she was in despair at not possessing her affection. She did not know in what she could have offended her, except in the point of religion; but she was excusable, for she had been brought up in that which she professed, and had never listened to any teacher that could have instructed her in another. In short, she asked for books, and a learned man to instruct her. So she retracted her errors, and on the 8th of September attended the mass of the Nativity of our Lady. But that was not without having even the evening before alleged a pain in her stomach, as her last resource of resistance, and even on the way to chapel, she cried out complaining of the severity of her suffering.* This most unwilling conversion sharpened the malevolence of the Imperial Ambassadors. They returned to the charge, and desired that Elizabeth's person should be secretly secured. They said she was in correspondence with rebels and heretics. If the Queen were to die and the Princess come to the crown, the kingdom

*Griffet, § xii. p. 106, 107, and Manuscript in the Record Office. The Imperial Ambassadors to Charles V. London, September 9th, 1553, Vol. I. p. 360-362.

+ "Leurs conseilz et enterprises estoient participez à Madame Elisabeth, et en elle mis leur espoir fet attente." Manuscript in the Record Office. The Ambassadors of Charles V. London, September 23rd, 1558, Vol. I. p. 407. About the rebels who had followed the Duke of Northumberland.

would relapse into heresy and the Catholics be persecuted. Many avowed that she did not greatly trust her sister, and told them she had sent for her a few days before, and asked her whether she was a firm believer in the Faith of the Catholics respecting the Holy Sacrament, and had begged her to declare freely and conscientiously whether, as was stated, she went to mass through dissimulation, fear, or deceit. Elizabeth had answered that she was ready to declare publicly that she went to mass to obey the direction of her conscience; that she acted of her own intention and free will, without fear, deceit, or dissimulation; and, as she spoke thus, she trembled all over.

The Imperialists advised Mary not to pause on this show of timidity. They were informed that the foreign preachers preachers were regaining courage, and saying that, if the Papists had their time, it would not last long, that Lady Elizabeth would see to it; whilst still, according to the Imperialists, the rebel, partisans of the Duke of Northumberland only waited for their revenge, till the moment should come for serving and assisting the purposes of her who was in secret her rival.*

* Manuscript in the Record Office. The Ambassadors to the Emperor. London, September 23rd, 1553, Vol. I. p. 407-409.

155

CHAPTER X.

ELIZABETH AT THE CORONATION OF MARY

TUDOR.

Fêtes at the Coronation-Parliament legitimizes the Marriage of Katherine of Aragon-Anger of Elizabeth-Calvinism suppressed.

T must be allowed that the Queen deserves

IT

some credit for resisting these venomous instigations, so continually renewed. Satisfied with the submission she had obtained, without pretending to sound the inmost depths of the heart, she considered that this example would efficaciously promote the restoration of the Catholic faith, and would not fail to exercise the most valuable influence upon the determinations of the coming Parliament.* She was full of consideration for Elizabeth; called her her good sister, led her by the hand in all the

* Vertot, Vol. II. p. 160. Antoine de Noailles to the King, London, September 22nd, 1553.

great assemblies.* She made her rich presents of jewels; a brooch representing the history of Pyramus and Thisbe, with a fair table diamond set with rubies; two books of gold, one set with rubies, with a diamond at the clasp, the other containing the portraits of Henry VIII. and Katherine of Aragon; a square plate of gold, with a cord and tassels; a rosary of white coral set with gold+-a shower of kindness calculated to keep a young Princess fond of dress in the right road. But that Princess always knew how to keep her tastes in subordination to calculations of policy. Though her resistance was exhausted, she had not ceased to protest. Noailles informs us that she refused to adorn herself with these fine things.

Nevertheless, the desperate effort she had made in going to mass bore fruit. By it she gained a footing at the Court, and secured her

* Griffet, p. 107, Vertot, Vol. II. p. 273. Antoine de Noailles to the King, London, November 30th, 1553.

+ Madden's "Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary," p. 194, 197, inventory of Mary's jewels, with notice of those that had been given to different persons. This act of liberality to Elizabeth bears date September 21st, 1553.

"Archives des Affaires Etrangères." "Registre des copies des dépêches de MM. de Noailles," Vol. I. and II. in one, p. 125. Antoine de Noailles to the Queen (Dowager) of Scotland, London, September 24th, 1553.

place, as Queen's sister and heiress, in the first line at the Coronation banquets. These festivals were appointed for the 1st of October. Three days previously, the Queen, with Elizabeth and all her ladies, went down the Thames from St. James's Palace to the Tower, at the eastern extremity of London.

The Tower, the work of the Norman Kings, the almost living symbol of the Conquest, was a kind of representative seat of royalty. It was the shelter of new sovereigns before their grand inauguration, their refuge in the time of danger; the scene by turns of feasts and of tragedies; within its strong walls it contained. state apartments, the Treasury and the only mint existing in England, the crown and its jewels, the archives of the kingdom, the arsenal, the State prison, and the block. Sometimes it was the starting-point for triumphal procession passing through the streets of the city towards the more cheerful palaces of the west; too often its greedy soil was moistened with deep draughts of the blood of victims sacrificed to their master's rage, or to the decrees of a tribunal without justice or mercy.

This was the bright and fleeting day of joy. On the 30th of September, Mary left the Tower, and, passing through the city hung