of moral education of the princess. In this correspondence we find the highest subjects treated in the most elevated manner. We read: "Car tout aussi qu'un prince surmonte ses sujets en richesses et en puissance, aussi il doit être entre tous le plus grand en prudence, en conseil, en bonté, en grâce, et toutes sortes de vertu." And again: "Il faut, ma sœur, que nous mettions peine d'être très sages, et que ne laissions aller un seul jour sans apprendre quelque chose, à l'exemple d'Apelles le peintre, qui en son art a été de si grande diligence pour ne pas laisser passer un seul jour auquel de son pinceau ne tirat quelque ligne." Certainly the princess showed marvellous precocity when at fourteen she wrote: "Vous ébahissez, ma sœur, pourquoi je sortis près de la chambre de la reine. Vu, qu'il était Dimanche pour aller à mon étude, Avis que depuis deux jours je lis un colloque d'Erasme tant beau, tant joyeux, et tant utile que rien plus; et Dieu comme il tance ceux qui dorment si tard, et font si peu de cas de perdre le temps, qui entre toutes choses est le plus précieux."

tues seemed to her comprehended in what less zealous Catholics considered as cruel bigotry later events too painfully confirmed their views, — she wished to have the direction of her daughter's conscience. This was precisely what Philip did not desire. He at once expressed his determination to select her spiritual director, and this the king did by the advice of his own confessor, for "the queen's direc tor," the king said, "should be possessed of the highest qualities of prudence and knowledge, and be able to inform the queen in all matters which were agreeable to the king." His Majesty added: "If his own confessor and her Majesty's director perfectly understood each other, the royal household would afford an example of faith and conjugal happiness to the whole Catholic world." And thus it was arranged, to the satisfaction of the king and the intense annoyance of Catharine, who lost what she most desired to retain - the powerful means of influence over her daughter, and through her daughter the foreign policy of Spain. But apart from the spiritual direction, there were some at the king's court who exercised an undue influence over the king. With all his seeming indifference, he was not proof against subtle flattery and the wiles of insinuating plotters. Louis XI. himself was not surrounded by a greater number of bold and unscrupulous advisers. There was a great resemblance in the characters of Louis XI. and Philip. They were alike gloomy, suspicious natures, almost incapable of generous impulses, — equally ignorant of the real interests and requirements of their subjects. Of the two, perhaps Louis had a greater knowledge of statecraft; but they were equally cruel, selfish, and tyrannical. That Elizabeth should have been able to retain the affections, such as they were, of this heart of adamant, is a sufficient testimony to her rare excellence.

It was in 1559 that the Duc d'Alva received his commission to marry as proxy for Philip the beautiful princess. Philip's cold, unsympathetic nature had been warmed into something like affection at the accounts he had received of the remarkable charms of his future queen. The reports of the duke confirmed the common rumors; they were, indeed, so favorable that, wonderful to relate, the cautious, sententious monarch permitted himself gravely to express his satisfaction. The Bishop of Limoges wrote to the Cardinal of Lorraine and to the Duc de Guise: "Oncques prince n'eut plus de contentement qu'il y a de la Reine Catholique, la femme ce que par lettre je ne saurai avez représenter." And the queen was truly the dove of peace-"Isabella della Pace." The long wars and rivalries between France and Spain were forgotten, or re- Ruy Gomez de Silva was at an early membered only to render the reconcilia- period attached to the household of Philip tion of the two nations more gratifying II. He accompanied the king to England and seemingly sincere. Compliments, on the occasion of his marriage to Queen presents, and honors were largely inter- Mary, and after her death proceeded with changed; the Order of the Toison d'Or the king to Flanders. Discreet, agreewas sent to Francis; Catharine de Mediciable, and admirably endowed by nature, was the theme of Spanish verse and his qualities and abilities had been carecourtly praise, the chief merit ascribed to fully cultivated and improved by educaher being that she had borne so beautiful tion. He was precisely one of those men a daughter. But all this lavish approba- who are instinctively courtiers, and can tion did not satisfy Catharine for the little perform excellent service in such a court influence she was permitted to exercise as that of Philip II. "The master of all on great and momentous questions. An passions and his own," he possessed the ardent Catholic, so ardent that all vir- admirable power of being able to receive

been so largely employed as in the life of Queen Isabella. It is recorded, on the contrary, that the journey was a joyous one. Travel, says Alfieri, —

In giovin mente

and appropriate the ideas of others, and to | deeply affected all her retinue. This is reproduce them again to their authors in the romance of history, which has rarely the most plausible and graceful form. Only second to Ruy Gomez in the royal estimation was the Duc d'Alva, the great captain of Spain, a man who recommended himself to the king by his stern and ruthless nature. There was a great rivalry between the Duc d'Alva and Ruy Gomez, and this rivalry and jealousy between the two ministers was most agreeable to the suspicious monarch, who put each as a spy on the other; and he was the most favored who was the shrewdest to discover, and the least scrupulous to betray, all that passed in the most diplomatic and intriguing court in Europe. The influence of Ruy Gomez, Catharine de Medici | might have regarded with comparative indifference; but that of his wife, Anne de Mendoza, Princess d'Eboli, the daughter of the viceroy of Peru, was much more to be dreaded. She is described as "spirituelle, altière, résolue." She was possessed of qualities which exercised a great charm over all who came within her influence. Antonio Perez, no mean judge of female excellence, spoke of her as a "pearl of a woman, surrounded by the rarest flowers of beauty and of grace." Such a personage at a court like the Catholic King's, possessed as she was of unbounded ambition, was not likely to add to the domestic happiness of a young queen of fifteen years of age.

The marriage was pressed on; so, in December, 1559, the king and the queenmother accompanied Isabella to Châtellerault and Poitiers, where they parted with great manifestations of grief on both sides. Elizabeth expressed her feelings in graceful verse:

Mes yeux craignant trop de larmes répandre,
Ont bien oyé sur ma bouche entreprendre
Lui défendant le parler et l'adieu.
Se départant de tant regretté lieu
Pour déclairer la douleur trop amère
Que sent la fille à l'adieu de la mère,
Perdant de tout du parler la puissance,
Tout empêché par trop grande abondance
De pleurs tous prestes, dehors des yeux sortir,
A quoi, hélas! j'y n'osay consentir,
Craignant de vous la désolation
Disant l'adieu de séparation.

The grief at leaving France was expressed
in equally plaintive melody by Mary Stu-
art and Elizabeth of Valois. After this
tender farewell, the royal progress was
continued. It has been said that the prin-
cess seemed to have a presentiment of the
shortness of her career, that she was
seized with a profound melancholy which

Grande potenza ha variar il pensiero; everything was fresh and new to her, and each town or castle she passed excited her interest. As far as Bordeaux she was escorted by the Cardinal de Bourbon, Archbishop of Rouen, uncle of Henri IV. At Bordeaux the king of Navarre, brother of the cardinal, received the princess, and offered her respectful homage by her twofold title of daughter of France and queen of Spain. On the 18th December the king of Navarre was able to give the Bishop of Limoges, ambassador of Philip II., the most favorable account of the queen: "I am very happy to be able to assure his Majesty that the queen has been intrusted to me in excellent health, and I hope to be able to place her Maj esty in the hands of the deputies with her health improved rather than weakened by such a long journey." And the journey in mid-winter though the mountain passes was very difficult, and at times not unat tended with danger; it happened that this winter was the most severe that had been experienced for many years. At Pignon, situated in the Pyrenees on the frontier of France and Spain, the Spanish authorities were assembled to take charge of the queen; but the snow was so deep that she was compelled to stop at Roncevaux, there to await the arrival of the Spanish plenipotentiaries, and these moved so slowly that the queen was detained five which was crowded to excess, and when days in this most inconvenient locality, the Spaniards arrived there was but one expression of dissatisfaction. And the two suites were rivals in discontent, as well as in courtly feuds and jealousies. The Spanish ambassadors had been se lected for their great rank and eminent qualities - the Cardinal Archbishop of Burgos, and the Duc d'Infantado, chief of the great house of Mendoza. It was said of this illustrious family, that the nobility and antiquity of their house were superior to all their other eminent qualities, by as much as Heaven-sent blessings are superior to those derived from men. It is unnecessary to recite the long list of nobles and notables that rendered this embassy the most remarkable that had ever been seen on the Spanish frontier. Nothing

could exceed the grandeur by which the interests and affections, the only one ambassadors were surrounded. We are spot on earth where for them life was told that the body-guard consisted of four worth living. These great ladies were thousand cavalry, and that the expense of little accustomed to rough journeys in life; the table kept by the Duc d'Infantado there were Elizabeth de Bretagne, Countamounted to two thousand crowns a day. ess of Clermont; Susanne de Bourbon, After many tedious discussions as to the wife of Claude de Rieux; Anne de Bourexact place where the queen was to be bon Montpensier, and others worthy of delivered over to the Spanish ambassa- the greatness of the occasion. The prodors, it was decided that the grand cere- cession was an illustrious one; and it monial should take place at Roncevaux, certainly required much grandeur and where her journey had been delayed by magnificence to overcome the surrounding the weather -a place associated with gloom. They passed the steep defiles of many great events. It was here that the wild sierras, over mountain crags, and Charlemagne lost his army and all his through dark, lonely forests. The stately, paladins, and the Black Prince led his solemn bearing of the Spanish grandees soldiers to the victory of Navarrete; and and their retainers was in harmony with here a princess, the daughter of France, the severe surroundings. The French was to find a new home among those who court wore deep mourning; but notwithhad so long contended with her country-standing the entire absence of bright colmen on the battle-field. ors, the courtiers were gay and joyous in The weather was so severe that the in- comparison with the formal, reserved,' tended grand ceremonial out-of-doors had melancholy, gloomy Spaniards, who were to be abandoned; this was a great disap-never heard to laugh, and whose features pointment to the Spaniards, who wished to rarely relaxed into even a wintry smile. appear before the assembled multitude in all their bravery and magnificence, in striking contrast with the deep mourning of the French, which prevented any display on their part. The queen received the ambassadors seated on a throne in the large hall of the monastery. There the Duc d'Infantado, after a long discourse, kissed her hand; but when the Cardinal of Burgos approached with the same intention, she rose to the prince of the Church, embraced him, and desired him to be covered. Then, after a prolonged exchange of courtesies and ceremonies, the queen dismissed the ambassadors in so graceful a manner that they agreed "qu'ils n'avaient jamais eu si grand aise et contentement qu'ils ont eu en la recevant comme reine, dame et maîtresse." The Cardinal of Burgos took her right hand and the Duc d'Infantado her left, and conducted her Majesty to her litter, and the procession started. But the progress was very slow, and anything but glorious; the splendid dresses and trappings of the Spaniards were covered with snow; many a noble cavalier slipped on the icy roads; the luggage of the ladies went astray in the mountains, and they refused to be comforted by the abundance of fruits and preserves with which they were supplied. The goodly company of princesses and noble ladies who composed the queen's personal escort from Paris, lamented in angry terms the manifold inconveniences to which they were exposed. They pined for their dear Paris, the centre of all their

The magnificent cortège, although delayed by storms and floods, arrived at last at Pampeluna. Everywhere the young queen was received with that overflow of joy, springs of which populations appear ever to possess, ready to be poured forth on any festive occasion. And this was certainly a remarkable one; youth, rare charm, and grace, enhancing beauty and queenly rank, concentrated in one person, could not fail to awaken the deepest sympathy and interest; they might even arouse emotions in the phlegmatic Spanish grandee. It was not until the queen arrived at Pampeluna-that city that has been styled "muy nobili, muy leal, muy heroica"-and after the religious ceremony in the grand cathedral built by Charles III. of Navarre, on her return to the palace, that a person appeared on the scene who cast a gloom over the bright prospects of the queen and the French court.

At the foot of the grand staircase of the palace the Countess d'Ureigna, who had been appointed camerera major, was in attendance. This post gave her entire supervision over the ladies of the court, and from the first she was determined to claim the full exercise of her authority. It was with the object of having a person entirely in his own confidence, and who, it was hoped, would ingratiate herself into the confidence of the young queen, that had induced the king to make this appointment; for the countess was well known to have passed through a troubled youth;

last he demanded "to see if I have any white hairs?" These words, says Brantôme, sank into her heart, and dismayed all who heard them, for they augured ill for the queen's happiness. It was truly a trying moment for one who from her earliest childhood had lived in the radi ance of love. How the thought of all she had left behind must have mingled with the uncertainties of the future! The savage sierra was not more opposed to the peaceful charm of the purple-flowered Vega, than the cold Castilian nature to that of the gentle, lovely child of France.

tare all misunderstandings; but this was to and that in no pleasant manner, as she demand from national and natural tempers looked into those cold, loveless eyes. more self-command than the circumstances" What are you examining me for?" at permitted. Unseemly manifestations of ill-will were, however, suppressed; but the bitterness was only smothered; the jealousies and rivalries, instead of being in some degree diminished by their repres sion, found vent in intrigues and calumnies; ill words and suspicions were whispered instead of being spoken aloud. The young queen became deeply depressed, the more so as the king manifested no impatience to join her. He was to have met her at Valladolid, but he stopped short at Guadalaxara. Might it not have been that even his bigotry was not able to stifle conscience, and that he had a dread of visiting the city where the shrieks of the victims of a pitiless priesthood had been borne recently into the defiles of the wild sierras? Was it seemly that at the first joyous entry the festive song and notes of mirth should almost mingle with the groans of the tortured and the yells of fanaticism? When the queen entered the city she was struck by its melancholy aspect; the horrible cruelties which it had witnessed were not yet forgotten; the streets through which the processions of death had passed had not resumed a fes. tive appearance; the efforts of obsequious courtiers, the interest which the populace could not fail to take in youth and loveliness, failed to overcome the sense of depression. The pomp and pageant only rendered more remarkable the sadness and the gloom which hung like a funeral pall over the city of the Inquisition.

Guadalaxara, where Philip awaited the arrival of his bride, was the residence of the great family of Mendoza. In this princely abode Isabella was to meet for the first time her husband and master,he whose presence, except in the case of a very few, chilled all hearts, and cast a dark shadow on the sunshine of youth and enjoyment. The young queen's feelings may be imagined when she first fixed her gaze on that stern, resolute face, "sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought." She had endeavored to tutor her heart to sentiments of love and devotion; but the heart could not be so taught. It is its fate to be dependent on sympathy, and sympathy was a word unknown to Philip

II.

We read that his features never relaxed into a gracious smile at the sight of his beautiful bride, while she regarded him with an awe she vainly endeavored to conceal. Philip noticed the fixed and terrified gaze. She seemed to be fascinated, VOL. LXVI 3428

LIVING AGE.

There was present at the meeting of the king and his young queen the ill-fated prince whose sad life was destined to afford a subject for many a romance and controversy; it was the first interview of the son with his betrothed, as well as of the husband with his wife. If the portrait of Isabella had at once won the love of Don Carlos, it may well be imagined what he felt when he stood in her presence, her beauty so far exceeding all that the flatter. ing reports of the courtiers and his excited imagination had led him to expect. As the agitation of the prince was manifest to the court, it is not surprising if dark and gloomy thoughts filled the suspicious mind of Philip. Explain and palliate it as he might, there was the simple fact that he had supplanted his son, he had de prived him of his destined bride; but was it impossible that there lurked in Eliza beth's mind any regret that rigorous reasons of State had caused the father to be preferred to the son? It is true Philip was far superior to his son in natural gifts. If he could not boast of beauty, he possessed features which painters were powerful to record; and there was that in his mien which, in any condition of life, would have distinguished him from the crowd of ordinary men. Vast, gigantic thoughts were stamped on his brow; the marble, stern features conveyed the impression of perfect self-command, a countenance which was not brightened at the news of the victory of Lepanto, nor overshadowed at the loss of the Armada. His complexion was yellow, but the features were keenly delineated, and but for his father's heavy under-jaw, his face was not unhandsome; albeit the cold grey eye betrayed the cold and callous heart. It was a face calculated to awaken awe rather than love; yet he was far superior to his son in man. ner and bearing. But for the unfortunate