26 MAY 1950, Page 5

Possibly not everyone noticed an entry in the " In

Memoriam " column of last Friday's Times (between " West " and " Pritchard''). It ran:

QUEEN ANNE BOLEYN.—The Martyr Queen of England, beheaded May 19, 1536. - The Gospel Light first beamed from Bullen's eyes" (Gray). "That most holy Queen" (Alesse). " Whose soul I doubt not but is in blessed felicity with God " (Archbishop Parker). " Another Hester for England's salvation, both in her selfe and royal Bud succeeding, as the Heavens and World doe witnesse to this day" (Speed). In gratitude for the Open Bible she procured for the people of England.—G. E. Connor.

She may have been all that, but the Encyclopaedia Britannica describes her, I regret to say, as " a weak, giddy woman of no stability of character." However, she did give birth to Elizabeth, who inherited no such qualities.