ANNE OF CLEVES.

As Henry remained two years a widower, it was supposed that his grief for the death of Jane Seymour had prevented his thoughts from being directed to another choice; but the truth is, that very soon after her death, he determined to marry again, and felt no other indecision, but as to the person whom he intended to honour with his hand. Unwilling this time to bestow it on a subject, he rather wished to select some foreign Princess, whose birth should be nearer his own, and by means of whose alliance, his affairs might receive a considerable accession of security and dignity; policy, therefore, and not affection, was to be the basis of his fourth nuptials. The Duchess-Dowager of Milan, the Duchess-Dowager of Longueville, her sister, and Mary of Bourbon-Vendôme, were successively proposed to him, but they were re jected either from political considerations, or from more private motives. He was as scrupulous with regard to the person of his wives, as if his heart had been really susceptible of a delicate passion; and he was unwilling to trust any relations, or even pictures, on these important occasions. He proposed to Francis the First, that they should have a conference at Calais, under pretence of business, and that this monarch should bring with him the princesses, and the finest ladies of high rank in that kingdom, that he might make his choice among them;