AT EVENTIDE.
1558.
Grief, anxiety and disappointment, perpetually assailing a constitution
never one of the strongest, brought the Queen to her life’s end before
she was forty-three. If her naturally hopeful and buoyant temperament
helped her through her bitterest trials, it was a fertile source of
sorrows, as one by one, all the things upon which she had set her
heart, collapsed like the fabric of a dream.
The loss of Calais inflicted the first mortal blow upon her enfeebled
health, but its poignancy was for a time softened by the recurrence of
the persistent hope, that even now she was about to give birth to an
heir. She had waited till that hope seemed like certainty, and on the
eve of realisation, before announcing it to Philip. To leave issue, and
so secure a Catholic succession, had been the main incentive to her
marriage; she clung to the prospect as a drowning man to a plank, and
when it failed her, she would have despaired, had she not been uplifted
by the faith and resignation that were stronger than all her trouble.
Philip flattering her delusion had sent de Feria to congratulate her on
her condition, assuring her that nothing could better console him for
the loss of Calais.
Gomez Suarez de Figuera, Count, afterwards Duke, of Feria, destined to
play an important part in English affairs during the next few months,
was, in so far as Philip ever unbent and allowed himself the luxury
of a friend, his most confidential adviser, remarkably outspoken and
unceremonious. He had accompanied the King from Spain, and was the
one Spaniard who had followed his master’s injunction to the letter,
to adopt a manner of life in conformity with English customs and
prejudices. So literally did he obey, that he sought and obtained the
hand of the beautiful Jane Dormer, the Queen’s favourite, and most
trusted, attendant and companion.
In the various letters written by de Feria to Philip, on the Count’s
return to England in the spring of 1558, he tells him how greatly
Mary has lost in power and influence, during the few months that
have elapsed since the King’s departure. The partisans of the new
doctrines are beginning to hold up their heads again, and since the
recent disasters, the people, who formerly frequented the churches
through obedience or fear, are now conspicuous by their absence. This
was no exaggeration, for the loss of Calais was more fatal to Mary’s
government, than anything that had gone before.[684]
Persecution of the heretics had made it unpopular; misfortune caused
it to be despised. Had the Queen possessed the physical strength and
energy she had shown at the time of Wyatt’s rebellion, she might still
have rallied round her an enthusiastic army, inspired by devotion and
loyalty, to dare all for the recovery of the lost fortresses that were
the key to France. But the sands of life were running low, and all she
could do was to appeal to Philip, trusting that he was England’s truest
friend. De Feria told him that she bore even the privation of his
society patiently, understanding how grave were the circumstances which
detained him in Flanders.
Nevertheless, she had ordered the fleet to cruise between Dunkirk and
Dover, in the hope that he would come. By degrees, she was forced to
recognise, that this hope too was a delusion, and she listened to de
Feria when, in obedience to Philip’s instructions, he suggested that
as the King was prevented from undertaking the journey, it would be
well to send the Admiral, Lord Clinton, to him. His Majesty could thus
communicate to him his displeasure against the Queen’s councillors,
for their neglect in allowing Calais to be taken, and in affording him
so little help. This interview with de Feria took place at Lambeth.
Mary was on her way to St. James’s, and being ill, had broken her
journey at the Cardinal’s palace. She expressed her willingness to let
Clinton go, somewhat to the surprise of de Feria, who thought she would
have shown some irritation at the proposal. It was tantamount to an
announcement, that she would see her husband’s face no more.
In the Cecil papers at Hatfield, is a Memorandum drawn up by Lord
Clinton, and entitled “The Cause I Was Sent for to Brussels,” all the
items enumerated referring to questions concerning the harassing of
the French coast by the English, and the reasons, for and against,
attempting the reconquest of Calais.
De Feria had as yet not ventured to seek an interview with Elizabeth,
fearing thereby to displease the Queen, but he sent his excuses to
the Princess, and meanwhile begged Philip to instruct him, whether he
should pay her a visit or not. Philip ordered him to do so, and on the
23rd June, the diplomatic Spaniard wrote that he had every reason to be
well contented with the interview which she had granted him, and would
communicate _viva voce_ what had passed between them.[685]
This matter, too important to be penned, undoubtedly concerned the
succession, and Philip’s promise of support, in case Elizabeth needed
it, to make good her claim to the throne in the event of Mary’s death.
De Feria returned to Brussels, and Philip neither came nor wrote. It
was said that his coldness and indifference were hurrying the Queen to
her grave. Contrary to her usual symptoms, when attacked by illness,
she was devoured by fever, and wearied by sleepless nights. All who
surrounded her became conscious that there was something new and
alarming in her condition. The first indication of this occurs in a
letter from Cardinal Pole to the King, dated the 6th September, when
she had partially recovered:—
“Don Juan de Acunha will report the particulars of the Queen’s
indisposition, and how our Lord God granted us the grace four days
ago, to free her from all feverish symptoms, and as her Majesty is
not liable to them, they could not but cause us much anxiety; but the
physicians were and are of opinion that through this malady, she will
obtain relief from her habitual indisposition; and may it thus please
the goodness of God, and may He preserve her Majesty for the welfare
of this realm. During her malady, the Queen did not fail to take the
greatest care of herself, following the advice of the physicians,
and by continuing to do so, it is hoped that she will recover, and
daily more and more establish her health; a result to which nothing
can contribute more, than to receive frequent good news of his
Majesty.”[686]
Pole mentions having himself been ill of a quartan ague which cannot
but be regarded as serious at his age, and with his constitution, but
he is resigned to what Divine Providence shall be pleased to ordain for
him. In a further letter, he recommends to Philip certain individuals
of his household, for whom he has not the means to provide out of his
own substance.[687]
The improvement in Mary’s state was not long maintained, and on the
29th October, Surian wrote the following important letter to the Doge,
from Brussels:—
“A few days ago, his Majesty received news from England that the Queen
was grievously ill, and her life in danger, which intelligence, most
especially at the present moment being of very great importance, so
disquieted his Majesty, and all these lords, that it was immediately
determined to send the Count de Feria to visit the Queen, in the name
of her consort, and to treat another affair which I will narrate
hereunder; but as when the Count was about to depart, a fresh advice
arrived, that her Majesty’s health had improved, he therefore delayed
his departure for three or four days longer, and in the meanwhile, his
household at Brussels is preparing to cross over with him to England, a
sign that he will not return hither so speedily.
“Now the matter to be treated by him is the marriage of Miladi
Elizabeth, to keep that kingdom in any event in the hands of a person
in his Majesty’s confidence. Last year King Philip gave an order to
this effect to his confessor, who is very dear to the Queen, he laying
before her all the considerations both of religion and piety, and of
the safety of the realms, and to prevent the evils which might occur,
were the Lady Elizabeth, seeing herself slighted, to choose after her
Majesty’s death, or perhaps even during her lifetime, to take for her
husband, some individual who might convulse the whole kingdom into
confusion. For many days, during which the confessor treated this
business, he found the Queen utterly averse to give Lady Elizabeth any
hope of the succession, obstinately maintaining that she was neither
her sister, nor the daughter of the Queen’s father, King Henry, nor
would she hear of favouring her, as she was born of an infamous woman,
who had so outraged the Queen, her mother and herself. Notwithstanding
this, the confessor assiduously and adroitly persevering in this
design, effected so much, that her Majesty consented to do what the
King wished, he expressing great satisfaction at this; but two days
later, the Queen changed her mind, and the confessor lays the blame on
Cardinal Pole, who, as the project had not been communicated to him,
may have performed some contrary office, ignoring that such was the
will of the King. Now that things have been in such danger, owing to
the Queen’s malady, they are sending the Count de Feria, that he may
try and revive this project, and realize it, but I do not yet know
whether with the Duke of Savoy or others, nor can it be known for
certain, until this peace is concluded or excluded; but the Count’s
instructions purport that he is to try and dispose the Queen to consent
to Lady Elizabeth being married as her sister, and with the hope of
succeeding to the crown, this negotiation having to be treated with
the greatest possible secrecy, because these lords suspect, that were
the French to come to know it, they would easily find means to thwart
the project, as the greater part of England is opposed to the Queen,
and most hostile to King Philip and his dependants, and much inclined
towards Miladi Elizabeth, who has always shown greater liking for the
French faction, than for this other, being thus habituated in the time
of her brother, King Edward, when at the summit of her grandeur.”[688]
The King of Sweden had, during the preceding summer, sent a proposal
for Elizabeth’s hand, and Mary had shown some displeasure which was
shared by Philip, at the fact that his Majesty had not presented his
demand in the ordinary way, through the Queen. But Elizabeth had
refused him, and while the subject of her sister’s religion mainly
preoccupied Mary during the illness which she felt would end in death,
that of his sister-in-law’s marriage concerned Philip still more deeply.
In _The Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria_ it is recorded,[689]
that “Queen Mary in her last sickness sent Commissioners to examine her
[Elizabeth] about religion; to whom she answered, ‘Is it not possible
that the queen will be persuaded I am a Catholic, having so often
protested it?’ and thereupon did swear and vow that she was a Catholic.
This is answerable to what Mr. Camden saith, and is likewise confirmed
by the Duke of Feria’s letter to the king, who in this sickness of
the queen, visited the Lady Elizabeth. He certified him that she did
profess the Catholic religion, and believed the Real Presence, and was
not like to make any alteration for the principal points of religion.”
The same writer gives a pathetic account of Mary’s end, and of her
constant solicitude for others, which being obtained from Jane Dormer
herself, must be regarded as authentic. It is necessary to dwell at
some length on every known detail of this period, as some writers
have given a highly coloured, grotesque, and altogether imaginative
account of the Queen’s declining days. Clifford relates that “When it
chanced that Jane was not well, as that she could not well attend upon
the Queen, it is strange, the care and regard her Majesty had of her,
more like a mother or sister, than her queen and mistress. As in the
last days of this blessed queen, she being at Hampton Court, and to
remove to London, Jane having some indisposition, her Majesty would not
suffer her to go in the barge by water, but sent her by land, in her
own litter, and her physician to attend her. And being come to London,
the first that she asked for was Jane Dormer, who met her at the
stairfoot, told her that she was reasonably well. The queen answered,
‘So am not I,’ being about the end of August 1558. So took her chamber
and never came abroad again.
“At that time the king was in Flanders about his wars, made upon the
frontiers of France, who understanding the Queen’s sickness, being then
with his army before Dourlens, sent away the Duke of Feria, to serve
and assist her in all that should be requisite. It pleased Almighty
God, that this sickness was her last, increasing daily, until it
brought her to a better life. Jane was continually about the Queen,
not yet married, for the Queen would not have her marry, until the
king was returned from Flanders; which occasioned the want of great
gifts and rich endowments, wherewith the Queen had determined, and
promised to honour the marriage, whereof did her Majesty complain. She
finding herself languishing to death, told Jane, she would have been
glad to have seen her marriage had been effected in her days; but God
Almighty would otherwise dispose, and being sick and the king absent,
she was not in case to do what she would. Her sickness was such as
made the whole realm to mourn, yet passed by her with most Christian
patience. She comforted those of them that grieved about her; she
told them what good dreams she had, seeing many little children, like
angels play before her, singing pleasing notes, giving her more than
earthly comfort; and thus persuaded all, ever to have the holy fear of
God before their eyes, which would free them from all evil, and be a
curb to all temptations. She asked them to think that whatsoever came
to them was by God’s permission; and ever to have confidence, that He
would in mercy turn all to the best.”[690]
On the 12th November, Surian wrote the following despatch in cipher to
his Government:—
“There are also advices from England, that the Queen is not well, and
the ambassador from Florence has said to me and many others, that she
is at the point of death, as known throughout the court, much to the
regret of these lords, who for their own reasons would not wish it
to be known that she was even indisposed, but the truth is, that her
malady is evidently incurable, and will end with her life sooner or
later, according to the increase or decrease of her mental anxieties,
which harass her more than the disease, however dangerous it may be.
The King has therefore sent to England the Count de Feria, who being
a most perfect gentleman and agreeable to his Majesty, is also in
great favour with the Queen, he likewise fancying himself popular
there; but may God grant (in case of her Majesty’s death) that he do
not experience to his detriment the perverse nature of those people,
and their most inveterate detestation of foreigners, and above all of
Spaniards. He took with him a Portuguese physician, who has a very
great name in these parts, so as not to fail in whatever could conduce
to the Queen’s health. He will at any rate attempt to carry into effect
the design about which I wrote on the 29th ult. for marrying Miladi
Elizabeth, to some personage in the King’s confidence, in which he
hopes to succeed, but I have not yet been able to hear who will be
proposed. She herself inclines towards a Scottish lord, her kinsman,
a handsome and noble youth, son of a sister of Henry VIII., who was
married in Scotland; he being of the same mind as this lady in the
matter of religion; so were the crown to pass into her hands with that
husband, it might be well-nigh surely prognosticated that the country
will relapse into its former state and worse, unless the Lord God of
His mercy interpose His hand.”[691]
In the meanwhile, Mary, having received Elizabeth’s protestation, sent
two members of the Privy Council to the Princess, announcing that
she would leave her the Crown on two conditions, the first being her
promise to maintain the Catholic faith and worship in England, the
second that she would undertake to pay the Queen’s debts. Both these
conditions Elizabeth accepted.[692]
De Feria arrived in London on the 9th November, to find that the
Queen’s recovery was despaired of by all her English and Spanish
physicians. She was attended only by an Italian doctor, afterwards
suspected of having poisoned her, and was growing gradually weaker
every hour. A smile hovered over her face when de Feria spoke to her of
her husband, but she had no strength to read the letter which he sent
her, in explanation of the grave reasons for his remaining in Flanders.
All she could do was to send him a ring, as a pledge of her love and
fidelity.[693]
From Mary’s death-bed, the envoy passed to the Council Chamber, where
he found all the members assembled except Pembroke and Paget. He
noticed Masone, who was accounted one of Elizabeth’s most confidential
friends, and took the opportunity of declaring in a loud voice, that
the King was extremely glad, that the Princess was to succeed her
sister, and that he would do all that depended on himself to help
her to mount the throne. The next day, he went to express the same
sentiments to Elizabeth in person. She received him in a friendly
manner, but was less gracious than she had shown herself to Christopher
d’Assonleville, who had visited her in August, at a moment when
she felt less secure of the future, and to whom she had expressed
much gratitude for Philip’s protection, at a time when she had been
suspected by the Queen. In order to flatter her vanity which was
great, de Feria said that the King had always been very sensible of
her charms, and that if she continued in the Catholic religion, he
would be disposed to seek her hand. She replied with some asperity,
that the King had wished her to marry the Duke of Savoy, but that she
herself could not forget how the Queen had in a great measure, lost the
affection of her people through having married a foreigner.[694] In
concluding his letter, de Feria remarked that Elizabeth was surrounded
by persons as favourable to heresy as they were hostile to his Majesty,
and that she herself, combining vanity with astuteness, would not fail
soon to follow in the footsteps of her father King Henry VIII.[695]
De Feria was not alone, in paying court to the rising sun.
“Many personages of the kingdom,” wrote Surian, “flocked to the house
of Miladi Elizabeth [at Hatfield], the crowd constantly increasing with
great frequency.”[696]
A smaller crowd, but more mixed, gathered round Mary’s death-bed. It
was composed of her most devoted friends—with the exception of Cardinal
Pole, who himself lay dying—and of those who were eagerly watching for
her last sigh. The end came in the gloomy dawn of the 17th November,
and the sympathetic chronicler of the life of the Duchess of Feria thus
describes the scene:—
“That morning hearing Mass, which was celebrated in her chamber,
she being at the last point (for no day passed in her life that she
heard not Mass), and although sick to death, she heard it with so
good attention, zeal and devotion, as she answered in every part with
him that served the Priest; such yet was the quickness of her senses
and memory. And when the priest came to that part to say ‘_Agnus
Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi_,’ she answered plainly and distinctly
to every one, ‘_Miserere nobis, Miserere nobis, Dona nobis pacem_’.
Afterwards, seeming to meditate something with herself, when the Priest
took the Sacred Host to consume it, she adored it with her voice and
countenance, presently closed her eyes and rendered her blessed soul
to God. This, the duchess [Jane Dormer] hath related to me, the tears
pouring from her eyes, that the last thing which the queen saw in this
world, was her Saviour and Redeemer in the Sacramental species; no
doubt to behold Him presently after in His glorious Body in heaven. A
blessed and glorious passage. ‘_Anima mea cum anima ejus._’”[697]
Monsignor Priuli, writing to his brother ten days later, thus describes
the death of Mary and that of her friend and kinsman, Reginald Pole:—
“I wrote last week that the Queen’s life was in danger, and also that
of my right reverend Lord, since when, it has pleased God, so to
increase the malady of both, that on the 17th inst., seven hours after
midnight, the Queen passed from this life, and my right reverend Lord
followed her at 7 o’clock in the evening of the same day; and each
departed with such piety as might have been expected from persons who
had led such lives.
“During their illness they confessed themselves repeatedly, and
communicated most devoutly, and two days before their end, they each
received extreme unction, after which it seemed as if they rallied,
and were much comforted, according to the fruit of that holy medicine.
Although two days previously it had been intimated to his right
reverend Lordship, that there was scarcely any hope of the Queen’s
recovering from her infirmity, this being done, in order that the
news of her demise, coming less suddenly, might prove less grievous
to him, nevertheless, after the event, it was thought well to delay
its announcement, until his Lordship should become more composed,
though it could not have been long deferred, yet in contradiction to
this understanding, one of our countrymen forgetfully told it him. On
hearing it, after remaining silent for a short while, he then said
to his intimate friend, the Bishop of St. Asaph, and to me, that in
the whole course of his life, nothing had ever yielded him greater
pleasure and contentment than the contemplation of God’s providence,
as displayed in his own person and in that of others, and that in the
course of the Queen’s life, and of his own, he had ever remarked a
great conformity, as she like himself had been harassed during many
years, for one and the same cause, and afterwards, when it pleased
God to raise her to the throne, he had greatly participated in all
her other troubles entailed by that elevation. He also alluded to
their relationship, and to the great similarity of their dispositions,
and to the great confidence which her Majesty demonstrated in him,
saying that besides the immense mischief which might result from her
death, he could not but feel deep grief thereat, yet by God’s grace,
that same faith and reliance which had ever comforted him in all
his adversities, greatly consoled him likewise, in this so grievous
a catastrophe. He uttered these words with such earnestness that it
was evident they came from his very heart, and they even moved him to
tears of consolation, at perceiving how our Lord God, for such a wound
received at such a moment had granted a balm so valid and efficacious,
and which might soothe not only himself, but also all who loved him.
His right reverend Lordship then remained quiet and silent for about
a quarter of an hour, but though his spirit was great, the blow
nevertheless having entered into his flesh, brought on the paroxysm
earlier, and with more intense cold than he had hitherto experienced,
so that he said he felt this would be his last. He therefore desired,
that there might be kept near him the book containing those prayers
which are said for the dying. He then had Vespers repeated as usual,
and the Compline, which part of the office yet remained for him to
hear; and this was about two hours before sunset, he having on the
very same morning heard Mass also, as was his daily custom. In fine
it was evident, that as in health that sainted soul was ever turned
to God, so likewise in this long and troublesome infirmity, did it
continue thus until his end, which he made so placidly, that he seemed
to sleep rather than to die, as did the Queen likewise, so that had not
a physician perceived the act, her Majesty would have died without any
one’s witnessing it. My affection has moved me thus minutely to detail
the end of this truly holy prelate and of this sainted Queen.”[698]
It is scarcely matter for surprise that Mary’s time-serving Council
should have made no long lingering over their mistress’s yet warm
ashes. The scene was quickly changed from St. James’s to Hatfield,
where Sir Nicholas Throckmorton was the first to acquaint Elizabeth
with the news of her accession.
After being embalmed, Mary’s body lay in state in the chapel of
St. James’s Palace, till the 12th December, when it was removed
to Westminster Abbey. Strype thus quaintly describes the funeral
procession:—
“When the day was come, after this manner were her funerals performed.
Her corpse was brought from St. James’s where she died, in a chariot,
with a picture or image resembling her person, adorned with crimson
velvet, her crown on her head, and her sceptre in her hand, and many
good rings on her fingers.[699] And so up the highway went the foremost
standard, with the falcon and the hart. Then came great company of
mourners. And after, another goodly standard of the lion and the
falcon, followed by King Philip her husband’s servants, two and two
together, in black gowns; heralds riding to and fro to see all go in
order. After, came the third standard with the white greyhound and
the falcon. Then came gentlemen in gowns, mourners. Then came riding
esquires, bearing banners of arms. Next came the lord Marquis of
Winchester, on horseback, bearing the banner of the arms of England,
embroidered with gold. Then Mr. Chester, the herald, bearing the helm
and the crest and mantles. Then Mr. Norroy bearing the target, with
the garter and the crown. Then Mr. Clarencieux, bearing the sword.
And after, Mr. Garter bearing her coat armour: all on horseback.
Banners were borne about her by lords and knights, with four heralds
on horseback, bearing four white banners of saints, wrought with
fine gold, _viz._, Mr. Somerset, Mr. Lancaster, Mr. Windsor and Mr.
York. Then came the corpse with her picture lying over her, covered
with cloth of gold, the cross silver. Then followed Mr. —— with the
chief mourners. And then ladies riding, all in black trailed to the
ground. In the chariot, wherein the Queen lay, rode the pages of
honour with banners in their hands. Afore the corpse, her chapel, and
after, all the monks, and after them the bishops in order. And all in
this equipage passed by Charing Cross to Westminster Abbey, where at
the great doors of the church, everybody alighted off their horses.
Then were gentlemen ready to take the Queen out of her chariot: and
so earls and lords went before her towards the hearse,[700] with her
picture borne between men of worship. At the church door, met her
four bishops and the abbot, mitred, in copes, censing the body; and so
she lay all night under the hearse with watch. _Item._ There were an
hundred poor men in good black gowns, bearing long torches, with hoods
on their heads, and arms on them. And about her the guard, bearing
staff-torches, in black coats. And all the way chandlers, having
torches to supply them that had their torches burnt out.”[701]
The next day, being the 13th December, a Mass of Requiem was sung, and
Dr. White, Bishop of Winchester, preached the funeral sermon. Mary had
been dead nearly a month, and by this time it required some courage
to speak of her in terms of praise, affection or gratitude. “For such
offenses as he committed in his sermon at the funeralles of the late
Queen,”[702] Dr. White was ordered to keep his house during the Queen’s
pleasure. The sting lay in the eulogy contained in the following
fragments of his discourse:—
“She was a King’s daughter, she was a King’s sister, she was a King’s
wife. She was a Queen, and by the same title a King also: she was
sister to her, that by the like title and right, is both King and Queen
at this present of this realm. These be great gifts and benefactions
of God; who in his gifts is ever to be glorified. What she suffered
in each of these degrees before and since she came to the crown I
will not chronicle; only this I say, howsoever it pleased God to will
her patience to be exercised in the world, she had in all estates,
the fear of God in her heart. I verily believe the poorest creature
in all this city feared not God more than she did. She had the love,
commendation and admiration of all the world.... She was never
unmindful or uncareful of her promise to her realm. She used singular
mercy towards offenders. She used much pity and compassion towards the
poor and oppressed. She used clemency among her nobles. She restored
more noble houses decayed than ever did prince of this realm, or I pray
God ever shall have the like occasion to do hereafter. She restored
to the Church such ornaments as in the time of schism were taken away
and spoiled. She found the realm poisoned with heresy, and purged it,
and remembering herself to be a member of Christ’s Church, refused to
write herself _head_ thereof.... Such was her knowledge as well as
virtue; neither was there ever prince on earth that had more of both.
But although she were such a one yet could she not be immortal. It
pleased God, in whose hands the heart and breath, the life and death,
the beginning and end of princes is, to call her from this mortal life,
of the pleasures whereof (the pleasure that she took in the service of
God only excepted) as no person than her, I suppose, took less, so of
troubles and bitterness of the same none here for his estate taketh
more.”
After giving an account of her preparation for death, and of her last
moments, the preacher went on to say that, having received the blessing
of the Church, “she bowed down her head and withal yielded a mild and
gracious spirit into the hands of her Maker. All this I say,” he added,
“if it were as pithily expressed, as she godly and devoutly did it,
should be to you as it was to them that saw it, more than ten such
sermons. If angels were mortal, I would rather liken this her departure
to the death of an angel, than of a mortal creature. After this sort
died this gracious Queen, of whom we may justly say, _Laudavi mortuam
magis quam viventem_, and although we doubt not of her estate, yet
because it is temerity to pronounce of God’s secret judgments, or to
deny prayer, to deny to one which is due to all, let us again commend
her soul to God, wishing to her as Tertullian teacheth _refrigerium et
in prima resurrectione consortium_. Which prayer if it relieve not her,
as one that with God’s grace and mercy hath the effect thereof already,
yet shall it help us the rather before God, from whom the prayer of the
faithful is never turned back or in vain.
“And as we for our parts have received worthily detriment and
discomfort upon her departing, so let us comfort ourselves in the
other sister, whom God hath left, wishing her a prosperous reign, in
peace and tranquillity, with the blessing which the prophet speaketh
of, if it be God’s will _ut videat filios filiorum et pacem super
Israel_, ever confessing that, though God hath mercifully provided for
them both, yet _Mariam optimam partem elegit_; because it is still a
conclusion _Laudavi mortuos magis quam viventes_.”[703]
The displeasure which Dr. White incurred for his panegyric of
Mary,[704] was but the beginning of a systematic blackening of her
memory, by those, whose interest it was to stand well with Elizabeth.
Eleven out of the thirty-five members who composed Mary’s Privy Council
at the end of her reign became Privy Councillors under Elizabeth, a
process that entailed some turning of coats for the second and even the
third time. Those pamphleteers and manufacturers of low abuse, who had
embittered Mary’s last days with insult and calumny might now pursue
their trade unmolested, while the loose statements of reformers such
as John Knox, John Foxe and John Bale,[705] afterwards too carelessly
credited, and copied by Strype, Burnet and others, and elaborated by
Hume and Froude, have marred beyond recognition the reputation of one
who has been tardily recognised in our own day, as “amongst the best,
although not the greatest of our sovereigns”.[706]
No monument has ever been raised to the memory of Queen Mary I. Two
small black tablets mark the spot where she lies buried, in the north
aisle of Henry VIIth’s Chapel in Westminster Abbey, at the foot of the
tomb erected by James I. over the remains of Elizabeth. They bear this
inscription:—
REGNO CONSORTES ET MARIA SORORES
& URNA HIC OBDOR IN SPE RESURREC-
MIMUS ELIZABETHA TIONIS.
Mary’s last Will and Testament, dated the 30th April 1558, with a
Codicil, added a little more than a fortnight before her death, is an
interesting and characteristic document, containing many glimpses into
her mind and heart. It was not only entirely ignored by Elizabeth,
but lay utterly forgotten for nearly 300 years. Sir Frederick Madden
printed a copy of it in 1831.[707]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 684: Burnet, vol. ii., preface, p. 23.]
[Footnote 685: Secret. de Estado, Leg. 811 and 812, Simancas Arch., De
Feria to the King.]
[Footnote 686: MS., St. Mark’s Library, Cod. xxiv., Cl. x., p. 197.]
[Footnote 687: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 688: _Ven. Cal._, vol. vi., pt. iii., 1274.]
[Footnote 689: Page 90.]
[Footnote 690: P. 68 _et seq._]
[Footnote 691: _Ven. Cal._, vol. vi., pt. iii., 1279.]
[Footnote 692: Secret. de Estado, Leg. 811, Simancas Arch. Kervyn de
Lettenhove, _Relations Politiques des Pays Bas et de l’Angleterre_,
vol. i., p. 277.]
[Footnote 693: Secret. de Estado, Leg. 811, Simancas Arch. Kervyn de
Lettenhove, _Relations Politiques des Pays Bas et de l’Angleterre_,
vol. i., p. 277.]
[Footnote 694: De Feria to the King, 13th or 14th November 1558,
_Relations Politiques des Pays Bas et de l’Angleterre_, p. 279. From
the original document formerly in the Archives of Simancas, and since
lost.]
[Footnote 695: _Ibid._]
[Footnote 696: _Ven. Cal._, vol. vi., pt. iii., 1285. “She (the Queen)
was moved to send two gentlemen to that lady, to let her know that
as it had pleased the Lord God to end her days, she was content that
she (Elizabeth) as her sister should become Queen, and prayed her to
maintain the kingdom and the Catholic religion, in words replete with
much affection, to which she sent a most gracious reply.”]
[Footnote 697: _The Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria_, by Henry
Clifford, p. 71.]
[Footnote 698: _Ven. Cal._, vol. vi., pt. iii., 1286.]
[Footnote 699: According to Leti, the body of the Queen was clad by her
own orders in the dress of a humble religious.]
[Footnote 700: Canopy.]
[Footnote 701: _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. iii., pt. ii., p. 141.]
[Footnote 702: _Acts of the Privy Council_, vol. vii., p. 45.]
[Footnote 703: Cotton MS. Vesp. D. xviii., ff. 103, 104, Brit. Mus.;
printed in Strype, vol. iii., pt. ii., p. 546 _et seq._]
[Footnote 704: He was for more than a month, a prisoner in his own
house, the order for his release being signed on the 19th January 1559.]
[Footnote 705: In _Hales’ Oration_ Mary is styled “Jezabel,”
“Athaliah,” “Devil of Hell,” etc., etc. (Strype, vol. iii., pt. ii., p.
150).]
[Footnote 706: Sir Frederick Madden, _Privy Purse Expenses of the
Princess Mary_, Introductory Memoir, p. clxx.]
[Footnote 707: In his _Privy Purse Expenses of the Princess Mary_; see
also the transcript in Appendix H of the present volume.]