joy thereof, bolls were rung, and bonfires made, not only in the city of London, but also in sundry places of the realm ; but, in the end, all proved clean contrary, and the joy and expectation of the people utterly frustrate ; for, shortly, it was fully certified (almost to all men) that the Queen was as then neither delivered of child, nor after was in hope of having any. Of this the people spake diversely ; some said that the rumour of the Queen's conception was spread for a policy ; some affirmed that she was with child, but it miscarried ; some other said she was deceived by a tympany or other like disease, whereby she thought she was with child, and was not ; but what the truth was, I refer the report thereof to other that knoweth more." Whilst Mary lay in this dangerous state, her husband" endeavoured to intrigue with her maids of honour. But her court being a pattern of female virtue, not one of the ladies would give ear to his suit ; and if the assertions of Bradford the Martyr are correct, he formed connections with low, disreputable women, preferring— " The baker's daughter, in her russet gown, To liia wife, Queen Mary, without her crown." In August, Mary being somewhat recovered, the royal pair proceeded in state from Hampton Court through London to Greenwich, whence Philip, in compliance with the desires of his father, who, being old and infirm, wished to resign his sceptre to his son, departed for Flanders, on the fourth of September. Mary deemed it her duty, in the absence of her lord, to devote her afternoons to affairs of state, but in a few days tbe attempt threw her again on a bed of sickness, and she was seen no more at the council board. From the hour of her marriage, her independence as a sovereign ceased. " She did nothing," says Strype, "without the privity and directions of her husband or his ministers :" and Philip, whether absent or present, guided the English government. Now that he was abroad, he maintained a continual correspondence with the ministers, and no measure of importance, domestic or ecclesiastical, was carried into effect without his previous sanction ; indeed, he ruled as sovereign, and not Mary; and the cruelty of her reign, as Fuller, the Protestant historian, remarks, "although done under her, wasnotdone by her." She remained at Greenwich sick and feeble the autumn and winter through. In November, she had to deplore the death of her skilful financier and faithful minister, Gardiner—a prelate lauded by the Catholics, but Yer y properly denounced as a cruel bigot by the Protestants. At the commencement of 1556, she again appeared in public, wan and ghastly, to review her gentlemen pensioners in Greenwich Park. Put little more is recorded of her in this dreadful year of persecution, insurrection, famine, and general misery. She appears to have been too indisposed to take part in public business or amusement, but, when sufficiently convalescent, she beguiled the hours at needlework, or walking out in disguise, as a common person, with one or two of her ladies, entered the cottages, and relieved the wants of the neighbouring poor, frequently selecting those of their children that seemed promising, for education at her own expense. In the spring of this year, the unfortunate Cranmer suffered martyrdom (Latimer and liidley had been burnt in the previous October), and about the same timeNoailles, the intriguing French ambassador, started a series of plots and insurrections, with a view to seize the royal treasury, and to depose Mary and place Elizabeth on the throne The projects failed; two of Elizabeth's household were arrested and executed, but Mary professed to believe her sister innocent, and sent her a ring in token of her affection. Many weeks did not elapse before another disturbance was attempted. A young man, named Cleobury, personated the deceased Earl of Devon, named the Princess privy to his design, and, in Yaxely church, proclaimed "the Lady Elizabeth Queen, and her beloved bed-fellow, Lord Edward Courtenay, king," This attempt produced no estrangement between the royal sisters, and the people took no part in it, beyond that of apprehending Cleobury,