1 of 2
Letters to Anne Boleyn
The signature is Henry Rex a very elaborate H and RE
Henry VIII persued Anne from 1526 and sent her 17 love letters (in French
Anne spent years in the Netherlands and then France) The letters
are often more business like than romantic. They survive today because
they were deposited in the Vatican but by whom seems to be a mystery.
Here is the Fourth:
MY MISTRESS & FRIEND, my heart and I surrender ourselves into your
hands, beseeching you to hold us commended to your favour, and that
by absence your affection to us may not be lessened: for it were a great
pity to increase our pain, of which absence produces enough and more
than I could ever have thought could be felt, reminding us of a point
in astronomy which is this: the longer the days are, the more distant
is the sun, and nevertheless the hotter; so is it with our love, for
by absence we are kept a distance from one another, and yet it retains
its fervour, at least on my side; I hope the like on yours, assuring
you that on my part the pain of absence is already too great for me;
and when I think of the increase of that which I am forced to suffer,
it would be almost intolerable, but for the firm hope I have of your
unchangeable affection for me: and to remind you of this sometimes,
and seeing that I cannot be personally present with you, I now send
you the nearest thing I can to that, namely, my picture set in a bracelet,
with the whole of the device, which you already know, wishing myself
in their place, if it should please you. This is from the hand of your
loyal servant and friend,
H. R.