View of the Great Park, near the Sand-Pit Gate, in the grounds of Windsor Castle, based on a sketch made bySandhurst Military Academy drawing-master W. Alfred Delamotte for the eleventh and final instalment of Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance for the June 1843 issue of Ainsworth's Magazine, which Ainsworth had founded after he had quarrelled with the publisher and left his editorial post at Bentley's Miscellany. "Book the Sixth: Jane Seymour," headpiece for Chapter VI, "What passed between Anne Boleyn and the Duke of Suffolk, and how Herne the Hunter appeared to her in the Oratory," top of p. 313: height 7.5 cm width 9.4 cm, framed. Running head: "Anne's Supplication for Forgiveness." [Click on the image to enlarge it.]
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use this image without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the person who scanned the image and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Passage Complemented
On the following morning, about ten o'clock, he rode into the great park, attended by a numerous train. His demeanour was moody and stern, and a general gloom pervaded the company. Keeping on the western side of the park, the party crossed Cranbourne chase; but though they encountered several fine herds of deer, the king gave no orders to uncouple the hounds.
At last they arrived at that part of the park where Sandpit Gate is now situated, and pursuing a path bordered by noble trees, a fine buck was suddenly unharboured, upon which Henry gave orders to the huntsmen and others to follow him, adding that he himself should proceed to Snow Hill, where they would find him an hour hence.[Book the Sixth, "Jane Seymour," Chapter VII. "The Signal Gun," p. 13]
Commentary
Suddenly breaking off the tournament, Henry rides off in high dudgeon, and Anne, retiring to her apartments, is placed under arrest, along with her "lover," on a charge of "incontinency towards the king's highness" (303). Captain Bouchier's halberdiers under the command of the Duke of Suffolk also arrest the hapless Sir Henry Norris for treason and march him to the strong-room in the lower gateway (sketched by Delamotte a year before Cruikshank composed his steel-engraving of the May Day tournament). Even though Norris had apparently agreed to co-operate with the devious Herne, who had caught him in a compromising position with the Queen after the scene with Henry and Jane Seymour, he seems doomed. In the succeeding illustration, Cruikshank catches Sir Henry Norris (which is to say, the fictional creation, not the historical personage) making a public display of his devotion to Queen Anne, Henry perceiving Norris Take up Anne Boleyn's Handkerchief at the Jousts (Book VI, Chapter V), a scene which solidifies the jealous Henry VIII's suspicions of adultery. Thus, Ainsworth has exonerated all but Herne, and, in particular, dramatizes the innocence of Anne Boleyn, mother of the future Queen Elizabeth. Now, through Herne the Hunter, Ainsworth indicts Henry for the self-serving judicial murders of Anne and Norris.
Cruikshanks's Complementary Steel-engraving for Chapter VII: Herne accosts Henry
Above: George Cruikshank's realisation of the dramatic scene in which the moralising spirit blames Henry's impulsiveness and egotism for the destruction of Anne Boleyn, The Signal (Book VI, Chapter VII). [Click on image to enlarge it.]
References
Ainsworth, William Harrison. Windsor Castle. An Historical Romance. Illustrated by George Cruikshank and Tony Johannot. With designs on wood by W. Alfred Delamotte. London: Routledge, 1880. Based on the Henry Colburn edition of 1844.
Patten, Robert L. Chapter 30, "The 'Hoc' Goes Down." George Cruikshank's Life, Times, and Art, vol. 2: 1835-1878. Rutgers, NJ: Rutgers U. P., 1991; London: The Lutterworth Press, 1996. Pp. 153-186.
Worth, George J. William Harrison Ainsworth. New York: Twayne, 1972.
Last modified 4 January2018