[131] To these may be added Queen Anne Boleyn. Kingston, the
Lieutenant of the Tower, in a letter to Cromwell, records that she
remarked of her own execution, "'I heard say the executioner was
very good, and I have a little neck;' and she put her hands about
it, laughing heartily. Truly, this lady has much joy and pleasure in
death."
[132] _Blacks_ was the term for mourning in James the First and
Charles the First's time.
[133] It was from this picture his stone effigy was constructed for
his tomb in old St. Paul's. This mutilated figure, which withstood
the great fire of London, is still preserved in the crypt of the
present cathedral.
[134] A still more curious _fashion_ in this taste for mortuary
memorials originated at the court of Henry II. of France; whose
mistress, Diana of Poitiers, being a widow; mourning colours of
black and white became the fashion at court. Watches in the form of
skulls were worn; jewels and pendants in the shape of coffins; and
rings decorated with skulls and skeletons.
[135] My discovery of the nature of this rare volume, of what is
original and what collected, will be found in volume ii. of this
work.