innocence to the laft. 
After this fcene of arbitrary and favage perfecution, 
the queen and her brother were tried by a jury of peers; 
but upon what proof the crime of inceft was urged againflt 
them, has no where appeared. The chief evidence, it is 
laid, amounted to no more than that Rochford, her own 
brother, had been feen to lean on her bed before com¬ 
pany. Fart of the charge was, that (he had declared that 
the king never had her heart; which was (trained into a 
breach of a late ftatute, by which it had been declared 
criminal to throw any (lander upon the king, queen, or 
their ilfue. The queen, nnaftifted by counfel, defended 
lierfelf with fuch confident integrity and prefence of mind, 
that the fpeCtators could not refrain from publicly de¬ 
claring her innocent. She anfwered diftinCtly to all the 
charges brought againft her: but the king’s authority 
was not to be controuled ; (lie was declared guilty by the 
hirelings of the court, who fentenced her to be burnt or 
beheaded, at the king’s. pleafure. When this terrible 
fentence was pronounced, (lie could not help offering up 
an invocation to Heaven, vindicating her innocence ; and, 
in a moft pathetic fpeech to her judges, averred the in- 
juftice of her condemnation. She was beheaded on the 
19th of May, 1536, by the executioner of Calais, who 
was brought over, as being more expert than any one in 
England. Her body was thrown into a common cheft 
of elm-tree, made to hold arrows, and was buried in the 
Tower. Anna Boleyn appeared to be guilty of no other 
crime than that of having furvived the king’s affections ; 
and, although many crowned heads had been put to death 
in' England, (lie was the fir ft that underwent all the fo- 
lemniries of the law in fuch cafes, being formally be¬ 
headed on a fcaffold. See particulars of her* life, and 
execution, under Bolf.yn, vol. iii. p. 136. 
The people beheld her fate with pity; but with re- 
fentment, when they difcovered the true caufe of the 
tyrant’s impatience to deftroy her; for the very next day 
after her execution, he married lady Jane Seymour, his 
callous heart being no way foftened by the wretched fate 
of one who had been fo lately the object of his warmed 
affections. He alfo ordered his parliament to grant him 
a divorce between her lentence and execution ; and thus 
he endeavoured to baftardife the illuftrious queen Eliza¬ 
beth, the only child he had by Anna Boleyn, as he had 
in the fame manner formerly baftardifed Mary, his only 
child by queen Catharine. 
It is eafy to imagine that fuch capricious cruelties were 
not obferved by the people without indignation ; but their 
murmurs were fruitlefs, and their complaints of little 
avail. Flenry now made himfelf umpire between thofe 
of the ancient fuperftition, and the modern reformation ; 
both looked up to him for aftiftance, and at mutual en¬ 
mity with each other: he took advantage of them all. 
He had the powerful men of the nation on his fidey by 
: A N D. '639 
the many grants he had made of the lands and goods of 
which he had defpciled the monafteries. It was eafy for 
him, therefore, to quell the various infurreCtions which 
his conduCt produced, as they were neither headed by 
any powerful man, nor conducted upon any principle of 
forefight. The firft infurreCtion was in Lincolnfhire, 
headed by Mackrel, prior of Barlings; and, though this 
tumultuary army amounted to twenty thoufand men, yet,, 
upon a proclamation being made with aflurances of par¬ 
don, the populace difperfed; and Mackrel, with fome 
more of the leaders, falling into the king’s hands, were 
put to death. Another infurreCtion broke out in the 
north, amounting to above forty thoufand men, who were 
preceded by priefts, carrying enfigns before the army, and 
all chiefly inspired with enmity againft Cromwell, whom 
they confidered as the inftigator of the king’s feverities. 
But thefe alfo difperfed upon finding their provifions 
ftiort; after having in vain endeavoured to attack the. 
duke of Norfolk’s army, which was feparated by a rivu¬ 
let that was lvvoln by heavy rains. A new infurreCtion 
then broke out, headed by Mufgrave and Tilby; but 
the infurgents were defeated by the duke of Norfolk ; 
after which, lord d’Arcy, fir Robert Conftable, fir John 
Bulmer, fir Thomas Percy, fir Stephen Hamilton, Ni¬ 
cholas Tempeft, and William lord Lumley, were con¬ 
demned and executed. Henry, enraged by thefe revolts, 
was refolved to fuflfer no bounds to his feverities; but 
the birth of a prince, afterwards Edward VI. and the 
death of the queen, who furvived the birth only two 
days, made a fmall paufe in the fiercenefs of his lavage 
unrelenting mind. 
In the midft of thefe violent meafures, A. D. 1537, the 
fires of Smithfield blazed with the combuftion of human 
flefli. Thofe who adhered to the pope, or thofe who 
followed the doCtrines of Luther, were alike the objects 
of royal vengeance, and of ecclefiaftical perfecution. The 
principal viCtim of Henry’s pretended zeal, was poor John 
Lambert, a fchoolmafter in London, who was fentenced 
to the flames, for denying tranfubftantiation, or the doc¬ 
trine of the realprefence. He was therefore burnt at a (low 
fire, his legs and thighs being firft; confumed ; and, when 
there appeared no end of his tortures, fome of the guards, 
more merciful than the reft, lifted him on their halberts 
into the midft of the flames, and thus put a more fpeedy 
end to his fufferings. This poor man’s death was the 
fignal for that of many more. The ftatute of (lx articles 
was now palled, A. D. 1539, called the bloodyJlatutc-, and 
no lefs than five hundred perfons were imprifoned and 
perfecuted for contradicting the opinions fet forth in that 
(hameful formula of ecclefiaftical law. 
During thefe horrid tranfaCtions, the libidinous Henry 
was refoved to take another queen, and, after fome ne- 
gociation upon the continent, he contracted a marriage 
with Anne of Cleves ; to fortify, as he pretended, his al¬ 
liances with the princes of Germany. The king, upon 
her landing, went privately to meet her at Rochelter, 
where he was very much damped in his amorous defires. 
He found her not only coarfe and mafculine, but utterly: 
devoid of grace and beauty. To Cromwell, who had-, 
been principally aCtive in making up the match, he gave 
her the epithet of the great Flanders mare ; and (wore that 
he could never fettle his affections upon her. In ftiort, 
Henry’s averfion to his new queen increafed every day ; 
and he refolved to get rid of her and his prime-minifter 
together. The fall of this favourite was ardently wiflied 
for by the nation. The nobility naturally hated a man, 
who, from mean birth, was placed before the firft per¬ 
fons in the kingdom; for, befides being vicar-general, 
which gave him almoft abfolute authority over the cler-' 
gy, he was lord-privy-feal, lord-chamberlain, mailer of 
the wards, and knight of the garter; and, to carry his 
exaltation (till higher, he had been recently made earl of 
Eftex. The proteftants difliked him for his concurrence 
with the king’s will in their perfecution; and the papifts 
detefted him, as the inveterate enemy of their religion. 
