NOW FIRST CORRECTLY PRINTED FROM THE AUTOGRAPHS IN THE LIBRARY OF THE

VATICAN PALACE;

WITH

AN HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION,

ILLUSTRATED BY LETTERS OF DISTINGUISHED CONTEMPORARIES, NOTES, AND FAC-SIMILES.

BY THE EDITOR OF THE "HISTORIA BRITTONUM."

ORIGINAL.

LONDON:

VOL. XXI.

Pam.

NO. XLII.

Y

PREFACE.

ORIGINAL letters of eminent persons, whether we consider them as calculated to edify, by the display of sagacity and talent; as illustrating manners; or as delighting by their ease and pleasantry, have ever been highly and deservedly esteemed. As compositions, we may class them among the most faithful records of the human mind; may respect them for their tendency to promote accurate investigation in history, manners, science and civilisation, and, from the virtues they delineate, and the failings they disclose, may derive lessons of practical wisdom; and when no injury is done either to the feelings or interests of the living, the production of them is allied to those honorable pursuits, by which society is enlightened and adorned. Among these, regal letters relating to private life, are rarely to be met with, and though like those now offered to the public, they may at first sight appear more curious, than important, yet curiosity seems to rise with the rank of the writer, and if he has acted a conspicuous part in the public transactions of an eventful period, we are more than commonly anxious to be admitted behind the scenes, where he is viewed without disguise it is in this undress of mind that our Henry VIII. is now to appear before us. Had we to estimate the character of this Potentate by these letters only, his name might have descended to posterity without reproach. At the time they were written, he had not attained those years when, in tempers contumacious by nature and rendered inflexible by indulgence, tenderness and delicacy are supplanted by gross and selfish propensities. To unrestrained passions Henry was not yet the slave; in a more advanced period, when swayed by their despotism, he would not have endured those obstacles which the intrigues of his nephew the Emperor, or the want of firmness in the Roman Pontiff, so perpetually opposed to the completion of his wishes, in which these letters are implicated.

That Henry at first sought Anna Boleyn with dishonorable intentions, is a slander clearly disproved by the tenour of this correspondence. If there are a few expressions which happily we cannot tolerate, they are assignable to the defective manners of an age when females were occasionally subjected to humiliating allusions; for mental cultivation and polished reserve had not yet produced that modest and correct demeanor, whose gentle influence has chastised the rude advances of the opposite sex, and secured for themselves that distinguished rank in society they now so deservedly possess.

When the editor first saw these letters in the library of the Vatican palace, he was not aware they had ever been published in this country; and regarding them as a literary curiosity, by favor of the Prefect obtained copies of them.

How or when they were first there deposited, is still to be ascertained. They make a part of the "Codices Vaticani" (No. 3731) or that division which originally formed the basis of the library, together with the augmentations of successive Pontiffs; independent of those alien additions, introduced during the two last centuries, and to which this stupendous collection owes much of its importance. Among the earliest notices remaining, the following passage has been supposed to refer to them. Cardinal Campeggio," thus dismissed and rewarded, was conducted honor

2

' But there was a grossness in the manners of those times, which we must carry along with us in all our inquiries into them. The actions of men were perhaps more restrained than they are now, their tongues were certainly more licentious; and Henry, who had no idea of delicacy himself, was less offended than might be imagined at the gross indelicacy of others. While the affairs of the court of Rome were depending the emissaries of the popish party allowed themselves unbridled licence in England-we are amazed that such a prince as Henry could bear to be told in his own chapel, 'that unless he restored religion, dogs should lick his blood, as they had licked the blood of Ahab.' (Gilpin's Life of Cranmer.) Skelton, however, for his buffooneries in the pulpit and his satirical ballads against the Mendicants, was severely censured, and perhaps suspended. (Works, p. 200-and 202.) Neither is this passage intended to convey censure on our fair countrywomen of the 16th century. Females may gradually influence, but unsupported, cannot at once, change the long established system of social manners. And what opinion are we to form of men, even those of high rank, who in private life could accustom their wives and daughters to find amusement in the unchastised licentiousness of the domestic fool-or in public, even in a reign comparatively polished, could allow them to frequent bull and bear baitings, or to attend scenic representations, which in our age would not be endured by the very populace? (For a specimen of the 'entertainments, of which our maiden queen sat as a spectatress in the earlier part of her reign,' the reader is referred to a note in the introduction to the Taming of a Shrew.' Johnson and Stevens's edition, V.3. p. 406. 1778.)

2 The ground of this quotation from Herbert is taken from Hall: (fol.

ably to the sea side, where he expected only a fair wind. But when he came to take ship, the searchers, upon pretence he carried either money or letters from England to Rome, ransacked all his coffers, bags, and papers; not without hope, certainly, to recover that decretal bull our king so much longed for. I find also (by some relation) that divers love-letters betwixt our king and Mistress Boleyn, being conveyed out of the kings cabinet, were sought for, though in vain, they having been formerly sent to Rome." (Herbert, 1529, Life of Henry VIII.) About the time Herbert's history was written, we elsewhere hear of their being in their present situation. "The papist tells us that Cardinal Campegius, sent over before him some amatorious letters, which passed written with the king's own hand, betwixt him and his dear Nan, as he termed her. These are said to import more familiarity than chastity between them, and are carefully kept, and solemnly shewn in the Vatican to strangers, especially of the English nation, though some suspect them to be forged. For though the king had wantonness to write such letters, yet Anna Bolen had wit and wariness too much to part with them :-in a word, so cunning was she in her chastity, that the farther she put him from her, the nearer she fastened his affections unto her." (Fuller's Church History, b. 5. p. 175. an. 1529.)

Previous to the year 1670, they were seen by (that interesting

183. Ed. Grafton) "And so he (Campeggio) toke his journey toward the sea side, where the kings counsail caused his chestes and carriages to be opened, to se what letters the cardinal of Yorke had sent to the court of Rome, and ther wer but a few letters found, for thei were sent before in poste." As Wolsey was suspected of holding a secret correspondence with the Pope, this was the most probable reason of the search. Here is no mention made of love letters, which Hall, who is exact in recording trifles, would not have omitted. Nor are they mentioned by Cavendish, who gives an additional reason for searching the baggage of Campeggio. "It was told the king that Campeggio was departed, and had greater treasure with him, of my Lord Cardinal's of England, to be conveyed in great sums to Rome, whither they surmised he would secretly repair of this realm; insomuch that they caused a post to ride after the Cardinal to search him, who overtook him at Calais, and staid him until search was made, but there was found no more than was received of the king for a reward." (Cavendish's Life of Wolsey; Grove v. 4. p. 24.) This search was in all probability, nothing more than a matter of course, as the servants in the suite of ambassadors allowed themselves great licence in contraband dealings. That th luggage of ambassadors may be searched, Howel cites an example—“Sir Thomas Chaloner, sent ambassador to Spain by Queen Elizabeth, who sending complaints home, that his chests had bin searched, the council sitting thereupon, determined as Camden hath it, in these words, Legato omnia æqui bonique ferenda dummodo Principis honor non directe violetur; an ambassador must bear all things patiently, provided that the honor of the prince (whom he serves) be not directly violated." (Discourse concerning Procedency, &c. p. 191.)

travelling tutor) Lassels, who, speaking of the literary treasures of the Vatican, says "the letters of Henry VIII. of England to Anne Bolen his Mistresse, then in his own hand-writing, some in French, but all amatory." (Voyage to Italy, part 2. p. 64.)

Burnet in his visit to the Vatican (1685) informs us- "When it appeared that I was come from England, King Henry the VIIIth's Book of the Seven Sacraments, with an inscription written upon it with his own hand, to Pope Leo the 10th, was shewed me; together with a collection of some letters that he had writ to Ann Bullen, of which some are in English, and some in French. I that knew his hand well, saw clearly that they were no forgeries." (Travels, Letter 4. p. 227.)

I

Very soon after the copies were made out, the editor had reason to retract the opinion that they had not been published in this country; for looking over the catalogues of the library of the Corsini palace he discovered them, (vol. 895. p. 71.) under this title"Extrait d'une brochure imprimée à Londres en 1714-intitulée Lettres d'amour du Roi Henri à Anne Boleyn;" and more recently that they are inserted in the 1st volume of the Harleian Miscellany. These having been examined, it appears they are transcripts from each other, and are so incorrect, as to render all apology unnecessary for the republication of them in a more accurate form. The first was probably procured by Burnet, who in 1683, got Dr. James Fall (precentor of York 1691,) "to copy them for him. They were very ill wrote, the hand is scarce legible, and the French seems faulty." (Burnet, Ref. v. 3. p. 42.-Rapin, note, v. 1.—785.)

The originals are pasted on blank leaves, and are bound together, so as to make a thin volume of the quarto size. Each letter is written on one side only of a sheet of paper, which is 10 inches long by 7 wide, excepting the 8th and 10th, which are somewhat larger. When doubled, they were 3 inches by 34. They must have been long so kept, as the folds are much worn, and the corners rubbed into holes. From this mode of preserving them, each page is trebled, and of course too thick to discover the paper marks when held up to the light, but not to have obscured the address, had there been any; neither are there any marks of seals or wax; it may therefore be concluded they were sent under covers. They bear no dates, nor place whence dispatched. Some are written in a set and rather formal hand, but generally loose and

This collection having been chiefly formed of printed pamphlets, this now described may have been one of them, and is probably the transcript by Dr. Fall. There is a very good preface, most likely from the pen of Burnet, and to which I am much indebted in the course of this introduction.