The feelings of jealous dislike which the princess Mary naturally felt towards her infant rival, were gradually subdued by the endearing caresses of the innocent child, when they became sisters in adversity. When Mary again incurred the displeasure of her capricious sire, and was forbidden to come within a certain distance of the court, Elizabeth became once more the associate of her little brother's sports, and afterwards shared his studies. The early predilection of these royal children for their learning was remarkable. "As soon as it was light they called for their books: so welcome," says Heywood," were their hore matutinæ, that they seemed to prevent the night's repose for the entertainment of the morrow's schooling." They took no less delight in the practice of their religious exercises and the study of the Scriptures, to which their first hours were exclusively devoted. "The rest of the forenoon, continues our author, “breakfast alone excepted, they were instructed in languages and science, or moral learning, collected out of such authors as did best conduce to the instruction of princes; and when he was called out to his more active exercises in the open air, she betook herself to her lute or viol, and when wearied with that, employed her time in needle-work."

The following letter, probably the first ever written by Elizabeth, was addressed by her to her new step-mother, Anne of Cleves:

"MADAME,

"I am struggling between two contending wishes; one is, my impatient desire to see your majesty, the other that of rendering the obedience I owe

1 The editor of the Blackburn paper states, that an obscure individual in that place is in possession of the prayer-book presented by Henry VIII. to his daughter Elizabeth at her confirmation. This antiquarian curiosity was, it is stated, stolen from its deposit at Hampton-Court about the beginning of last century; the librarian was dismissed for losing so valuable a volume. It is enriched with notes or mottoes in MS., and it is even conjectured to be the actual token by which Essex might have saved his forfeit life, if it had been delivered to the queen. The title-page represents a triumphal arch, and has these words, in black letter,—C Certeine Prayers and godly Meditacyons, very nedefull for every Christien. The imprint is,-Emprinted at Malborow, the yere of our Lord a. M.CCCCC.XXXVIII. per me, Joanis Philoparion. The volume is in good preservation, bound in velvet, with the royal arms and roses emblazoned.-Literary Gazette.

to the commands of the king my father, which prevent me from leaving my house till he has given me full permission to do so. But I hope that I shall be able shortly to gratify both these desires. In the mean time, I entreat your majesty to permit me to show, by this billet, the zeal with which I devote my respect to you as my queen, and my entire obedience to you as to my mother. I am too young and feeble to have power to do more than to felicitate you with all my heart in this commencement of your marriage. I hope that your majesty will have as much good-will for me, as I have zeal for your service."1

This letter is without date or signature, and Leti, who rarely gives his authorities, does not explain the source whence it was derived; but there is no reason to dispute its authenticity. He tells us "that Anne of Cleves, when she saw Elizabeth, was charmed with her beauty, wit, and endearing caresses; that she conceived the most tender affection for her; and when the conditions of her divorce were arranged, she requested, as a great favour, that she might be permitted to see her sometimes," adding, "that to have had that young princess for her daughter, would have been greater happiness to her than being queen." The paternal pride of Henry was gratified at this avowal, and he agreed that she should see Elizabeth as often as she wished, provided that she was addressed by her only as the lady Anne of Cleves.2

Elizabeth found no less favour in the eyes of her third step-mother, Katharine Howard, who being cousin-german to her unhappy mother, Anne Boleyn, took her under her especial protection, and treated her with every mark of tenderness and consideration. On the day when Katharine was publicly acknowledged by Henry as his queen, she directed that the princess Elizabeth should be placed opposite to her at table, because she was of her own blood and lineage. It was also observed, that at all the fêtes and public shows which took place in honour of her marriage with the king, queen Katharine gave the lady Elizabeth the place of honour nearest to her own person, saying "that she was her cousin."3 It was supposed that this partial step-mother intended to use her powerful influence with the king for the repeal of the act Leti's Elizabeth. Leti always modernises, not only the orthography, but the phraseology of the documents he quotes.

of parliament which had pronounced Elizabeth to be illegitimate, and thus would she have been given a second time the preference to her elder sister in the succession. Notwithstanding the favour which was shown to Elizabeth by the Howard queen, she was always entreating the king her father to allow her to remain with the lady Anne of Cleves, for whom she ever manifested a very sincere regard. The attachments formed by Elizabeth in childhood and early youth were of an ardent and enduring character, as will be hereafter shown.

After the disgrace and death of queen Katharine Howard, Elizabeth resided chiefly with her sister Mary, at HaveringBower. In the summer of 1543, she was present when Mary gave audience to the imperial ambassadors: she was then ten years old. Soon after, king Henry offered her hand to the earl of Arran for his son, in order to win his co-operation in his darling project of uniting the crowns of England and Scotland by a marriage between the infant queen, Mary Stuart, and his son prince Edward. Henry had previously an idea of espousing Elizabeth to an infant of Portugal; but all his matrimonial schemes for his children were doomed to remain unfulfilled, and Elizabeth, instead of being sacrificed in her childhood to some ill-assorted state marriage, had the good fortune to complete a most superior education under the auspices of the good and learned Katharine Parr, Henry's sixth queen, and her fourth step-mother. Katharine Parr was well acquainted with Elizabeth before she became queen, and greatly admired her wit and manners. As a preliminary to her marriage with the king, Katharine induced him to send for the young princess to court, and to give her an apartment in the palace of Whitehall contiguous to her own, and bestowed particular attention on all her comforts. Elizabeth expressed her acknowledgments in the following letter:

"MADAME,

"The affection that you have testified in wishing that I should be suffered to be with you in the court, and requesting this of the king my father with 1 State-paper MS.; see Life of Mary, vol. ii. 2 Marillac's Despatches.

so much earnestness, is a proof of your goodness. So great a mark of your tenderness for me obliges me to examine myself a little, to see if I can find any thing in me that can merit it; but I can find nothing but a great zeal and devotion to the service of your majesty. But as that zeal has not yet been called into action so as to manifest itself, I see well that it is only the greatness of soul in your majesty which makes you do me this honour, and this redoubles my zeal towards your majesty. I can assure you also that my conduct will be such, that you shall never have cause to complain of having done me the honour of calling me to you; at least, I will make it my constant care that I do nothing but with a design to show always my obedience and respect. I await with much impatience the orders of the king my father for the accomplishment of the happiness for which I sigh, and I remain, with much submission,

There is no date to this letter, and as Elizabeth certainly was present at the nuptials of her royal father with Katharine Parr, it is more probable that it was written after the return of Henry and Katharine from their bridal progress, as she addresses the latter by her regal title. Elizabeth at that time was a child of extraordinary acquirements, to which were added some personal beauty and very graceful manners. She had wit at command, and sufficient discretion to understand when and where she might display it. Those who knew her best, were accustomed to say of her, "that God, who had endowed her with such rare gifts, had certainly destined her to some distinguished employment in the world." At the age of twelve she was considerably advanced in sciences, which rarely indeed, at that era, formed part of the education of princesses. She understood the principles of geography, architecture, the mathematics, and astronomy; she astonished all her instructors by the facility with which she acquired

1 Leti's Elizabeth. This, and the preceding, addressed to Anne of Cleves, are the earliest letters ever written by Elizabeth. There is another, two or three years later, addressed by her to sir Thomas Carden, who was one of her father's gentlemen of the privy-chamber, a great favourite of his. This person had the care of the castle and lands of Donnington, once belonging to Chaucer, and at this time an appanage presented to Elizabeth by her father. It was convenient for her to forget afterwards she had such a house as Donnington; nevertheless, she was perfectly well informed as to its minutest details before the death of Henry VIII. The letter itself is not worth transcribing, being a perplexed piece of composition, in which the young princess, commencing, "Gentle Mr. Carden," proceeds to exonerate herself from having listened to an enemy of his, "one Mansel, a person of evil inclination and worse life:" she subscribes herself, "Your loving friend, Elizabeth."

knowledge. Her hand-writing was beautiful, and her skill in languages remarkable. Hentzner, the German traveller, mentions having seen a little volume in the royal library at Whitehall, written in French by queen Elizabeth, when a child, on vellum. It was thus inscribed:

"A tres haut, et tres puissant, et redoubté prince Henry, VIII. de ce nom, roy d'Angleterre, de France, et de Irelande, defenseur de la foy.

"Elisabeth, sa tres humble fille, rend salut et obedience."

Elizabeth, when only in her twelfth year, had the misfortune to incur the anger of her royal sire so seriously, that she was, notwithstanding her tender age, treated with considerable harshness, banished from the court, and not permitted to see either him or the queen for a whole year. The nature of her offence is a mystery. Whether it were some reproachful allusion to the death of her unfortunate mother, an assertion that she was entitled to precedency over any younger daughters that might be born to the king, some childish act of disobedience or manifestation of the lofty spirit which distinguished her in after life, is not known; but, from whatever cause, it is certain that the poor girl was in great disgrace, so much so, that she was afraid even of writing to solicit pardon of the unpaternal tyrant, whose treatment of his daughters was only one degree less cruel than his behaviour to their mothers. If Elizabeth's step-mother had not been the amiable Katharine Parr, she might possibly have experienced no less persecution than her sister Mary had formerly done; but that Katharine behaved with the utmost tenderness and consideration in the matter, and took the blessed office of a peace-maker, the following interesting letter, one of the carliest ever written by Elizabeth, affords satisfactory evidence :—

"PRINCESS ELIZABETH TO QUEEN KATHARINE PARR.2

"Inimical fortune, envious of all good and ever revolving human affairs, has deprived me for a whole year of your most illustrious presence; and not thus content, has yet again robbed me of the same good, which thing

1 Hentzner's Visit to England.

2 Printed in Wood's Royal Letters, from the transcript in Smith's MSS. No. 68, fol. 49, Bodleian Library.