speaking of Henry's disappointment at finding himself still remaining the husband of Katharine of Arragon— "The king sore lamented his chance; he made no mirth or pastime, as he was wont to do, yet he dined with and resorted to the queen as accustomed; he minished nothing of her estate, and much loved and cherished their daughter, the lady Mary." These words afford proof that the establishment and royal routine of the mother and daughter continued the same as formerly. Lady Salisbury likewise retained her office, and Reginald Pole, her son, who had, with a single exception of an honourable mission to Paris, been resident in England for five years, must have had frequent opportunities of seeing the princess on account of his mother's residence with her, and her near relationship to the royal family. Mary was now a very lovely girl, in her fifteenth year; she manifested the greatest partiality to her noble and accomplished kinsman-whether as friend or lover, it is scarcely possible to say. But history having linked together the names of Mary Tudor and Reginald Pole, by hints that matrimonial alliance was at a later time projected between them, their locality at this momentous period of their career becomes an interesting point of biography.

Henry VIII. was very anxious to gain the sanction of the noble-minded Reginald to his pending divorce. When greatly urged to give his opinion on that head, and to accept of the archbishopric of York, rendered vacant by the death of Wolsey, Reginald, by letter, firmly and respectfully declined this great advancement,

1 Hall, 780.

This letter was the first of the celebrated series of controversial letters and essays written by Reginald Pole, and often quoted by historians. It was, of course, different in tone to those written after his aged mother had been hacked to pieces on the scaffold, his brother put to death on slight pretext, and his whole house desolated.

adding many arguments against the divorce of Katharine and the degradation of her daughter. Henry was incensed; he called the disinterested advocate before him in the stately gallery of Whitehall Palace,' to account for this opposition. Reginald, who at that time loved the king ardently, could not speak for emotion, and his words, so celebrated for their impassioned eloquence, were stifled in a gush of tears; yet his broken sentences proved that he was firm in his principles and manly in his defence of the helpless queen and her daughter. Henry frowned, and his hand often sought the hilt of his dagger; but if his kinsman did not yield to affection or interest, there was little chance of a scion of the Plantagenets bending to fear. Henry left Reginald weeping, and vented his temper by threats to his brother, lord Montague-threats which long after were fatally verified. Reginald's brothers loaded him with reproaches, yet he appears to have convinced them that he was right; for Montague, his elder brother, undertook a message of explanation to the king, who had rather taken the contents of the letter which had displeased him from the report of the duke of Norfolk than from his own perusal. Meantime, Henry had conquered his passion, for he was as yet a novice in injustice and cruelty. He examined the letter, and after walking up and down thoughtfully for some time, turned to his kinsman, lord Montague, and said, "Your brother has rightly guessed my disposition; he has given me such good reasons for his conduct, that I am under the necessity of taking all he has said in good part; and could he but gain on himself to approve of my divorce from the queen, no one would be dearer to me."

1 Whitehall Palace was thus called, after the death of Wolsey. It formerly bore the name of York Place, and was from this time the favourite residence of the royal family.

2 This scene is related by both Pole's secretaries, and by himself in his

At this period, no separation had taken place of the English church from Rome, and the divorce cause remained wholly undecided, therefore no religious prejudices were at issue in the bosom of Reginald Pole; it was as yet a simple matter of right or wrong between a husband, wife, and child, and when his opinion was demanded, and not till then, Reginald, the near kinsman of the husband and child, honestly declared what he thought of the justice of the case. If his defence of the oppressed made a powerful impression on the oppressor, what must it have done on the minds of those whose cause he pleaded?

The queen, from the commencement of her troubles, had often recurred to the unjust sentence on Reginald Pole's uncle, the last of the Plantagenets. She said, "that she saw the judgment of God in her afflictions, for a marriage founded in murder was not likely to prosper." She knew that her father, king Ferdinand, had refused the English alliance till Warwick was executed. The conscientious queen had endeavoured to make reparation by the friendship she ever shewed to Warwick's sister, the countess of Salisbury, and the affection she cultivated between her daughter Mary and the children of the countess. At one period of her life (and this may naturally be deemed the time) Katharine was heard to express a wish that Mary might marry a son of lady Salisbury, in order to atone for the wrong done to the earl of Warwick, whose property was taken as well as his life.' Reginald Pole used no surreptitious means to realize a wish so flattering to ambition. When letters. Sanders has likewise detailed it. Burnet rejected it as a romantic fiction of his own inventing; but as it is related by Pole himself it enforces belief. When a man sacrifices all worldly advantage rather than flatter injustice, his word becomes sacred to posterity.

Hall. Life of Cardinal Pole.

* This is evident from the State Papers and Lodge's Illustrations, which prove that Warwick Castle was crown property in the reign of Edward VI.

the young princess was sixteen, he withdrew from England, finding that his principles could not accord with the measures of the king. Yet it was long supposed that his reluctance to take priest's orders arose from a lingering hope that the wishes of queen Katharine might one day be fulfilled.

An utter silence is maintained, alike in public history and state documents, regarding that agonizing moment when the princess Mary was reft from the arms of her unfortunate mother to behold her no more. No witness has told the parting, no pen has described it; but sad and dolorous it certainly was to the hapless girl, even to the destruction of health. In the same month that Henry VIII. and queen Katharine finally parted, Mary had been ill, for a payment is made by her father to Dr. Bartelot, of £20, in reward for giving her his attendance. Another long sickness afflicted the princess the succeeding March, when the king again gave a large sum to the physician for restoring his daughter. Mary's sorrow had thus cast an early blight on her constitution, which she never wholly recovered. But her troubles had not yet. reached their climax; for lady Salisbury, the friend, next her mother, dear to her heart, still resided with her. This fact is evident from the letter written by queen Katharine, in which the recent illness of Mary is mentioned, and at the conclusion a kind message is sent to lady Salisbury. In this letter, Katharine endeavoured, with great sweetness, to reconcile the princess Mary to the loss of the Latin lessons she used to give her, by. commendations of the superior ability of her tutor, Dr. Fetherston, (who, it is evident, still retained his post.) At the same time, she requested occasionally to inspect

1 Privy Purse Expenses of Henry VIII., pp. 146, 202.

See Life of Katharine of Arragon, vol. iv., where the whole letter is cited.

her daughter's Latin exercises. The queen's letter concluded with expressions of tender regret at her separation from the king and her daughter, but without a word of angry complaint at the cause, which she wisely knew would irritate and agonize the mind of her child. Woburn is the date which marks the time as during the queen's residence at the palace of Ampthill, close to that abbey.

The succeeding year brought many trials to the unfortunate mother and daughter, who were still cruelly kept from the society of each other. The king proclaimed his marriage with Anne Boleyn. Cranmer pronounced the marriage of queen Katharine invalid; and the coronation of the rival queen took place. Another letter, written by Katharine of Arragon to her daughter, occurs without date of time or place, which we conjecture to have been written at Bugden, 1533, about the middle of August:

"Daughter, I heard such tidings this day, that I do perceive (if it be true) the time is very near when Almighty God will provide for you, and I am very glad of it; for I trust that he doth handle you with a good love. I beseech you agree to his pleasure with a merry (cheerful) heart, and be you sure that without fail he will not suffer you to perish if you beware to offend him.

"I pray God that you, good (daughter, offer yourself to him. If any pangs come over you, shrive yourself, first make you clean; take heed of his commandments, and keep them as near, as he will give you grace to do, for there are you sure armed.

“And if this lady do come to you as it is spoken, if she do bring you a letter from the king, I am sure in the self same letter you will be commanded what to do. Answer with very few words, obeying the king your father in everything-save only that you will not offend God, and lose your soul-and go no further with learning and disputation in the matter. And wheresoever, and in whatsoever company you shall come, obey the king's commandments, speak few words, and meddle nothing. "I will send you two books in Latin; one shall be, De Vita Christi, with the declarations of the gospels; and the other, the Epistles of St. Jerome, that he did write to Paula and Eustochium, and in them I trust you will see good things.