as yet been approved by the two Houses of Parliament it is certain that he would have bestowed her on him upon his return from France when he made him Duke of Suffolk But he had measures to observe in that affair by reason of the King of Spain who would not have failed to have complained of such a marriage to the contempt of his Grandson He had the like to observe with his Queen who was Aunt to that Prince and being divided betwixt so important considerations he found it one of those thorny affairs wherein Kings are in some manner afraid to make use of their absolute power And that was the reason that he spake no more of it which at first troubled all the Court and gave grounds of believing that he entertained other thoughts But the removal of the Duke of Longueville would have cost him nothing so that Suffolk no sooner understood that the Princess intended to propose it but he prevented her and resolving to over-come himself or to dye rather than to admit of such a remedy the interest of the person whom he loved wrought on his heart what he was unable to perform for his own repose Matters then reassumed almost their former face and the Duke of Longueville who knew nothing of the disorder which he caused nor of the evil wherewith he had been threatned continued his Gallantries but with this difference that the Princess concerned at the troubles of Suffolk seemed not to him to have the same freedom of humour as formerly He judged of that sometimes in her favour and sometimes to her prejudice according to the freakishness of Lovers who for one and the same thing are many times both glad and sorrowful and as he had a good conceit of himself so he enclined rather to the one side than the other But hardly was that disorder appeased when it broke out again more cruelly than before for some Letters by a strange fatality being come to London which gave advice that the King of France designed a new marriage with an Italian Princess that bad rumour which seemed not in the least to have any relation to the fortune of Suffolk was the utter overthrow of all his hopes The Duke of Longueville who found no fairer pretext to Colour his Love for the English Princess but that of seeing her Queen of France and considering that all that he had said in respect of the Duke of Valois heir of the Crown was but a dull notion wherewith he was not himself much flattered seeing that he knew several things of the marriage of that Prince with the Princess Claudia that were far different from what the pleasure of discourse and his passion had made him say on that subject so soon as he was informed of the news from Paris without examining whether it was false or true he conceived a more sensible and specious notion and the interest of the Kingdom joyned to that pretended desire of a new marriage which was published of his King perfected in his mind that Image The age of LOWIS the Twelfth afforded him new delights whensoever he reflected thereon and if it be free once to declare what he had always in his thoughts he imagined that the lovely Princess in the embraces of an old Husband oppressed with the Gout and many other infirmities might be very well allowed some liberty This idle fancy then made his flame sparkle so that having rendered her a visit upon occasion of the report that went of the King of France with eyes glanceing with the joy that he desired to raise in her having premised such circumstances as he judged proper for his design he expressed himself with so prepossessed and contented an air that he left her hardly the liberty to say any thing against his overture The Princess only seemed not at all surprised and as if she had thought on nothing less giving him a cold answer that he designed her for every body she allowed him no opportunity of insisting in his discourse The jealousie of Suffolk created her too much trouble to entertain him on such a subject and she was so far from giving the least check to the hopes which she desired him to continue in by so vain a consideration that for all the Crowns of the World she would not have disturbed the quiet of his heart So that the Duke of Longueville finding her not so easie to be perswaded in respect of LOWIS the Twelfth as he believed she might have been in favour of the Duke of Valois and imagining that the old age of the former caused in her that aversion and as he was not much concerned whether she was satisfied or not to be Queen of France provided she were so he thought it best in that conjuncture to make a matter of state of it But the King with whom he was to negotiate being prepossessed to the contrary as well as the Princess gave him no more satisfaction than she had done and when he was pressed to speak his mind he answered him That a proposition wherein all Europe was concerned sounded not well from the mouth of a Prisoner Yet for all this the Duke was not discouraged He wrote to the King his Master and with his Letter sent the Picture of Mary of England and being a more successful negotiator at distance than in presence the affairs of Italy being now somewhat composed by the death of Pope Julius to whom LEO the Tenth succeeded and the Ministers of France finding their advantages in an alliance with England he received an answer according to his desire Then it was that poor Suffolk perceived his ruin manifest The Duke of Longueville was the first that drew his blood at the Battel of Spurs he was the first that infected his mind with the sullen poyson of jealousie which troubled all his delights at London and as a fatal enemy was now to disquiet the rest of his days And indeed he strove no more to resist the matter nor did he so much as seek ease by complaining lest that by flattering so his grief it might break out against his will and that his virtue whereof he then stood so much in need should be weakened thereby It was to no purpose for the Princess to discourse him about that subject It was to no purpose for her to employ all her Charms with him and to upbraid him with the sharpest cuts of Love that she found he loved her no more since that he yielded her to another for he had not only the power to be silent before her but he maintained to the last that rigorous conflict wherein nothing but the love of her made him resist and the King his Master with all his dexterity and goodness produced but still less effects on him Never was there so much constancy in so tender and afflicted a soul He entertained the Princess Mary no more but with the Grandure and Beauties of France He urged to her by solid reasons that the
contradict such Propositions as any one judged fit and the Shields or Argent Sable and Gules were only to distinguish what Combats were to be on foot what on horseback what at lance and what at sword And the fifth of Azure in the middle of the other four denounced the defence of the triumphal Arch which was contrived by way of a Fortress where twenty Champions were to defend the Assault against sixty There was no difficulty in ordering the Courses and Combats for they were not to enter the Lists but in Squadrons where they had placed themselves according to their inclination and the Duke of Valois the Counts of Vendosm S. Poll and Guise that led the four first having their march regulated by their Birth the Duke of Suffolk and Marquess of Dorset who conducted the other two under the devices of the Queen easily ordered theirs There was no contest but about the chusing of the Defendants and Assailants of the Fortress by which the Carrousel was to conclude because every one desired to be first as in the place where there was greatest honour to be acquired But at length the Duke of Valois who must have had the place had he still persisted in the dispute having taken upon him the part to attack by order of the King that he might the better represent the Siege of Milan which he had in his head the matter was referred to Lot amongst the other Competitours and it fell upon the Count of Guise and the Duke of Suffolk of whom the latter in the sequel amidst the troubles that oppressed him had some particular reasons to be better satisfied than another The new Conquests that the young Queen made so soon as she appeared in France occasioned him quickly new vexations and though in seeing him suffer and she suffering perhaps as much as he a part of his cares were suspended yet that admirable Beauty which had so soveraingly triumphed over the subjects of the King her Brother to his continual disquiet had no less efficacy on those of the King her husband It would be too great an enterprise to speak of all those who were smitten by her Many sighed and few durst complain so loud as they would willingly have done for besides that Kings cannot endure the declared Lovers of their Queens the Duke of Valois who was one of the first was not of an humour to suffer Rivals This young Prince of an heroical stature and of a constitution as amorous as his age and eyes testified him to be returned not from Boulogne in the same tranquillity that he went Mary of England at first sight made a powerful impression on his heart and after he had entertained her some time he was no sooner retired with the Seigneur de Chabot one of his favorites but that repenting his marriage with Claudia of France he told him that he came from the sight of one who would have been far more acceptable to his heart and that considering the age and infirmity of the King it was cruelty to give him so young and beautiful a wife Acquaintance and conversation smothered not these first Sentiments The tender and passionate air of the young Queen which promised that which she never bestowed daily quickened them and as she thereby diverted her self that she might have occasion by such a confidence to divert the pensive Suffolk so the Duke of Valois mistaken by an outside which deceived all people gave many times the reins to desires that led him farther than was fitting for his repose To this may be added that the Duke of Longueville provoked by the aversion which the Queen expressed to him after the treaty of her marriage instigated that young Prince by the pretended facility of the Conquest The foolish thoughts which he entertained at London turned into despight at Paris where by means of a ransom payable within a certain time he found himself at liberty and whilst his arm which he carried still in a scarf since his fall at Therowenne suffered him not to be of the Carrousel all his thoughts were how to create her trouble So that having procured to be admitted into the confidence or the Duke of Valois as a person who could instruct him better than any other in the ways of satisfying his passion he was the boutefeau that incessantly pushed him forward to the utmost enterprises In fine he inflamed the heart of that Prince who was naturally very susceptible of such flames to that pass that the young Queen could no longer doubt but that he was in love with her and as she was neither fierce nor ungentle so she appeared neither surprised nor offended thereat There was none possibly in all the Court but the King who perceived it not and Madam being already accustomed to palliate the youthful disorders of her husband never spake of it but to enjoyn silence to others But the Protonotary Du prat who governed all the house of Angoulesm was not so easie He was astonished at that which charmed the Duke of Valois his Master and judging as rashly of the virtue of Mary of England as the Duke of Longueville had done he sensibly represented to him that he having the greatest interest in the world not to solicite her to incontinence she had the like not to be chaste so that as if no body but he could have hazarded with the Queen what Du prat feared he himself began likewise to dread it Besides he would not have gone to Boulogne to espouse her for the King his Father-in-law but upon the word of Francieres his chief Physician who had assured him that he would have no Issue by that marriage so that the matter was of highest consequence The passion that LOWIS the Twelfth had always to have a Son would have hindered him from prying into any mystery It is possible he would have been glad to have been deceived as he smiling told the General of Normandy upon the first proposals that were made to him of marrying so young a Princess and besides he had a pretty good opinion of himself still to think that he could not be mistaken that way Moreover considering the zeal that the French have for the blood of their Kings and the joy that they would have to see a Dolphin there were none in France who could not take all that could be said on such an occasion for a meer Calumny Insomuch that these important considerations having slackned the pursuit of the Duke of Valois and being unwilling to lose a Crown for a Song he only retained the delightful notion of a good fortune which he thought very easie to be attained and which was perhaps in the highest degree of impossibility But though he left off speaking of Love yet he ceased not to be amorous His flame encreased by the desire he had to quench it And he became even so much the more jealous of his desired bless that not daring himself to pretend to it it continually ran in his head
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
some bundles of Stuffs and Ribban that he had by him should bring him another suit of Cloaths that he might not be in the habit of one going to a Ball as he was at that time and that the note which he wrote to the Marquess of Dorset should be delivered to him The Chamber-maid did her duty without discovering any thing of the mystery And he to whom she was directed taking one of his companions with him did likewise his Ann of Bolen having received them both as men that brought her Stuffs from England entred into the next Chamber under pretext that there was more light there to chuse them by Suffolk that lay hid in her Chamber was immediately travested and his servants carried away the Cloaths that he had put off leaving part of their Stuffs in the chusing of which Bolen counterfeited her self still busied and having met them he was but a little way got out of that Ladies Chamber that he might return thither again like one that came from abroad when the Marquess of Dorset arrived So that all things succeeding according to his wishes and he and his friend having nothing to fear they made a serious visit to the lovely sick Lady the better to countenance their coming out of her appartment In the mean time Judith Kiffen informed them of all that had passed with the Queen and this was all that the distrust of the Duke of Valois produced and the so just and exact measures of the Duke or Longueville being disappointed by the invention of that woman with her foolish vision a real affair that was able to have ruined the Queen was made only a piece of railery They that saw the Duke of Suffolk and Marquess of Dorset come out of the appartment of Ann of Bolen were not at all surprised for besides that they did it ordinarily most people believed the last to be in love with her From thence they went according to their custom to wait on the King where they found all the discourse to be concerning the pleasantness of Madam who had put the Queen in a fright every one according to his fancy relating what the Duke of Valois had been pleased to make known and all that was said on that subject looking but like a jest it was almost forgotten by dinner-time And a new Comedy was the afternoons divertisement of the Court. But the Queen and Duke of Suffolk in the just Resentment that they conceived against the Duke of Valois taking the more pleasure to insult over the injurious suspicions of that Prince that all his cunning had succeeded so ill with him resolved for the future not to lye under such constraints as they had done the time past They found it even convenient to carry themselves in another manner after so vain an essay They made no longer any scruple to talk together whether it was in the Kings appartment or during the play and to go on as far that way as they could Suffolk having found an occasion to give the Queen his hand when she was about to retire made no scruple to lay hold on it and to wait upon her to her appartment that was all the time they had to entertain themselves the courteous Marquess of Dorset favouring their design But though their conversation was altogether free yet it ran not in a very pleasing strain for the retreat to which the Duke of Suffolk prepared was a cruel blow which the Queen could not endure Not but that she was sufficiently perswaded of the necessity that he had to resolve on it for the power of the Duke of Valois encreased daily as the health and strength of the King diminished and that Prince entertaining thoughts of her from which perhaps she was farther removed than any woman living could not fail to disturb the innocent joy that she took at the sight of Suffolk But setting aside what she had to manage upon her own account that unfortunate Lover began to work more compassion in her than he was wont to do She could not now reward him as she desired and all her gratitude being limited by suffering for him what he suffered for her permitted her not to refuse that last occasion of imitating his virtue So that consenting only to his departure because it would produce in her the same afflictions which her marriage had caused in him as by an excess of love he spoke no more to her of his troubles so she was willing to conceal from him the cares to which she prepared her self She only engaged him to return upon the first orders that he should receive from her and he made no difficulty to promise it It was but a false joy drawn from the stock of his grief that he made appear at parting His heart sufficiently struggled against it and under the terrible apprehensions wherewith absence threatned him already he would have perhaps confessed that he designed to return if he durst have spoken the truth But at that time neither the Queen nor he expressed what they thought They both feared too much to soften one anothers heart in a time when it behoved them to look on one another with some kind of obdurateness and Suffolk who could endure no longer was upon the point to give the Queen the good-night when she being reduced to the same extremity squeezing his hand between hers dismissed him The night that followed that sad evening proved to them one of those tedious nights which are not known but by the distressed Lovers Next morning they needed all their invention to hinder their affliction from being observed The Queen masked her trouble with the grief she pretended to have for the Kings drooping condition and Suffolk being taken up with the business he had to do the day following at the triumphal Arch wherewith the Count of Guise he was to defend acquitted himself so well of his duty that no body took notice of the disorder of his mind In effect there was never any thing more gallant or better ordered than the Squadron that he led The English Champions were all as himself was cloathed in green Velvet edged with Cloth of Gold with crosses wrought with Roses of red Velvet crowned with Garlands of Lillies in silver embroidery That device besides that it had a very opposite relation to the proposition which he had affixed on the Shield Azure agreed likewise very well with the principal ground of the solemnity Neither did that of the Duke of Valois on a blew ground for all its Magnificence nor the rest who came in order with most rich and splendid Liveries so much attract the eyes of the Beholders as it did and the King who was better by day than by night being come to the Carrousel approved it not only with his looks but his applause also The attack of the triumphal Arch began with the sound of Trumpets and the noise of Cannon fired from the Towers of Bastille It lasted almost two hours each Party
aided him was the Earl of Kildare that fierce enemy knowing him likewise told him That all his business in France was to sight him once more Without doubt no accident more surprising could have happened to either of them and as the one desperately mad with himself seemed by casting up his eyes to heaven to ask the stars what fatality had brought him to save the life of a man whom he only sought to kill so the other fixing his on the ground knew no more than he wherefore it was that he should be indebted to him In fine the Irish Earl complained and huffed as he was accustomed to do in any other occasion He demanded instantly satisfaction for the wounds he had received in Richmont Park and the disgrace he had fallen into after that unlucky duel and it was to no purpose for Suffolk who began to listen to him and excuse himself for all that had passed to protest that he would never fight against one that had defended his life for rage rendred Kildare either deaf or implacable So that the other to satisfie him drawing again the sword which he had just put up and throwing it into the wood approached thus disarmed to the point of his But that was a day that produced strange adventures for the fury of the Earl of Kildare ceased of a sudden and that fiery man was so affected with Suffolks action that throwing his sword into the same place of the Wood as he had done he came running towards him with open arms crying with tears That he would never be any more his enemy After which there was no kind of friendship which they showed not to one another and this days adventure having interrupted the design which Suffolk had to wander over the world he yielded to go to Calais with the Earl of Kildare saying sometimes within himself by a tenderness of heart which makes true Lovers know the force of their love that he went only to London to endeavour the re-establishment of his defender And in effect the procedure of that generous enemy was the first thing he told the King his Master and that Prince who loved rare and singular adventures the more admired that action of the Irish Earl that he thought him not capable of such generosity So that he gave him a very favourable reception and restoring him again into favour by that means united these two Rivals into so strict a bond of friendship that nothing could afterward dissolve it In the mean while as the return of the Duke of Suffolk was in agitation and that upon the complaints which the Queen made by her Letters the King of England intended to stand on his points with the Court of France hardly had he projected the measures he was to take in that conjuncture when the Marquess of Dorset wrote an account of the Death of LOWIS the Twelfth It would be hard to give an exact relation of what the Duke of Suffolk conceived upon this great news It wrought a new change in him not to be expressed only after he had done all that could be done for Mary of England after that he had sacrificed her to her self by an excess of Virtue by sacrificing himself for her in an excess of Love nothing else can be said but that the reward which so high and extraordinary an action deserved began to shine in his eyes There was nothing able to moderate his joy but a false report that was spread abroad of the Queens being with Child For besides that this would have left him no hopes it being unlikely that the Mother of a Dolphin of France could leave her Sons Kingdom or enter into a second marriage with a person such as he was taken to be he dreaded likewise that the Duke of Valois whom she would thereby disappoint of a Crown might not revolt against her He likewise feared the Calumnies which the Favourites of that Prince would not fail to publish after that they had already slandered her and that fatal conception at length seemed to rob him of all that he thought was left him by the Death of LOWIS the Twelfth But it happened to be a mistake And the Queen having her self declared the contrary that the Proclamation of the Duke of Valois might not be held in suspense it was quickly perceived that she was the first who acknowledg'd him King of France by the name of FRANCIS the First and the Marquess de Sanferre who in the name of that Prince arrived shortly at London to renew the Treaty of Peace which the King his Father-in-law had concluded the year before put an end to the troubles of the Duke of Suffolk So that his heart being filled with joy HENRY the Eighth whose care it was also to render him happy would no longer delay his bliss He condescended to all that was proposed to him for the continuation of the Treaty and because with the interests of the two Crowns it behoved him likewise to regulate the concerns of the Queen his Sister in Quality of Dowager he took that pretext to send Suffolk into France with the title of Ambassadour Plenipotentiary which he discharged with so great splendour that Prince Henry Count of Nassaw who came to Paris at the same time in name of the Arch-Duke about the affairs of the Low-Countries was somewhat troubled to see a subject of England so highly out-do him But as there was nothing in France that could equal the Magnificence of the English and all the Court of FRANCIS the First were envious at it as well as the Flemings so there was nothing in the same Kingdom at that time comparable to the Beauty of the Queen The air wherewith she received the Duke of Suffolk at the Palace des Tournelles made the wits at Court say That she needed not too much virtue to comfort her for the death of a husband and it must be acknowledged that under her mourning Veil and Peak which by the light of a vast number of Torches set more advantageously off the delicate whiteness of her skin nothing was to be seen in her that day which might occasion melancholy or grief That raillery was carried as far as possibly it could be whilst the necessity of the affairs which they had to regulate with the King of France and his Ministers obliged them often to speak together and to be by themselves But whatever hath been said of them and whatsoever reports have been raised of their mutual complaisances or the joy that they had to meet again yet it is still true that they never gave any ground for Calumny and Reproach If they were so near to make a slip as men imagined yet they were cautious and in dangerous occasions when they might have done otherways they virtuously resisted temptation The new King of France was not of that temper for that Prince naturally very free with women would have made no Ceremony to have perswaded the Queen had she been in the least
he wore always the Chain and Medal even at that time when being General of the English Army he took from the French the Towns of Mont-didier and de Roy. Brandon Duke of Suffolk as he was one of the greatest Captains of his age so was he likewise one of the wisest Councellors of his King and whether in the affairs which that Prince had at the Court of Rome and with the Emperour CHARLES the Fifth when he intended his divorce with Catherine of Spain or otherways when the business was to ruin Cardinal Woolsey or in the domestick disorders which obliged him to put to death Ann of Bolen his second Wife in all these he received from him very considerable services though on that last occasion when there was a necessity of condemning a beautiful Criminal for whom he had always entertained a great esteem the generous Suffolk was very loth to engage And the truth is after that time he never enjoyed himself more Queen Catherine dying a little before that cruel execution which would have but too much revenged her on her Rival if it had been performed in her life-time the Dutchess-Queen died shortly after to wit in the twentieth year of her marriage with the Duke of Suffolk This bereft him of all comfort for the rest of his days and being unable to abide longer at Court as well because of that loss as of the disorders of his King which encreased with age he chose rather to command the Army against the Rebels in Yorkshire where he fully crowned his Glory He had five Children by the Queen whereof the two Males dyed both in one day of the distemper which is called the English Sweating-sickness and of his three Daughters who were all married to the greatest Lords of the Kingdom the eldest named Frances married to Henry Gray Son to the Marquess of Dorset his intimate friend was the cause of his death She falling sick in one of her Countrey-houses and he loving that dear Daughter the more because she perfectly resembled his deceased Queen used so great diligence to come to her that he thereby dyed Thus the Prophesie of Merlin may be seen fulfilled in his person supposing that he had been the Grand-child of the Duke of Clarence Since that how innocent soever that daughter was of his Death yet the too great zeal that he had for her was that which destroyed him At least to judg by the event the words of that Astrologer seem pretty just The only thing that can make me doubt of it is the little care that I see in him during his life to make known his secret Quality of a Prince of York What tyranny soever may oblige a Prince to conceal himself for a time yet if he have a great and generous soul as Suffolk had it is hard for him to continue always obscure and truely royal blood soon or late becomes conspicuous in Heroes Vnless it may be said of that the possession of what he loved having fulfilled all his desires he feared either to disturb his own felicity by discovering himself or to wrong his Children who according to the custom of England would have certainly been put to death upon the least suspicion of the truth FINIS Some Books Printed and are to be Sold by W. Cademan at the Popes-head in the New-Exchange PHaramond or the History of France a fam'd Romance in 12 Parts the whole work never before in English written by the Author of Cassandra and Cleopatra Fol. Parthanissa that most fam'd Romance in 6 Parts written by the Right Honourable the Earl of Orrery in Fol. Books 4 to Protestant Religion is a sure Foundation and Principle of a true Christian written by Charles Earl of Derby Historical Relations of the first discovery of the Island of Madera A Warning to the Unruly in two Visitation-Sermons Preached before the Arch-Bishop of York by Seth Bushell D. D. The great Efficacy of the Clergy a Visitation-Sermon by Tho. Duncomb D. D. Mr. Barn's Sermon Preached before the King Mr. Pigol's Sermon Preached before the Judges at Lancaster Books 8 vo Philosophical Essays or the History of Petrificatio by Thomas Sherley Dr. in Physick The History of Scurvey-Grass being an exact and careful description of the Nature and Medicinal vertues of that Plant teaching how to prepare out of it plain and approved Remedies for the Scurvey and most other Diseases as well Galenical as Chymical which are to be had of Scurvey-grass-Ale confirmed by Reason Experience and Authority The Spanish History or a Relation of the Differences that happened in the Court of Spain between Don John of Austria and Cardinal Nitard with other Transactions of that Kingdom together with all the Letters that past between Persons of the highest Quality relating to those affairs PLAYS Rival a Comedy Island-Princes Comedy Flora's Vagaries Comedy Town-shifts a Comedy Citizen turn'd Gentleman Comedy Morning-Ramble Comedy Careless Lovers Comedy Reformation Comedy Mall or Modish Lovers Comedy Rehersal a Comedy Mock-Tempest a Comedy Dumb Lady a Comedy Dutch-Lovers a Comedy Setle against Dryden Herod and Mariamne Love and Revenge Conquest of China Constant Nimph. Pastor Fide Tom Essence a Comedy Wandring Lovers Catalins Conspiracy Tragedy Fatal Jealousie Mackbeth English-Princess Marcelia Spanish-Rogue Piso's Conspiracy Alcibiades Siege of Memphis Cambyces Empress of Morocco
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
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
Tyrant which happened by a fall the prediction was fulfilled and explicated because that he having fallen in a place where Hemlock grew an inconsiderate person who came running after thinking to wipe and stop the blood of his wound with that herb had hastened his death yet that he understood somewhat more than these flatterers knew and that the cruel death of the poor Earl of Warwick Son of the Duke of Clarence had not fulfilled the Prophesie either but that that unfortunate Prince having escaped from the superstitious scrupulosity of one of his Uncles and being confined to a Castle by the other was secretly married to a Daughter of Charles Hemlock Brother-in-law to himself who commanded in that place by whom he had a Son and that not to hold him long in suspense he was that Son At these words Brandon cried out as if he had been struck with Thunder and the Lord Hastings his Uncle in vain endeavoured to perswade him that though he had reason to be surprised at the relation yet he ought to believe it for he still maintained that it was but a tale devised to excite in him greater Courage At length Hastings by reason of the sensible danger to which he exposed himself by discovering that secret began to gain ground upon him He made appear to him that he must either have been a fool or weary of life to have invented such a fable and more fully to convince him he recounted to him the whole story of the marriage of the Earl of Warwick his Father and that Anne Hemlock his real Mother dying in Child-bed of him the Lady Brandon substituted him in place of one of her Children which just then died having been born but a few days before him He put him in mind of what he had been told heretofore of the repugnance that the Lady made whom he believed to be his Mother when she was invited to be Nurse to the King And then perceiving him to be a little moved he had no great difficulty to convince him that he was the secret cause of that unwillingness which was so variously discoursed of amongst people and adding to this several other passages of his education which being all of the same strain and character gave evidence enough that there had always been some mystery in his fortune he past them but slightly over that at the same time he might insinuate that if he loved his life it behoved him not to remember them He only hinted to him that the secret of his birth should encourage him to resist his Rivals who believed themselves better descended than he and that if he could keep the secret as well as the Prince his Father had done who had seen him a hundred times out of his prison-Windows and who went to death accompanied with Frier Patrick without speaking a word of it heaven possibly had designed him for great matters That after all he was the only remaining bud of the White Rose whereof Merlin spake in his Prophesie and that his Mothers name so plainly expressed by the word Hemlock made it past all doubt seeing that in effect the Blood of York was fallen into that of Hemlock by his Birth But that these following words of the Astrologer Yet too much zeal doth oft annoy For an inn'cent maid shall it destroy put him in great perplexity That though the punishment of Simonel and death of Peter Warbeck who gave themselves out for Princes of the House of York were instances terrible enough to hinder him from bragging of his extraction yet as it was his opinion that he should continue his love to the Princess so that passion made him very apprehensive That he imagined already that he would discover to her all that had been told him and that though she might still love him yet it might too really happen that she should become the innocent maid that might destroy him if he concealed not from her as well as from every body else that important secret Hastings thus ending his discourse fell on his knees to Brandon that he might once in his life render him the respect which the interest of his safety suffered him not to pay in any other place and that he might beseech him never to entertain thoughts that any such honours were due to him But what difficulty soever this new Prince of York had at first to believe it yet he found at length all things that had been told him so well circumstantiated and so conform to the inclinations of his heart that he had no more power to doubt of the truth of what was told him He promised to be cautious and to conceal his birth and the Lord Hastings who was still his great Uncle by the Mother-side died shortly after either of old age or for fear lest the secret which he had revealed should be discovered In the mean time Brandon whom we must for some time still name so found his Courage by little and little raised by the knowledg of what he was He thereby grew more brisk and agreeable with the Princess more courteous and majestick with others and by the prudent management of the estate left him by Hastings became so considerable that the King himself took pleasure to see him imploy new measures one day to deserve all that he wished him the enjoyment of On the other hand his Rivals being returned from the Pyrenean hills where the designs of the King of Spain who had fallen upon Navar hindered them from atchieving any great exploits found him again of an humour less disposed to yield to them than formerly Sommerset after his return from Scotland could not regain that height upon him which he always pretended to before and Bourchier cured of his wound durst never on that account express to him the least discontent They all appeared to have submitted themselves to their fortunes and whilst Howard and Talbot the one made Admiral and the other Master of the Horse stifled their love by the satisfaction of their ambition Gray and the rest found it impossible for them to delight their eyes but by living in good correspondence with Brandon Their care therefore was only to out-do him in greatness of services and obsequiousness towards the Princess he was the man that was most assiduous that way who gave demonstration of greatest complaisance and there happened some days when it seemed that that Conduct might prove successful they obtained thereby at least more access to her and although through the favours which she was pleased sometimes to show them they perceived too well that they had no share in her affection yet at what rate soever they resolved to persist in rendering her their Services So true it is that with small pains and little care a lovely person is able to produce great effects in the minds of those who are captivated with its beauty Insomuch that all these Rivals began to live together with less contention and contributing severally to the
Most part of them entered the Town to visit their friends Others scorched with heat alighted from their great horses and to refresh themselves mounted their ambling Nags and almost all of them having drunk and made merry came in disorder some in a huddle together and the rest in file one after another to view the English Camp Brandon being informed how matters went and withal vexed at the victualling of the Town which the King his Master thinking the occasion might prove too hot for him would not suffer him to oppose came to ask leave to charge those at least who had done it in their retreat He moved the King a little at first by representing to him how easie a matter it was to cut them all to pieces or at least to take them Prisoners by the foolish confidence they were in and speaking to that not only as an able Captain for Conduct but likewise as a resolute Soldier for execution there being no time to be lost the King at last consented to it So that whilst there were some detachments making against the parties of Fonterailles and la Palisse to beat back the one and break the other Brandon with Colonel Davers marching at the head of four thousand horse eight hundred foot and six pieces of Cannon passes the River Lis near to Derlet and lyes in wait for the Enemies at the passage of Hutin They retreated with great assurance marching in confusion as he had foreseen for being pursued by none after the false allarm which was purposely given them was over and missing none of their number but the young Count D'anton Son to the Seignior of Bouchage and some others that could not get out of Therowenne they dreamt not of any greater mischief when Brandon appearing of a sudden so sharply charged them that having no leisure to mount their great Horses again nor to put on their head-pieces they began to be in disorder The brave la Palisse notwithstanding of the stout resistance he made was already taken and the undaunted Chevalier Bayard having almost singlely defended the bridg of Hutin became companion in the bad fortune of Clairmont D'anjow and of Bussy D'amboise to whose assistance he came There remained none but the Duke of Longueville to head the subdued who being mounted on a stout charging-horse compleatly armed it seemed no easie matter for one man hand to hand to get the better of him and besides a considerable body of the French Army advanceing in order of Battel those that had been put to flight began to rally So that Brandon perceiving that the total rout of the Enemies depended on the overthrow of this Warriour and by the riches of his arms taking him for a French Prince he left la Palisse in the hands of some Gentlemen who kept him not long and with sword in hand set upon him whose resistance hindered his Victory The Duke of Longueville received him valiantly but at length after the interchanging of many blows Brandon with the danger of a wound which he received in the thigh dismounted the Duke who disjoynted his shoulder by the fall The French upon this turned back upon those that were coming to their aid and put their own men in as great disorder as the Enemy would have done and seeing in this Battel their horses heels had done them better service than the points of their swords it was called the Battel of Spurs But it had been far better for Brandon that the Duke of Longueville had escaped with the rest for the injury that he did him afterward was so great that all the Glory he obtained in overcoming him and all the praise that he gained thereby was not enough to make amends for it Time sensibly discovering to him that fortune by great evils can be repayed of her greatest favours After this there happened no more considerable action on either side Brandon's wound kept him a fortnight a-bed and the King of France though he had lost but very few men being unwilling to expose his Kingdom to the danger of a Battel thought it best to give Therowenne to the fortune of his Enemies Teligny after two months siege rendered it on composition Victuals and Ammunition failing him before his Courage and the King of England and the Emperour not agreeing betwixt themselves about the propriety of the place the one claiming it by right of Inheritance and the other by Conquest it was presently demolished In the mean time Lowis the Twelfth that he might put a stop to his bad success by employing a General in whose safety all his Subjects might be concerned caused the young Duke of Valois to advance to Blangy But neither the merit of that Prince nor the great Forces that daily joyned him hindered the progress of the King of England for whilst the Duke Longueville and the other Prisoners were on their way to London he lay down before the City of Tournay which having no hope of relief as lying in the midst of the Low-Countreys made no long resistance And having now reduced that place under his Obedience and beginning to have some jarring with the Emperour who in many things was chargeable to him and in others unfaithful he returned back into England Never was Prince better satisfied for besides his own Conquests of Therowenne and Tournay the Victory which the Earl of Surrey's Lieutenant had just then obtained over the Scots raised him to the highest pitch of fortune that he could almost pretend to and though his Fleet had received some rustle in the Bay of Brest yet the death of the King of Scotland killed in the Battel of Floudon which he fought only for the interest of France though he was his Brother-in-law revenged him fully of that and of the damage which Pregent and Primanguet had done him on his Wastes Insomuch that he entred London in triumph where to reward those who had fought so valiantly for his Glory he made Brandon Duke of Suffolk gave the Title of Duke of Norfolk to the Earl of Surrey and to his Son the Admiral that of Surrey and Talbot Gray and Sommerset who had behaved themselves stoutly on all occasions were created the one Earl of Shrewsbury in the place of his Father who desired it the other Marquess of Dorset his Father being lately dead and the last Earl of Worcester But these are matters wide of my Subject and I should not remark them by the by but for avoiding confusion in the names of those who may have some share in the sequel of this History My business should be to relate the joy that the English Princess conceived upon the return of Brandon to which the title of Duke of Suffolk as from henceforth he must be named added but little for a real virtue once known needs no other Ornaments And the affectionate rebukes she gave him for having so often exposed himself to dangers would without doubt require a more exact description than I make were it not that
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
in the place appointed and whilst Judith Kiffen returned to watch her Chamber which was not so secure on the other side where the Maids of honour lodged they began their conversation The Presence of Ann of Bolen laid no constraint on them for she was one of their Confidents So that giving full scope to their affections they fell immediately to complain to one another like Lovers who desired no more but the freedom of complaint and who could not when they would complain But after these common expressions of mutual love the Queen terrified at the Billet which she had sent him desired to know from whence it came and upon what ground he reckoned a threatning of that nature to be but a false alarm The answer of Suffolk though prepared before-hand did not at all satisfie her and they so perfectly understood one another that it was very hard for them to take it for good Coyn. So that the Queen making another use of that constrained assurance which he affected broke forth in rage against the Duke of Valois It was to no purpose for Suffolk to tell her that that Prince being vexed at the Cartel which he had affixed on the Shield Azure had no other design but to hinder him from maintaining of it by the way that came first into his thoughts she made no account of such a weak conjecture and though the young Ann of Bolen joyning in opinion with Suffolk endeavoured to convince her both of what he said and of the necessity that there was to yield for some time to the persecution yet was there no appearance of prevailing with her when Judith Kiffen out of breath came running to acquaint her that Mounsieur and Madam were in the appartment of her Maids This advice was a clap of thunder and the Queen who contested so strongly with Suffolk had no more strength but to follow Kiffen who led her back to her bed shaking for fear The thing that was most troublesom was that a retreat in so great haste and so full of fear could not be made without noise Some body pussing along the Gallery and the shutting of the door were heard Sighs and Lamentations were distinguished during the tumult and there needed no more to confirm Monsieur and Madam in the suspicions which had as great appearance as reality In effect the Duke of Longueville having observed some disturbance in the Queen during the Courses at the Barrier having seen her earnestness to speak to the Duke of Suffolk in the Kings Chamber and by several actions afterwards remarked her impatience to leave the Ball which she did almost as soon as he the Duke of Valois could not in reason slight such advertisements besides Bonneval having by his order gone to Suffolks lodging and not finding him within that seemed to him an evident proof of all that he apprehended There remained but one way to make a clear discovery so that having discoursed concerning that with Madam that he might carry on his design with more civility and less noise he brought her with him to the Queens appartment by the stairs of the Maids of honour under pretext of playing with her at some small games and that they had retired before the ordinary time Sellinger Winfield and Dabenay told him but in vain that the Queen was asleep In vain the Lady D'aurigny their Governant for all she was a French woman prayed them that they would not awake her for Madam pretending still the more to be in a merry humour continued the noise that was begun whilst that du Terail and du Trot two Gentlemen belonging to the Duke of Valois laid their ears to the Gallery where there were many chinks So that the spies had given an account of what they heard when the Queen was upon her returning and the Duke of Valois being out of all patience Madam ventured to scratch the door that she might essay to discover somewhat more by the answer that should be made to her At that very nick of time the Queen was got a bed again and Judith Kiffen being surprised as people commonly are on such occasions not being able to forbear to ask who is there left no possibility for the Queen to be ignorant that it was Madam who must not be denied entry But to make amends for that fault she had the present wit to tell her that she should counterfeit her self affrighted by some Vision and that having thereupon risen again they had gone together into the Closet and as far as the Gallery to see what the matter could be Insomuch that the door being opened to Madam who seemed more and more impatient to be let in the Queen who had nothing to say better and who without doubt spoke more truth than was thought failed not to complain that she had been put into a great fright The Duke of Valois who came after demanded how and for what And the air of his countenance betraying the pretended cheerful humour wherewith he said he was come the Queen looking pale and in confusion had not much ado on her part to make appear that in effect fear hindered her to answer but Judith Kiffen more resolute and cunning finding in the disorder that she saw her in not only means to conceal the trouble which she expressed not but also to endeavour to deliver her from those that importuned her cast her self betwixt them And so staring and casting about her eyes as if she had been still terrified by the Spright which she said she had seen all in white she began to relate to them how that it had appeared first in the Wardrobe where by fearful gestures and motions it had obliged her to rise out of bed that the Queen upon the noise she had made being very timerous could not remain in hers that she had chosen rather to follow her naked as far as the Gallery into which the Spright entered and that whether it was fear or cold that had seized her if it was no real Spirit but some apparition made out of an humour they that played such tricks had no great regard to her health That intelligible reproach though delivered in bad French checked a little the false mirth of those to whom it was directed But the Lady D'aumont to cover their disorder taking up Judith Kiffen replyed that Monsieur and Madam could not be accused of any thing since they were but just come and that in all probability the Queen had received the fright before their visit The dextrous Judith who knew well how to make use of every thing to serve her ends seemed not to disagree She did as those who suffer and reckon the continuance of their pains by ages when they have lasted but minutes and she played her part so well that the Duke of Valois who could hear her no longer because she said nothing of what he desired to know took a Torch himself entred into the Closet and opened the door of the Gallery as