They are thus described by Johnson Lawson, esq., in whose possession they are at present:— "A fine damask napkin, which evidently was made for, and brought from Spain by Katharine of Arragon, the first queen of Henry VIII. The beautiful pattern therein exhibits the spread eagle, with the motto, 'Plus Oultre, four times; and on the dress of four men blowing trumpets, attired in the Spanish garb as matadors, are the letters K. I. P. (probably Katharine Infanta Princess.) And this napkin, in the palace of Henry VIII., must have passed through the hands of six queens, including Katharine Parr. The second relic is the royal arms of the king Henry, engraved on copper in cameo, which were set in the centre of a large pewter dish the table service, in those times, was usually pew ter." In the absence of those bona fide vouchers of the marriage of the young lady Mary Seymour, which have been destroyed by time, by accident, or wanton ignorance, it may be conjectured that the duchess of Suffolk, after her marriage with Richard Bertie, and her subsequent flight from the Marian persecution, provided for her youthful protégé by an honourable marriage with sir Edward Bushel, though certainly much beneath the alliances which would have courted her acceptance, had she not been wrongfully deprived of the great wealth she ought to have inherited, as the only child of queen Katharine Parr. The Lawsons, who claim their descent from the daughter of Katharine Parr, are a branch of the ancient family of the Lawsons of Yorkshire and Westmoreland, and bear the same arms. Queen Katharine Parr was originally interred on the north side of the altar of the then splendid chapel of Sudley, and a mural tablet of sculptured alabaster was placed above her tomb. The chapel is now despoiled, desecrated, and in ruins, the roofless walls alone remaining. The notice of queen Katharine's death and interment, from the document in the Herald's Office, having been published in "Rudde's History of Gloucestershire," some ladies, who happened to be at Sudley Castle, in May, 1782, determined to examine the ruined chapel. Observing a large block of alabaster fixed in the north wall of the chapel, they imagined that it might be the back of a monument that had once been fixed there. Led by this hint, they had the ground opened not far from there, and not above a foot from the surface they found a leaden envelope, which they opened in two places, on the face and breast, and found it to contain a human body wrapped in cerecloth. Upon removing the portion that covered the face, they discovered the features, particularly the eyes, in the most perfect state of preservation. Alarmed with this sight, and with the smell which came from the cerecloth, they ordered the earth to be thrown in immediately, without closing over the cerecloth and lead which covered the face, only observing enough of the inscription to convince them it was the body of queen Katharine.' In the same summer, Mr. John Lucas, the person who rented the land on which the ruins of the chapel stand, removed the earth from the 1 1 Archæologia. leaden coffin, which laid at the depth of two feet, or little more, oelow the surface. On the lid appeared an inscription, of which the following is a true copy : K. P. Here lyeth Quene Katharine vith wife to Kyng Henry the VIIJth and МССССС Mr. Lucas had the curiosity to rip up the top of the coffin, and found the whole body, wrapped in six or seven linen cerecloths, entire and uncorrupted, although it had been buried upwards of two centuries and a half. He made an incision through the cerecloths which covered one of the arms of the corpse, the flesh of which at that time was white and moist. The perfect state in which the body of queen Katharine Parr was found affords a convincing evidence that her death was not occasioned by poison, for in that case almost immediate decomposition would have taken place, rendering the process of embalming ineffectual, if not impracticable. The repose of the buried queen was again rudely violated by ruffian hands in the spring of 1784, when the royal remains were taken out of the coffin, and irreverently thrown on a heap of rubbish and exposed to public view. An ancient woman, who was present on that occasion, assured my friend, Miss Jane Porter, some years afterwards, that the remains of costly burial clothes were on the body, not a shroud, but a dress, as if in life: shoes were on the feet, which were very small, and all her proportions extremely delicate; and she particularly noticed, that traces of beauty were still perceptible in the countenance, of which the features were at that time perfect, but, by exposure to the air, and other injurious treatment, the process of decay rapidly commenced. Through the interference of the vicar, the body was reinterred. In October, 1786, a scientific exhumation was made by the rev. Tredway Nash, F. A. S., and his interesting and valuable report has been published in the Archæologia, from which the following abstract is given: "In 1786, October 14, having obtained leave of lord Rivers, the owner of Sudley Castle, with the hon. J. Somers Cocks, the writer proceeded to examine the chapel. Upon opening the ground, and tearing up the lead, the face was found totally decayed; the teeth, which were sound, had fallen. Rudde's Hist. of Gloucestershire. Archæologia. "In vol. ix. of Archæologia, 1787, being the Transactions of the Society of An tiquaries, with a plate of the exterior of the beautiful chapel when perfect, and of the encased body, with a fac-simile of the inscription on the lead. "The body was perfect, but, out of delicacy, it was not uncovered. Her hands and nails were entire, of a brownish colour. "The queen must have been of low stature, as the lead that enclosed her corpse was just five feet four inches long. The cerecloth consisted of many folds of linen, dipped in wax, tar, and gums, and the lead fitted exactly to the shape of the body. "It seems, at first, extraordinary, that she should be buried so near the surface; but we should consider that the pavement, and perhaps some earth, had been taken away since she was first interred. As she was buried within the communion rails, probably the ground was three feet higher than the rest of the chapel. "I could heartily wish more respect were paid to the remains of this amiable queen, and would willingly, with proper leave, have them wrapped in another sheet of lead and coffin, and decently interred in another place, that at least her body might rest in peace; whereas, the chapel where she now lies is used for the keeping of rabbits, which make holes, and scratch very irreverently about the royal corpse." The chapel seems a beautiful miniature of that belonging to Eton College. The last time the coffin of queen Katharine Parr was opened, it was discovered that a wreath of ivy had entwined itself round the temples of the royal corpse, a berry having fallen there, and taken root at the time of her previous exhumation, and there had silently, from day to day, woven itself into this green sepulchral coronal. A lock of hair, which was taken from the head of queen Katharine Parr, after it had lain in the dust and darkness of the grave for nearly two centuries and a half, was kindly sent for my inspection by Mrs. Constable Maxwell. It was of exquisite quality and colour, exactly resembling threads of burnished gold in its hue: it was very fine, and with an inclination to curl naturally. "The ruined chapel of Sudley, with the very small remains of the castle, now a farm-house, were visited by me," says Mr. Lawson, “ A. D.. 1828, and I am sorry to report that queen Katharine's remains have not been re-deposited with the honour and historical respect due to the royal and noble lady: for, instead of their being replaced within the walls in their own grave, and secured from further intrusion, they are buried in a lean-to-building outside the north wall, in which divine service is sometimes performed, to preserve the right as a parochial church." How much better it would be to restore the chapel itself, for this purpose, and to erect a suitable monument to the memory of Katharine Parr. Surely some mark of consideration, and grateful respect, is due 1 1 Sudley Castle has recently been repaired, and some portion of it restored by Mr. Dent, the present possessor, who has also, we understand, placed a grated screen before Katharine Parr's monumental tablet, to preserve it from being carried away piecemeal, by the dishonest and destructive collectors of mementoes of celebrated persons and places-a species of relic-hunting which has caused of late years irreparable damage to many precious works of art, the ruin of some of the most venerable remains of antiquity, and, in many instances, amounted to be crime of sacrilege. It is to be hoped that a practice so truly childish and VOL. V.-9 G from this country to the memory of our first Protestant queen; and, if the owner of the soil which covers her sacred dust, does not endeavour to preserve her remains from further outrage, the bishop of the diocese is called upon to devise some suitable protection, for the desecrated grave of this royal lady, to whom the church of England owes the preservation of the university of Cambridge. With Katharine Parr closes the records of the queen-consorts of England. The next two queens of England, Mary I. and Elizabeth, were sovereigns; and, with the queen of James I., Anne of Denmark, the series of queens of Great Britain will commence. unconscientious will be abandoned by all persons who imagine they possess the slightest claims to good taste and good feeling. The time-honoured memorials of historical facts are witnesses sacred to the cause of truth, and as such they should be venerated and protected from the outrages of ignorance and folly, in a nation whose greatest boast is the increase of refinement, which the increase of education is extending now, even to the humblest grades of life. भ MARY, FIRST QUEEN-REGNANT OF ENGLAND AND IRELAND. CHAPTER I. Birth of Mary at Greenwich-Only surviving child of Henry VIII. and Katharine of Arragon-Her state governess-Nurse - Baptism-Sponsors-InfancyPresented in infancy to the Venetian ambassadors-Her father's fondnessNursery establishment-Her court and receptions in infancy-Her early musical attainments-Abode at Ditton Park-Presents in infancy-Sponsor to a child-Betrothed at six years old to Charles V.-Her tutors and educationHer message to the emperor-Her betrothment broken-Grand establishment at LudlowPerson and manners- Attainments-Offered in marriage to Francis I-Dances at court with her father-Verses-Mary appears in court masques and ballets-Commencement of divorce of Katharine of ArragonReginald Pole - His defence of Mary and queen Katharnie's rights Mary separated from her mother- Her dangerous illness Her father and mother divorced Anne Boleyn crowned queen - Katharine of Arragon's letter to Mary Mary present at the birth of Elizabeth - Refuses to call her sister princess-Mary's letters-Resistance to her degradation-Her household at Beaulieu broken up - Calamitous reverses- - Her life threatened- -Refused access to her mother's death-bed-Death of her mother, queen Katharine. MAR, our first queen-regnant, was the only child of Henry VIII. and Katharine of Arragon who reached maturity; she first saw the light on the banks of the Thames, at Greenwich Palace, on Monday, at four in the morning, February 18, 1516. As she was a healthy babe, her birth consoled her parents for the loss of the two heirs male, who had preceded her, nor in her childhood was her father ever heard to regret her sex. The queen confided her to the care of her beloved friend, the countess of Salisbury (Margaret Plantagenet); and the royal infant's first nourishment was supplied by one of that lady's family. Katharine, the wife of Leonard Pole, was Mary's wet-nurse. The princess was, according to custom, baptized the third day after her birth. The silver font, in which the children of Elizabeth of York, and Henry VII. had been christened, once more travelled from Christ Church, Canterbury, to the Grey Friars, adjacent to Greenwich Palace. Carpets were spread for the royal babe's procession, from the palace to the font, which was placed in the Grey Friars' church, guarded by knights-banneret. The godmothers were, the princess Katharine Plantagenet and the duchess of Norfolk. The infant was carried by the (99) |