of the important dispatch received from the
emperor by philip.
about a month must now be allowed to elapse. during this time, the whole of the conspirators, with the exception of osbert clinton, had suffered death on tower hill. but though osbert’s execution was thus delayed, no hope of pardon was held out to him. on the contrary, he was told by sir henry bedingfeld, who visited him almost daily, that his sentence would infallibly be carried out, and that he ought to be prepared for a sudden summons to the scaffold. “i will give you notice when i am sent for by his majesty,” he said. “that will be an intimation to you that the hour is at hand.”
the queen’s accouchement being now daily expected, great preparations were made for the important event; religious processions thronged the streets, prayers were offered for her majesty’s safe deliverance, and couriers kept in constant readiness to bear the gladsome tidings to 399foreign courts. while all were on the tenter-hooks of expectation, the romanists were gratified, and the protestants deeply chagrined, by the sudden and, as it turned out, unfounded intelligence that her majesty had given birth to a son. the news spread with extraordinary rapidity, not only in london, but throughout the whole kingdom. public rejoicings were made. bonfires were lighted in the streets. te deum was sung in the churches, and one preacher—the priest of st. anne’s in aldersgate—went so far as to describe the personal appearance of the new-born prince, depicting him as a miracle of beauty and proportion. but next day all was changed. the romanists were mortified by the authoritative contradiction of the report, whilst the protestants exulted. other rumours were then circulated, and it was said that the queen had died in child-bed. but this statement was soon discovered to be false, and it eventually became known that the disease under which her majesty was labouring, and which had deceived her physicians, was dropsy.
for some days mary continued in a very precarious state, and serious apprehensions of a fatal result were entertained; but these dangerous symptoms abated, and in less than a week she was pronounced out of danger. during her illness she had been sedulously attended by constance tyrrell, for whom she had sent when she supposed herself sinking, and it was to constance’s unwearying attentions that she mainly attributed her recovery.
naturally, the queen’s state of health had been a source of the deepest anxiety to cardinal pole, and the news of her amendment was a proportionate relief to him. having received permission to wait upon her, he immediately repaired to whitehall, and on arriving at the palace he was met by doctor ford, the queen’s physician, who conducted him to her majesty’s presence.
mary was in her cabinet, reclining in a large easy-chair, propped up by cushions, wrapped in a loose gown of purple velvet, lined with miniver, and with her feet supported by a tabouret. her features were swollen, and her complexion turbid, and she had an air of extreme lassitude and debility. the only person by whom she was attended 400was constance tyrrell, who likewise looked extremely pale and ill.
having accompanied the cardinal to the door of the cabinet, doctor ford retired.
“i am glad to see your eminence,” said mary, as the cardinal approached her. “sit down beside me, i pray you. at one time i feared i should never behold you again; but i am better, and i owe my preservation, under heaven, to the ministry of this damsel. without her i believe i should have died, and i never can forget the services she has rendered me—never sufficiently requite them.”
“your majesty overrates my poor services,” said constance.
“she has poured balm into my wounded heart, as well as helped me to sustain my bodily sufferings,” pursued mary. “oh, my good lord cardinal, how can i have so deeply offended heaven that i should be thus severely afflicted!—that the boon i have so earnestly prayed for should be denied me. what have i done to merit this chastisement?—how have i sinned? i have searched my breast, but can discover no wickedness therein. i have swerved from no duty. it cannot be a crime to love the king my husband—though, perchance, i have made him an idol. but enjoin me any penance you please. i will perform it.”
“i enjoin you only resignation to the decrees of heaven, gracious madam,” returned pole. “your afflictions have been given you for some wise but inscrutable purpose, and must be patiently borne.”
“i have borne them with patience,” rejoined mary; “yet it is hard to be deprived of blessings which are vouchsafed to the meanest of my subjects. how many a poor cottager’s wife can clasp her offspring to her breast!—while i, alas! am childless.”
“your grief is shared by all your subjects, madam,” observed the cardinal.
“not by all,” rejoined mary, with asperity. “there are many who exult in my distress, who have prayed that i might have no issue, but that the sceptre might pass from my hands to those of my sister elizabeth. and their 401prayers would seem to be heard, while mine are rejected. oh, what happiness would have been mine had a son been granted me, for i feel all a mother’s tenderness in my breast. a son would have compensated me for all my troubles—for the neglect i have experienced, and for the desertion which will ensue—but now i shall go to my grave broken-hearted.”
“be comforted, madam, be comforted,” said pole. “all will yet be well. the king will not leave you.”
“he will leave me, that is certain,” rejoined mary. “and then will come the severest part of my trial. when he is gone, all will be a blank to me. i would fain bury my woes in a cloister.”
“no, madam, you must rouse yourself,” said pole. “you must not give way to this excess of grief. it has pleased the supreme disposer of events to deprive you, and the country placed under your governance, of a great blessing; but do not repine on that account. rather rejoice that you have been afflicted. devote all your energies to the welfare of your kingdom, and to the maintenance of religion. peace will then be restored to your breast—peace, which nothing can disturb.”
“i do not expect to find peace on this side of the grave,” sighed mary; “but i will try to follow your eminence’s counsel.”
“in time your wounds will be healed,” rejoined pole; “and you will then understand why they have been inflicted.”
“i humbly resign myself to heaven’s decrees,” said mary. “fiat voluntas tua.”
at this juncture, without being announced, the king entered the cabinet, followed by count d’egmont. his majesty’s features did not wear their customary sombre expression, but were radiant with joy, and his deportment evinced considerable excitement.
advancing quickly towards the queen, and bowing reverently to the cardinal, he said,—
“count d’egmont has just brought me a most important letter from the emperor, and i lose not a moment in laying its contents before your majesty.”
then, turning to pole, who was about to withdraw, he 402added, “i pray your eminence not to retire. the matter is one that will interest you. not to keep you in suspense, i will state at once, and in a word, the purport of the dispatch. the emperor is about to abdicate, and resign his hereditary dominions to me.”
“what do i hear?” exclaimed mary, in extremity of surprise. “the emperor about to abdicate!”
“’tis exactly as i have stated, madam,” cried philip. “i have it here under his own hand.”
“his imperial majesty has for some months meditated this step, gracious madam,” interposed d’egmont, bowing to the queen, “but it is only recently that his final resolution has been taken. of late a profound melancholy has seized upon him, which he finds it impossible to shake off. tired of pomp and state, sated with glory and conquest, wearied with the cares of government, racked by a cruel disease, which allows him little respite from suffering, his august majesty is about to put off the purple robe and crown, and, clothing himself in the lowly garb of a monk, to pass the remainder of his days in seclusion. i have been sent by the emperor to announce his determination to his royal son, into whose hands he designs to relinquish his vast dominions.”
“you hear, madam—you hear what my father intends,” cried philip, with irrepressible delight.
“yes, i hear it,” rejoined mary, mournfully.
“the solemn ceremony of abdication will take place at brussels,” pursued d’egmont, “in the presence of all the nobles and deputies of flanders, who, at the emperor’s request, will transfer their allegiance to his son. subsequently, the sovereignty of castile and aragon will be ceded to king philip.”
“and what of the crown of germany?” demanded philip.
“that will deck the brows of your uncle ferdinand, king of the romans,” said d’egmont. “the empire of germany will be resigned in his favour.”
“is such my father’s intent?” said philip.
“i believe so, sire—nay, i am sure,” returned d’egmont. “to prove the motives by which your august sire is actuated in his retirement, it will be enough to state, that out of his 403immense revenues he only intends to reserve himself a pension of a hundred thousand ducats.”
“only so much,” cried mary. “why, ’tis less than a noble’s revenue.”
“it is more than the emperor will need, madam, in the solitary life he designs to lead,” observed d’egmont.
“i am filled with amazement,” observed pole. “that charles v., the foremost monarch of christendom, the greatest warrior of the age, who holds in his hands the destinies of europe, should retire in the plenitude of his power, is indeed a wondrous circumstance, to which there is no parallel, save in the instance of diocletian. may the christian monarch be as happy in his retirement as was the heathen emperor in his garden at salona. heavy, indeed, must be the weight of a crown, since its wearer desires to put it off thus.”
“in his letter to me, the emperor explains the motives of his intent to abdicate,” said philip. “referring to the troubled and agitated life he has led, to his great fatigues and exposure, his frequent travels in europe and africa, the constant warfare in which he has been engaged, and his incessant labours for the public welfare and for religion, he observes: ‘as long as my strength would allow me, i have fulfilled my duties, but now my infirmities counsel—nay, command—repose. ambition, and the desire to rule, no longer sway my breast. the remainder of my days will be consecrated to holy thought and preparation for eternity. to you, my son, and to your care, i shall resign my vast possessions, conjuring you never to relax in your efforts for the welfare of the people committed to your charge. the time may come when, exhausted, loaded with infirmities, and praying for release, you may desire to imitate your father’s example.’”
“may that day be long distant!” cried d’egmont. “a brilliant career is before your majesty.”
“yet let the emperor’s words never be forgotten, sire,” remarked pole, solemnly. “lay them to heart, and be guided by them; and so, when you arrive at that period which your august sire has reached, when earthly glories shall fade away and become as nothing in your sight, you will derive comfort from the happiness and prosperity you 404have conferred upon your people. rarely has a crown been similarly bestowed. never could crown be more richly graced. wear it, sire, as it has hitherto been worn—wear it as your great father has worn it, and when you put it off, you will do so, like him, without a sigh.”
“once mine, i shall be in no haste to part with it,” observed philip. “but have i no congratulations from your majesty?” he added to the queen. “do you not rejoice with me on my good luck?”
“your good luck is my misfortune,” rejoined mary. “this unlooked-for act of the emperor must cause our separation.”
“only for a season,” returned philip. “i must needs obey my father’s summons to brussels; but i shall speedily return.”
“impossible!” cried mary. “as king of spain, you will have much to do, and cannot quit your dominions, even if you should be so minded. no! i am not to be deceived. i cannot go to spain, or to flanders, and you will not come to england. henceforward we must dwell apart.”
“nay, nay, you are wrong, madam—by my faith, you are!” cried philip. “i shall return before three months have elapsed. meantime, i confide you to the care of his eminence, who, i trust, will be rarely absent from you. it is my wish,” he added, “that the lord cardinal be appointed chief of the privy council, and that nothing concerning the government of the realm be concluded without his sanction.”
“all shall be done as you desire,” rejoined mary.
“nay, sire, i must decline a post for which i am unfitted,” said pole, “and which, as it would necessarily engage me in concerns of the world, is little suited to the spiritual character with which i am invested.”
“but i will take no refusal,” said philip. “you must, at least, accept the post till her majesty is perfectly restored to health.”
“i shall have only your eminence to look to when the king is gone,” said mary. “if need be, i must lay my positive commands upon you.”
“in that case i have no alternative but submission,” rejoined the cardinal. “the sole condition i would annex 405to my consent is, that i may be allowed to exercise my religious functions as heretofore.”
“far be it from me to interfere with them,” said mary. “apartments shall be assigned you in the palace, so that i may have an opportunity of seeing you more frequently, and profiting by your counsels.”
