RECEPTION IN ENGLAND.
[Sidenote: Duke of Gloucester.]
Notwithstanding the grand reception which the Duke of Gloucester gave
to Margaret on her arrival in England, she knew very well that he had
always been opposed to her marriage, and had not failed to do all in
his power to prevent it. She accordingly considered him as her enemy;
and though she endeavored at first, at least, to treat him with
outward politeness, she felt a secret resentment against him in heart,
and would have been very glad to have joined his political enemies in
effecting his overthrow.
[Sidenote: The cardinal.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's affection for Lord and Lady Suffolk.]
[Sidenote: Quarrel.]
Cardinal Beaufort and the Earl of Suffolk, as has already been said,
were Gloucester's rivals and enemies. The cardinal was a venerable
man, now quite advanced in years. He was, however, extremely
ambitious. He was immensely wealthy, and his wealth gave him great
influence. He had, moreover, been the guardian of the king during his
minority, and in that capacity had acquired a great influence over his
mind. The Earl of Suffolk, who, with his lady, had been sent to
France to bring Margaret over, had inspired Margaret with a great
friendship for him. She felt a strong affection for him, and also for
Lady Suffolk, not only on account of their having acted so important a
part in promoting her marriage, but also on account of the very kind
and attentive manner in which they had treated her during the whole
period of her journey. Thus the cardinal and Suffolk, on the one hand,
had the advantage, in their quarrel with the Duke of Gloucester, of
great personal influence over the king and queen, while Gloucester
himself, on the other hand, enjoyed in some respects a still greater
advantage in his popularity with the mass of the people. Every body
perceived that the old quarrel between these great personages would
now, on the arrival of the queen in England, be prosecuted with more
violence than ever, and all the courtiers were anxious to find out
which was likely to be the victor, so that, at the end of the battle,
they might be found on the winning side.
[Sidenote: Margaret is left to herself.]
As soon as the coronation was over, the principal personages who had
been sent with Margaret by her father, for the purpose of accompanying
her on her journey, and seeing her properly and comfortably
established in her new home, were dismissed and allowed to set out on
their return. They all received presents in money from King Henry to
reimburse them for the expenses of the journey which they had made in
bringing him his bride.
[Illustration: Ancient Portrait of Queen Margaret.]
[Sidenote: Repair of the palaces.]
[Sidenote: The king's want of money.]
Margaret was thus left to herself in the new station and new sphere of
duty to which she had been transferred. All the royal palaces had
been fitted up expressly for her reception. This was very necessary in
fact, for some years had elapsed since there had been a queen in
England, and all the royal residences had become very much out of
repair. Those were rude times, and even the palaces and castles that
were built for kings and queens were at best very comfortless
dwellings. But when, during a long minority, they were abandoned to
the rude tenants and rough usages to which at such times they were
sure to be devoted, they came, in the end, to be little better than so
many barracks for soldiery. It required a great deal of time, and no
little expense, to prepare the Tower and the palaces of Westminster
and Richmond for the reception of a young and beautiful queen, and of
the gay company of ladies that were to attend her. King Henry was so
destitute of money at this time that he found it extremely difficult
to provide the means of paying the workmen. There is still extant a
petition which the clerk of the works sent in to the king, praying him
to supply him with more money to pay the men, for the labor was so
poorly paid, and the wages were so much in arrears, that it was
extremely difficult for him to find men, he said, to go on with the
work.
[Sidenote: The queen attaches herself to Cardinal Beaufort.]
[Sidenote: Jealousy of Gloucester.]
The palaces were, however, at last made ready before Margaret came.
There were apartments for her in the Tower, and there were also three
other palaces in and near London, in either of which she could reside
at her pleasure. Besides this, the cardinal, who, as has already been
remarked, was possessed of immense wealth, owned, among his other
establishments, a beautiful mansion at Waltham Forest, a few miles
north of London. The cardinal set apart a state chamber in this house
for the exclusive use of the queen when she came to visit him, and
caused it to be fitted up and furnished in a magnificent manner for
her. The drapery of the bed was of cloth of gold from Damascus, and
the other furniture and fittings were to correspond. The queen used
often to go and visit the cardinal at this country seat. She soon
became very fond of him, and willing to be guided by his counsel in
almost every thing that she did. Indeed, the ascendency which the
cardinal thus exercised over Margaret greatly increased his power over
the king. The affairs of the court and of the government were directed
almost wholly by his counsels. The Duke of Gloucester and the nobles
of his party became more and more indignant and angry at this state of
things. The realm of England, they said, through the weakness and
imbecility of the king, had fallen into the hands of a priest and of a
woman--a French woman, too.
[Sidenote: Great mistakes often made.]
But there was nothing that they could do. Margaret was so young and so
beautiful that every body was captivated with her person and behavior,
and whatever she did was thought to be right. Indeed, the general
course which she pursued on her first arrival in England _was_ right
in an eminent degree. There have been many cases in which young
queens, in coming as Margaret did, away from their native land and
from all their early friends, to reign in a foreign court, have
brought with them from home personages of distinction to be their
favorites and friends in their new position. But when this is done,
jealousies and ill-will always sooner or later spring up between these
relatives and friends of the foreign bride and the old native advisers
of the king her husband. The result is, in the end, a king's party and
a queen's party at court, and perpetual quarrels and dissensions
ensue, in which at least the people of the country are sure to become
involved, from their natural jealousy of the foreign influence, as
they call it, introduced by the queen.
[Sidenote: Margaret's friends and counselors.]
[Sidenote: Her good sense.]
[Sidenote: Example for all young brides.]
Queen Margaret had the good sense to avoid this danger. All the
principal persons who came with her to England, for the purpose of
accompanying her on the journey, and of carrying back to her father
and friends in France authentic assurances of her having been
honorably received by her husband as his bride and queen, were
dismissed and sent home again immediately after the coronation, as we
have already seen. Margaret retained only certain domestic servants,
and perhaps some two or three private and personal friends. As for
counselors and advisers, she threw herself at once upon the ministers
and counselors of the king--the Cardinal Beaufort, who had been his
guardian from childhood, and the Earl of Suffolk, who was one of his
principal ministers, and had been sent by him, as his proxy and
representative, to negotiate the marriage and bring home the bride.
She made Lady Suffolk, too--the wife of the earl--her most intimate
female friend. She appointed her to the principal place of honor in
her household, and in other ways manifested great affection for her.
The good sense and discretion which she thus manifested--young as she
was, for she was not yet seventeen--in choosing for her confidential
friend a lady of the age and standing of Lady Suffolk, instead of
attempting to place in that position some foreign belle of her own
years, whom she had brought with her for the purpose from her native
land, as many young brides in her situation would have done, deserves
much commendation. In a word, Margaret, in becoming a wife, gave
herself up entirely to her husband. She made his friends her friends,
and his interests her interests, and thus transferred herself, wholly
and without reserve, to her new position; an example which all young
ladies whose marriage brings them into entirely new circumstances and
relations would do well to follow. Nothing is more dangerous than the
attempt in such cases to bring from the old home influences in any
form to be introduced with a view of sharing the control in the new.
[Sidenote: Opinions in England.]
In consequence of the discreet course of conduct that Margaret thus
pursued, and of the effect produced on the court by her beauty, her
vivacity, and her many polite accomplishments, public opinion--that
is, the opinion of the outside world, who knew nothing of her secret
designs or of her real character--turned very soon after her arrival
in England entirely in her favor. As has already been said, the
general sentiment of the nobles and of the people was strongly against
the match when it was first proposed. They opposed it, not because
they had any personal objection to Margaret herself, but because, in
order to prepare the way for it, it was necessary to make peace with
France, and in making peace, to grant certain concessions which they
thought would weaken the power of the English on the Continent, and,
at any rate, greatly interfere with the farther extension of their
power there. But when the people came to see and know the queen, they
all admired and loved her.
[Sidenote: Henry's character.]
[Sidenote: Margaret's character.]
As for the king, he was perfectly enchanted with his bride. He was
himself, as has already been said, of a very sedate and quiet turn of
mind; amiable and gentle in disposition; devout, fond of retirement,
and interested only in such occupations and pleasures as are
consistent with a life of tranquillity and repose. Margaret was as
different as possible from all this. Her brilliant personal charms,
her wit, her spirit, her general intellectual superiority, the
extraordinary courage for which she afterward became so celebrated,
and which began to show itself even at this early period, all combined
to awaken in Henry's mind a profound admiration for his wife, and gave
her a great and rapidly-increasing ascendency over him.
[Sidenote: Her popularity in England.]
The impression which Margaret made upon the people was equally
favorable. England, they thought, had never seen a queen more worthy
of the throne than Margaret of Anjou. Some one said of her that no
woman equaled her in beauty, and few men surpassed her in courage and
energy. It seemed as if she had been born in order to supply to her
royal husband the qualities which he required in order to become a
great king.