of Derby and some other Beauties at Court thereby to divert the observation of the more curious and although the Lady Latimer more ambitious than prudent was accessary to her Daughters slips yet that afforded him not all the possible advantages he desired It behoved him often to steal his opportunities by night and to pass in disguise through a great part of his Palace in London and pleasant House at Greenwich where the apartment of the Princess his Sister happened always to be cross to his designs in which he never trusted any but one domestick Servant two of his Guards and the faithful BRANDON He made even commonly use of that favorite to conceal himself under his name and without considering the wrong he might do to the Princess these Night-rambles passed for the feats of BRANDON that went to visit the Princess Mary However he would not that any should say so much when his company were surprised and could not avoid the eyes of some watchful spie and as it behoved him to colour these proceedings with some intrigue of love because it would have been hard to have perswaded men that any thing else was in play orders were given to insinuate that it was the lovely BRANDON that payed his services to the Lady Latimer But people were not always so credulous they made a little too bold with that Lady's reputation and the mind of man commonly passes over things which are so easily discovered that it may pry into those that are studiously kept from its knowledg There were severals therefore that observing the obliging manner how the Princess treated BRANDON in publick and knowing besides somewhat of the secret visits which he never rendered to her in her appartment but in company of the KING believed that he made them alone The rumour of this began to spread by degrees and though being vexed thereat he made appear to the KING his Master the consequences thereof yet that voluptuous KING was too much wedded to his pleasures to renounce them and BRANDON himself began at length to taste such pleasures as he could not have found in any other course of life The Lady Latimer who was desperately in love with him essaying by all ways of compliance to merit his affection allowed him great liberty with the Princess Mary She let him see the lovely Princess oftner than once asleep in the secret of Night and fearing nothing of the KING who was then commonly taken up with her Daughter because all these things seemed only to be done in attending of him she left him many times alone in her Chamber or at most but accompanied by a Maid of her own intrigues called Judith Kiffin which was thought worse than to have left them together upon their bare word However the matter be the pleasure of seeing Mary of England as he did made him at length speak but faintly of what the KING did in prejudice of her reputation and though he always dreaded the consequences of those frolicks yet by little and little he accustomed himself not to find fault with the occasions Matters being in this state and the QUEEN by degrees recovering her health and appearing more cheerful the Court full of Mistresses and Lovers found their entertainment in the various emergents that love every moment occasioned amongst them when Gray Bourchier and Sommerset impatient of losing more sighs resolved to trouble the felicity of BRANDON They had already for some days set spies to observe him or otherways lay in wait for him themselves upon notice given them that he went almost every night to the apartment of the Princess Their own eyes had seen him and they knew the by-ways he used to take though they had not discovered that he was with the KING or in the least suspected it so careful was that Prince to pass unknown They placed themselves therefore in Ambush at a back-door in the Palace by which BRANDON the fifth in company had just before entred and fearing no impediment in their design unless by the Rancounter of some Germans who had remained at London after the conclusion of the League whom they had already agreed among themselves to accuse of the disorders which themselves intended to commit though Gray was that night indisposed yet the other two being more siery and unwilling to let slip this occasion they rallied together to the number of seven All things appeared to them at first in as fair a way as they desired No body molested them in the quarter where they had posted themselves and the Moon being over-clouded gave no more light but what was enough for them to distinguish themselves by the marks that they carried So that the KING returning from his visit hardly had he that kept the key opened the door when Bourchier presented a Pistol to the two Yeomen of the Guard that came out first Stand said he where is BRANDON Sommerset immediately in the same manner put the question to them But the two Guards so much the more daring that they had the KING for a witness of their Courage made them answer only with their Carabines and both of them firing at the same instant that Bourchier and Sommerset fired as there were but two reports heard so there were but two shot that did execution That of Sommerset passing under the hand of the Yeoman of Guard that stood opposite to him was carried too high and Bourchiers only grazed upon the others Cassock But if one of the Carabines missed Sommerset who by good fortune kneeled on one knee the other bruised the shoulder of Bourchier and being both loaded with several Bullets killed three of their men that stood behind them The KING in the mean time who feared nothing so much as to be discovered considering the boldness of the attempt and perceiving two of the contrary party who remained betake themselves to flight caused quickly the other door of the Palace by which he was to enter to be opened Brandon having drawn but finding none to fight with came shortly after and the two Yeomen of Guard that knew the Kings intention as well as he having immediately disarmed Sommerset and Bourchier followed him This was the fortune of these Rivals who found all the difficulty imaginable to get home the one sorely wounded and the other soundly beaten and both in extreme despair The KING was no sooner where he desired to be but being furiously incensed against them he resolved and vowed their ruin yet Brandon interposing stopt this first ebullition of choler by representing to him that in punishing the guilty according to their merit he would discover the secret and to that prevalent reason adding considerations that concerned the Princess he at length perswaded him that they had received usage hard enough to make them capable of some favour Insomuch that the whole matter past for an unlucky skuffle that Bourchier and Sommerset had had with some drunken Germans At least the Earl of Essex was ordered to publish as
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
himself Neither the vehemency of this Action nor the boldness of the Discourse at least surprised the young Princess for being so little accustomed to keep her distances with Brandon she dreamt of no more but wonted familiarity and fancied as he might well wish that his expressions proceeded only from fear of being separated from her so that without diving farther into the mystery wherein as yet she was not very skilful and finding nothing in his discourse but what was obliging she had the goodness to answer him that it was possible the Propositions of Calais might not take effect and that he ought not to be afflicted before the time Some days after she started to him again the same discourse and soothed him by all the ways that her age could possibly imagine in so much as she vowed and protested against the marriage that he was in fear of and it must indeed be granted that she omitted nothing that might give content to his mind or fewel to his passion though it cannot be imagined that her innocent age at that time entertained any thoughts of love Henry the Seventh in the mean time returned to spend his Winter at London where dying in the spring he made place for his Son who being Crowned by the name of Henry the Eighth began with many favours to testifie his esteem for Brandon The first instance of the confidence that he shewed him which he imparted to none but him alone during the Ceremonies of his marriage and which appeared the more satisfactory to this favorite that being then honoured with the office of chief Ranger of England he found himself in a condition of making his advantage of it was the design he had not to marry the Princess his Sister to any out of his Kingdom He told him that it was one of the ancientest maxims of State and possibly the best and to hint to him that he himself might have some interest in that design he added looking on him with a favourable air that he should endeavour to chuse a person whose Family was not so considerable as to become suspected so that the marriage projected between his young Sister and the young Arch-Duke should not take effect and that he having with much reluctancy married the Aunt of that Prince he desired him not for a Brother-in-law But the matter beginning to be divulged and the general applause wherewith it was received by all opening the eyes of the most part of the young Court-gallants BRANDON perceived not at length that facility in it which appeared to him at first Love is a great Master and there is no virtue wherein it instructs not true Lovers when it intends to render them acceptable to the person beloved He then so far from flattering himself with the pleasant thoughts that he had entertained and which so many others seemed to entertain as well as himself laying aside all consideration of self-love and not reflecting on his danger in speaking to the Princess contrary to the Sentiments of the KING told her that she should no more dream of the Crowns of CASTILE and ARRAGON and that the designs as to her were far different from that He immediately discovered all as a person really devoted to her Service he protested against that State-policy to which she was to be sacrificed told her that he had rather dye than see her a Subject in England when one of the greatest Princes of Europe desired her in marriage and with a Resentment equal to the favour received reflecting on the complaisance wherewith she was once pleased to conceal from him all her ambition he subjoyned that he was become ambitious for her and that desiring at what rate so ever to restore to her again what she had so liberally bestowed on him he disowned all that he had had the boldness to say at Windsor against her marriage with the Prince of Spain His sighs spake the rest with more passionateness than at that time he desired and although Mary of England was not full Twelve years old yet she so well understood the language of that passionate Lover and her heart was so disposed to admit a flame that having wiped away the Tears that trickled from her lovely eyes and done as much for BRANDON she prayed him not to torment himself for the future adding with glances that sparkled goodness that she had rather see him afflicted at Windsor for the project of her marriage than in London vexed at the rupture of it It may be thought strange that at such an age she was so sensible But it may be likewise said that she being of a soft and sweet disposition and inclined naturally to mirth it was but an agreeable surprize that triumphed only on her gentle and cheerful humour The pleasure of being beloved was the only thing that made her love her views went no farther and love which is in that manner communicated betwixt young persons makes the delusions of sense sometimes so powerful over them that by that means alone it betrays them before they know what it is It is not then to be wondered at that if the Princess Mary being by a first Lover drawn into some pleasant mistake the other pretenders who made love to her after that the intention of the KING became known appeared not in her eyes to be so deserving as they were who with great assiduity having served her for the space of two years with all the gallantry and pomp that the Tranquillity of the Kingdom enabled them to employ at length discovered the root and fountain of their misfortune and seeing love sometimes breaks off upon a slight and is sometimes converted into fury the wiser desisted from their suit and the others united against their common Enemy Of the first sort were Howard and Talbot but Gray Bourchier and Sommerset vowed the death of BRANDON They considered not that such an attempt would expose the lovely Princess to publick Calumny and themselves to inevitable disgrace or perhaps to something worse Jealousie that reigned in them suffered them not to make any such reflections and they had never escaped the risk they ran had not fortune by forsaking them in their enterprise taken greater care of their lives than they themselves were able to do The love that the King had for Cecile Blunt Daughter to the Lord Latimer which began before his marriage and grew greater daily by enjoyment possessed the chief place in his heart notwithstanding of the distractions occasioned him by the League into which after many delays he entred at last against the KING of FRANCE yet whether it was for the sake of the QUEEN whom he would not put out of humour whilst the troublesom inconveniencies of an imaginary conception renewed her grief for the loss of her first Child or because that young Lady lived in the retinue of the Princess his Sister he gave but very few marks of it On the contrary he seemed to make Courtship to the young Countess
the tenderness of these Lovers is sufficiently known and that their pains rather than pleasures are to be related since that amidst trouble and difficulties the greatness and power of Love appears more conspicuous After so fair beginnings they wanted not crosses and all that had befallen them before the War from the competition of Gray Bourchier and Sommerset from the Kings indifferency after the death of Cecile Blunt or from the aggression of the Earl of Kildare followed by an Imprisonment which the secret Quality of a Prince of York rendered the more dangerous All this I say bears no proportion with what they endured afterward Upon the return from the War of France all people imagining that Brandon who had acquired so much Glory there should espouse the Princess Mary when they saw him only made Duke of Suffolk and nothing else talked of they believed that his fortune was at a stand and that in that respect there had been more policy than friendship in the Conduct of the King There is but little certainty in the opinions of men all is but whimsey There was no more discourse therefore of his Intelligence with Mary of England nor of the services he rendered her On the contrary they began both to be pitied as two perfect Lovers cruelly and unjustly dealt with But whilst people thus favoured them with their good opinions a tranquil serenity gave jealousie time to rise to a head against them This new Quality of Duke of Suffolk which rendered him a suitable match to the chiefest Ladies at Court made in effect many of them cast their thoughts that way because it was believed that he had attained to the greatest height that he could expect So that the lovely Lucretia Tilney being of a Quality and Fortune answerable to his merit the Princess had no sooner taken notice of the civilities which Suffolk rendered her to please the King only who designed her for his Mistris but that she immediately imagined they were the effects of Love So that she became jealous to that extremity into which true Lovers commonly fall of a sudden She spake not a word of this to her faithful Judith Kiffen from whom she had never concealed any thing but the secret of Brandon's Birth who not knowing what to think of the alteration that he perceived in her essayed for some days to discover that in her eyes which was quite contrary to what was in her heart That extreme respect might have provoked any other besides Mary of England and there are but few Lovers who in the fury of jealousie would not have taken it for indifferency But as she only loved because she was beloved so she made the best use of the various Sentiments that attend love She always devised arguments to excuse the inconstancy that she complained of and by strongest reason drawn from the stock of most tender affection she sometimes perswaded her self that the effects which she had caused in the heart of Brandon whilst he was but nothing were not to be expected from the Duke of Suffolk He loved me said she as the Daughter and Sister of his King He hath used me as a pleasant apparation to entertain his idle thoughts whilst he had none that were serious and now that he is what he deserves to be he applies himself to that which he may obtain If thou wert not of the blood of Lancaster continued she and could he promise himself of thee what he thinks he may expect of another he would love thee still as he hath loved thee and over-love thee And thereupon giving way to the mild Sentiments by which the pretended infidelity of Suffolk might be justified Let us pardon then said she let us pardon him for an injury which respect and fear only makes him commit against our love Let us do justice to that tender affection whereof we have received so great Testimonies this is probably the perfectest instance that he could render us and it costs him doubtless too dear to be undervalued by unjust suspitions But jealousie usurping again the dominion over her heart such lofty reasonings did not at all satisfie her She had much a-do to conceive how a Lover could renounce the thing he loves and then concluding that love which always slights and gets above reason and decorum is not so tame she found her self much disposed to judg no more in favour of Suffolk Besides his true extraction more and more fortified her jealousie and thinking that the reasons which she allowed to Brandon or Duke of Suffolk did not so well suit with a Prince of York what appeared to her to be an excess of love or discretion in the one had not the same character in the other And the very Glory which he had acquired in France made his present Conduct a little suspicious to her She saw him so well supported by his own worth that she could not but sometimes think that he intended to build his Fortune thereon and as the King appeared so much the less favourable to their Union that he had seemed much inclined to it before and that he reflected on it very seriously so the services that the Duke of Suffolk rendered to the lovely Tilney which jealousie made appear far more assiduous than they were though all was but an effect of complaisance made her often enraged against her self and condemn all her own goodness At length after a long conflict within her self so great as to make her compare her own marvelous and rare perfections with the ordinary and indifferent Qualities of her pretended Rival as she loved to the utmost extent of love and that her jealousie was altogether gentle and sublime and had nothing ragged nor low she found her self reduced to a necessity of speaking But she did it with so expressive and sensible an air that she had hardly opened her mouth when Suffolk by her first word discovering the cause of that discontent which he could not guess at needed no more but a single sigh to allay her trouble Their Sentiments as well as looks were soon agreed and they expressed themselves so intelligibly in that manner and understood one another so well that being both fully satisfied and fixing their eyes on one another for some time they needed no other language to speak their thoughts Suffolk being ravished to see himself so dear to the Princess as to inspire into her jealousie seemed by silence and other signs of submission to thank her for such a new favour which he never believed himself able to deserve But at length he broke that so eloquent silence to complain of her too much reservedness and the Princess perceiving that his complaint was just and she in kindness obliged to suffer it made appear by a most engaging blush that she desired he should not persist therein So that love which lays hold on all occasions to make Lovers speak raising an officious contest betwixt them on that subject was the cause that the
Princess Mary came insensibly to discover all that she had concealed in her thoughts At this time it was that the Duke of Suffolk found himself raised to the top of felicity He confessed himself very far short of the discretion she allowed him and by transports of gratitude which could never with good grace be employed but on that occasion considering the state of his fortune showing himself as ambitious as she desired he should be he obliged her twice to tell him that if he were not it behoved him to become so The good thoughts of the King her Brother whereof he had given her an account in her sickness and the reflexions that since that time she had made thereon which very seasonably she called to mind were of great advantage to her modesty in an entertainment of that nature She easily thought that having the approbation of her Brother and King on whom she solely depended she had no distances to stand on She intreated him to make his advantage of that and Brandon made no difficulty to obey her But fortune allowed them only this calm of hope and joy that she might more cruelly expose them to the fury of the storm she prepared for them The End of the first Part. THE English Princess OR THE Dutchess QUEEN The Second PART THE DUKE of Longueville with some other French being at London Prisoner at large under no other Confinement but his word lived at Court in Princely Magnificence and having occasion daily to see the beautiful Princess Mary though his arm which he carried in a scarf since his hurt still pained him had nevertheless but too many easie minutes to consider all the charms of her Beauty For nine or ten Months time he had endeavoured by all probable arguments to resist the vanity of such thoughts the Quality of Daughter and Sister to a King promised already in marriage to the heir of the Crown of Spain and the open War betwixt France and England allowed him no great hopes But he became at length passionately in love by frequent representing to himself the reasons that should have hindered it He thought it no error to take pleasure in beholding the fairest Princess in the world He looked upon the frequent occasions that he sought of entertaining her to be but the amusement of a Prisoner and thinking to secure his heart from love by the many impossibilities of enjoyment he fancied there was no great danger in desiring to please her In the mean time it befel him as he would have foretold to any other in the like disposition He came even to forget that he was a Prisoner and as love delights in mystery and intrigues entering into confidence with Mary of England he gave her a full discovery of the secret of his King and Masters Court The aversion that the late Queen of France had against the Duke of Valois and the fear that she was in lest the Dutchy of Bretannie should be for ever united to the Crown of France afforded him ample subjects of discourse He told her all the attempts which that implacable Queen had made to hinder that Union from taking effect by the marriage of her eldest Daughter to a Prince whom she could not endure She added that though the matter was accomplished yet the Duke of Valois seemed not much satisfied therewith and that having no Children by Madam and most people doubting whether ever he should have any he was already perhaps projecting to do with her as the King his Father-in-law had done with Jane of France so that the Daughter was very like to undergo the same fortune and usage which her Mothers beauty had occasioned to the Sister of CHARLES the Eight that the King was very infirm and gave no hopes of long life and by the instance of the Princess her self to whom he was speaking who had been ineffectually engaged to the heir of Spain making no account of the marriage of Claudia of France with the presumptive heir of LOWIS the Twelfth he easily concluded that if she would accept of his service in that negotiation without any long expectation she might see it succesfully brought to a period And thereupon giving way to his own thoughts he cryed That his greatest happiness would be to see her Queen of France and though to say the truth his intentions were neither the most sincere nor discreet that might be imagined yet it was not so easie for the young Princess to penetrate into the folly of them What vivacity and briskness so ever she had mischief and disorder were far from her thoughts Her tender and passionate air was sometimes injurious to her virtue and as she was every way obliging so it was most commonly imagined by all that had the honour to see her that the Conquest of her was not very difficult In this then the Duke of Longueville as well as many others found himself deceived who in stead of a lawful hope feeding his love with the vain expectations which his desires and appearances shaped for him by making Mary of England Queen of France he entertained hardly any thought for her which he expressed not under so fair a pretext Though the Princess was not affected by his Discourses in the manner that he could have wished she was nevertheless well-pleased to hear them His truely French humour and gallantry had so great a resemblance to her own that she still entertained the Duke of Suffolk with all that he said to her and he who had received no disquiet from his former Rivals was but at first slightly moved with this last He imputed this new correspondence to the natural freedom of the Princess and did not condemn her jollity But jealousie that began to work in him began likewise to shake his confidence and the disquiet of mind by little and little following the emotions of his heart he took the allarm at last and grew so jealous that he became uneasie to himself The care and means that the Princess essayed to reassure and compose him wrought no great effects and his grief encreased so much that he having refused all the gentle remedies which with greatest sincerity she offered to him she resolved without speaking a word at length to employ the strongest For that end she denied the Duke of Longueville any more access to her and because he continued obstinate to the contrary she was about to have spoken to the King that he might send him back into France upon his word or confine him to some of his houses in the Countrey The noise of that would have been great without doubt and the King who could not prevail on the mind of Suffolk by other means would not have spared that way of curing him had she but in the least proposed it The repose of that favorite was now become as dear to the King as his own and if the Princess had not been promised to the young Arch-Duke by a solemn treaty the breach whereof had not
most glorious passion was the desire to reign over the most illustrious people of the Universe He went farther to encourage her by pretending that his own interest was therein concerned and as if he had been the most covetous of all men who was indeed the most liberal he seemed only then possessed with the hopes of the great riches that he expected from her Crown The soul must without doubt be great which can love in that strain and ordinary passions are unable to renounce themselves in that manner But the fair Princess to whom he rendered so rare an instance of a perfect love repayed it by another no less wonderful on her part The Crown of France seemed nothing to her in respect of Suffolks heart and being sensible to the utmost of the unspeakable pleasure that is found in being loved as one loves that was to her so Soveraign a blessing that no other earthly advantage could equal it She disputed therefore with him the possession of his heart which she desired still to enjoy as he contended for the loss of hers which he was willing she should deprive him of and her lovely eyes bore already the marks of the wrong which the tears she shed did them The King between whose arms she had cast her self to bewail and to overcome the virtue of Suffolk knew no more how to govern sometime the one sometime the other As she had been accustomed to conceal from him nothing of her passion and as it may be said that he was the sole confident of her Love so neither had he been wanting to her in any comfort or remedy He made her the Mistris of her self and being ready to repass into France at the head of an Army under divers pretexts to renew the War there he desired no better than to trouble all Europe that he might re-establish Tranquillity in her heart But it was not enough for these great Remedies to produce their effect that they were prepared by the hand of the King and accepted by the Princess Suffolk must likewise approve and make use of them If they were good for her they seemed of no value to him He condemned them already and found fault with them every way He designed to arm against them protesting at what rate soever to oppose them and the Amorous Princess had to do with a Lover that desired nothing more than to triumph over himself that he might Crown her This violent state of affairs lasted two full Months and no body understood the secret The melancholy of the Princess was imputed to a dispute that she had had with the Queen concerning the Dutchess of Salisbury The Court was divided betwixt them upon that account and the King fomented their division that he might the better conceal the Amorous mystery whereof he was the Guardian when that the proposals of the Duke of Longueville were again renewed with such formalities as suffered them not to be rejected The Pope wrote to that purpose The Venetians concerned themselves therein John Duke of Albany Regent of Scotland during the Minority of the King his Nephew interested himself in the affair with all the earnestness that the concerns of his Pupil required and these so distant Potentates in this manner formed an Union in opinions to make a most cruel War against the Resolutions of the Princess Mary but what deference soever the King of England was obliged to have for so considerable solicitations though besides that the alliance of LOWIS the Twelfth was of such moment that it could not be rejected by a sober Prince nevertheless the compassion that he had for his Sister the high esteem that he made of Suffolk and his natural propensity to all intrigues of Love would have made him find out ways enough to elude the suit of the one and the importunities of the rest if the continual perfidies of the King of Spain his Father-in-law had not in a manner forced him to comply That cunning Prince having drawn the late Pope Julius into the League whereof the English were at all the charge and the Spaniards reaped all the profit began to deceive him in the first Pyrenean War He seized on the Kingdom of Navar not minding the English Forces which he had perswaded to Land at Bayonne and who finding themselves disappointed of their hopes of being able to gain the places which he promised them in Guyenne were constrained to return Since that he had broken his word to him at the Sieges of Therowenne and Tournay where he neither assisted him with men nor money and had of late again made a truce with LOWIS the Twelfth without his advice So that to all these injuries joyning the aversion that he had to Queen Catherine the Daughter of that crafty Prince and projecting already the divorce which he made from her since he found that occasion so favourable that his proper interest prevailed with him more than the consideration of his Sister Some have said that it was only an effect of his inconstancy and it is certain that he was none of the firmest in his resolutions But it is no less true that the displeasure which he conceived against his Father-in-law and against his Queen had no small share in that change that broke the Ice at first and the alliance of France made his satisfaction appear afterwards more speedy and easie had it not been for these considerations he might have possibly persisted in his former design and a more steady mind than his by so many reasons could not but have too many temptations to change The proposals therefore of the King of France were accepted Suffolk was one of the first that assented to them and as at that time the Princess Mary abandoned her self wholly to grief so that generous Lover upon the refusal of the King who could not any longer comfort her but by false hopes undertook to do it That charge was without doubt the sum of his afflictions There is no violence like to that when a man inflamed with Love forces himself by an excess of affection to perswade the person whom he loves that she ought no more to love him But that same love which he strove to hide being the principle that set all the movements of his heart to work did hourly betray his design What garb soever he put on what shape soever he borrowed all was still love it would not be disguised and where it was most under constraint there it broke forth with greatest lustre So that the Princess who felt her self touched even with the hardest things that Suffolk durst tell her melting with compassion for the cruel tryals that he put himself to for her sake observed no measures on her part to make him lay aside that forced Mask But he having one day when they were by themselves urged her so far that she was at length pierced with that greatness of Soul that could not be made to stoop by the tenderness of hers and finding
that another who might not have the reasons that he had to refuse the same would upon the least attempt be fure to obtain the enjoyment thereof and in this manner the fear of losing a Kingdom fomenting his jealousie whilst during the Carrousel he carefully avoided the occasions which would have at length undeceived him as to his thoughts concerning the Queen he fell so strictly to examine all things that within a few days he discovered the inclinations that she had for the Duke of Suffolk He perceived the distinction that she put betwixt him the Marquess of Dorset and young Gray notwithstanding of the dexterity she had always to joyn these two last in the favours which she showed the other and the troublesom Duke of Longueville joyning to these things what he had heard though but confusedly at London failed not to confirm all his suspicions Thus then you see the Duke of Valois in great perplexity It is not now jealousie that torments him The fear of losing a Crown seems to have destroyed his love and his thoughts tending only to prevent the consequences wherewith Du prat had threatned him the Queen and Suffolk appeared to him every moment as two sprights coming to dethrone him But being of an open and frank soul he quickly discovered his pain to him that was the cause of it My Lord Suffolk said he drawing him aside one evening in the Kings Anti-Chamber you love the Queen and the Queen does not hate you but I would desire your love might not cost me a Crown Suffolk amazed at this discourse however dissembled his surprise He asked with a great deal of respect what the matter was and by questions wide of the purpose endeavoured to hide the emotions of his heart But the Prince who desired to sift him by his discourse resolved not to ramble and returning to his design Yes my Lord Duke of Suffolk replyed he you love the Queen and the Queen loves you and though I be no enemy to Ladies and their Gallants yet certainly I shall be one to the Queen and you if your Gallantry take the liberty that I suspect Wherefore continued he oblige me not to become so The King cannot live long and when the Queen is a Widow I promise not to oppose your desires So smart an expression such peremptory words and the discomposed air that the Duke of Valois spoke them in permitted not Suffolk longer to dissemble the Queens Honour which he saw so openly struck at but obliged him to take measures by himself So that to do the best that possibly he could in the secret disturbance he found himself in he began immediately to complain of those who raised-so injurious reports of the best and most discreet Princess in the world He would not say that he spake only so to her disadvantage because he found that her virtue disappointed the hopes which he might have conceived against it That would have shewed him to have been more acquainted than he ought to have been with the affairs of her whom he intended to justifie To praise her he thought was enough by affirming still that she was not well known and that he having the honour to have served her from the Cradle had known worthy persons in England over-shoot themselves as well as some in France mistake the meaning of her condescending behaviour And finding himself afterward sufficiently re-assured to venture on a piece of railery upon the account that the Duke himself raised his honour by his fear of losing a Crown he concluded that for the future he should take care not to give him any Umbrage and that for that effect and to give him full satisfaction he would take the first occasion to pray the King his Master to recal him To this the Duke of Valois a Prince of a close disposition and sometimes a little too credulous answered That he desired not so much but that his jealousie was pardonable that he was handsom that he had already occasioned some discourse at London and that he would take it very ill if he made it worse at Paris that he had reason to suspect after the freedom that he had used with him that he would urge matters too far but that to repeat what he had already said he gave him his promise not to cross his happiness when the fit time was come Suffolk that he might not put a new edg on the jealousie of the Duke of Valois let him speak as much as he thought fit without seeming concerned at what he said He made it his business rather to undeceive him by an indifferency which in so delicate a juncture himself ought to observe as well as he and if he affected it not so well as he desired at least he had that influence upon him as to make him sometimes doubt of what he had believed before But though he left him sufficiently satisfied yet he found no reason to be so himself for the reputation of the Queen was so dear to him that he would have rather banished himself from her Presence than have occasioned the least stain to her honour Insomuch that having no body but her to complain to of the discourse of the Duke of Valois and having measures to take in regard thereof which he judged convenient to agree upon with her he rendred her an account of all exact enough to create her much affliction notwithstanding of his care to soften what was hard and injurious in the terms But that which touched her nearest was the resolution that he had taken of returning to England that he might prevent the detraction which he saw ready to break out Her Glory was not so dear to her as the Presence of Suffolk and relying on the great stock of her virtue she cared not much to lose a little of its Odour provided she might retain him But being interrupted before they could conclude any thing and separated with great impatience to meet again the means of that became daily so difficult that they found themselves in a short time reduced to great perplexities Though the Queen entertained a grudg against the Duke of Valois yet she thought less of doing him any ill office with the King than to secure her self from the Spies that he employed about her She seemed even afraid to provoke him so circumspect did Love make her that she might enjoy the Presence of her dear Suffolk and as she went to bed every night much dejected in the apprehension that she should hear of his departure so there was easily to be observed in her some little glimpse of joy when she saw him again next morning To that continual tossing were joyned likewise other agitations that encreased her pain Then it was that she rendered full justice to the merit of Suffolk the Quality of Queen of France had not at all changed her She continually lamented that she was not his Wife and all the advantages of her Crown all the complaisance of a Husband
and every Champion omitting nothing of the finest and most regular practices of War and as the Assailants made inconceivable efforts so the Defendants maintained it with so much vigour that the Queen who was always in fear for Suffolk representing to the King that Courage incited by emulation might sometimes be exasperated in a matter of pleasure and recreation he sent the Judges of the Field to put an end to the Combat by declaring that the Glory was equal on both sides The health of the Prince which was thought somewhat restored invited all the Gallants to begin some new feats afresh But seeing the Queen although she strove against her humour seemed not at all taken with such kind of Divertisements he was glad being desirous to oblige her more and more by resigning himself wholly to her pleasure to delay the proposed solemnities of rejoycing until the month of January This offered a reason to the Duke of Suffolk to speak to him of his departure and though that good King who loved to see him made some difficulty to let him go yet the matter went off exceeding well under the common pretext that every one took to withdraw from Court in a time when there was nothing to be done there He pretended some affairs that called him back into England He promised to be back before the Carnaval and two days after that his equipage was gone having taken his leave of the King and Duke of Valois to whom he thought it not convenient to express himself any more and having no occasion to take leave more particularly of the Queen he took horse accompanied with young Gray Brother to the Marquess of Dorset and six in train Not that he desired his company On the contrary it would have rejoyced him to have been alone and though he was abundantly satisfied that his fair Queen loved him with all her heart yet he looked upon himself but as a wretch who desired to be abandoned of all the world seeing he was forsaken by himself He never thought more of seeing Mary of Lancaster again He was already plodding into what Countrey remote from her he should go end the miserable remainder of his days and as the vehemency of his affliction prompted him to that design so the imperious idea of his secret extraction presenting it self to his imagination to encrease his pain began likewise to tempt him thereto All the little displeasures which he had effaced at the Court of England took place again in his memory He could not excuse himself for having carried the name of Brandon there so long when he had one so illustrious to bear The favours of HENRY the Eighth appeared to him but ignominious trifles In fine having no mind to return into England but that he might declare what he was and like a sick person who turns and tumbles every way to find a more easie posture which he meets with no-where giving way to I know not what piece of vanity that seemed to mitigate his grief because it was an effect thereof he imployed in thoughts as vain as ambitious that severe reprieve which he owed only to the Greatness of his misfortune O! Mary of England what kind of love is this that does in such a manner oppress your Empire over the Duke of Suffolk was never so great as when he durst think that you had none and the revolt of that lovely soul gave you greater proofs of its subjection than all the testimonies of love and respect which he had given you heretofore True it is also that that revolt lasted not long enough to be thought of any consequence Fortune that preserved to you so worthy a Conquest was upon the dawning to Crown its merit But as she never bestows any favours and chiefly such as may be called Soveraign and Supreme without the price of an extreme affliction which seems to compleat all her other crosses so she resolved to reduce the Duke of Suffolk to the utmost extremity before she put you in a condition of being his Having departed from Court in a disorder of mind that cannot be well expressed he continued by very easie journeys his way to Calais wherein a design of wandring over the world desiring to retain but two of his servants he was thinking with himself already of means to give young Gray the slip when at the Towns-end of Ardres entring into a little Cops which leads to Guines ten men well mounted broke forth upon him and his train At the first charge they gave his horse having received a Carbine-shot in the head after some bounds fell into a kind of Lake which the Winter-rains began to make on the side of the high-way and he was so engaged under his horse that that fall would have determined all his fortune if three other Gentlemen coming from Guines and joyning young Gray had not given Bokal his Valet de Chamber time to come to his assistance Seeing he was not at all hurt he got quickly out of the water and mounted another horse and despair or anger encreasing his natural strength though the match was then petty equal the engagement lasted not long Two of the most desperate who thought to overthrow him were themselves knocked down by the weight of his blows Young Gray and the three unknown Gentlemen whom fortune had guided into that place did as much to those that bore head against them and of the remaining four who bethought themselves only of flight one being fallen about a hundred paces off the faithful Bokal who suspected that the Duke of Longueville had suborned these Assassines against his Master thought best to make him Prisoner That wretch gave them sufficient information of the truth of the matter that they were some of the Emperours Reistres who came from their Garrison of Dunkerk as far as that Countrey to commit Pillage and Robberies Nevertheless the unjust supicion of Bokal produced very troublesom consequences for the Duke of Longueville who was in no way capable of a bad action It was the cause that he was very rigorously dealt with about the ransom which he owed still and as he thought to have payed it by the ransom of Peter de Navar taken Prisoner at the Battel of Ravenna which LOWIS the Twelfth had given him so these dispositions altering under the Reign of FRANCIS the First who received that Spaniard into his service the King of England pressed the Duke of Longueville the more that knowing him to be in a necessity of ransoming himself he would have him punished for that pretended Riot and for every thing else that he had done against the Duke of Suffolk But though this bad Rancounter had nothing extraordinary in appearance since it happens very frequently that Robbers set upon Passengers on the High-ways who are succoured by others yet in this their befel one of the oddest adventures that perhaps can be imagined when the Duke of Suffolk having discovered that the chief of the three that had
inclined to hear him He had many times much ado to leave her when the affairs of his Kingdom required it and for all the Grandure and Magnanimity which hath appeared in the course of his life yet being at that time too weak for his passion he appeared sometimes so peevish and out of humour that the same detracting tongues which have endeavoured to fully the reputation of Mary of England have given it out that his amorous fever made him so light-headed as to detest his marriage with the Daughter of LOWIS the Twelfth and to protest more than once that he had rather have enjoyed his Widow than his Kingdom Whether it was an effect of the Queens sweet disposition or that she was pleased to revenge her self for the troubles that he caused her before he was King she appeared not altogether inexorable Yet she was still the same at the heart and never what he took her to be So that one day when her beauty so surprised him that he forgot some of his measures thinking to take her on the right side he told her That since he himself could not expect to be happy it behoved him at least to endeavour to make her so that therefore he would marry her to the Duke of Suffolk whensoever she pleased that he feared no consequences of that marriage that he would be Guarrantee of it to all men and that he would take upon him to perswade the King her Brother to consent thereto To this proposition he added many marks of affection and dextrously insinuated how much it had cost him before he could bring himself to that resolution so that the fair Queen perceiving him in appearance exceedingly moved and suffering him to speak all that he pleased by gestures and looks affected several times not to be altogether insensible But having done so and judging that he thought her sufficiently touched she rose from the chair and looking on him with an air which might at first falsifie all the applause that she had given to his discourse she answered That he had never well known her and that he knew her not as yet That in France she was taken for a strange person but that the French themselves were a strange-humoured people and that she well perceived that amongst them a young Queen who would be thought virtuous and discreet though she were naturally affable and courteous must not show her self to be so That as to the Duke of Suffolk she saw very well that it was known that she had an esteem for so worthy a Gentleman and that she was willing he should be so far in her secrets as to tell him somewhat more particular that she had sometimes wished he had been born a King But that that being but a vain wish Suffolk must be satisfied with her esteem and for the rest that there were Soverains that demanded her and Kings who having demanded her from her Child-hood might still demand her This brisk answer not being understood did the more vex the King that he thought he had found a sure way to render the Queen pliable Yet for all that he gave not over He believed her to have been surprised or that she made it strange to be free with him and from time to time renewing the discourse of the marriage with the Duke of Suffolk though it was uneasie to him to speak good of a Rival yet as at that time he showed himself a most passionate Lover so he had at least the advantage of a favourable hearing In the mean while he got no ground upon her and the affairs of the Queen being now concluded she made it her business to prepare for her return into England Then was the time that the Love of FRANCIS the First which before was always but a gentle heat in his heart became a furious passion Many hours he restlesly spent a thousand violent thoughts he hatched and if he had not had as tractable and pliable a mind as he had a high and generous Courage probably he had run upon strange extremities But at length he took counsel of the wise in whom he confided and his love and despair changeing into pure Gallantry all his intentions were to give signal proofs of the command he had over himself But all the advances that he had already made in that laudable design and all the pomp and magnificence wherewith he had ordered the lovely Queen whom he was so loth to quit to be conducted out of his Territories were nothing so obliging to her nor so great for himself as the Letter which after the signing of all the Treaties that had been concluded by the Ministers on either side he wrote with his own hand to the King of England to this effect That there being few Kings who in personal worth excelled the Duke of Suffolk he ought to bestow on him so much of the Grandure of his Kingdom as might put him in a capacity to marry the Queen his Sister That if there were nothing on his part that might hinder such a lovely union for his own part he freely consented to it and that having besides proposed to the Arch-Duke the marriage of the Count of Nassaw with the Princess of Orange he should much rejoyce to hear that the two Ambassadours who had procured him the friendship of his illustrious neighbours had received in recompense the one the most beautiful Queen in the world and the other the richest Princess of the Low-Countries Thus did FRANCIS the First Crown his Love by a truely heroical action whereof another King slighted in his Love as he was would hardly have been capable It was the first action but not the least laudable of his Reign though that might afford matter for a continued Elogy There is nothing so great as for a man to conquer his own passions There are few that desire much less atchieve it And Kings especially when they are amorous and young are not accustomed to put their virtue to such a tryal The Queen found her self infinitely obliged to the sincere procedure which followed so generous an effort but durst not profess so much for fear of exposing her self to new troubles She thought it enough to correspond with it by all the civilities which might evidence her acknowledgment without reviving smothered flames and that Conduct of the most charming Princess of the world gaining intirely the esteem of a King who craved no more from her but friendship so fully re-placed her in the respect of all the Court notwithstanding of envy and detraction that there was not so much as one that belonged to it who seemed not troubled at her approaching departure The less polished Gallants lamented it and the others having understood the merit of the Duke of Suffolk during the time of his Embassie were almost all of opinion following the example of the King that the Queen had reason to love him All the discourse therefore at Court of their mutual affection was with respect and
even with some kind of admiration and in fine every one conforming their Sentiments to theirs their true joy became the greater by approbation The lovely Queen was conducted by all the Court as far as Compiegne from whence the King still transported with Love resolved in person to convey her to Boulogne where he had first received her The Duke of Suffolk who kept purposely by the Queens Consort all the way from Paris to Compiegne where she lived that he might give the King the greater liberty did the same from Compiegne till they arrived at Boulogne and was always in company with the Dukes of Alencon and Bourbon from whom he received all sorts of civility The Duke of Longueville frustrated of his idle thoughts and reflecting on the ransom which he owed in England used all his endeavours but in vain to procure his protection The Queen had often declared against him and Suffolk durst promise nothing without her Approbation Though there be great antipathy betwixt the two Nations yet in all appearance their Adieus were friendly and that of FRANCIS the First to the Queen was so tender and passionate that she could not forbear to condole the affliction that he lamented That unseasonable and fruitless sensibleness rendred him somewhat more afflicted than he was He regrated the loss of her the more that judging of her heart by some Sentiments which on that last occasion she scrupled not to discover to him he found her more and more worthy to be beloved But at length they must part and the grief that thereupon he conceived so deeply affected him that it would have lasted much longer than it did if he had not soon after met with great affairs that first suspended and by degrees removed it at length In the mean time the fair Queen arrived in England after a passage as fortunate as carried her from thence and the King her Brother received her at London with a countenance full of the kindness that he had always had for her resolving immediately to compleat Suffolks bliss but finding that the decorum of the Widow-hood of a Queen of France would not for some time allow it that he might of a sudden cut off that and all other difficulties which might be raised by his subjects he caused them to be privately married reserving the publication thereof until he thought it time to celebrate the Solemnity They were married by the old Cardinal of York and few were present there being none on the part of the Duke of Suffolk but the Marquess of Dorset and Earl of Kildare It would be now time to speak of their great and mutual satisfaction were it not very easie to be conceived that the possession of a desired happiness is so much the more pleasant that it hath cost dear in the purchase Never was Queen so satisfied to strip her self of Royalty nor man so pleased with a Queen To conclude they deserved as they enjoyed a Soveraign felicity on earth They were from their infancy the sole delight of one another They loved to the utmost extent of love and their humours and inclinations suited so perfectly in all things that notwithstanding the difference of their fortunes their souls had all the Qualities that might contract an indissoluble Union And therefore have they deserved the glorious name of true Lovers and in my judgment there are but few that can aspire to the Honour of such a Character FINIS Postscript THE design that I proposed to my self in Writing of the English Princess and Duke of Suffolk suffers me not to proceed any farther Yet if any desire to know the rest of their Lives I shall endeavour to satisfie them About the time that they were married HENRY the Eighth giving way to the bad counsels of Bishop Woolsey the most part of the Grandees of England conspired against that Minister The Duke of Suffolk was one of the first and Woolsey declared against him with the greater heat that looking on him as the most considerable of his Enemies he found occasion to charge him with the restitution of certain sums of money that had been furnished him out of the Treasury for his Embassy in France It was a Largess of the Kings but that Minister who then had all the power in his hands alledged it was but lent Insomuch that the young Queen Dowager having offered for Suffolk a part of her Jewels whereof Woolsey immediately made use to procure a Cardinalship their marriage came thereby to be declared in an unseasonable time which obliged them both to retire into the Countrey to the shame of the Soveraign that suffered it without taking notice thereof There for the space of three years they led a most happy life notwithstanding the little rubs which sometimes they met with from Court and with regret they lest their solitude when the King of England recalled them to accompany him at that famous Interview which he had with the King of France betwixt Ardres and Guines in the year One thousand five hundred and twenty The King of France had a great desire once more to see the lovely Queen with whom he had been so much in love and the King of England who in the inconstancy of mind wherewith he is charged repented that he had consented to her retirement omitted not that occasion to put an end to it Vpon this return they began at London to call her the Dutchess-Queen in opposition to the French who at Ardres and Guines called her always the Queen-Dutchess The King of France seeing her at that time in a Beauty to which nothing could be added though she had already had two Children felt his old flames revive again The action which one morning he did when he went almost alone to visit the King of England and which some Historians have taxed with imprudence was an effect of his love His design was not to see the Brother the Sister was his object though he had no ground to promise himself success and though he had not so much as any intelligence about her But so soon as he was known the Seigneur de Chalbot and another that waited on him advised him to come off as well as he could which he did and the matter past for a frolick of FRANCIS the First who intended to give the King of England a clean shirt and the King of England himself was thereby so deceived that two days after without any other design he rendred him the like frolick If I had continued the History so far it would have been pleasant to have enlarged upon that adventure and upon all the Gallantries that then passed between the two Nations where by prodigious expences they displayed all their Glories The King of France for love of the fair Queen made at that time the Duke of Suffolk a Knight of his Order and that illustrious Husband was so far from taking that for a subject of jealousie that being so well perswaded of the virtue of his Wife