"I would to God we had one!" devoutly rejoined the zealous Smith. "No;" said Catherine, "two boys, lest one should die, and three or four daughters to make alliance with us again, and with other princes to strengthen the realm." 66 Why, then," replied ambassador Smith, gaily, "you think that monsieur Le Duc shall speed?" Catherine laughed, and said, "Je le desire infinitement, and I would then myself trust to see three or four, at the least, of her race, which would make me spare nor sea nor land to behold them myself. And if," continued she, "queen Elizabeth could have fancied my son Anjou as much as you told me, why not this (the duke of Alençon), come of the same house, and every way equal to his brother ?" Nevertheless, her majesty expressed her doubts that Alençon had stopped growing, and that he would never attain the fine stature of Anjou. She, however, interrupted a remark of the English ambassador, on the height of this candidate for Elizabeth's hand, by exclaiming 66 Nay, he is not so little; he is as high as you, or very near,” "For that matter," replied Smith, "I, for my part, make small account of height, provided the queen's majesty can fancy him. Since Pipinus Brevis, who married Bertha, the king of Almain's (Germany) daughter, was so little to her, that he is standing in Aquisgrave or Moguerre, a church in Germany, she taking him by the hand, that his head reaches not her girdle; and yet he had by her Charlemagne, the great emperor and king of France, reported to be almost a giant in stature. And as to your Oliver Glesquim, the Briton constable, that you make so much of, who lieth buried among your kings at St. Denis, if he was no bigger than there portrayed on his tomb, he must have been very short, scarcely four foot long, but yet he was valiant, hardy, and courageous, and did us Englishmen most hurt of any one." Thus did ambassador Smith fluently vindicate the worth and valour of little men, including among them the redoubtable descendant of king Pepin, Elizabeth's small suitor Alençon, and, doubtless, himself, since Catherine de Medicis considered them nearly the same height. "It is true," resumed her majesty," that it is the heart, courage and activity that are to be looked for in a man, rather than his height. But, hear you no word of the queen's affection in my son's way? can you give me no comfort ?" Smith assured her he had no fresh intelligence, "for their courier had only departed on the 11th of the month, and had not yet returned." In the midst of all these matrimonial speculations, Elizabeth kept her maundy at Greenwich, according to the ancient custom practised by Edward the Confessor, and his relatives St. Margaret, St. David, and queen Matilda Atheling the Good. This custom required, that the queen herself should wash the feet of the poor, in remembrance of our Saviour 1 2 So written. 1 Pepin, the little king of France, father of Charlemagne. washing the feet of the apostles. Elizabeth will scarcely be blamed in modern times, because she performed the office daintily. The palace hall was prepared with a long table on each side, with benches, carpets, and cushions, and a cross-table at the upper end, where the chaplain stood. Thirty-nine poor women, being the same number as the years of her majesty's age, at that time, March 19, 1572, entered, and were seated on the forms; then the yeoman of the laundry, armed with a fair towel, took a silver bason filled with warm water and sweet flowers, and washed all their feet, one after the other; he likewise made a cross a little above the toes, and kissed each foot after drying it; the sub-almoner performed the same ceremony, and the queen's almoner also. Then her majesty entered the hall, and went to a priedieu and cushion, placed in the space between the two tables, and remained during prayers and singing, and while the gospel was read, how Christ washed his apostles' feet. Then came in a procession of thirty-nine of the queen's maids of honour and gentlewomen, each carrying a silver bason with warm water, spring flowers, and sweet herbs, having aprons and towels withal. Then her majesty, kneeling down on the cushion placed for the purpose, proceeded to wash, in turn, one of the feet of each of the poor women, and wiped them with the assistance of the fair basonbearers; moreover, she crossed and kissed them, as the others had done. Then, beginning with the first, she gave each a sufficient broad cloth for a gown, and a pair of shoes, a wooden platter, wherein was half a side of salmon, as much ling, six red herrings, two manchetts, and a mazer, or wooden cup, full of claret. All these things she gave separately. Then each of her ladies delivered to her majesty the towel and the apron used in the ablution, and she gave each of the poor women one a-piece. This was the conclusion of the ladies' official duty of the maundy. The treasurer of the royal chamber, Mr. Heneage, brought her majesty thirty-nine small white purses,' each with thirty-nine pence, which she gave separately to every poor woman. Mr. Heneage then supplied her with thirty-nine red purses, each containing twenty shillings; this she distributed to redeem the gown she wore, which by ancient custom was given to one chosen among the number. After tak ing her ease on her cushion of state, and listening awhile to the choir, her majesty withdrew, for it was near sunset. La Mothe Fenelon soon after announced that the portrait of the duke of Alençon had been delivered by Cavalcanti, to the earl of Leicester, who carried it into her majesty's private cabinet, and submitted it to her inspection; and he afterwards told La Mothe, " that though it was not altogether the same as monsieur, her majesty seemed to think it had somewhat of the same air and bearing; that she did not appear to dislike it, and had judged that the accident to his face would wear out in time; but when she came to read the inscription of his age, she said, It was just the half of hers-nineteen years to thirty-eight-and that she feared being so much his senior.'" 2 1 They were made of wash-leather, with very long strings. 2 Fenelon's Despatches, vol. iv. In consequence of Elizabeth's reluctance to bring the duke of Norfolk to the block, a party was raised by the secret instigation of Burleigh, and his other equally deadly foe, Leicester, by whom her majesty was urged both privately and publicly, to cause the sentence of death to be executed on the unfortunate duke. At length an address from parliament, assuring her that there could be no security for herself and realm till this were done, furnished her with a legitimate excuse for bringing him to the block, June 2d, 1572. It is impossible, however, to read Burleigh's frequent lamentations to Walsingham, on the repugnance of their royal mistress to shed her unfortunate kinsman's blood, without perceiving the real authors of his death. Well did the pitiless men by whom Elizabeth's better feelings were smothered, understand the arts of bending her stormy temper to their determined purposes. "As to your letters to her majesty," writes Burleigh to Walsingham, "forasmuch as the duke of Norfolk had suffered upon Monday, and your letters came on Tuesday, I thought it not amiss to tell the queen that I had letters from you to her, which I thought were only to shew her the opinion of wise men, and her majesty's well-wishers in France, both for the queen of Scots and the duke of Norfolk;' whereupon, she bade me open the letters, and so I did, in her presence; and she being somewhat sad for the duke of Norfolk's death, I took occasion to cut off the reading thereof, and so entered into speech of the queen of Scots, which she did not mislike, and commended your care and diligence." 1 The death of Norfolk was intended by Elizabeth's council as a prelude to that of a more illustrious victim. The queen was told, "that she must lay the axe to the root of the evil, for that she would neither have rest nor security while the Scottish queen was in existence." Elizabeth, with a burst of generous feeling, recoiled from the suggestion. "Can I put to death," she exclaimed, "the bird that, to escape the pursuit of the hawk, has fled to my feet for protection? Honour and conscience forbid !" The same parliament which had urged the execution of the duke of Norfolk, passed a bill for inflicting the punishment of death on the queen of Scots, for her share in the recent plots, but Elizabeth refused her assent both to that and another bill, which would have made it a capital offence for any one to assert the rights of that princess to the regal succession. The tragedy of Norfolk's execution was followed by a series of brilliant fêtes, which were ordained in honour of the arrival of the duke de Montmorenci and monsieur de Foix, who came to conclude, in the name of the king of France, the solemn treaty of perpetual peace and alliance between that prince and queen Elizabeth, as well as to make an official offer to her of the hand of the boy Alençon. On the 14th of June, the noble envoys presented their credentials to her majesty, together with private letters from the king of France, the queen-mother, and the two princes, her late suitor, and her present; all which she received graciously, but only read that from the king in their presence. The next day being Sunday, they, with the French ambassa1 Complete Ambassador, Digges, 212. 1 dor, monsieur de la Mothe, were introduced by lord Burleigh into the chapel royal, after the prayers were ended, for the purpose of receiving a solemn ratification of the treaty from the queen. A profusion of compliments having been exchanged, her majesty expressed her happiness at entering into a treaty of perpetual alliance with the king of France; and called "God to witness for her punishment, if in her heart he saw not a true intention of bringing forth the fruits of this concord by suitable deeds; for words," she said, "were no better than leaves." She made also a deceitful profession of her impartial dealing with regard to Scotland, in a loud voice. She then demanded the parchment digest of the treaty with the royal seal and signature of the king of France, which was forthwith presented to her with all due ceremony by the plenipotentiaries of his most Christian majesty. Then she approached the altar, and, laying her hand on the gospels, which were held by one of her bishops, swore solemnly "to observe all the articles contained in the treaty." She signed it on a golden desk, which was supported by four earls, in the presence of a great many French nobles, and the principal lords and ladies of her court.' "On our departure from the chapel," says monsieur de la Mothe, to whose lively pen we are indebted for these details, "she took us all three into her privy chamber, and, a little after, to her hall of presence, where she would have us dine at her own table, and the other French nobles in another great hall, with the lords of her court." After dinner, she talked some time apart with the duke de Montmorenci; and then conducted the matrimonial commissioners into her privy chamber, where the more interesting business, with which they were charged, was formally opened by the duke de Montmorenci, and confirmed by De Foix, according to the royal etiquette on such occasions, after she had read the letters of the royal family of France. Her majesty returned her thanks most graciously, "which," observes La Mothe Fenelon," she well knows how to do;" touched on the difficulties that had attended the late negotiation, and were likely to impede the present; and, without either accepting or rejecting the new candidate for her hand, deferred her answer till such time as she should have given it proper consideration. She then did M. de Montmorenci the honour of taking him into her own bed-chamber, where she permitted him to remain for some hours, till his own was prepared for him, which was near it, being the same formerly occupied by the earls of Leicester and Sussex.2 "Then they came," pursues La Mothe, "and took us to see the combats of bears, of bulls, and of a horse and monkey." The latter sport appears to have been an amusement confined to the court of the maiden queen, who took peculiar delight in these pastimes. "Then," continues his excellency, "we went into the pleasure gardens, till the said lady came out, in readiness for the banquet, which was prepared with the utmost grandeur and magnificence, on one of the terraces of the palace, in a green arbour, or a pavilion, very large and beautiful, and well 'Depêches de la Mothe Fenelon. Ibid., vol. v., p 16-18. adorned with many compartments, and with two of the richest and most splendid beaufets in Europe. "She again made M. de Montmorenci, M. de Foix, and me, eat at her own table; and all the rest of the lords, French and English, mingled with the ladies of the court, occupied another very long table near hers. We were sumptuously entertained, and the feast was prolonged till about midnight, when she led us to another terrace, which looked into the great court of the palace, where we had not been long, when an old man entered with two damsels, and implored succour for them in her court; and immediately there appeared twenty knights in the lists-ten in white, led by the earl of Essex, and ten in blue, led by the earl of Rutland-who, in the cause of these damsels, commenced a stout combat on horseback with swords, which lasted till the dawn of day, when the queen, by the advice of the umpires of the field, declared that the damsels were delivered, and gave them all leave to retire to bed." " 1 6 This royal fête champêtre and mask, took place on a midsummer Sabbath-night, at the old palace of Westminster, on the banks of the Thames. Two days after, the French ambassador accompanied the court to Windsor, where her majesty invested Montmorenci with the order of the Garter. La Mothe Fenelon informs the king of France that he and his suite travelled at the expense of the queen, and were most liberally treated. "And I have seen," says he, "in the palaces of Windsor and Hampton Court, but especially at the latter, more riches, and costly furniture, than I ever did see, or could have imagined." At the same time that Francis duke de Montmorenci was admitted as knight of the Garter, Walter Devereux, earl of Essex, the lord Grey of Wilton, lord Chandos, and lord Burleigh, were elected companions of the order; and at the investiture, queen Elizabeth, as a signal mark of her favour to her prime minister, Burleigh, buckled the Garter about the knee herself; which appears to have been the first time this personal favour was conferred by the hands of a female sovereign.2 Elizabeth was, however, very proud of her distinction as the sovereign of this chivalric order. La Mothe Fenelon informs the queen-mother of France, in his letter of the 22d of June," that he had urged Burleigh and Leicester to entreat their royal mistress to give an early answer on the subject of the marriage, and grant a conference to himself and Montmorenci. For this cause," pursues he, "she sent for us all three on the morrow, to come to her after dinner, in private, without ceremony. We were brought by water into her garden, and found her in a gallery, where she received us all very graciously." Elizabeth, while she avoided saying anything that might in the slightest degree commit herself, accused the equally cautious procurators of confining themselves to generalities, and said, "she desired to enter into particularities, especially on the important subject of religion." They assured her that everything would be arranged to her satisfaction. It is 1 Despatches of La Mothe Fenelon. 2 Hist. of the Orders of Knighthood, by Sir H. Nicolas. |