Katherine, wife of Leonard Pole} for her wet nurse. When weaned, separate nursery establishments were consigned to her in Litton Park and Hanworth ; and over these the Countess of Salisbury was made superintendent, one thousand one hundred pounds per year being allowed to defray the expenses of the Princess's household. During the absence of her parents in France, at the Field of the Cloth of Gold, in 1520, Mary kept court with regal magnificence at Richmond Palace, where she was frequently visited by the privy council, by whom her health and behaviour were from time to time reported to her absent parents; and where, according to the privy council papers, she in royal state received the visit of three French nobles, " welcoming and entertaining them with such goodly countenance, proper communication, and pleasant pastime, in playing on the virginals"—a small stringed and keyed instrument resembling the harpsichord, and, in fact, the first rude attempt at a pianoforte—"that they greatly marvelled and rejoiced at the same, her tender age considered." On the return of the King and Queen to England, Mary went back to her nursery at Ditton, in Buckinghamshire ; but she afterwards made frequent and long visits to her royal parents, who were delighted with the beauty and the artless engaging ways of their rosycheeked, brown-eyed infant, and always parted with her with regret. To render her at once the most learned and virtuous princess of her era, was the earnest desire of her mother, the good Queen Katherine of Arragon. The learned physician Dr. Linacre took charge of her health, and by the Queen's desire wrote a Latin grammar for her use, and gave her instructions in Latin till she reached the eighth year of her age, when he died, and, by the express command of Queen Katherine, the pen of the learned Spanish author, Ludovicus Vives, gave rigorous directions for her education, which being complied with to the letter, the brain of the lively child was overtasked, her health declined, and in the end her naturally sprightly temperament became soured and melancholic. Michele, the Venetian ambassador, who on his return to Venice in 1557 compiled an account of England by order of the senate, says : " She understands five languages, English, Latin, French, Spanish, and Italian, in which last, however, she does not attempt to converse. She is also much skilled in ladies' work, such as producing all sorts of embroidery with the needle. She has an excellent knowledge of music, and plays the virginals and the lute with the taste and skill of a master." A tolerable proof that tho studies of her girlhood and youth were severo, especially as she also had a knowledge of Greek, and of the works of the leading religious, moral, and philosophical writers, both ancient and modern—and to her all light tales and writings in the slightest degree immoral were abhorred by the strict order of her careful mother. In the years of her girlhood Mary received all the honours and distinctions due to the heir-apparent of England. "Inl518," says Burnet, "the King being out of hopes of more children, declared bis daughter Princess of Wales, and sent her to Ludlow to hold her court there." According to other authorities, she was never formally created Princess of Wales, but was merely so styled by courtesy ; and although she resided for aperiodat the venerable Castleof Ludlow, she did not go thither till September 1525, when Veysey, Bishop of Exeter, then her tutor, was made president of Wales. Mary lived in great state at Ludlow for a period of about eighteen months, kept court like a petty sovereign, celebrated the Christmas festivities with unrestrained pomp and hospitality, and resided alternately at the Castle, built, says Leland, for Prince Arthur and repaired for her, at the neighbouring mansion of Tickenhill, and at Thornebury Palace, erected by the unfortunate Duke of Buckingham, and lately seized by the King. During this period every attention was paid to her education and health : instructions were issued to her council, to see that she partook of simple and wholesome food and at proper times ; that she was trained in virtue and holiness of heart; and that she so passed her time at whole