him with the collar of the Garter, in lieu of the coronation which the Queen had not been able to stipulate for him from the caution of her counsellors. A spirited jennet, which she had sent for his use, was instantly mounted by him; and the people were pleased with his grace on horseback, though they remarked with some marvel that he had drawn his sword, and bore it naked for some distance in his hand.

Few and scanty tokens of affection on the part of her betrothed bridegroom had answered to the passion. of the Queen. A second Spanish embassy, headed again. by the gallant Egmont, had arrived in March to ratify the treaty of marriage, but brought no letter, no message, no present from Philip: and the ring of betrothal, which Mary put on her finger and exhibited to her court, came from the Emperor. When at Egmont's suggestion she sent her affectionate regards, declining however to be beforehand in beginning a correspondence by letters, then indeed a magnificent jewel, in the keeping of another Spanish noble, had been conveyed in Philip's name. The mute victim was now come in person: prepared, to the admiration of his followers, to sacrifice himself, like another Isaac,* on the altar of duty at the bidding of a father who had wooed the bride, and arranged the marriage, conciliating the advisers of a princess, to whom he himself had been once a suitor.

In the meantime Mary had descended from Windsor to Gardiner's castle of Farnham, thence to Winchester, in expectation: for it was in the ancient capital, in the cathedral church of her chancellor, that she was resolved to celebrate her nuptials. The interval of ten miles, which still separated the betrothed, was gradually diminished, when after due repose Philip rode forth from

The Biblical comparison, for which I apologise, is drawn from Sandoval, whom Prescott quotes.

Southampton with a splendid cavalcade of Spaniards and English, which was constantly augmented by the arrival of the neighbouring gentry, in the midst of a tempest of rain. A message on the road, with a golden ring from Mary, imploring him not to expose himself to the fury of the elements, retarded not the ardour of an advance, the dignity of which the weather could not quicken: a second message welcomed or encouraged the lover at the beginning of the last mile. Late in the evening he was received at the western door of the cathedral of Winchester by Gardiner and five other prelates, Bonner, Tunstall, Day, White of Lincoln, Thirlby of Ely, with their staves borne before them. He entered, crossed the choir over the platform erected for his wedding, passed with reverence into his stall, and remained kneeling when the Te Deum was intoned by Gardiner himself. After the service he was conducted to the deanery. From the deanery a secret passage, which led to the palace of Gardiner, where was lodged the Queen, was presently traversed by him under the conduct of the lords of the Council: and Philip for the first time found himself in the presence of his bride elect. The privileged salutation, with which he greeted her, he boldly extended to the ladies of her court: a private interview followed of an hour. On the next day beneath a stately canopy in the great hall of the palace the royal pair met in public; and the courtiers of either conversed together. The feast of St. James, the tutelary saint of Spain, the day that followed, was appointed for the marriage. Then the bridegroom exchanged the simple dress, in which hitherto he had appeared, for the vestments of spotless white satin and cloth of gold thickly powdered with pearls and precious stones, which had been provided for him by the care of the Queen. The collar of the Golden Fleece adorned his neck: his knee was encircled

by the badge of the no less noble Order of the Garter. He went on foot to the cathedral, attended by all his nobles: where in half an hour he was joined at the door by Mary, the lords and ladies of her court. Her dress of white was studded with innumerable diamonds: of which the splendour was enhanced by a black mantle and bright red slippers. The fairness of the English ladies shone forth in contrast with the darker complexions of their Spanish companions: and an Italian spectator scrupled not to draw between them the envious comparison of sun and shadow.* At the altar the silence. was broken by the voice of one of the Council of the Empire, who read an instrument by which Charles resigned to his son his right in the kingdom of Naples. Thus was rendered equal the rank of the high contracting parties: and the Queen of England received a sovereign like herself. At the end of the marriage, which was celebrated by Gardiner, a proclamation was made of the style of the royal pair, a point on which the councillors of both had laboured much: and while, not before grave dispute, the precedence in name was conceded to the King, the titles of the two were blended or interwoven and Philip and Mary were announced to be King and Queen of England, France, Naples, Jerusalem, and Ireland, Defenders of the Faith, Princes of Spain and Castile, Archdukes of Austria, Dukes of Milan, Burgundy and Brabant, Counts of Hapsburg, Flanders, and Tyrol.+ A splendid banquet succeeded to

* Prescott quotes him, in his Philip II. Miss Strickland describes the marriage with some detail: the chief contemporary authority is the letter of John Elder, printed in Nicholl's Queen Jane and Mary, p. 142.

+ See John Elder's Letter. The Proclamation and the Queen's Letter to Gardiner about it are in Rymer, xv. p. 404. The proclamation was repeated in London, Aug. 1. See Grey Fr. Chron. 91; Machyn, 67. For the debates in Council on the royal style, see Tytler, ii. 411. The observant reader will have anticipated the omission of Supreme Head.

the magnificent ceremony: and in the great hall of the episcopal palace the Lord Chancellor, and he alone, was admitted to a seat on the dais beneath the royal canopy. The ball, which ended the festivity, was over by the temperate hour of nine: and in the dance the Spaniards were put out of countenance, it is said, by the superior activity of the English.

The public entrance into London was at the end of August. The King and Queen rode on horseback from Gardiner's house in Southwark over London Bridge. Festoons of flowers between the columns of the buildings, triumphal arches across the streets, the walls hung with pictures and emblazoned with legends, testified the general joy. Among them a genealogical tree exhibited the descent of Philip from the English John of Gaunt ;* but a device which presented Henry the Eighth holding forth a book in his hand with the inscription "Verbum Dei," fell short of approbation. The Queen showed herself offended: Gardiner rebuked the ingenious painter, that the sacred volume, which rather belonged to the daughter for her zeal in restoring religion, had been put into the hand of the father: and a hasty sweep of the brush obliterated not only the book but the fingers that grasped it. Thus Gardiner unconsciously described the course on which he was now bent: to blot out the Henrician reformation, in which he had aided; through dislike of the subsequent course of the Reformation,

* Noailles sent his master a copy of this genealogy, which he considered dangerous to France: "par laquel le vous pourrez veoir, sire, qu'ilz embrassent beaulcoup, mesmes y veullent comprendre votre estat." iii. 254. As to the rejoicings in London: he says that, they were by order on pain of death. “Bien est vray qu'avant la demonstration de ceste resjouysance, le maire fust presque par toutes les rues, pour leur en faire commandement de la part de la rayne sa maistresse, sur la peyne accoustumée en ce pays, qui n'est aultre que de la vie de fazon qu'il y a eu en cela plus de contrainete que d'affection." p. 280.

to favour the return of Rome: and thereby in some measure to forfeit with posterity the renown which was due to his high abilities, singular character, and great public services. Meanwhile the bloodsoaked spoils of the mines of Peru, the gift of the king, an immense quantity of bullion, the cargo of the Spanish fleet, rolled through the city toward the royal Treasury in the Tower. The chests containing one portion only of this mighty donative filled twenty carts: two wagons drawn by near a hundred horses conveyed with difficulty another portion. The ingots were not unwelcome to a nation beggared by the Reformation, and a mint debased by half a century of false coinage. They aided the popularity which the King strove to acquire by studied affability, and by prudent caution in meddling with affairs of State: for it was remarked with approbation by the people that he never interfered with the administration of justice but to obtain some act of grace; by the court that he drew lavishly on his stores for the bestowal of yearly pensions: by the nation that he was scrupulous in his observance of every article of the marriage treaty. Among his generous acts none was more applauded than the enlargement of the prisoners in the Tower, which he procured from the Queen. Ten or twelve persons of distinction, the residue of the plots of Dudley or Wyat, were set at liberty: but none of those who were in prison for religion seem to have obtained their freedom.*

Nevertheless the real character of the powerful but repulsive personage who thus entered English history, his heartlessness, his haughtiness, could not escape observation. It was said that the sweetness, which the free people of this country have ever looked for in their

*Collier, ii. 371: who is mistaken in thinking that Archbishop Holgate was released at this time.