nefits by thy grace, and ia heaven, through thy glory, to have delight in thy joys and rewards. Amen." Beneath this prayer, the Princess added : " I have read that nobody liveth as he should do, but he that followcth virtue, and I reckon you to be one of them ; I pray you to remember mo in your devotions, Maryo, child of Κ ." It is supposed that in this signature, Mary added child of King Ilenry and Queen Katherine, his wife ; butas m after-years it was treason to pronounce Katherine of Arragon either Queen or wife of Henry the Eighth, tho dangerous words were afterwards blotted out Ilenry, to be revenged on the Emperor, and to remove his daughter for life previous to the divorce of her mother, made an effort in 1526-7 to marry her to Francis the First, King of France. Not long previously, the Emperor had made the French monarch prisoner, and by one of the terms of bis liberation bad bound him to marry his tbe Emperor's sister, Eleonora of Austria, widow of Emanuel the Great, King of Portugal. This close alliance between France and Spain being viewed by AVolscy as inimical to the interests οί' England, the match between Francis and Mary was proposed. Francis, however, after much intriguing, excused himself, on the plea that he had promised Eleanor of Austria ; and finally expressed a desire to marry his second sen, Ilenry, Duke of Orleans, to the English princess. Itwas whilst the French ambassadors were in England negotiating this matter, in the spring of 1527, that tho legality of the marriage of Henry the Eighth and Katherine of Arragon, and the legitimacy of their daughter, were first darkly questioned. In 1527, after her return from Ludlow, Mary was introduced to all the luxury, splendour, and vice of the court ; a road the very opposite to the rigid, pious path in which she had been trained, but which she passed through without moral injury or blame. She repeatedly danced with her father in private, and on state occasions publicly took part in the ballets and other entertainments then fashionable in high life. In his details of tho entertainments with which the French ambassadors were honoured during their stay at Greenwich, Hall says — "Then the Lady Mary, daughter to the King, issued out of a cave with her seven ladies all apparelled after the Koman fashion, in rich cloth of gold of tissue and crimson tinsel, bendy and ears wrapped in cawls of gold, with bonnets of crimson velvet on their heads, set full of pearls and stones; these eight ladies danced with eight lords, and as they danced suddenly entered six personages, apparelled in cloth of silver and black tinsel satin, and hoods on their heads, with tippets of cloth of gold ; their garments were long, after the fashion of Iceland, and these persons had visors with silver beards, so that they were not known ; these maskers took ladies, and danced lustily about the hall. The King and others, masked in Venetian costumes, next took part in the ballet, and having mimicked and danced to their heart's content, the Queen plucked off the King's visor, and so did the ladies the visors of the other lords. Then," proceeds Hall, "the King, Queen, and the ambassadors, [with tho Princess Mary, and the other royal and noble personages], returned to the banquet chamber, where they found a banquet ready set on the board, and of so many and marvellous dishes that it was wonderful to behold; then the King sat down, and there was joy, mirth, and melody ; and after that, the revels terminated, and the King and all the others went to rest, for the night was spent and the day even at tho breaking." During the protracted period that the divorce of her beloved mother was under discussion, we have but little to record of Mary. She remained near her parents, in the enjoyment cf all the state and dignity of Henry the Eighth's rightful heir. The King was harassed by her claims on his paternity; offended by her pertinaciously taking part with her mother against him. and alarmed by the cry of the people that they would acknowledge no successor to the crown but Mary or her husband. In 1530, sbo resided chiefly with her mother, who Η Η 2