both their parents so much regret.1 The royal infant was consigned to the care of the Countess of Salisbury, a lady whose high character equalled her distinguished birth, and proved the wisdom of the queen's selection of her. To Katharine Pole was confided the nurture of the princess, so that no ignoble blood should mingle with that of the royal stream that flowed in her veins, her wet-nurse being in no remote degree connected with the Countess of Salisbury. The splendour of the preparations for the baptism, and the rich gifts presented to the infant, are satisfactory evidence that her birth was known to be gratifying to the king. The ceremony took place at the Grey Friars' church, which was contiguous to the palace in which she was born, three days after her birth, the Princess Katharine Plantagenet and the Duchess of Norfolk serving as her godmothers, and Cardinal Wolsey as her godfather. ceremonial of regal state was omitted on this solemn occasion. A grand procession, formed of the noblest in the land, accompanied the Countess of Salisbury, who bore the infant to the church, and a guard of knights-banneret encircled it. It was not the sponsors alone who bestowed costly gifts on the Princess Mary, her relations vied with each other in their offerings. No This child, unlike the two infant princes who had preceded her, was extremely healthy. She passed the first two or three years of her life beneath the immediate care of her mother, often caressed by the king, who delighted in fondling her, and taking her in his arms. When Mary was weaned, her wet-nurse, Katharine Pole, was dismissed, and the Lady Margaret Bryan became attached to the nursery-establishment of the young princess, the Countess of Salisbury retaining her appointment of stategoverness, and directress of the household, the expenditure of which was wholly confided to her. The establishment His first son Henry, born January 1st, 1511, died February 27th following; the second son, born at the latter end of 1514, died an infant. — Carte, vol. iii. book xv. p. 193. 2 She was a Plantagenet. was on a princely scale, including a chamberlain, a treasurer, and an accountant, a lady of the bedchamber, a chaplain, a clerk of the closet, and a numerous retinue of domestics of a subordinate grade, maintained at considerable cost. Ditton Park, in Buckinghamshire, was chosen as the residence for the heiress-apparent to the throne, its vicinity to Windsor Castle affording a facility for the child being frequently taken to the queen. So soon had the education of Mary commenced, that when only three years old its fruits were visible in her dignified demeanour, rational remarks, and courteous reception of those permitted to approach her. It is asserted that she played on the virginals with considerable skill at an age when children are supposed to be too young to commence the study of music, and that she acquitted herself to the admiration of her hearers this last part of the statement may be easily believed, when we consider how prone those admitted to the presence of royalty are to exaggerate the accomplishments attributed to every branch of it. During the absence of Henry and Katharine in France, to grace the Field of the Cloth of Gold, they were furnished with frequent details of the welfare of their daughter by the privy council, who visited her at the palace at Richmond, where she then took up her abode. Mary is described as being, at that period, not only a healthy, but a handsome child, of a lively disposition. The custom of offering rich gifts to royalty at Christmas, and on other festivals, was then much practised; and those presented to the princess by her relatives, sponsors, and the nobility of the court, were very costly, those offered by her godfather, Cardinal Wolsey, being the most so of all. When Mary had attained her sixth year, the Emperor Charles V. visited England, and, to the great delight of the queen his aunt, a treaty of marriage was signed by him and Henry VIII., to be ratified when Mary should complete her twelfth year. The engagement now formed between these two sovereigns was not the first entered into by Henry for his daughter, for, prior to it, the treaty between England and France touching the ceding of Tournay contained articles for a marriage between Francis, dauphin of France, and Mary, daughter of the king of England, the parents of both stipulating in behalf of their respective children, who were then infants. Nay, so far had this treaty gone, that the espousals of the infant couple were solemnised in the chapel of the Tournelles at Paris, the king and queen of France accepting and promising in the name of the dauphin, as the king and queen of England did by their proxy, Charles earl of Worcester, in behalf of the Princess Mary. The emperor quitted England, leaving the youthful princess fully impressed with the belief that she was one day to become his bride. Katharine was most desirous that her daughter should prove worthy of the elevated station she was expected to fill; and to effect this point she consulted Ludovicus Vives, a man esteemed among the most learned of his time, on the education of the Princess Mary. His instructions bear the evidence not only of his erudition, but of his strict morality, for he prohibited the perusal of all light books, as calculated to draw her attention from graver ones, and to corrupt her imagination, while he recommended serious and religious works, of which he sent a list. Of the child's natural abilities and application a notion may be formed by the fact, that at eight years old she was able to translate Latin into English with a facility that merited the commendations of her preceptor. It may be questioned whether the precocious learning of Mary was not purchased too dearly, when it is known that its cost was an habitual gravity that banished the cheerfulness of youth, and a delicacy of health that faded its attractions; for however these well-known characteristics in Mary may be explained by the heavy trials she was fated to endure in her youth, there can be little doubt that the effect of over-study in her childhood, by rendering her unhealthy and melancholy, had unfitted her for resisting them. While Mary was pursuing a system of education that left but too little time for the indulgence of the pleasures of "Life of Henry VIII.," by Lord Herbert of Cherbury, p. 40. |