ILLUSTRATIONS TO THE SECOND VOLUME. ISABELLA OF VALOIS, SECOND QUEEN-CONSORT OF RICHARD II., from an Illuminated MS. in the Harleian Collection (Described page 41.) Frontispiece. ANNE BOLEYN SENDING HER TABLETS TO WOLSEY Vignette Title. (Described page 616.) JOANNA OF NAVARRE, QUEEN-CONSORT OF HENRY IV., from her Monument in Canterbury Cathedral (Described page 103.) AUTOGRAPH OF JOANNA OF NAVARRE...... page 42 105 KATHERINE OF VALOIS, QUEEN-CONSORT OF HENRY V., from the Beauchamp MS., Harleian Collection... MARGARET OF ANJOU, QUEEN-CONSORT OF HENRY VI., from the 106 Cathedral of Angiers... (Described page 205.) 162 AUTOGRAPH OF MARGARET OF ANJOU ELIZABETH WOODVILLE, QUEEN-CONEORT OF EDWARD IV., Queen's College, Cambridgy.... AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH WOODVILLE.. 312 from 315 337 ANNE OF WARWICK, QUEEN CONSORT OF KICHARD III., from the Beauchamp Pedigree, British Museum (Described page 388.) ELIZABETH OF YORK, QUEEN CONSORT OF HENRY VII., from a Painting by Holbein ..... (Described page 157.) AUTOGRAPH OF ELIZABETH OF YORK 373 393 396 KATHARINE OF ARRAGON, QUEEN-CONSORT OF HENRY VIII., from an Original in the possession of the Rev. C. E. Wylde, of Lambeth... (Described page 516.) AUTOGRAPH OF KATHARINE OF ARRAGON PAGE 458 539 ANNE BOLEYN, SECOND QUEEN-CONSORT OF HENRY VIII., from an Original formerly in the possession of the late General Thornton 562 (Described page 636.) AUTOGRAPHS OF ANNE AND HENRY VIII.. 602 LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ISABELLA OF VALOIS, SURNAMED THE LITTLE QUEEN, SECOND QUEEN-CONSORT OF RICHARD II. Labella of Valois an infant queen-consort-Betrothed to Richard the SecondMarried at Calais-Embarks-Enters London-Called the little queen'Educated at Windsor-King's visits-Her childish love for him-Conspiracy to imprison the king and queen--Her tournament-Richard's farewell visit -The young queen's growth and beauty-Her parting with Richard—Queen's passionate grief-Invasion-Queen sent to Wallingford-King's return-His poetical address to the queen-Richard in the Tower-Dejection-DeposedQueen joins the revolt against Henry IV.-Richard's murder-Widowhood of Isabella-She refuses the prince of Wales-Returns to France-Tender fare well to the English-Restoration to her family-Renewed offers from the prince of Wales-Her aversion-Betrothed to the heir of Orleans-Birth of Isabella's infant-Her death-Burial at Blois-Grief of her husband-Elegies written by him-Discovery of Isabella's corpse-Re-interment-Portrait. THE union of Isabella of Valois with Richard II. presented an anomaly to the people of England unprecedented in their annals. They saw with astonishment an infant, not nine sammers old, sharing the throne as the chosen queen-consort of a monarch who had reached his thirtieth year. Richard, hose principal error was attention to his own private feelings preference to the public good, considered, that by the time is little princess grew up, the lapse of years would have VOL. II. mellowed his grief for the loved and lost Anne of Bohemia: he could not divorce his heart from the memory of his late queen sufficiently to give her a successor nearer his own age. Isabella of Valois was the daughter of Charles VI. of France and Isabeau of Bavaria,-that queen of France afterwards so notorious for her wickedness; but at the time of the marriage of Richard II. with her little daughter, queen Isabeau was only distinguished for great beauty and luxurious taste in dress and festivals. Charles VI. had already experienced two or three agonizing attacks of inflammation on the brain, which had yielded, however, to medical skill, and he was at this time a magnificent, prosperous, and popular sovereign. Isabella, the eldest child of this royal pair, first saw the light in the Louvre-palace, at Paris, 1387, November 9th. She was the fairest of a numerous and lovely family, the females of which were remarkable for the beauty lavished on them by the hand of nature. The queen of France was the daughter of a German prince and an Italian princess; she was renowned for the splendour of her large dark eyes, and the clearness and brightness of her complexion,-charms which were transmitted to her daughters in no common degree. Isabella had three brothers (who were successively dauphins) and four sisters,— Joanna, duchess of Bretagne; Marie, a nun; Michelle, the first duchess of Philip the Good, of Burgundy; and Katherine the Fair, the queen of Henry V. of England. These royal ladies inherited their father's goodness without his malady, and their mother's beauty without her vices. The princess. Isabella was precocious in intellect and stature, and was every way worthy of fulfilling a queenly destiny. Unlike her sisters, Michelle and Katherine, who were cruelly neglected in their infant years, she was the darling of her parents and of the court of France. Isabella is no mute on the biographical page: the words she uttered have been chronicled, and though so young, both as the wife and widow of an English king, research will show that her actions were of some historical importance. The life of Richard's last consort is a curious portion of the biography of our queens of England, as an instance of a girl of tender age placed in unusual circumstances. "The king," says sir John de Grailly, (a courtly informant of Froissart,) "is advised to marry again, and has had researches made every where, but in vain, for a suitable lady. He has been told that the king of Navarre has sisters and daughters, but he will not hear of them. The duke of Gloucester has, likewise, a grown-up girl, who is marriageable, and well pleased would he be if his royal nephew would choose her; but the king says she is too nearly related, being his cousin-german.' King Richard's thoughts are so bent on the eldest daughter of the king of France, he will not hear of any other: t causes great wonder in this country that he should be so eager to marry the daughter of his adversary, and he is not the better beloved for it. King Richard has been told 'that the lady was by far too young, and that even in five or six years she would not be the proper age for a wife.' He replied pleasantly, 'that every day would remedy the deficiency of age, and her youth was one of his reasons for preferring her, because he should educate her and bring her up to his own mind, and to the manners and customs of the English; and that, as for himself, he was young enough to wait for her."" Froissart was staying at Eltham-palace when the parliament met to debate the marriage in the beautiful gothic hall.' While they were walking on the terrace, sir Richard Sturry, one of the king's household, gave him this information :— "The king made the archbishop of Canterbury speak of the business of his marriage. In the debate it was agreed that the archbishop of Dublin, the earl of Rutland, and the earlmarshal, with twenty knights and forty squires of honour, should wait on the king of France, and propose a treaty of 'The refined taste of the late princess Sophia Matilda led to the recent restoration of this noble relic. * The Sunday after the departure of the embassy, Richard II. was at leisure to receive the presentation-copy of the poesies prepared for him by sir John Froissart. "I presented it to him in his chamber, for I had it with me, and on his bed." From this passage it would appear that the king received Lisa before he had risen. "He took it, and looked into it with much pleasure. He ought to have been pleased, for it was handsomely written and illuminated, |