juries, a petty jury, and a tribunal consisting of nearly all the lay peers of England, with the evidence before them which we do not now possess, should have all unanimously passed a sentence of guilt contrary to the facts and their convictions, and that such a sentence should have been supported by Anne’s own father and uncle. Every year since her marriage Anne had given birth to a child, and Henry had no reason to despair of more; while, if Henry’s state of health was such as was reported, the desire for children, which Anne shared with him, may be urged as an argument for her guilt. Sir Francis Weston in a letter to his family almost acknowledges his guilt in praying for pardon, especially for offences against his wife;[1] Anne’s own conduct and character almost prepare us for some catastrophe. Whether innocent or guilty, however, her fate caused no regrets and her misfortunes did not raise a single champion or defender. The sordid incidents of her rise, and the insolence with which she used her triumph, had alienated all hearts from the unhappy woman. Among the people she had always been intensely disliked; the love of justice, and the fear of trade losses imminent upon a breach with Charles V., combined to render her unpopular. She appealed to the king’s less refined instincts, and Henry’s deterioration of character may be dated from his connexion with her. She is described as “not one of the handsomest women in the world; she is of a middling stature, swarthy complexion, long neck, wide mouth, bosom not much raised, and in fact has nothing but the English king’s great appetite, and her eyes which are black and beautiful, and take great effect.”[2] Cranmer admired her—“sitting in her hair” (i.e. with her hair falling over her shoulders, which seems to have been her custom on great occasions), “upon a horse litter, richly apparelled,” at her coronation.[3]
Bibliography.—Art. in the Dict. of Nat. Biographyand authorities cited; Henry VIII. by A. F. Pollard (1905); Anne Boleyn, by P. Friedman (1884); The Early Life of Anne Boleyn, by J. H. Round (1886); The Divorce of Catherine of Aragon, by J. A. Froude (1891); “Der Ursprung der Ehescheidung König Heinrichs VIII.” and “Der Sturz des Cardinals Wolsey,” by W. Busch (Historisches Taschenbuch, vi. Folge viii. 273 and ix. 41, 1889 and 1890); Lives, by Miss E. O. Benger (1821); and Miss A. Strickland, Lives of the Queens of England (1851), vol. ii.; Notices of Historic Persons Buried in the Tower of London, by D. C. Bell (1877); The Wives of Henry VIII. by M. A. S. Hume (1905); Excerpta Historica, by N. H. Nicolas (1831), p. 260; Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII. tr. by M. A. S. Hume (1889); Records of the Reformation, by N. Pocock (1870); Harleian Miscellany (1808), iii. 47 (the love letters); Archaeologia, xxiii. 64 (memorial of G. Constantyne); Eng. Hist. Rev. v. 544, viii. 53, 299, x. 104; State Trials, i. 410; History of Henry VIII. by Lord Herbert of Cherbury; E. Hall’s Chronicle: Original Letters, ed. by Sir H. Ellis, i. ser., ii. 37, 53 et seq., ii. ser., ii. 10; Extracts from the Life of Queen Anne Boleigne, by G. Wyat (1817); The Negotiations of Thomas Wolsey, by Sir W. Cavendish (1641, rep. Harleian Misc. 1810 v.); C. Wriothesley’s Chronicle (Camden Soc., 1875–1877); Notes and Queries, 8 ser., viii. 141, 189, 313, 350; Il Successo de la Morte de la Regina de Inghilterra (1536); The Maner of the Tryumphe of Caleys and Bullen, and the Noble Tryumphaunt Coronacyon of Queen Anne (1533, rep. 1884); State Papers Henry VIII.; Letters and Papers of Henry VIII., by Brewer and Gardiner, esp. the prefaces; Cal. of State Pap. England and Spain, Venetian and Foreign (1558–1559), p. 525 (an account full of obvious errors); Colton MSS. (Brit. Mus.), Otho C. 10; “Baga de secretis” in Rep. iii., App. ii. of Dep. Keeper of Public Records, p. 242; “Römische Dokumente,” v., M. S. Ehses (Gorres-gesellschaft, Bd. ii., 1893). See also articles on Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII. (P. C. Y.)
BOLGARI, or Bolgary, a ruined town of Russia, in the government of Kazan, 4 m. from the left bank of the Volga, in 55°N. lat. It is generally considered to have been the capital of the Bulgarians when they were established in that part of Europe (5th to 15th century). Ruins of the old walls and towers still survive, as well as numerous kurgans or burial-mounds, with inscriptions, some in Arabic (1222–1341), others in Armenian (years 557, 984 and 986), and yet others in Turkic. Upon being opened these tombs were found to contain weapons, implements, utensils, and silver and copper coins, bearing inscriptions, some in ordinary Arabic, others in Kufic (a kind of epigraphic Arabic). These and other antiquities collected here (1722) are preserved in museums at Kazan, Moscow and St Petersburg. The ruins, which were practically discovered in the reign of Peter the Great, were visited and described by Pallas, Humboldt and others. The city of Bolgari was destroyed by the Mongols in 1238, and again by Tamerlane early in the following century, after which it served as the capital of the Khans (sovereign princes) of the Golden Horde of Mongols, and finally, in the second half of the 15th century it became a part of the principality of Kazan, and so eventually of Russia. The Arab geographer Ibn Haukal states that in his time, near the end of the 10th century, it was a place of 10,000 inhabitants.
See Ibn Fadhlan, Nachrichten über die Wolga Bulgaren (Ger. trans. by Frähn, St Petersburg, 1832).
BOLI, the chief town of a sanjak of the Kastamuni vilayet in Asia Minor, altitude 2500 ft., situated in a rich plain watered by the Boli Su, a tributary of the Filiyas Chai (Billaeus). Pop. (1894) 10,796 (Moslems, 9642; Greeks, 758; Armenians, 396). Cotton and leather are manufactured; the country around is fertile, and in the neighbourhood are large forests of oak, beech, elm, chestnut and pine, the timber of which is partly used locally and partly exported to Constantinople. Three miles east of Boli, at Eskihissar, are the ruins of Bithynium, the birthplace of Antinous, also called Antinoopolis, and in Byzantine times Claudiopolis. In and around Boli are numerous marbles with Greek inscriptions, chiefly sepulchral, and architectural fragments. At Ilija, south of the town, are warm springs much prized for their medicinal properties.
BOLINGBROKE, HENRY ST JOHN, Viscount (1678–1751), English statesman and writer, son of Sir Henry St John, Bart. (afterwards 1st Viscount St John, a member of a younger branch of the family of the earls of Bolingbroke and barons St John of Bletso), and of Lady Mary Rich, daughter of the 2nd earl of Warwick, was baptized on the 10th of October 1678, and was educated at Eton. He travelled abroad during 1698 and 1699 and acquired an exceptional knowledge of French. The dissipation and extravagance of his youth exceeded all limits and surprised his contemporaries. He spent weeks in riotous orgies and outdrank the most experienced drunkards. An informant of Goldsmith saw him once “run naked through the park in a state of intoxication.” Throughout his career he desired, says Swift, his intimate friend, to be thought the Alcibiades or Petronius of his age, and to mix licentious orgies with the highest political responsibilities.[4] In 1700 he married Frances, daughter of Sir Henry Winchcombe, Bart., of Bucklebury, Berkshire, but matrimony while improving his fortune did not redeem his morals.
He was returned to parliament in 1701 for the family borough of Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire. He declared himself a Tory, attached himself to Harley (afterwards Lord Oxford), then speaker, whom he now addressed as “dear master,” and distinguished himself by his eloquence in debate, eclipsing his schoolfellow, Walpole, and gaining an extraordinary ascendancy over the House of Commons. In May he had charge of the bill for securing the Protestant succession; he took part in the impeachment of the Whig lords for their conduct concerning the Partition treaties, and opposed the oath abjuring the Pretender. In March 1702 he was chosen commissioner for taking the public accounts. After Anne’s accession he supported the bills in 1702 and 1704 against occasional conformity, and took a leading part in the disputes which arose between the two Houses. In 1704 St John took office with Harley as secretary at war, thus being brought into intimate relations with Marlborough, by whom he was treated with paternal partiality. In 1708 he quitted office with Harley on the failure of the latter’s intrigue, and retired to the country till 1710, when he became a privy councillor and secretary of state in Harley’s new ministry, representing Berkshire in parliament. He supported the bill for requiring a real property qualification for a seat in parliament. In 1711 he founded the
- ↑ Letters and Papers, x. 358.
- ↑ “Sanuto Diaries,” October 31, 1532, in Cal. of St. Pap. Venetian, iv. p. 365.
- ↑ Original Letters, ed. by Sir H. Ellis, 1 ser. ii. 37, and Cal. of St. Pap. Venetian, iv. 351, 418.
- ↑ Swift’s Inquiry into the Behaviour of the Queen’s Last Ministry; Mrs Delaney’s Correspondence, 2 ser., iii. 168.
