regarding many of the women whose fortunes were mixed up in events of historic importance. Until the publication of Mr. Bergenroth's Calendar, comparatively little was known of the interesting particulars connected with the marriage of Katharine of Arragon; and Mr. Brewer now gives us the curious details of the history of Mary, the sister of Henry VIII. Although the story of this Princess as now presented to the reader is wanting in many of the pathetic points of interest connected with Katharine, we have thought that it is so full of varying events, and so characteristic of the times, that we shall be doing a service to many readers by giving them the substance of what Mr. Brewer's volumes contain on the subject.

The

The Princess Mary, youngest daughter of Henry VII., her sister Margaret having married James IV. of Scotland, had been in 1506, in accordance with the usage of times when royal marriages were made so subservient to political purposes, affianced by her father to the infant Prince Charles, afterwards to become celebrated as Emperor, but even then, by his relationship to the Emperor Maximilian and to the Spanish sovereigns, one of the greatest matches in Christendom. proposed marriage was thus in full accordance with the shrewdness which characterised the policy of Henry VII., nor did it lose its political significance in the eyes of his successor when the death of the Archduke Philip placed Charles in the position of heir to the crown of Castille. But the position of the other principals concerned was also to be affected by this and other political considerations. Ferdinand of Arragon, old, selfish, and deceitful, was the first to show disinclination to the marriage. Jealous as he had been of the rights of the Archduke Philip, he was not likely to view with much favour an alliance which would strengthen the position of the youthful heir; and when by the acquisition of Navarre, not effected without the concurrent action of Henry VIII., he had secured important advantages, no principles of honour, no gratitude for obligations, or considerations of existing family connexion, were sufficient to counterbalance a policy founded only on motives of self-interest.

It would, on the other hand, be difficult to give to the policy of Maximilian even so consistent a motive. Few characters in history figure in a more pitiable light than that of this Sovereign, as judged by the correspondence in Mr. Brewer's volumes. Wavering and uncertain in his policy, money was his object, and for money he was ever ready to make any sacrifice. As Pope Julius expressed himself regarding him, Imperator 'est levis et inconstans: alienæ pecuniæ semper mendicus

... est tamen conciliandus nomine diaboli, et pecunia ei semper est danda.' A tone of ridicule as regards the royal mendicant runs throughout the correspondence of the statesmen of the day, and specially in the despatches of the English agents who were frequently concerned in pecuniary transactions with him; for in these times, as in more modern instances, we find Germany looking to England for the means to enable it to fight its own battles.

Hume appears to have somewhat undervalued the policy pursued by Henry and by Wolsey with a view to counteract the successes of Francis in his first Milanese campaign, by purchasing the concurrence of Maximilian. It is evident, indeed, that, in spite of the difficulties which attached to any co-operation with the Emperor, an important check was thus placed on French designs in Italy; but this was not effected without a large expenditure of English gold, disbursed in the hands of Maximilian's Swiss auxiliaries, so far at least as it could be kept from his own clutches.

The correspondence of Wingfield and Pace, the two agents employed by Henry in this matter, is most interesting, and the contrast between the two characters is well worth study in their despatches. Wingfield, a veteran agent, credulous and feeble, but withal a gentleman in his tone-a very pantaloon of diplomatists-was called upon to co-operate with Richard Pace, an agent of a totally different character. Our readers will recollect Shakspeare's allusion to the latter:

:

Camp. Was he not held a learned man?
Wolsey.

Yes, surely.
Camp. They will not stick to say you envied him,
And fearing he would rise, he was so virtuous,

Kept him a foreign man.

Richard Pace appears to have been a shrewd and determined agent, undaunted by Maximilian's threats, inaccessible to his blandishments, and patient under the severe trials to which he was subjected by his fidelity to the interests intrusted to him. Writing from a bed of sickness or from prison, and even when summarily dismissed by the Emperor, we find the same constancy and incorruptibility. Joint action between two such opposite characters was manifestly impossible. Wingfield's easy nature was necessarily irritated by the unyielding disposition of his colleague. Personal jealousy was soon to follow, and querulous complaints against the confidence which Henry reposed in Pace. But the King and his Minister were not the men to misunderstand the true state of things. To be plain 'with you,' wrote Henry to Wingfield, we now evidently

perceive, more by your own writings than by the relation of others, that ye having better opinion in yourself than your wisdom or qualities can attain to, not only by elation of a glorious mind, but moved by the instigation of malice against our Secretary, Mr. Pace, have more considered your sensual appetite than regarded our commandments, weal, profit, or 'surety.' Better, added the angry monarch, that Wingfield had not been born than that inconvenience should result from his vainglorious ways, more studying to win thanks there, 'than regarding our honour and profit.' But we must leave the poor old knight in the midst of his tribulations, and only wonder that Henry did not forthwith accede to his request that his poverty might be remembered, and that he might be permitted to retire and make his pilgrimage to Our Lady of Walsingham*, where, as he wrote, by the leave of God I 'would gladly leave my beard, which is now of so strange a 'colour that I need none other arms or herald to show what favour I am worthy or like to have from henceforth amongst 'ladies and gentlewomen.'

We have digressed thus far from the history of Mary and her fortunes, as it was necessary to allude to the characters concerned in the matter of her marriage with Charles of Castille. Whatever might be the interests and inclinations of Ferdinand and Maximilian, they could not ignore the engagement contracted with Henry VII.; but it was in spite of his inclinations that Ferdinand in 1509 ratified the engagement, for Henry's agent, Knight, reported that, whether he feareth that the Prince waxeth too ripe in age, or that he remembereth old injuries, or that he would dissever the marriage, your Grace may truly imagine that he is not well disposed.' In like manner in 1513 Maximilian also signed the articles of the marriage, which was fixed to take place in the following year, but again we find the same agent stating that the Emperor was not to be trusted, and that he had instructed Margaret to defer the marriage on the plea of the Prince's health; and Charles's own Council, acting under French influence, also appear to have desired to raise difficulties on the ground that the Prince was but a child and Mary full

grown.

Henry VIII. was not likely to submit to such hesitations. Explanations were demanded, and his Ambassador at Brussels

* A very few years were to see the end of this shrine. In 1538, the wonder-working image was brought to Chelsea and there burnt. (Paston Letters, note to letter xvi.)

was directed to make preparations for the marriage, but delays and evasions were the only result; and at length, as Henry himself informed Margaret's envoy, Gerard de Pleine, it was the common talk of Europe that the delay was only designed to break off the engagement. It is with little surprise, therefore, that we read a public instrument, signed by Mary herself in July 1514, by which the alliance was formally renounced by the Princess; but that which does occasion a shock to the feelings of the reader is that Henry's announcement of this step to Leo X. is coupled with the intelligence that Mary was now betrothed to Louis XII. of France. A husband of the mature age of fifty-two was thus substituted for a boy of fourteen!

Political causes had doubtless a paramount influence in inducing Henry to relinquish the alliance with Charles. The contract had been entered into, so far as he was concerned, only as part of an arrangement between Henry, Maximilian, and Ferdinand, for joint action against France, but the agreement was soon violated by a truce between the two latter and Louis. Henry's position was thus altered; it was, moreover, not unnatural for him to be indignant at the treatment to which his sister had been exposed. For that treatment was hard. The Princess, as described in a letter to Margaret, was 'a beautiful lady; her deportment exquisite both in conver'sation and dancing. She is very lively and well brought up, and appears to love the Prince wonderfully. She has a very bad picture of him, and is said to wish for his presence ten times a day.' From the year 1509, we find her styled in public documents as Princess of Castille.' Margaret in her letters spoke of her as betrothed to the Prince; and as late as December 1513, we find Charles himself signing a letter to her with his name as 'y're bon mary.'

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The contract itself, and the hesitation of the Prince's relations to fulfil it, were thus equally notorious; and personal dignity concurred with political motives in inducing Henry to break off the engagement. But after the true facts of the case are thus apparent, it is amusing to find a French writer stating that les fiançailles viennent d'être rompues à cause de ' quelque intrigue galante dont, à tort ou à raison, on accuse la 'Princesse.'

If, however, the rupture with Charles was justified, the marriage with Louis was wholly inexcusable, even if had not been accompanied by some questionable circumstances to which we shall have hereafter to allude. But, rightly or wrongly, it was nevertheless to proceed in spite of its being highly unpopular with the English nobility. In August 1514, the marriage

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treaty was signed, and the marriage by proxy immediately followed; the bride,' as we are told, undressed and went to bed in the presence of many witnesses,' the Great Chamberlain of France in his doublet and red hose representing Louis in a coarse ceremony, the details of which we hesitate to transfer to these pages. A solemn espousal also took place in France, where the Earl of Worcester represented the English Princess. In arranging the preliminaries, we find Worcester remonstrating against the appointment of a woman of ill repute as one of Mary's attendants, to which complaint Louis answered that he 'wished she were brente-that there should never man or 6 woman be about his wife but such as should be at her con' tentation.' Worcester was also shown the jewels destined for Mary, the senile bridegroom informing him that She shall not have all at once, but at divers times, for he would have many, and at divers times, kisses and thanks for them.'

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We gather an impression of this amorous monarch from Peter Martyr's letters. In one of them he states, The King is at Abbeville, waiting for his new bride, who will be his ' death. What an old valetudinarian suffering from leprosy can want with a handsome girl of eighteen, you may infer;' and in another, The Frenchman went out to meet his bride like a gay bridegroom, perched on a Spanish war-horse, licking his lips, and gulping his spittle. If he lives to smell the 'flowers of spring, you may promise yourself five hundred ' autumns.'

The sacrifice was, however, to be made, and the marriage took place on the 9th of October. The first results we learn in a letter from the new Queen to Henry dated a few days later:

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The morn next after my marriage all my other man servants were discharged, and likewise my mother Gilford with my women and maidens, except such as never had experience nor knowledge how to advertise and give me counsel in any time of need, which is to be feared more shortly than your Grace thought at the time of my departing.'

And this was the way in which the promised contentation' as regarded Mary's attendants was carried out by Louis, who, in Worcester's words, yet lieth still, ever excusing himself 'by his gout.' Nor could Worcester, acting in obedience to Henry's instructions, bring about a better state of things. The only reply he could get from Louis was, that his wife and he be in good and perfect love as ever two creatures can be, and both of an age to rule themselves, and not to have 'servants who should rule over him or her.' And thus had