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the wedding dinner served up in massive dishes of gold.

Did Philip, in that proud moment, remember the vine-hung cottage where Alva St. Pierre and his bride dwelt; far away of Spain, under Did he want their

ON THE twenty-fifth of July, 1554, the among the sunny hills nuptials of Philip with Queen Mary of Eng-shadow of the Escurial? land were solemnized. The vestments in prayers? Yes, for gratified ambition cannot which he was arrayed, were of white satin, make the heart happy. Certain it is, he with cloth of gold, thickly powdered with needed them, for his course afterwards was pearls and precious stones. "Round his too often stained by the tears and blood of neck he wore the superb collar of the those he termed heretics. Golden Fleece, the famous Burgundian order, while the brilliant riband below his knee served as a badge of the no less illustrious order of the Garter."

For awhile the looker-on would have thought his pathway in life lay over thornless roses. Mary idolized him. He seemed to be the beau ideal of her dreams-the one The bride's dress was also of white satin personage to whom her heart ever did homand gold cloth, heavily fringed with dia- age. Her domestic troubles rendered her monds. A royal canopy stood in the old austere and repulsive to all about her, but massive Cathedral, with an altar beneath it, to her husband, she was faithful and true, before which they plighted their vows. loving and confiding. But such ardent Mary was surrounded by the ladies of her affection is, in nine cases out of ten, the court, while prelates and nobles stood parent of jealousy. She could not bear to grouped about on every hand. Bells were see him bestowing attentions upon any of rung merrily-orchestras gave out their the beautiful women composing her court. sweetest music, and mirth and banqueting She knew that her personal charms were ruled the hour. The richly tinted and picturesque dresses of the Spaniard, and the solid magnificence of the English, contrasted strangely. The loyal acclamations of the populace without rent the air, and when they at length adjourned to the tables, they found

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fading, and that her bridegroom was many years her junior. Philip suspected that he was closely watched by the Queen, and his proud spirit grew restive and miserable. Moreover the English did not like him. They despised his Spanish origin, language

and habits; and the pens of numerous pamphleteers and ballad writers were busy at his expense. Stings of tiny insects some times drive even lions to madness-so these petty annoyances affected Philip. He grew more gloomy, austere and bigoted, than ever. The marriage contract was worded with care, and fully secured to the English Queen her crown. Her ministers were crafty and jealous of all foreign assumption of power. Philip was, in their sight, little better than a pet lap-dog, which the Queen chose to fondle. No wonder his proud spirit rebelled! No wonder he felt like fleeing from a country, the restraints of which were so irksome! His Spanish followers hated the English even more than he did. In case of a quarrel between the two parties, the law was always found on the Englishman's side. The Spaniards had no means of redress; and when they were in Philip's society, they murmured continually of their wrongs and grievances.

Thus sped away the first year of married life. He moved about, the husband of the English Queen; he knew that he was her idol, but his heart, and the hearts of his followers, were among the sunny hills of Spain. The land of the orange, the myrtle, the fig, the olive and the pomegranate, was inexpressibly dear to him. The English climate was cold; he shivered continually under the dripping skies, but it was not colder than the hearts of the inhabitants.

Such was the condition of things, when he chanced to be pacing, one day, with rest less feet, one of the long corridors of the palace.

His attention was arrested by a rustle near the door, and soon after a little Spanish page entered, bearing upon a silver waiter, a heavy, sealed package. One glance at the superscription showed that it was from his royal father, Charles the Fifth. He broke the seal with an eager hand, for his soul was athirst for news from home. As he read, a mist stole over his eyes, and tremblings of joy seized his limbs. A way of escape had been opened for him. His father summoned him to Flanders, and enjoined it upon him to come without delay. He proposed abdicating his throne and giving the reins of

government into Philip the Second's hands. He immediately called his Spanish followers around him and communicated to them the news. Shouts and acclamations of joy broke from their lips. Never were tidings more joyfully received. Their execrations of the English were loud and deep; their joy at the prospect of returning home, genuine and unrestrained.

Philip stood watching these manifestations of joy on the part of his retainers, when his eye was attracted by a female form coming slowly to his side. Her cheek was pale and her eye filled with apprehensions of ap proaching evil. But she came forward with regal dignity, and laid her white hand, glittering with diamonds, upon his arm.

"What means this wild disorder without?" she said. Why are your retainers kindling bonfires and rending the air with their shouts? I cannot understand it. I fear it bodes no good to me or my subjects. Tell me, I beseech you, my dear husband, what has happened?"

Philip, without saying a word, placed the package in her hands.

She read, and as she did so the color faded from her lips, and she was near fainting. She sunk into a seat and looked mournfully up into his face:

"My king, my husband," she said, “these words, it strikes me, are full of dreadful import; but you cannot-you will not leave me! No crown, no throne, no sceptre will tempt you from my side. Is there not enough of regal magnificence here at your command ? Stores of gold, and silver, and diamonds stand open before you. You will not, in order to realize the mad dream of power and sovereignty, resign me to loneliness and despair. You will not leave me, my dear husband, and return to Spain. Promise me that!"

"My father commands it," replied Philip, "and his wish has ever been law to me. I came to you, in the first place, in obedience to his command: the same behest now bids me leave you."

A wild shriek of anguish burst from the white lips.

"You have never loved me," she said; "but oh, how have I idolized you? How

have I enshrined your image in my heart of hearts, and worshipped even the dust that was pressed by your feet? When my eye first fell upon your portrait, before our betrothal, I began to adore you. When you at length were about to become my husband, what tumultuous emotions thrilled my bosom I was restless by day and sleepless by night. I feared the vessel that bore you to me, might be wrecked, or fall into the hands of your enemies, the French. My health was so much impaired by this anxiety, that my friends began, really, to fear that I might lose my reason. My complaints were piteous, when you did not write to me, and your cold and haughty demeanor has a thousand times since chilled the blood in my heart. But I still love you, wildly, passionately. If you leave me, I shall die."

Philip's heart was for a moment softened. He remembered that the woman who now plead at his feet had not only given him her entire heart, but had brought a kingdom for her dowry. He sat down beside her and took her cold hand in his.

"Mary," he said, "I am not happy in England, and my nobles also complain of being miserable. The Spanish and the English are so dissimilar that they will never comprehend each other. Your subjects hate me--they almost hate you for having married ine. How can we get on so? For my part, my life has grown to be a burden to me."

"Do my subjects hate the Spaniards ?" exclaimed the Queen, while a defiant light kindled in her eye. "Then they must hate their sovereign, for am I not Spanish too? Am I not the grand daughter of Isabella of Castile, and the daughter of the cruelly wronged Katharine of Aragon? Had I not a right to choose my husband from the land of my ancestors? Is not the Holy Catholic church my church, and the Spanish faith my faith?

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'My father expects me," he said. "How can he resign his crown to one who is not present to receive it? And think of the royal honors with which he would endow me. I shall be master of the most widely extended and powerful monarchy in Europe. Castile, Aragon, Grenada, Naples, Sicily and Milan, will lay their tribute at my feet. The Cape Verd Islands, the Canaries, Tunis, Oran, the Phillipines, and the Spice Islands, will hail me sovereign. I shall own possessions in the West Indies, and be master of the rich empires of Mexico and Peru. The flag of Castile floats in the most distant latitudes-it claims homage on the Atlantic, the Pacific and far off Indian seas. Would you have me resign all this for the weak dalliance of a woman's love?" Something like a little mocking smile curled his lip as he finished the sentence.

Mary saw that his purpose was fixed. She buried her face in her hands and wailed aloud.

"Do not take it so much to heart," said her husband, caressingly. "I will come back to you; I will not desert you entirely; you will still be my queen."

She did not reply, or raise her face. When Philip bent over to soothe her, he found that she had fainted. He hastily rung for her attendants, who bore her to the royal bed chamber.

Three weeks from that day, he sailed for Calais Mary had far enough recovered to accompany him to Greenwich. Her Spanish husband took an affectionate leave of her before pressing onward to receive his crown. But it amounted to desertion, nevertheless.

Alas! it is a sad thing for a woman to cast the whole of her affections upon one earthly idol, and to find afterwards that she has been worshiping clay! Poor Mary! She shut herself for long weeks into her bed chamber, the wretched prey of Never could there have been a melancholy and disease. match made for me by my ministers, so consonant to my feelings. I married to please myself, not my subjects. If they annoy and vex you more, my husband, I will have their bodies burned with the heretics at Smithfield."

Philip shook his head.

CHAPTER V.

THE UNLOOKED FOR VISITOR.

Mark him well!

"See how he strides away, with lordly air, Like that odd guest of stone, that grim Commander Who comes to sup with Juan in the play."

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