lême1 independently of the French crown, in the event of his coming to the crown of England through his marriage with Elizabeth. The project of educating the young French prince, who was selected for the husband of the presumptiveheiress of England, according to the manners and customs of the realm of which she might hereafter become the sovereign, was a sagacious idea; but Henry clogged the matrimonial treaty with conditions which it was out of the power of the king of France to ratify, and it proved abortive.

The tragic events which rendered Elizabeth motherless in her third year, and degraded her from the lofty position in which she had been placed by the unjust but short-lived paternal fondness of her capricious father, have been fully detailed in the memoir of her unhappy mother, Anne Boleyn. By the sentence which Cranmer had passed on the marriage of her parents and her own birth, Elizabeth was branded with the stigma of illegitimacy; and that she was for a time exposed to the sort of neglect and contempt which is too often the lot of children to whom that reproach applies, is evidenced by the following letter from lady Bryan to Cromwell, imploring for a supply of necessary raiment for the innocent babe who had been so cruelly involved in her mother's fall:

"MY LORD,

"After my most bounden duty I recommend me to your good lordship, beseeching you to be good lord to me, now in the greatest need that ever was; for it hath pleased God to take from me hem [them] that was my greatest comfort in this world, to my great heaviness. Jesu have mercy on her soul! and now I am succourless, and as a redles [without redress] creature but only from the great trust which I have in the king's grace and your good lordship, for now in you I put all my whole trust of comfort in this world. My lord, when your lordship was last here, it pleased you to say that I should not mistrust the king's grace nor your lordship, which

1 Herbert. Hall. Rapin.

*This condition bears decidedly upon the now important question, whether the husband of a queen-regnant of England be entitled to the style of king-consort. It was Henry VIII.'s opinion that the husband of his daughter, in the event of her succeeding to the crown, might, by her favour, bear that title. Mary I., as we have seen, overstepped the constitutional boundary, by actually associating Philip of Spain in the executive power of the crown; but the law of nature and of reason decides that the husband of a queen-regnant of England ought not to occupy an inferior position in the state to the wife of a king of England, who derives a regal title from her marriage.

word was more comfort to me than I can write, as God knoweth. And now it boldeth [emboldens] me to show you my poor mind. My lord, when my lady Mary's grace was born, it pleased the king's grace to appoint me ladymistress, and made me a baroness; and so I have been governess to the children his grace have had since.

"Now it is so, my lady Elizabeth is put from that degree she was afore, and what degree she is at [of] now, I know not but by hearsay. Therefore I know not how to order her, nor myself, nor none of hers that I have the rule of, —that is, her women and grooms, beseeching you to be good lord to my lady, and to all hers, and that she may have some raiment.”1

Here Strype has interpolated a query for mourning: there is nothing of the kind implied in the original. The list shows the utter destitution the young princess had been suffered to fall into in regard to clothes, either by the neglect of her mother, or because Anne Boleyn's power of aiding her child had been circumscribed long before her fall. to the nursery who reads over the list of the poor child's wants, represented by her faithful governess, will perceive that a twelvemonth must have elapsed since she had a proper supply:

Any lady used

"She," continues lady Bryan, "hath neither gown, nor kirtle [slip], nor petticoat, nor no manner of linen,— -nor forsmocks [day chemises], nor kerchiefs, nor rails [night dresses], nor body-stichets [corsets], nor handkerchiefs, nor sleeves, nor mufflers [mobcaps], nor biggens [night-caps]. All these her grace

must take. I have driven off as long as I can, that, by my troth, I can drive it off no longer. Beseeching you, my lord, that ye will see that her grace may have that which is needful for her, as my trust is that ye will do; beseeching ye, mine own good lord, that I may know from you, by writing, how I shall order myself, and what is the king's grace's pleasure and yours; and that I shall do in every thing.

*

*

"My lord, Mr. Shelton would have my lady Elizabeth to dine and sup every day at the board of estate. Alas! my lord, it is not meet for a child of her age to keep such rule yet. I promise you, my lord, I dare not take it upon me to keep her grace in health, an' she keep that rule. For there she shall see divers meats, and fruits, and wine, which it would be hard for me to restrain her grace from. Ye know, my lord, there is no place of correction there; and she is yet too young to correct greatly. I know well, an' she be there, I shall neither bring her up to the king's grace's honour nor hers, nor to her health, nor to my poor honesty. Wherefore, I show your lordship this my desire, beseeching you, my lord, that my lady may have a mess of meat at her own lodging, with a good dish or two that is meet [fit] for her grace to eat of; and the reversion of the mess shall satisfy all her women, a gentleman usher, and a groom, which be eleven persons on her side. Sure am I it will be as great profit to the king's grace this way,

1 Cott. MS., Otho, E, c. x. fol. 230.

[viz., to the economy of the arrangement,] as the other way. For if all this should be set abroad, they must have three or four messes of meat; whereas this one mess shall suffice them all, with bread and drink, according as my lady Mary's grace had afore, and to be ordered in all things as her grace was afore. God knoweth my lady [Elizabeth] hath great pain with her great teeth, and they come very slowly forth, which causeth me to suffer her grace to have her will more than I would. I trust to God, an' her teeth were well graft, to have her grace after another fashion than she is yet, so as I trust the king's grace shall have great comfort in her grace. For she is as toward a child, and as gentle of conditions, as ever I knew any in my life. Jesu preserve her grace!

"As for a day or two, at a high time, [meaning a high festival,] or whensoever it shall please the king's grace to have her set abroad, [shown in public,] I trust so to endeavour me, that she shall so do as shall be to the king's honour and hers; and then after to take her ease again."

That is, notwithstanding the sufferings of the young Elizabeth with her teeth, if the king wishes to exhibit her for a short time in public, lady Bryan will answer for her discreet behaviour; but after the drilling requisite for such ceremonial, it will be necessary for her to revert to the unconstrained playfulness of childhood.

This letter affords some insight into the domestic politics of the nursery-palace of Hunsdon at this time. It shows that the infant Elizabeth proved a point of controversy between the two principal officials there, Margaret lady Bryan and Mr. Shelton,-both placed in authority by the recently immolated queen Anne Boleyn, and both related to her family: her aunt had married the head of the Shelton or Skelton family in Norfolk, and this officer at Hunsdon was probably a son of that lady, and consequently a near kinsman of the infant Elizabeth. He insisted that she should dine and sup at a state table, where her infant importunity for wine, fruit, and high-seasoned food could not conveniently be restrained by her sensible governess, lady Bryan. Shelton probably wished to keep a regal state as long as possible round the descendant of the Boleyns; and, in that time of sudden change in royal destinies, had perhaps an eye to ingratiate himself with the infant, by appearing in her company twice every day, and indulging her by the gratification of her palate with mischievous dainties. Lady Bryan was likewise connected with the Boleyn family,—not so near as

the Sheltons, but near enough to possess interest with queen Anne Boleyn, to whom she owed her office as governess, or lady mistress, to the infant Elizabeth. There can scarcely exist a doubt, that her lamentation and invocation for the soul of some person lately departed, by whose death she was left succourless, refer to the recent death of Anne Boleyn. It is evident that if lady Bryan had not conformed. to king Henry's creed, she would not have been in authority at Hunsdon, where not only her immediate charge, the little Elizabeth, but the disinherited princess Mary resided at that time. There is a striking harmony between the expressions of this lady and those of the princess Mary, who appealed to her father's paternal feelings on behalf of her sister the infant Elizabeth a few weeks later, almost in the same words used by lady Bryan in this letter.'

Much of the future greatness of Elizabeth may reasonably be attributed to the judicious training of lady Bryan, combined with the salutary adversity, which deprived her of the pernicious pomp and luxury that had surrounded her cradle while she was treated as the heiress of England. The first public action of Elizabeth's life was her carrying the chrysom of her infant brother, Edward VI., at the christening solemnity of that prince. She was borne in the arms of the earl of Hertford, brother of the queen her step-mother, when the assistants in the ceremonial approached the font; but when they left the chapel, the train of her little grace, just four years old, was supported by lady Herbert, the sister of Katharine Parr, as, led by the hand of her elder sister the princess Mary, she walked with mimic dignity, in the returning procession, to the chamber of the dying queen.2 At that period the royal ceremonials of Henry VIII.'s court were blended with circumstances of wonder and tragic excitement; strange and passing sad it must have been to see the child of the murdered queen, Anne Boleyn, framing her innocent lips to lisp the name of mother to her, for whose sake she had been rendered motherless, and branded with the stigma 1 See Life of queen Mary, vol. iii. of this work, p. 351. 2 See the biography of Jane Seymour, vol. iii.

of illegitimacy. In all probability, the little Elizabeth knelt to her, as well as to her cruel father, to claim a benediction in her turn, after the royal pair had proudly bestowed their blessing on the newly baptized prince, whose christening was so soon to be followed by the funeral of the queen his mother.

It was deemed an especial mark of the favour of her royal father, that Elizabeth was considered worthy of the honour of being admitted to keep company with the young prince her brother. She was four years older than him, and having been well trained and gently nurtured herself, was "better able," says Heywood, "to teach and direct him, even from the first of his speech and understanding." Cordial and entire was the affection betwixt this brother and sister, insomuch that he no sooner began to know her, but he seemed to acknowledge her; and she, being of more maturity, as deeply loved him. On the second anniversary of Edward's birth, when the nobles of England presented gifts of silver, and gold, and jewels to the infant heir of the realm, the lady Elizabeth's grace gave the simple offering of a shirt of cambric, worked by her own hands. She was then six years old. Thus early was this illustrious lady instructed in the feminine accomplishment of needle-work, and directed to turn her labours in that way to a pleasing account.

From her cradle Elizabeth was a child of the fairest promise, and possessed the art of attracting the regard of others. Wriothesley, who visited the two princesses, when they were together at Hertford-castle, December 17th, 1539, was greatly impressed with the precocious understanding of the young Elizabeth, of whom he gives the following pretty

account:

"I went then to my lady Elizabeth's grace, and to the same made his majesty's most hearty commendations, declaring that his highness desired to hear of her health, and sent his blessing; she gave humble thanks, inquiring after his majesty's welfare, and that with as great a gravity as she had been forty years old. If she be no worse educated than she now appeareth to me, she will prove of no less honour than beseemeth her father's daughter, whom the Lord long preserve.”

1 Ellis's Royal Letters.

2 State-Papers, 30th Hen. VIII.