KING HENRY VIII TO ANNE BOLEYN  [c. 1528]

In debating with myself the contents of your letters I have been put to a great agony; not knowing how to understand them, whether to my disadvantage as shown in some places, or to my advantage as in others.  I beseech you now with all my heart definitely to let me know your whole mind as to the love between us; for neccessity compels me to plague you for a reply, having been for more than a year now struck by the dart of love, and being uncertain either of failure or of finding a place in your heart and affection, which point has certainly kept me for some time from naming you my mistress,

since if you only love me with an ordinary love the name is not appropriate to you, seeing that it stands for an uncommon position very remote from the ordinary; but if it pleases you to do the duty of a true, loyal mistress and friend and to give yourself body and heart to me, who have been, and will be, your very loyal servant (if your rigour does not forbid me), I promise you that not only the name will be due to you, but also to take you as my sole mistress, casting off all others than yourself out of mind and affection, and to serve you only;

begging you to make me a complete reply to this my rude letter as to how far and in what I can trust; and if it does not please you to reply in writing, to let me know of some place where I can have it by word of mouth, the which place I will seek out with all my heart.  No more for fear of wearying you.  Written by the hand of him who would willingly reman your

HR

 

~ Love Letters An Anthology Chose by Antonia Fraser, Penquin Books, 1997.  

Other End of the Bridge ~ Looking East

Other End of the Bridge ~

Quiet on a Saturday

[Photos Taken Sat., Feb. 8 Looking East Toward the Village ~ For larger image, click on photo. lbw]

Love Story ~

 

George Burns was looking for a "straight man" to feed him his lines to which he would deliver a funny response. . . The dizzy character that eighteen-year-old Gracie played was such a hit that all Burns had to do was stand there.  Eventually he decided to smoke a cigar onstage so he would have something to do.
Slowly Burns fell madly in love with his partner; however, the young Allen was set on marrying another peformer, Benny Ryan.  After a year, Burns proposed. Gracie laughed at him and no one mentioned it again.
Gracie was about to quit and marry Ryan when the duo landed a sixteen-week engagement.  It had always been her dream to see her picture in the lobby of the San Francisco Orpheum, the theatre she had spent so many afternoons in as a child.  Besides, the tour paid $450 a week.  Grace would need a steamer trunk so Burns carried one home on his back through a snowstorm.
It was during this trip that Burns again proposed and was again refused.  Until ~ Gracie became ill with appendicitis.  Burns borrowed two hundred dollars from her and filled her hospital room with flowers (Burns never sent a wire to Benny as Gracie asked.)

That Christmas Eve Burns received a card from Gracie, "To Natty, with all my love."  Burns laughed out loud and said, "All my love?  Ha, ha, ha.  You don't even know what love means."  Gracie left the room in tears.
Later she was to explain that Burns was the only boy who had ever made her cry; she must really love him.

Their career together spanned thirty years.

~ The 50 Most Romantic Things Ever Done, Dini Von Mueffling, Doubleday, 1991.

Quiet Saturday ~

 

 

 

 

 

[Taken Feb. 8.  For larger image, click on photo, lbw]

 

 

When vaudeville performer, George Burns, finally proposed to his show partner Gracie, she laughed so that he commented, "If I could have gotten that kind of laughter from an audience, I would have been successful years earlier.  I even bought a ring.  It sold for $35 but I managed to get it for $20.  It was a very special ring--the metal band actually changed colors as it aged in my pocket."

Gracie turned George down saying that she wanted security when she married and besides, she was in love with another performer Benny Ryan.  Time went on and circumstances changed.

The story of Gracie and George's courtship tomorrow. 
[Gracie wore that $20 ring for the rest of her life, until the day she died.]

~ The 50 Most Romantic Things Ever Done, Dini Von Mueffling, Doubleday, 1997.

"Oh where are you going?  Stay with me here!
     Were the vows you swore me deceiving,
                                                           deceiving?
No, I promised to love you, dear,
      But I must be leaving."

~ W. H. Auden (Feb. 21, 1907 - Sept. 29, 1973) Anglo-American poet

POETRY REVIEW - Vol 85, Number 3.


Note:  Interpretations of these lines [taken out of context] vary. 

Two Dollars & Under

Books Books Books ~ January Clearance in February!