KATHARINE OF ARRAGON.

FIRST QUEEN OF HENRY VIII.

AT a time when joy and prosperity were swelling in a flood-tide for her native Spain, Katharine of Arragon first saw the light; for her renowned parents, king Ferdinand of Arragon, and donna Isabel, queen of Castille, had made every city possessed by the Moors bow beneath their victorious arms, with the exception of Granada and Malaga, which alone bore the yoke of the infidel.

The early infancy of Katharine of Arragon was passed amidst the storms of battle and siege; for queen Isabel of Castille herself, with her young family, lodged in the magnificent camp with which her armies for years beleaguered Granada. Nor was this residence unattended with danger; once in particular, in a desperate sally of the besieged Moors, the queen's pavilion was set on fire, and the young infantas rescued with great difficulty from the flames.

The little Katharine, a few months after, accompanied her parents in their grand entry, when the seat of Moorish empire succumbed to their arms, and from that moment Granada was her home. At this time she was four years old. In Granada the early education of the young Katharine commenced. The first objects which greeted her awakening intellect were the wonders of the Alhambra, and the exquisite bowers of the Generaliffe; for in those royal seats of the Moorish dynasty was Katharine of Arragon reared.

"Donna Catalina," says the manuscript of Bernaldes, "being at

Granada with the king and queen in the year 1501, there came ambassadors from the king of England to demand her for the prince of England, his son, called Arthur. The union was agreed upon, and she set off from Granada to England, parting from the Alhambra on the 21st of May, in the year 1501. Contrary winds forced her vessel back on the coast of Old Castille, which occasioned great illness to donna Catalina. After she was convalescent, she embarked more prosperously, on the 26th of September, in the best ship they had, of 300 tons, and after a good voyage landed at a port called Salamonte, on the 2d of October, where the senora donna Catalina was grandly received, with much feasting and rejoicing."

This was while she staid at Plymouth, where the nobility and gentry of the neighboring counties crowded to do honor to their future queen, and entertained her from the time of her arrival with west-country sports and pastimes. The steward of the royal palace, lord Brook, was sent forward by Henry VII. directly the news was known of the infanta's arrival, in order "to purvey and provide" for her. The duchess of Norfolk and the earl of Surrey likewise came to attend her. The duchess was immediately admitted into her presence, and remained with her as her companion.

On the day of St. Erkenwald, November the 14th, the young duke of York (afterwards her second husband) led the infanta to St. Paul's. Strange diversity of apparel of the country of Hispania is to be descriven," says the herald, "for the bride wore at the time of her marriage upon her head a coif of white silk, with a scarf bordered with gold and pearl, and precious stones, five inches and a half broad, which veiled great part of her visage, and her person." This was the Spanish mantilla. Her gown was very large, both the sleeves and also the body, with many plaits; and beneath the waist, certain round hoops bearing out their gowns from their body after their country manner." Such was the first advent of the famous hoop or fardingale in England.

Great misrepresentation has taken place regarding the age of Katharine, at the time of her first marriage; one historian even affirming she was nineteen; but as her birthday was at the close of the year 1485, it stands to reason that when she wedded Arthur, November 1501, she had not completed her sixteenth year, while prince Arthur, who was born