the particular design which men had ground to suspect since he many times in discourse approved the ancient custom of his Kingdom of not giving in marriage the Daughters or Sisters of the Kings out of the Island for which he was so applauded by all that even those of his Council who were the least complaisant made it by little and little as he did a reason of State to forget the proposals of Calais So that now the Princess Mary being free from the engagement of the late King her Father and the great Men of England eying her as a blessing to be enjoyed by the most happy she found her self amidst a croud of lovers who in the peace and quiet of the Kingdom made it their whole business to disquiet themselves Amongst the most sparkling and assiduous pretenders Edward Gray Son to the Marquess of Dorset and Henry Bourchier Son to Thomas Earl of Essex appeared the chief Charles Son to Sir Charles Sommerset Lord High Chamberlain came next and Thomas Howard Son to Thomas Earl of Surrey Lord High Treasurer with William Talbot Son to George Earl of Shrewsbury Steward of the Kings Houshold put in amongst the rest These five Rivals being already very considerable by the Quality of their Fathers all chief Ministers of State immediately declared their pretensions with magnificence suitable to the Dignity of the fair Princess to whom they made love they were all alike well received and the courteous and obliging humour of the Lady Mary made every one of them easily believe in a short time to become her greatest favourite But love blinded their eyes for a sixth and more secret Rival gained the prize that all contended for and though his Quality did not seem to capacitate him to contest with them in any thing yet the Kings favour and his own worth largely supplied what otherways he wanted His name was Charles the pretended Son of Robert Brandon of a noble Family in Suffolk and an unblemished life Yet he had greater respect given him as being the Nephew of William Brandon and Edward Hastings the former of great Renown in the Battel of Bosworth where carrying the Standard of Henry the Seventh he was killed by Richard the Usurper himself as he endeavoured to stop his flight and the other still alive was no less famous in the Battel of Black-heath where the seditious Flammock with the Rebels of Kent and Cornhil were overthrown To this Uncle by the Mother it was that he owed the greatest part of his merit having had from him a most ingenious and liberal education for after the death of those that were believed to be his Parents who died in that fatal plague which made so great havock in England in the beginning of that Age he was always the sole object of his care His supposed Mother named Anne Hastings a woman of great Parts and sufficient Beauty to make her the subject of some slanderous and detracting Tongues had been pitched upon for Nurse to the King not only because of the noble blood of which she was descended but also of that to which she was allied but at first she made some difficulty of accepting the charge which was then only imputed to the haughtiness inspired into her either by the nobility of her extraction of which she seemed always a little vain or by the remains of some self-love which she still retained though she had other reasons for it Nor would she undertake that care till she had assurance that the child whom she called her Son should be bred with her at Court And Henry the Seventh having afterward entertained her at Court in consideration of the services that he had received of her Brother-in-law and did daily receive from her own Brother and finding the young Henry much more vigorous and healthy than Arthur Prince of Wales and the Princess Margaret his two first Children which gave him reason to congratulate his having so good a Nurse it happened luckily that six years after she having proved with child at the same time that the Queen was big of the Princess Mary he would have her employed again in the bringing up of that fourth child that was to be born to him notwithstanding that Robert Brandon her Husband being at that time troubled with some peevish fits of jealousie designed to carry her back into the Countrey By this means Charles having known the Princess Mary from the Cradle had always as being her Nurses Son freer access unto her than his Rivals with all their greatness could pretend to Besides this during the absence of Edward Hastings who alone remained alive to take the care of him the Dutchess of Bedford chief Governess of the Children of the Royal Family having taken him into protection allowed him free liberty at all hours of the day to visit her appartment and the Lady Latimer Sub-governess who desired still to be thought young and fair and was not far beyond the bounds of either entertained for her part somewhat more than esteem for the lovely Brandon All put together gave him great Priviledges with the young Princess and Henry the Eighth by promoting daily the affairs of Old Hastings to whom he was to be sole heir seemed sufficiently to authorise all the ambition that the young Nephew was capable of He had already great intimacy with the Prince and was the Confident of his most secret Pleasures and as he daily heaped Favours and Honours upon him he was often heard say That he could not do too much for the handsomest Gentleman in his Kingdom besides he was beautiful like himself and of the same age and stature his Meen and Presence shewed even somewhat more accomplished and by the sweetness of his disposition and generosity in many rancounters he gained the very esteem of his envious competitours The too young age and immaturity of Princess Mary of England was the reason that during the Reign of the late King and until the project of her marriage with the Prince of Spain he had not discovered to her his love but by looks and sighs whereof in all probability she understood not as yet the secret language but in a conjuncture so troublesom to a lover as that was taking counsel only of his passion that he might bewail his destiny he spake to her in a more intelligible strain This happened at Windsor where Henry the Seventh drawing toward his end desired only to be attended with a small Train The satisfaction that the Princess might have to be one day Wife to a King of Spain served for pretext to Brandon who passionately told her That as it was most reasonable that she should rejoyce to marry a Prince who was to carry so many Crowns so it was no less that he should grieve to lose her for ever at length lifting his eyes and hands to Heaven he mournfully cryed That it was very terrible and cruel for such a wretch as he to love the Daughter of his King more than
publick pomp whilst the preparations for a War with France were vigorously carried on there was nothing to be seen at London but Plays Horse-races Balls and Dancing where the Ladys in rich dresses setting off the beauty which might procure them praise and esteem obliged likewise their Lovers to imploy their greatest advantages On these occasions the lovely Brandon gained signal honour and whether it was for his good meen or his dexterity in all the exercises of body there was no Gentleman in the Kingdom that seemed not his inferiour So that amongst so many competitors who contended with him for the favour of the Princess there was not any so fortunate as to gain the least of it to his prejudice and though Edward Strafford the young Duke of Buckingham and the Earl of Kildare Son to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland both of them lovely and handsom Gentlemen had newly declared themselves his Rivals yet it was without either jealousie or disquiet to him Mary of Lancaster adored by all had no passion for any but him But amidst the pleasures by which the Court of England the most gallant and pompous of that age prepared so sumptuously for the War of France the death of Cecile Blunt Daughter to the Lord Latimer occasioned there great alteration Her Mother seeming comfortless as women of her humour affect always to appear retired into the Countrey The Dutchess of Bedford falling deaf and oppressed with many other infirmities of old age took likewise the occasion to withdraw The Countess of Pembrock was put in her place until the Arrival of Princess Margaret of York Dutchess of Salisbury Daughter of the unfortunate Duke of Clarence and her self as unfortunate in the sequel as her Brother the Earl of Warwick The King sometime before for reasons of state had designed her for that charge and the Lady Dacres was ordered to supply the place of the Lady Latimer until she were recovered from her grief so that there remained of the ancient servants of the Princess hardly any but Judith Kiffen who being the most dexterous person in the world for that service and lying commonly at the foot of her bed she was become too useful to her to let her be removed and that revolution in the Family of the Princess Mary was a forerunner of the disorder which shortly appeared in the mind of the King What care soever he had had to conceal his love for his late Mistris he had not the power to dissemble his affliction for her death He began to condemn the intrigues of his Court with which he had always used to make himself merry He went so far as to defeat the measures of several Lovers by giving them new employments under pretext of the War of France and though Brandon met not with so great crosses yet he was one of the first that perceived the King to be out of humour when being no more the Confident of his affliction as he had been of his pleasures he saw a new favourite admitted into his place one Thomas Woolsey Bishop of Lincoln to whom Richard Fox Bishop of Winchester had left vast riches at his death This man of low Birth but sublime Parts as sometimes bad men are knew very well that HENRY the Eight notwithstanding the great Qualities which rendered him formidable to his neighbours was a restless Prince and that being unable after the hurry of business to remain idle and unactive he stood in need of some amusing toy that might refresh his mind by seizing his heart In a word he understood that repose being uneasie to him without pleasures and wantonness he must needs be provided of women and that possibly was the reason that it was said that to comfort him for the death of the Mistris whom he had just before lost he made no scruple to advise him to bestow his affection with all expedition on some other It was besides alledged that he himself being smitten with the lovely eyes of the Princess Mary and not so foolish as to expect any enjoyment of her had wrought him to fix his eyes upon her But I think that that is to be looked upon as a Calumny of those who reproached him with all kinds of crimes because he had pursued them with all sorts of evils Ambitious men such as Woolsey are either not very sensible of love or would not be so tame as to give to another what they love themselves However it be whether it was an effect of the counsel of that bad Minister or that the Beauty of Mary which daily encreased had awakened some desire in the mind of HENRY the Eight it is certain that that Prince after the death of Cecile Blunt did speak of love to the Princess his Sister She understood him not at first or to say better she would not understand him but the account that she gave of it to Brandon had almost killed him with grief And although he never dreamt of any such thing yet the indifferency wherewith the King for some time had used him gave sufficient evidence of the change of his fortune and as till then he had doubted what might be the cause of that disgrace imputing it sometime to some fault of his own and sometime to the natural inconstancy of the King so he believed that he had then found it out So that to remove himself from trouble and following no other counsel but that of his jealousie or fear he beg'd leave of the King to go to Calais with the first Troops that were then drawing out for the War of France Though the King had not altogether the Sentiments which Brandon suspected yet he well understood his thoughts and without any farther discovery he thought it enough to answer that it behoved him to moderate that impatience seeing he intended to have him by him the first time that he drew his sword But notwithstanding of this obliging answer Brandon's disturbance had no end insomuch that some days after finding occasion to speak again to the King he renewed to him the same suit adding that if he could a little train himself in the matters of War before he undertook it he would deserve better to follow His Majesty Upon this the King by a return of affection for a man whom he had so much loved being willing wholly to undeceive him told him smiling That he well perceived what he had in his thoughts but that sure he was not more dangerous than another and that he should not take the allarm so hot for a little gallantry which he used with his Sister only to divert him from thinking on poor Cecile Nothing certainly in that juncture of affairs could have been better said and it answered all objections Nevertheless diffidence which is natural to all true Lovers made Brandon think these words the more to be suspected the less that they appeared so He imagined that his dangerous Rival under an affected repugnancy cloaked a real desire to see him at a
much the day following and to make it the more credible strangers were forbidden to walk abroad in the night upon pain of death None but the Rivals of BRANDON whispered secretly what they knew but by the absolute Command which the KING had given to the Earl of Essex that he should impute the wound of his Son to those who were no ways concerned in it and by the fierce threats he made to that Earl for the suspicions that he endeavoured to insinuate against the Princess his Sister so high as that he replied in rage that knowing better than he what her carriage was it was only in respect of his age that he pardoned so insolent a Calumny In a word by the secret rumour that began to spread that the King himself was a Party they by little and little diving into his intrigue with Cecile Blunt found all their Fortunes good so that a private reason hindered him from taking publick revenge Gray went away with the Marquess of Dorset his Father who carried six thousand English to Fontarabie to assist the King of Spain in invading Guyenne according to an Article of the League Howard and Talbot though they were not no more than he at that fatal Rancounter beg'd leave to serve in the same Army and Sommerset went to Scotland upon some pretext of his own So that there remaining none but Bourchier whose wound kept him long from the publick Brandon found himself in a few days delivered from all his Enemies But in their absence they did him more mischief than they had done in person and whether it was an effect of their malice or of the sequel of things which being with difficulty concealed time brings to light at length men began to speak more openly than they had been accustomed to do of the Amours of the Princess and Brandon The King was so far from being offended herewith that he seemed rather to applaud it some who impertinently discourse of the carriage of Princes wherein there is not always so great ground of reasoning as is believed imagined that all that he did that way was a politick fetch to break the Grandees of his Kingdom of the designs they might have for his Sister others who are not always willing to infect the Court with false notions kept themselves to what they saw and more wisely believed that it was only out of a natural complaisance that he entertained for all sorts of gallantry But though all that was said of the Princess and Brandon redounded still to his Honour yet he reaped nothing from it but vexation and grief neither could his truly generous and noble soul relish that honour which he received at the cost of what he loved He was far more affected with the reproaches that the Princess Mary might have talkt of him though indeed she never made any of him On the contrary he having sometimes expressed himself to her concerning these things in a very sorrowful manner she had always the goodness to tell him that he should follow the example and not trouble himself with the discourse of people But this obliging carriage served only to encrease his pain and as two hearts that are truly smitten are unwilling to be behind in duty to one another so he concerned himself the more in the glory of the Princess that she seemed to slight it for the love of him Insomuch that falling very pensive and melancholick notwithstanding the pains that she took to comfort him and having no other thoughts but to leave the Kingdom that he might remove the occasions of detraction he acquainted my Lord Hastings his Uncle to whom he told all his affairs with his design He being a fierce Old Soldier took him at first up sharply for the little Courage he made shew of afterward falling in discourse about the Earls of Surrey and Essex he told him that the race of Howards and Bourchiers was indeed ancient and raised to vast Estates and eminent Dignities by the merits of many predecessors but that yet they were not the only nobles who could brag of as great antiquity and the glory of as many heroical Actions nor that they had any such advantages as might give them ground to insult over the Brandons and Hastings and that therefore it behoved him not at all for the railery of some jealous Rivals to abandon the Prospects which both the King and Princess did countenance However all this made no great impression on the mind of Brandon He adhered to his resolution and had already taken his measures for withdrawing when at length the good Old man Hastings being unable to retain him by his reasons found himself obliged to discover to him what he had promised never to reveal The resolution was doubtless great and cost the Old man dear besides the weakness of old age he had more reason than any other to be dismayed which made him long complain of the violence that his Nephew put upon him before he began that dangerous discourse And that he might in some manner prepare him for it having brought out a manuscript of all Merlins Prophesies he made him read that which was the cause of the death of the Duke of Clarence conceived in these words When the White Rose shall the Red subdue G. Of that race shall change its Hue And the Red o're it shall bloom anew There shall remain of the White stock But one bud fallen on Hemlock Yet too much zeal doth oft annoy For an inn'cent maid shall it destroy When he had read the Prophesie the ancient Gentleman tracing matters as far back as was necessary explained to him the beginning of the prediction according as the event had made it evident In the first verse he let him see the Victory of Edward of York designed by the White Rose over HENRY the Sixt of Lancaster who carried the Red. In the second he discovered to him the deplorable mistake of that Victorious Prince who having caused his younger Brother George Duke of Clarence to be put to death in a pipe of Malmsey because the first letter of his name was a fatal G. gave his other Brother Richard Duke of Glocester of whom he had no suspicion by his last will opportunity of murthering his two Sons and in the third he shewed him the return of Prince Henry Earl of Richmont who in the blood of that Tyrant made the red Roses flourish again But having thus interpreted the three first verses which had given matter of much discourse in that time Hastings his countenance changed colour and being deeply affected with the importance of the secret that he was about to reveal concluding in a fret what with reason he had begun he told him that the world had indeed sufficiently understood by the event of things the beginning of the Prophesie of Merlin but that few understood the rest That though the flatterers of the late King had perswaded him that by the death of the only Son of Richard the
distance which he discoursed of with the Princess in so prepossessed a manner that she was constrained in reason to approve of what his weakness proposed But before he asked the third time permission from the King to depart and took his leave of her he resolved in an excessive fit of love to acquaint her with what he had learned concerning his Birth The Princess Mary was no less surprised at the relation which from his Uncle he had made to her of that matter than he himself was at first and though the whole story of the marriage of the Earl of Warwick with Ann Hemlock founded on the prediction of Merlin or the report of Old Hastings lately dead might appear suspicious in the mouth of a Lover yet she entertained not the least thought of that nature On the contrary notwithstanding the favourable opinion that she had of the truth of all her surprise appeared visibly in her eyes as he was speaking and so soon as he had made an end being desirous to have all things better cleared she told him with a tenderness which the novelty of the matter and the emotion of her mind rendered very extraordinary that she loved him no better for being a Prince of York but that she loved her self somewhat more on that account and that being well-pleased that she had cause to reverence in him what till then she had but esteemed she rejoyced that she had no reason to fear those stirrings of pride in her heart which might be sometimes troublesom to a person of her Quality in regard of the condition she took him to be of That all that notwithstanding was but a dangerous Idea with which they ought never to entertain themselves That he was dear enough to her as the Son of Brandon and that he would but create her disquiet as a Prince of the Blood of York That so he would not do well to be jealous of the greatness of his Birth that he ought to renounce that for her sake and that bounding all his ambition with the favour of being beloved so tenderly as she loved him he should never attempt to make himself known for the man he was Brandon being at the same time amazed and charmed to hear her speak in so obliging terms could make her no other answer but that she was too gracious and that when he resolved to disclose to her his secret it was not so much to engage her to more goodness towards him as to put her in a condition of punishing him if it ever happened that he should prove unworthy of her favours But the fair Princess stopping him there replied softly That he had no reason to suspect that she should one day punish him unless he thought that he might one day offend her That nevertheless he needed not be afraid though he should even become her Enemy and that she was not the innocent maid of whom Merlin spake afterward without giving him time to answer and considering with more reason than she had at first thought on the design he had projected of removing from Court for a time she represented to him That he ought to have special care not to betray himself by looking on the Dutchess of Salisbury and her Daughter who were expected within a few days at Court as his Aunt and Cousin She added that his true Birth rendered a little suspected to her the choice that the King had made of that Princess for her Conduct having so many times testified that he loved her not She told him that he ought on that occasion distrust him and that though the kindnesses wherewith he had thought fit to entertain her in some Rancounters were certainly nothing else but some exercises and frolicks of wit seeing he did not persist in them yet it was possible there might be in it some hidden mystery which time might discover In fine continued she my Knight and Brother these were the names that she gave him in her Child-hood and commonly still when they were by themselves let us distrust all the world distrust me if you please and above all things have a care to continue still to be Brandon leaving to me the care of the Prince of York and you shall find that whether you be necessitated to depart or have the liberty to abide at Court it shall be more pleasant for you to be reputed what you are in my heart than to appear so in the eyes of the world Thus ended their conversation which as it was the most important interview that they could enjoy so was it also the longest that ever they had had But the Earl of Kildare who had three times presented himself in the Anti-Chamber of the Princess and had been by her Maids still dismissed on frivolous reasons seeing Brandon come forth conceived so great indignation thereat that he followed him with a purpose to quarrel and left him not till he saw him enter into the Kings Apartment This Earl being Son to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and buoyed up besides by the protection of Woolsey and some concerns that he had with the Lady Dacres thought that he might have better success than the rest in the service of the Princess Mary He had not as yet seen any impediment to his design but Brandon and promising himself already great advantages from the apparent disgrace whereof some began to pity his danger he stood not upon examination of what he designed against him He received moreover a new ground of jealousie upon the Arrival of Margaret of York Dutchess of Salisbury which put him out of all patience for being with him at Richmont at the reception which the Princess conducted by the Queen was there to give to that illustrious Widow the first ceremonies being past he unluckily observed a little but very obliging sign that she had made to his Enemy to draw near her chair He afterwards perceived by her eyes and actions that she spake to him with much goodness and in effect the Princess Mary being taken with some features that the Ladies of Salisbury had in common with Brandon she could not forbear telling him at the very instant the trouble that that sight occasioned her so that it was sufficiently observed that she spake to him with somewhat of tenderness and Brandon on the other hand whether for joy to find her so well perswaded of the truth of what he had told her concerning his Birth or to divert her from the officious fears that she had for his sake answering in a composed and contented manner made it almost past all doubt Insomuch that the Earl of Kildare mad of jealousie and being no longer master of himself went forth with a resolution to take his satisfaction in what place soever he could meet him But the King being come likewise to that visit before his going to Greenwich to see a great match of hunting Brandon who was to wait upon him gave not his Enemy the occasion so soon as he expected
it And now his thoughts being wholly taken up about his departure and that which the Princess her self had immediately before told him of the resemblance that he had to the Ladies of Salisbury his desire was only bent to withdraw himself and he thought to find an opportunity favourable enough of speaking to the King as he waited upon him down to the Park where he was to take horse but he was deceived in that and it happened to be a fatal nick of time for the King who was out of humour because the Spaniards on the Pyrenean side did not perform on their part what they had promised for a rupture with France answered him pretty briskly that he thought he had been cured of that impatience and as he was about to insist Ha! said he you importune me let me alone I pray thee you will but trouble my sport at Greenwich and so turning his back upon him he went away with those that used to wait on him on such occasions So that the melancholick Brandon thinking that himself only was ordered to stay behind sought out some corner in the Park wherein to evaporate the thoughts which at that time tormented him and had sometime walked about in that design with a wounded heart for the slight that the King had given him when the Earl of Keldare having had confused notice of what passed came towards him Though he saw him at a pretty distance yet he did not prepare to engage him but stopped to consider the fierce and threatning looks wherewith he advanced towards him Whereupon the Irish man drawing Brandon who was obliged to do the same encountered him And by a wound first in the shoulder made him see his own blood with a second pass he run him through the right arm and the third going quite through his body made him fall against the pales Never was there any quarrel sooner made and more quickly decided The noise of this Duel having called together those who in the delightful spring came to enjoy in that Park the first verdure of the fields and the servants of the wounded Earl being come in Brandon was instantly apprehended and the matter being afterward reported to Woolsey by the authority which that new Minister had already acquired he was made prisoner in a Tower of Richmont-house until that the Lord Mayor of London following the King on his way to Greenwich should receive his Orders concerning that affair The Princess Mary had no information of all this but from the Dutchess of Salisbury who in that confusion and in respect of the Prisoner who was to be carefully guarded was advised not to delay till next day the taking possession of her apartment with the Princess in whom it is not easie to be represented what Impression this news made The reflexions that she had made on the pretended resemblance betwixt Brandon and the two Ladies of Salisbury of the house of York and the secret apprehensions that she thereupon conceived which made her leave the Queen in her Walk pretending her self indisposed held her still in great perplexity She went to bed that she might not be obliged to see any body and there her mind being prepossessed with what she knew and imagining that it would suddenly come to the knowledg of others her thoughts presented to her nothing but dismal objects Insomuch that the disaster of Brandon surprising her in this condition all that she had before but confusedly thought on seemed to her manifest and clear With a great cry she let fall her head on the pillow and to compleat her sorrow she received a note from the King who had given orders to the Mayor of London to remove the Prisoner to the Tower acquainting her directly That he not doubting but that the punishment which Brandon deserved for killing the Earl of Kildare would put her in some disorder he prayed her to suspend the good opinion which she might have for that ungrateful person until that he should inform her of some strange things which he had learned Such general and ambiguous terms susceptible of any meaning that an affrightned mind could give them put the Princess Mary to the extremity of despair and that first night when Brandon went to the Tower of London was a sad and terrible night to her Judith Kiffen who thought it fit to watch with her alone that night and who being ignorant of the mysterious secret that caused her grief imputed to the love alone to which she was privy all the incoherent expressions that seemed to escape from her without judgment had more to do with her than she dreamt of The vexation of her mind was followed by an oppression of body She fell into a Fever but so dangerous as put every one in fear of her life and the Queen and Dutchess of Salisbury who could not be always denied access into her Chamber being next day the most solicitous about her to procure her ease her fortune was certainly good that at that time the violence of her distemper having deprived her of the use of speech put her out of condition of betraying her self The King in the mean-while whose thoughts were far different from hers and being ignorant of the secret causes of her fear proposing to himself in this conjuncture only his revenge both for the indifferency wherewith she entertained his Gallantry and the idle fear that her Lover thereupon conceived followed his game at Greenwich and continued it even longer than at first he intended that such as came from London to beg of him that he would change the orders given to the Lord Mayor against the Prisoner might not find him and that so he might have ground to say that he was ignorant of what had passed Insomuch that several messengers sent either by the Queen or the Dutchess of Salisbury to give him advice of the sickness of the Princess Mary sought him in the Fields and Woods in vain They were everywhere directed to find him in places where he was not but Gray Son to the Marquess of Dorset who of his own head had taken horse was more fortunate in his search The love that he had for the Princess Mary made him sufficiently understand what the best-informed could know of her distemper though it was given out that it had seized her before the business of Brandon happened and how jealous sover he was of the pretious testimony of affection which at that time she gave to his happy Rival yet his jealousie served only to prompt him with greater earnestness to attempt her relief Insomuch that he surmounted all the difficulties that had hindered the rest from finding the King and having passionately given him an account of the dangerous condition that the Princess was in he moved him instantly to return to Greenwich from whence next morning by the break of day he departed for London The insolence of Woolsey was at first sufficiently repressed by the dislike which the King testified of his
procedure Having waved the discourses that they would have made to him concerning the wounds of the Earl of Kildare and having nothing in his mind but the sickness of his Sister and knowing better than Gray that her cure consisted in the safety of Brandon he asked presently how he was used and gave order to the Lord Terell to send him such of his servants as he might stand in need of So that fame which commonly is swifter than the Marches of Kings having carried this good news into the apartment of the Princess was without doubt the most acceptable harbinger that she could have of his Arrival But fear having wrought great disorders in her mind and after a new paroxysm of her Fever which did but begin to abate her mind being weakened as well as her body she could not show her self to him as she desired to appear The trembling tone of her voice proceeding rather from the tenderness of her heart than the force of her distemper gave but too sensible a proof of the hard tryal she had been put to and there was nothing more easie than for him to perceive that the life of Brandon was her sole care though she had not asked him if it was true that he intended to cause him to be put to death So that this Prince who on such occasions was very sensible answering only with kisses and tears and her Caresses expressing her desire far more intelligibly than words gave him hardly liberty to speak that he might oppose himself to the impatience that she was in He left her that he might with his counsel contrive a way to relieve Brandon from the Tower with pretext of justice But for all the formality which he affected to observe in his affairs he had no great occasion to be so scrupulous in this matter The greatest part of the Court who perceived his design spake openly for Brandon against the Earl of Kildare And after a formal shew of examining the tumultuary depositions that they might give some favourable colour to their proceedings the Lords Poyning and Terell were immediately sent to the Prisoner He came with them without a guard and as he cast himself on his knees before the King there appearing in his cloaths some mark of the insolent usage that he had met with you see said the King to him how dangerous it is for you to remove from me and that I had reason not to consent to your departure seeing that in a moment that you have left me there is a world of enemies broken loose against you Whereupon Brandon offering to speak of the aggression of the Earl of Kildare the King stopped him at the first word and commanded him to rise promising to do justice in time and place to him that deserved it Then drawing him a little aside he told him that the Princess's health must be his chief endeavour and that for his better succeeding in that office he thought it not fit he should see her in the disorder that he was in No body heard this discourse nor somewhat else that passed betwixt them It was only seen that the King forced himself to appear grave in his discourse and whilst he himself went to change his cloaths as well as Brandon whom he had again ordered to do so all Brandons friends whom his ill fortune had not as yet much dispersed rallied together and brought him from his Lodgings where some met him and others accompanied him as in triumph to the Palace He payed hls second visit to the Queen who had interceded for him and whilst he was with her Majesty the King that he might countenance his visit to his Sister came back to her apartment But he suffered none of his train to come farther in than the first Gallery under pretext that much company was incommodious to sick persons and so soon as he had notice that Brandon was coming leaving none with her but Judith Kiffen he himself withdrew to the Dutchess of Salisbury's apartment that in so delicate and much-desired an interview she might not be under any constraint It would be a great undertaking to endeavour to give a precise and full account of all that was done and said at that time betwixt Brandon and the English Princess besides at first their hearts and eyes made all the discourse the Princess wanting strength to speak otherways and Brandon having so much to say that he knew not well how to express any thing At length the Princess spake first who seeing him more afflicted at her distemper than could be imagined strained her self to tell him that it was nothing and that seeing he was free from the danger wherein she believed him to be she should shortly be cured of the sickness wherein he saw her She declared to him moreover as well as she could that the hurt or death of the Earl of Kildare was not that which had dismayed her but that she feared he had been discovered He answered but very little to that though no body could hear what they said Nor could the Kings note which she gave him to read for the confirmation of her belief and fear engage him to enter on that discourse He knew that the safest way was never to speak more of it and having heard nothing to that purpose in his Prison and the manner how the King received him having no relation at all to that he was well enough acquainted with his character and stile to guess at the truth of the matter So that he thought it sufficient by his looks to free her from the apprehension that she had conceived and discoursing to her only concerning her health with mutual expressions of tender affection they began to renew the testimonies of their real loves when the King fearing that too long a conversation might be hurtful to a sick person returned and separated them with as much kindness as he had brought them together Brandon followed him that he might render him thanks for his favours and inform himself what was to be the issue of the Rancounter he had had with the Earl of Kildare whose wounds were not mortal But their discourse on that subject was not long The King who naturally concerned himself in the amours of every one wishing him only joy for the good opinion that a fair Princess was pleased to have of him took thereby occasion to rally with him because he had taken him for his Rival upon some words of Gallantry which escaped from him as he said whil'st he intended only to bewail the death of Cecile Then he upbraided him with the small trust he gave to his word and friendship that carried him so far as to resolve to leave him and confessing at length frankly that he had not caused him to be sent to the Tower but to revenge himself of that private affront and at the same time to discover what love could do in the heart of a young Princess it might seem that he had no more