|Jane Seymour has always been pronounced the most beautiful of all the wives of Henry VIII. But she has also been presented to the world as a meritorious, discreet, young woman. We cannot consider her so when we remember that within twenty-four hours after Anne Boleyn's head was cut off she became the king's wife. For it must have been while acting as maid of honor for that unhappy lady that she not only received the attentions of her fickle, heartless husband, but even made all the necessary arrangements for her marriage with him. We shudder at the thought of the preparations that must have been going forward for the wedding-feast at the palace, while the Tower was the scene of heart-rending agony to the queen, who was about to sacrifice her life for the gratification of a tyrant. The giddiness of youth cannot be pleaded as apology for Jane Seymour's indecency, for she was no child when she permitted herself to be courted by the royal Bluebeard, and must have been entirely conscious of the enormity of her actions. Perhaps her early education was at fault, but of that little is known excepting that it was acquired in France. She was maid of honor to Mary Tudor, queen of Louis XII., and went to England after her dismissal from the French court. Anne Boleyn occupied a similar position at the {404}same time, therefore the two maids of honor probably knew each other intimately. One day, after Anne Boleyn had ascended the throne, she observed a locket that hung from a pretty gold chain about the neck of Jane Seymour, and expressed a desire to see it closer. The maid of honor blushed, faltered, and drew back, whereupon the queen snatched the locket from her, opened it, and beheld the likeness of the king, her husband. From that moment Anne Boleyn knew that her fate was sealed; she was indignant, but that availed her nothing. She found herself supplanted by a rival as she had supplanted her predecessor. Perhaps her punishment was deserved, but it does not justify the conduct of the king or his new lady-love. [[A.D. 1536.]] When the axe made Henry VIII. a widower, Jane Seymour was at Wolf Hall, in Wiltshire, and her royal lover at Richmond Park. On the morning of the 19th of May his majesty stood under a spreading oak, with his huntsmen and hounds prepared for the chaise, awaiting the signal gun from the Tower to announce that he was free. At last the welcome sound reached his ear. "Ha, ha!" he cried, "the deed is done! uncouple the hounds and away." This was all the regret he expressed for the death of the woman he had pretended to love so well. His widowhood lasted just one night, for the next morning he was at Wolf Hall, where he was united to the beautiful Jane Seymour. The ceremony was performed in the parish church, and was succeeded by a feast at which several members of the king's privy council were present.