The Pope & the Pill

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Sir: The review of Henry VIII by J. J. Scarisbrick [Aug. 2] mentioned that Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry, said "a gentler nor a more merciful prince was there never" before being beheaded. This may not mean that the King was an admirable character, since it was traditional in those days for condemned persons to say a good word for the monarch before their death. If a convicted person started a last-minute inflammatory tirade against the monarch, he could be dragged off at the very last minute, to a much crueler death.

A. J. HAMPER

Philadelphia

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