"I could heartily wish more respect were paid to the remains of this amiable queen, and would willingly, with proper leave, have them wrapped in another sheet of lead and coffin, and decently interred in another place, that at least her body might rest in peace; whereas the chapel where she now lies is used for the keeping of rabbits, which make holes, and scratch very irreverently about the royal corpse."

The chapel seems a beautiful miniature of Eton.

The last time the coffin of queen Katharine Parr was opened, it was discovered that a wreath of ivy had entwined itself round the temples of the royal corpse, a berry having fallen there and taken root at the time of her previous exhumation, and there had silently, from day to day, woven itself into this green sepulchral coronal. A lock of hair, which was taken from the head of queen Katharine Parr, after it had lain in the dust and darkness of the grave for nearly two centuries and a half, was kindly sent for my inspection by Mrs. Constable Maxwell. It was of the most exquisite quality and colour, exactly resembling threads of burnished gold in its hue; it was very fine, and with an inclination to curl naturally.

"The ruined chapel of Sudley with the very small remains of the castle, now a farm-house, were visited by me," says Mr. Lawson, "A.D. 1828, and I am sorry to report that queen Katharine's remains have not been re-deposited with the honour and historical respect due to the royal and noble lady; for, instead of their being replaced within the walls in their own grave, and secured from further intrusion, they are buried in a lean-tobuilding outside the north wall, in which divine service is sometimes performed, to preserve the right as a parochial church." How much better it would be to restore the chapel itself for this purpose, and to erect a suitable

monument to the memory of Katharine Parr.' Surely some mark of consideration and grateful respect is due 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 queens consort 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.

'Sudley Castle has recently been repaired, and some portion of it restored by Mr. Dent, the present possessor, who has also, we understand, placed a grated screen before Katharine Parr's monumental tablet, to preserve it from being carried away piecemeal by the dishonest and destructive collectors of mementos of celebrated persons and places-a species of relic-hunting, which has caused of late years irreparable damage to many precious works of art, the ruin of some of the most venerable remains of antiquity, and, in many instances, amounted to the crime of sacrilege. It is to be hoped that a practice so truly childish and 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.

of the pedigree down to Lawson, are very clear and certain, and need not lengthen this statement.

Whether from any records, or knowledge, or tradition, the old grandmother declared the marriage of Katharine's daughter to sir Edward Bushel, it is impossible now to say in 1841; but it seems that Silas Johnson, by his marriage with their daughter, Mary Bushel, obtained a great fortune, together with some relics of Katharine Parr's personal property, which have continued in the Lawson family, their descendants, ever since. They are thus described by Johnson Lawson Esq., in whose possession they are at present:

"A fine damask napkin, which evidently was made for, and brought from Spain by Katharine of Arragon, the first queen of Henry VIII. The beautiful pattern therein exhibits the spread eagle, with the motto, Plus Oultre,' four times; and on the dress of four men blowing trumpets, attired in the Spanish garb as matadors, are the letters K.I.P, (probably Katharine Infanta Princess). And this napkin, in the palace of Henry VIII., must have passed through the hands of six queens! down to Katharine Parr. The second relic is the royal arms of the king Henry, engraved on copper in cameo, which were set in the centre of a large pewter dish -the table service in those times was usually pewter."

In the absence of those bona fide vouchers of the marriage of the young lady Mary Seymour, which have been destroyed by time, by accident, or wanton ignorance, it may be conjectured that the duchess of Suffolk, after her marriage with Richard Bertie and her subsequent flight from the Marian persecution, provided for her youthful protégé by an honourable marriage with sir Edward Bushel, though certainly much beneath the alliances which would have courted her acceptance, had she not been wrongfully deprived of the great

wealth she ought to have inherited, as the only child of queen Katharine Parr. The Lawsons who claim their descent from the daughter of Katharine Parr, are a branch of the ancient family of the Lawsons of Yorkshire and Westmoreland, and bear the same arms.

Queen Katharine Parr was originally interred on the north side of the altar of the then splendid chapel of Sudley, and a mural tablet of sculptured alabaster was placed above her tomb. The chapel is now despoiled, desecrated, and in ruins, the roofless walls alone remaining. The notice of queen Katharine's death and interment, from the document in the Heralds' Office, having been published in "Rudde's History of Gloucestershire," some ladies, who happened to be at Sudley Castle, in May, 1782, determined to examine the ruined chapel. Observing a large block of alabaster fixed in the north wall of the chapel, they imagined that it might be the back of a monument that had once been fixed there. Led by this hint, they had the ground opened not far from there, and not above a foot from the surface they found a leaden envelope, which they opened in two places, on the face and breast, and found it to contain a human body wrapped in cere-cloth. Upon removing what covered the face, they discovered the features, particularly the eyes, in the most perfect state of preservation. Alarmed with this sight, and with the smell which came from the cerecloth, they ordered the earth to be thrown in immediately, without closing over the cerecloth and lead which covered the face, only observing enough of the inscription to convince them it was the body of queen Katharine.'

In the same summer, Mr. John Lucas, the person who rented the land on which the ruins of the chapel stand, removed the earth from the leaden coffin, which

1 Archæologia.

144

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-Infancy-Presented in infancy to the Venetian ambassadors-Her father's fondness-Nursery 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 education-Her 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 Arragon-Reginald Pole-His defence of Mary and queen Katharine's rights-Mary separated from her mother-Her dangerous illnesses-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