and other staunch papists, were burnt as heretics ; and when it was death to openly differ with the King in matters of religion, or deny his theological supremacy. The decapitation of Katherine Howard increased the probability that Mary would remain second in the succession, and induced Francis the First to once more demand her hand for the Duke of Orleans. The negotiation was opened at Chablis, in April, 1512, by the High Admiral of France, and Frivy Councillor Paget, In a quaint despatch detailing the particulars of the conference, Paget says :—" When I entered the presence of* the Admiral, he rose from his seat and made a great and humble reverence; and after that he had taken thanks unto your Majesty, and with two or three great oaths declared his affection towards you, I entered the accomplishment of your Majesty's command." Francis the First required that Mary should be dowered with a million crowns. Paget who was commissioned to offer but two hundred thousand, thus continues : •—" Whilst I was declaring from point to point all your Majesty and your Majesty's council had directed, he (the Admiral) gave twenty sighs, casting up his eyes and crossing himself as many times, for I marked him when he was not aware of it. He then heaved one great sigh, and said, ' I am an English Frenchman, and next after my master I esteem the King your master's finger more than I do any other prince's lady in all the world ; but, alas ! what is two hundred thousand crowns to give in marriage with so great a King's daughter to Monsieur D'Orleans? Four or five hundred thousand is nothing to him, Monsieur D'Orleans is a Prince of great courage; Monsieur D'Orleans doth aspire to great things, and such is his fortune, or elso I am wonderfully deceived.* " I answered," proceeds the droll Paget, " ' Monsieur D'Orleans is a great King's son; Monsieur D'Orleans aspireth to great things, but it is not reason that my master's wealth should maintain his courage. My master has a son of his own, whom I trust will grow up a man of courage ; and as for his daughter, he doth consider her as reason requireth. Had King Louis the Twelfth any more with one of my master's sisters than three hundred thousand crowns ? and the King of Scots with another more than one hundred thousand ? Assuredly not ; and if, as you say, our friendship be advisable to you, seek it by reasonable means.' H ί It is not oie or two hundred thousand crowns that can enrich my master or impoverish yours,' said the Admiral in reply; ' therefore, for the love of God, let us go roundly together. We ask your daughter,' quoth he. ' For her you shall have our son, a gentye prince, and set him out to sale. We ask you a dote [dower] with her, and alter the sum you will give, she shall have an assignment after the custom of the country here.' u 1 Well,' quoth I, * you will have two hundred thousand crowns with her.' " ' Hy my troth,' quoth he, 1 the dote you have offered is nothing, and if I were as King Louis and tiie King of Scots were, I would rather take your master's daughter in her kirtle, and more honour were it to me, than, being Monsieur D'Orleans, to take her with a paltry two hundred thousaud crowns.' As may be supposed, the negotiation failed in its purpose, but it benefited Mary, by increasing the force of the current that ultimately drove the King to restore her to her natural place in the succession. The act of parliament which did her this but partial justice, was passed on the seventh of February, 1544 ; and, to the eternal disgrace of her father, who himself dictated the act, it neither removed from her the brand of illegitimacy, nor permitted her rights to tho succession to depend upon anything more stable than his own arbitary will.* At the nuptials of her royal father with Katherine Parr, July the twelfth, 1543, Mary stood bridesmaid, and was presented by her new step-mother with a pair of elegant gold bracelets set with rubies, and twenty-five pounds in money. The pecuniary gift was most acceptable, as an unhealthy season had laid many of her servants and dependants on a * See page 443,