MISS STRICKLAND'S LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND.
THE present volume commences the Queens of the House of TUDOR; containing the lives of ELIZABETH of York, consort of HENRY the Seventh, and the first five wives of HENRY the Eighth, —KATHARINE of Arragon, ANNE BOLEYN; JANE SEYMOUR; ANNE Of Cleves, and KATHARINE HOWARD.
The gradual progress of her work has brought Miss STRICKLAND to an wra where original notices relating to her heroines are much more ample than during the former periods of which she treated ; whilst the public character with which HENRY the Eighth invested his matrimonial affairs has thrown a full light upon the most trying and important circumstances in the lives of his Queens, and that with regard to matters which the greater delicacy of modern times would scarcely have recorded. Hence, the matter in this volume is of a more direct and less conjectural kind than in the earlier lives. In the absence of authority, Miss STRICKLAND indeed still feels herself at liberty to introduce her suppositions in lieu of recorded facts, and to tell with elaborate minuteness many things "of and concerning," rather than strictly connected with her subjects,—as the processions with which they were received, the masques at which they were present, and the entertainments of which they partook, not of course forgetting the cost and character of their wardrobes. These things are frequently not incurious or uninteresting, for the picture they present of the manners of the time or the subordinate traits of character they indicate. It may be questioned, however, whether this inferior sort of attraction has not been cultivated at the expense of higher objects. The attention of the writer has been directed to bulk rather than spirit ; and the reader gets a variety of curious parts, instead of a striking, rapid, and enchaining whole. So far as regards the ex- pressive outline of character, and the epic interest of the story, it may be questioned whether the narrative of HUME does not con- vey much more than the elaborate volume of Miss STRICKLAND: not only are the leading points impressed more clearly by the historian by being alone presented, but the characteristics of the points themselves are caught and conveyed with more spirit. Sometimes, indeed, matters are insufficiently alluded to or omitted by Miss STRICKLAND out of deference to delicacy,—as the evidence touching the consummation of ARTHUR'S marriage, or the early licentiousness of KATHARINE HOWARD. Some of the more striking traits of HENRY himself are minced down by a lady-like refinement, till they are altogether lost. Miss STRICKLAND'S style, moreover, is hardly equal to her theme ; loose, slipslop, and dashed with very conventional phrases, whilst her characteristic terms are of a womanish kind. To the character of a high, still less of a philoso- phical biography, these Lives of the Queens of England have no pretension ; but they display a great though not a very discrimi- native industry in the collection of authorities and materials; and, in despite of a diffuse and rather feeble style they are readable and agreeable—perhaps more so to the mass then a work of higher merits.
The following account of' the first interview of the ill-fated KATHARINE of Arragon with the house of Tunon is curious in its incidents as well as for the example it affords of the extent to which the Moorish customs had influenced the Spaniards in the treatment of their women.
HENRY THE SEVENTH AND PRINCE ARTHUR'S INTERVIEW WITH KATHARINE.
Next morning, the royal personages set forth again on a journey which was truly performed at a snail's gallop, and proceeded -to the plains, (perhaps the diowns,) when the prothonotary of Spain and a party of Spanish cavaliers were nen pacing over them, bound on a most solemn errand : this was no other than to forbid the approach of the royal bridegroom and his father to the pee- series of the Infanta, who, in the true Moorish fashion, was not to be looked upon by her betrothed till she stood at the altar ; nay, it seems doubtful if the veil of the princess was to be raised, or the eye of man So look upon her, till she was a wife. This truly Asiatic injunction of King Ferdinand threw the whole royal. party into consternation, and brought them to a dead halt. King Henry was formal and ceremonious enough in all reason, but such a mode of proceeding was wholly repugnant to him as an English-born prince. There- fore, after some minutes musing, he called round him in the open fields those nobles who were of his Privy Council, and propounded to them this odd dilemma. Although the pitiless rains of November were bepelting them, the Council de- livered their opinions in very wordy harangues. The result was, that the Spanish Infanta being now in the heart of this realm, of which King Henry was master, he might lookat her if he liked.' This advice Henry the Seventh took to the very letter; for, leaving the Prince his son upon the downs, he made the best of his way forthwith to Dogmersfield, the next town ; where the Infanta bad arrived two or three hours previously. The King's demand of seeing Katharine put all her retinue into a terrible perplexity. She seems to have been attended by the same train of prelates and nobles enumerated by Bernaldes; for a Spanish Archbishop, a Bishop, and a Count, opposed the King's entrance to her apartments, saying, • The lady Infanta had retired to her chain- her'; but but King Henry, whose curiosity seems to have been tharoughly ex- cited by the prohibition, protested that • if she were even in her bed he meant to sec and speak to her, far that was his mind and the whole intent of his coming.' Finding the English Monarch thus determined, the Infanta rose and dressed herself, and gave the King audience in her third chamber. Neither the King nor his intended daughter-in-law could address each other in an intelligible dialect ; but,' pursues our informant, who was evidently an eye-witneas of the scene, ' there were the most goodly words uttered to each other, in the language of both parties, to as great joy and gladness as any persons conve- niently might have.' After the which welcomes ended, the King's grace deposed his riding-garments and changed them, and within half an hour the Prince was announced as present '; Arthur being, it may be presumed, tired. of waiting in a November evening on the downs. 'Then the King made his second entry with the Prince into the next chamber of the Infanta; and there, through the interpretation of the Bishops, the speeches of both countries, by the means of Latin, were understood.' Prince Arthur and the Infanta had been previously betrothed by proxy ; the King now caused them to pledge their troth in person; and this ceremony over, he withdrew with the Prince to supper.
COURTLY AMUSEMENT.
The diversions began with grand pageants of a mountain, a castle, and a ship, which were severally wheeled in before the royal dais. The ship was manned by mariners, " who took care to speak wholly in seaftring terms." The castle was lighted inside gloriously, and bad eight freslt • gentlewomen within, each looking out of a window. At the top of the castle sat a repre- sentative of Katharine of Arragon herself, in the Spanish garb. The castle was drawn by marvellous beasts, gold and silver lions harnessed with huge gold chains ; but, lest the reader should be dubious regarding the possibility of such lions, the narrator (who must have been behind the scenes and would have been a worthy assistant to master Snug the joiner) explains discreetly, " that in each of the marvellous beasts were two men, one in the fore and the other in the hind quarters, so well hid and apparelled that nothing appeared but their legs, which were disguised after the proportion and kind of the beast they were in." Meantime, the representative of Katharine was much courted "by two well-behaved and well-beseen gentlemen, who called themselves Hope and De- sire "; but were treated by the bride's double with the greatest disdain. At last, all differences ended, like other ballets, with a great deal of capering; for the ladies came out of the castle, and the gentlemen from the ship and moun- tain, and danced a grand set of twenty-four with"goodly roundels and divers figures, and then vanished out of sight and presence.' .
As regards what we now call worldly knowledge—a dexterous perception of men and affitirs, and a readiness in adapting con- duct to circumstances—it is probable that the men and women of that period surpassed those of any other age, certainly equalled them. As regards intellectual pursuits, the mind would seem to be in a childish state to be amused with such trivialities. It should, however, be rementbered that the skill of the mummers, and the heartiness with which they entered into the spurt, escapes in the chronicle—it gives the carcass, not the life.
The following passage, descriptive of courtly dancing, contains a trait of the future HENRY the Eighth, in the boyish wilfulness of throwing off his robe.
"Then came down Prince Arthur and the Princess Cerny his aunt, 'and danced two bass dances, and (lien departed up again, the Prince to his father and lady Cecil to the Queen her sister.' Eftsoons came down the bride, the Princess Katharine, and one of her ladies with her, apparelled likewise in Spa- nish garb, and danced other two bass dances, and then both departed up to the Queen. It is possible these were Basque dances ; Katharine had been in Eng- land long enough for the introduction of her national dances. Lastly, Henry Duke of York, having with him his sister Lady Margaret, the young Queen of Scott, in his hand, came down and danced two dances, and went up to the Queen.' It appears the dancing of this pretty pair gave such satisfaction that it was renewed ; when the young Duke, finding himself encumbered with his dress, 'suddenly threw off his robe and danced in his jacket with the said Lady Margaret, in so goodly and pleasant a manner, that it was to King Henry and Queen Elizabeth great and singular pleasure. Then the Duke departed up to the King, and the Princess Margaret to the Queen.' The parental pride and pleasure at the performance of their children manifested by Henry the Seventh and his Queen, slightly as it is mentioned here, affords some proof of their domestic happiness."
A COURT PARTY UNDER HENRY mnc EIGHTH.
While this fine fancy ball was performing, a very different scene was trans- acting at the lower end of the Whitehall. The golden arbour, which was in- tended to receive again the illustrious performers, had been rolled back to the end of the hall ; where stood a vast crowd of the London populace, who were the constant witnesses of the grand doings of the English Court in the middle. ages, and, indeed, on some occasions seem to have assimilated with the chorus ot the Greek drama. Their proceedings this evening were, however, not quite so dignified: the arbour of gold having been rolled incautiously within reach of their acquisitive fingers, the foremost began to pluck and pull at its fine orna- ments • at last they made a regular inbreak, and completely stripped the pa- geant Of all its ornaments ; nor could the Lord-Steward of the Palace repel these intruders without having recourse to a degree of violence whichmust have disturbed the royal ballet. Meantime, the King and his band, having finished their stately wons and u corantos high " with the utmost success, his Ma- jesty, in high good humour, bade the ladies come forward and pluck the golden letters and devices from his dress and that of his company. Little did the young King imagine what pickers and stealers were within bearing ; for scarcely • This term means they were dressed in new clothes or uew fashions. had he given leave for this courtly scramble, when forward rushed the plebeian intruders, and seizing not only on him but his noble guests, plucked them bare of every glittenng thing on their dresses with inconceivable celerity : what was worse, the poor ladies were despoiled of their jewels, and the King was stripped to his doublet and drawers. As for the unfortunate Sir Thomas K.nevet, who climbed on a high place and fought for his finery, the mob carried off all his clothes. At last the guards succeeded in clearing the hall, without bloodshed. The King, laughing heartily, handed the Qseen to the banquet in his OWD chamber; where the Court sat down in their tattered condition, treating the whole scramble as a frolic, the King declaring that they must consider their losses as largess to the commonalty.
A monarch exposing himself to a melee of this kind, could have no fear of assassination : and these were the things that made HENRY popular in despite of his tyranny ; which, moreover, was for the most part exercised on the courtiers, and always under colour of the law.
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