from this country to the memory of our first Protestant queen; and, if the owner of the soil which covers her sacred dust, does not endeavour to preserve her remains from further outrage, the bishop of the diocese is called upon to devise some suitable protection, for the desecrated grave of this royal lady, to whom the church of England owes the preservation of the university of Cambridge.

With Katharine Parr closes the records of the queen-consorts of England. The next two queens of England, Mary I. and Elizabeth, were sovereigns; and, with the queen of James I., Anne of Denmark, the series of queens of Great Britain will commence.

unconscientious will be abandoned by all persons who imagine they possess the slightest claims to good taste and good feeling. The time-honoured memorials of historical facts are witnesses sacred to the cause of truth, and as such they should be venerated and protected from the outrages of ignorance and folly, in a nation whose greatest boast is the increase of refinement, which the increase of education is extending now, even to the humblest grades of life.

MARY,

FIRST QUEEN-REGNANT OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND.

CHAPTER I.

Birth of Mary at Greenwich-Only surviving child of Henry VIII. and Katharine of Arragon-Her state governess-Nurse - Baptism-Sponsors-InfancyPresented in infancy to the Venetian ambassadors-Her father's fondnessNursery establishment-Her court and receptions in infancy-Her early musical attainments-Abode at Ditton Park-Presents in infancy-Sponsor to a child-Betrothed at six years old to Charles V.-Her tutors and educationHer message to the emperor-Her betrothment broken-Grand establishment at Ludlow Person and manners Attainments-Offered in marriage to Francis I.-Dances at court with her father-Verses-Mary appears in court masques and ballets-Commencement of divorce of Katharine of ArragonReginald Pole - His defence of Mary and queen Katharnie's rights - Mary separated from her mother- Her dangerous illness - Her father and mother divorced - Anne Boleyn crowned queen · - Katharine of Arragon's letter to Mary Mary present at the birth of Elizabeth - Refuses to call her sister princess-Mary's letters-Resistance to her degradation-Her household at Beaulieu broken up-Calamitous reverses-Her life threatened - Refused access to her mother's death-bed-Death of her mother, queen Katharine.

MARY, our first queen-regnant, was the only child of Henry VIII. and Katharine of Arragon who reached maturity; she first saw the light on the banks of the Thames, at Greenwich Palace, on Monday, at four in the morning, February 18, 1516. As she was a healthy babe, her birth consoled her parents for the loss of the two heirs male, who had preceded her, nor in her childhood was her father ever heard to regret her sex. The queen confided her to the care of her beloved friend, the countess of Salisbury (Margaret Plantagenet); and the royal infant's first nourishment was supplied by one of that lady's family. Katharine, the wife of Leonard Pole, was Mary's wet-nurse.

The princess was, according to custom, baptized the third day after her birth. The silver font, in which the children of Elizabeth of York, and Henry VII. had been christened, once more travelled from Christ Church, Canterbury, to the Grey Friars, adjacent to Greenwich Palace. Carpets were spread for the royal babe's procession, from the palace to the font, which was placed in the Grey Friars' church, guarded by knights-banneret. The godmothers were, the princess Katharine Plantagenet and the duchess of Norfolk. The infant was carried by the

countess of Salisbury; the dukes of Norfolk and Suffolk, both uncles to the princess by marriage, walked on each side of her. Cardinal Wolsey was godfather. She was named Mary after the favourite sister of Henry VIII. When the baptism was finished, the countess of Salisbury knelt at the altar, with her infant charge in her arms, who received the preliminary rite of confirmation or bishoping, the countess being her sponsor at that ceremony. Various rich presents were bestowed on the princess Mary by her sponsors and relatives, who assisted at her baptism. Cardinal Wolsey gave a gold cup; her aunt, Mary Tudor, gave her niece and name-child a pomander of gold. The princess Katharine gave a gold spoon; and the duchess of Norfolk presented a primer, being a book richly illuminated, of catholic offices of devotion.

Mary was reared, till she was weaned, in the apartments of the queen ner mother, and the first rudiments of her education were commenced by that tender parent as soon as she could speak. Both Henry and Katharine were in the habit of dandling Mary, and holding her in their arms after dinner. Sebastian Justianiani, the Venetian ambassador, observes in his despatches, dated March 1st, 1518, that "Henry VII. came to his palace called Windsor, about twenty miles from London, and dined there. The king then took from the arms of the serene queen Katharine his little daughter, at that time about two years old, and carried her to cardinal Wolsey, and to our ambassador, who kissed her hand."

The nursery establishment of the princess was occasionally stationed at Ditton Park, in Buckinghamshire. The royal infant was often ferried over the Thames to Windsor Castle, when her parents sojourned there. Her education must have commenced at a very tender age, if her early attainments in music may be taken in evidence.

After the first months of her infancy no more payments occur to Katharine Pole, as her wet-nurse, but the care of her person was consigned to lady Margaret Bryan, the wife of sir Thomas Bryan, who was called the lady mistress. This lady superintended the temperate meals of the royal infant, which consisted of one dish of meat, with bread. The countess of Salisbury was state governess, and head of the household, the annual expenses of which amounted to 11007.; sir Weston Browne was chamberlain, Richard Sydnour, treasurer and accountant; Alice Baker, gentlewoman of the bedchamber, at a salary of 107., and Alice Wood, laundress, had 33 shillings half-yearly. Sir Henry Rowte,

'Herald's Journal, Harleian MSS.

Household book of princess Mary, 1517.

The pomander of gold was a hollow ball, which opened to admit a ball of paste, formed of rich perfumes, the pomander being perforated, to diffuse the scent. It was hung at the girdle, and sometimes carried in the hand. It was not unfit for a baby's plaything, though an article of jewellery used by the belles of those days.

Poem of William Forrest, chaplain to queen Mary, quoted by sir F. Madden, Privy Purse Expenses of Mary, exix.

Copied from the diaries of Martin Sanuto, in St. Marco's Library, by Rawdon Browne, esq., and translated by our late venerated friend, H. Howard, esq., of Corby Castle. Household book of the princess Mary.

priest, was chaplain and clerk of the closet, at an allowance of sixpence per day. Ditton Park, and Hanworth, were the earliest residences of the princess's childhood; but while her parents were absent in France, at the celebrated Field of Cloth of Gold, she seems to have kept court in royal state at their palace of Richmond. Here the privy council frequently visited her, and sent daily details of her health and behaviour to her absent parents, or to cardinal Wolsey. Some foreign strangers were introduced by the order of the king to the royal child, who, though little more than three years old, had to sit up in state, greet them courteously and rationally, and, finally, to amuse them by playing on the virginals. She must have been a musical prodigy, if, at that tender age, she could play a tune correctly on a musical instrument. The visit of three Frenchmen of rank to the princess is thus described by the privy council:"After they had been shown every thing notable in London, they were conveyed in a barge, by the lord Berners and the lord Darcy, to Richmond, when they repaired to the princess, and found her right honourably accompanied with noble personages, as well spiritual as temporal, and her house and chambers furnished with a proper number of goodly gentlemen and tall yeomen. Her presence-chamber was attended, besides the lady-governess and her gentlewomen, by the duchess of Norfolk and her three daughters, the lady Margaret, wife to the lord Herbert, the lady Gray, lady Neville, and the lord John's wife. In the great chamber were many other gentlewomen well apparelled. And when the gentlemen of France came into the presence-chamber to the princess, her grace in such wise showed herself unto them, in welcoming and entertaining them with most goodly countenance, proper communication, and pleasant pastime in playing on the virginals, that they greatly marvelled and rejoiced at the same, her tender age considered." The infant royal performer must have been exceedingly docile and well trained, not only to receive and speak properly to foreign strangers, but to play her tunes when required. The instrument here mentioned was the first rude idea our ancestors had formed of a piano : it was a miniature keyed instrument, contained in a box about four feet long, with an ivory or boxwood finger-board, limited to two or three octaves, and was, when wanted, placed on a table before the performer. When the little princess had exhibited her infantine skill on this instrument, refreshments were served to the foreign guests, of strawberries, wine, wafers, and ypocras. The council, in another letter, thus mentions the princess again :-"Since our last writing we have sundry times visited and seen your dearest daughter the princess, who, God be thanked, is in prosperous health and convalescence; and like as she increaseth in days and years so doth she in grace and virtue.”

General history is not silent regarding Mary's infantine musical attainments. In the Italian history of Pollino it is asserted, that Mary played on the arpicordo, which is the same name as the harpischord. The Italian seems to designate by it the instrument, called by the chroniclers,

'Letter from the Council to Wolsey, dated July 2d, 1520, printed by sir Harris Nicolas. Privy Council of Henry VIII., pp. 339, 340.

clavichord. "This she used to play on," he adds, "when a very little child; and she had so far mastered the difficulties as to have a light touch, with much grace and velocity."

When her royal parents returned to England, Mary went back to her nursery at Ditton Park, but she made a long visit to the king and queen the succeeding Christmas. She was a very lovely infant, her complexion rosy, and her eyes brown, and "right merry and joyous." It is not probable that the king, who was passionately fond of children, could part from an attractive prattler of that age. Accordingly she remained at Greenwich till after her fourth birth-day. The Christmas gifts made to the princess this year were numerous, and some of them very costly. There was, however, but one article calculated to please a little child; this was a rosemary-bush hung with spangles of gold, brought for her by a poor woman of Greenwich; it was, perhaps, like the Christmas-tree, which gives such delight to the German children. Cardinal Wolsey sent her a gold cup; the princess Katharine Plantagenet, two small silver flagons; queen Mary Tudor, another golden pomander; her nurse, lady Margaret Bryan, a crimson purse, tinselled; and the duke of Norfolk, a pair of silver snuffers. The princess was amused by the performance of a company of children, who acted plays for her diversion; and in her accounts 6s. 8d. is given to a man who managed the little actors, as a reward. This man, it appears, was Heywood, the dramatic author.

The succeeding Christmas was spent by the princess Mary, at Ditton Park, where, among the diversions of the season, a lord of misrule, one John Thurgood, was appointed to "make mirth for herself and household, with morrice-dancers, masks, carillons, and hobby-horses." After Christmas, she crossed the Thames to Windsor, and there received her New-year's gifts:-from the king, a standing cup of silver gilt, filled with coin; from cardinal Wolsey, a gold salt set with pearls; and from her aunt, princess Katharine, a gold cross.

The princess made her Candlemas offering that year at Hanworth, and thence proceeded to Richmond, where her mother, the queen, sent her barge, to convey her to Greenwich. The same month she stood godmother to the infant daughter of sir William Compton, to whom she gave the name of Mary; at the baptism, the lady-mistress, Margaret Bryan, distributed 33s. to the attendants. This office of standing godmother made a pleasing impression on the memory of the princess of 'The use of snuffers, at this era, is a proof that England had surpassed other nations in luxury, although there was still great need of improvement in man ners and customs. In the northern countries, the use of snuffers was not com prehended for centuries afterwards. King Gustavus Adolphus replied to one of his officers, who declared "that he never knew what fear was," "Then you never snuffed a candle,”—meaning, with his fingers. The delicate way of trimming the duke of Holstein's candles, forms a laughable page in Raumer's collections; and even in the beginning of the present century a Swedish officer, dining at an English gentleman's table, seized the snuffers, and, after curiously examining them, snuffed the candles with his fingers, and, carefully gathering up the snuff, shut it in the snuffers, commending the cleanliness of the English in providing such a receptacle.