MISS STRICKLAND'S QUEENS Or ENGLAND.

Tins fifth volume contains the biography of KATHARINE Peas, the last and surviving Queen of HENRY the Eighth, and of the first Queen MARY, to whom posterity has given the significant prat. nomen of" bloody." With what minute diffuseness Miss STarcx. LAND'S task is executed, may be inferred from the fact that these two lives occupy more space than Hems and other histo- rians have deemed necessary to devote to the entire reigns of HENRY the Eighth and his daughter; although of KATHARYNN PARR very little is known, and the public events of MARY'S reign are (not improperly) passed over cursorily by Miss STRICKLAND. When we reckon the number of Queens yet to come, and consider the mass of materials relating to them, we are aghast at the length to which this readable but trifling oils podrida of characteristic anecdotes, minute information, curious facts, questionable conjec- tures, and sometimes amusing sometimes twaddling gossip, will extend.

The present book develops a defect in Miss STRICKLAND'S mind which was not so distinctly perceptible in her former volumes—a deficiency in critical acumen, that prevents her from selecting what is necessary to her subject and rejecting all the rest. In her earlier volumes, she did not tell much about her heroines when she had nothing to say of them, because she was anxious to make a book, but because she cannot find it in her heart to reject any "authorities" she may have fallen in with. "All's fish that comes to net," from an old ballad, a remote genealogical fact, or some very questionable gossip, up to a state paper : and she does not always penetrate the meaning of what she takes without discrimination, but sometimes interprets even an obvious compliment au pied de in lettre. There is little that can be considered new in the life of KATHAEINS PARR, though a good deal about her is collected from various sources, some well known, and others less easily accessible. Miss STEICIE:- LAND'S defence of Lord SEYMOUR of Sudley, Queen KATHARINE s fourth husband, from the charge of poisoning her, is not conclusive in itself; and SErmoua was not a person to have suckled at .life had it stood in his way. But the evidence which seemed suspicious, in his own times was really worthless ; for it is the character of puerperal delirium (of which fever KATHARINE died in her thirty- sixth year) to change the nature of the patient, making the modest bold and the satisfied complaining. The" distress of mind" which Miss STRICKLAND speaks of as " probably " originating in gossip, probably originated in the fever. Her seeming complaint of the accoucheur is referable to the same source, and her total disregard of her infant evidently.

. The most striking feature of the biographyof Queen MARY, IS Miss STRICKLAND'S endeavour, following in the wake of some modern archmologists, to paint her as an amiable person, and to defend her from the infamy with which her memory is stigmatized for the bloody persecutions that distinguished her reign. In this our fair writer is not very successful. The firmness or obstinacy of MARY was already well known ; but Miss STRICKLAND perhaps brings out more strongly her kindness to her sister ELIZABETH when a little child, as well as her goodness, charity, almsgiving, or call it what you will except amiability. The attempted defence from the infamy of the persecution is a mere assertion without proof; sometimes fallacious, sometimes more than confident. The scapegoats of the Queen are either her husband Plume or her Bishops and Bishop. Minister GU:MINER j either branch of which alternative is answered by facts. The persecution commenced early in 1555; it was then stayed in consequence of or at least after a sermon against the pro- ceedings, preached before the Court by Putup's confessor, a Spanish friar. The burniugs, however, soon recommenced, and continued till MARY'S death. But in September 1555 Pinup left England for the Continent, and did not return till March 1557; and he finally quitted it in the following summer. His active participation in the proceedings is therefore very unlikely ; although it may be readily enough conceded that all which he did would be to forward them. With as little reason could they be placed at the door of GARDI- NER. No doubt he and BONNER. bloodily interpreted their bloody instructions : but, ill or well, MARY was not a person to have per- mitted any opposition to her own will, even on matters of much less moment and to a far less extent (besides which, GARDINER died in the first year of the persecutions.) She opposed her Council on the reconciliation of the kingdom to Rome ; she opposed her friends, her Council, the Parliament, and the nation, on the Spanish match ; and she opposed her husband on her sister ELIZABETH'S marriage. A Queen with this dogged power of self-will was not likely to have allowed her subjects to be burned for speculative opinions— knowing the odium she was creating—in opposition to her liking. It is recorded on better evidence than some of Miss STRICKLAND'S authorities, that BONNER declared that "bloody as he might be, be was not bloody enough for those who employed him." If any one is entitled to "divide the crown 'S with MARY, it is Miss STRICKLAND'S amiable Cardinal POLE; for, besides the supicions under which he labours, he was just the character to perpetrate such deeds— "More mild, but yet more harmful, kind in hatred."

Equally unsuccessful is the attempt to excuse Meav's crimes by

the executions of her sister ELIZABETH and the tyrannies of her father HENRY. The Roman Catholics who suffered in ELIZABETH'S reign suffered for their treason, not for their religion ; though some might unjustly be the victim of spies, or of the naked exercise of power. The same thing may be said of many of HENRY the Eighth's executions. The denial of the supremacy was, in the King's view, a denial of his title, a refusal of allegiance ; and though others of his persecutions took more of a theological shape, yet a resistance to the law was in some way at the bottom of then; whilst MARY'S were pure persecutions for matters of belief, carried on solely by the priesthood. It will be understood that we are not defending or palliating the laws or the judicial murders of HENRY and ELIZA- BETH; but exposing an unwarranted attempt to diminish the odium due to a cruel and merciless though conscientious female bigot, by excuses and comparisons which are not valid. Miss SraterceAND may rest assured, whatever Sir F. MADDEN or Mr. TYTLER may say to the contrary, that the general judgment of the people in regard to their rulers is in the main accurate. They have an instinctive sense of the motives or influences under which princes act, though they may not be able to express it in words, and in their judgment draw a distinction between crimes of necessity, crimes of passion, crimes of ambition, and crimes of cold-blooded cruelty perpetrated without motives or the excuse of

fear.

This fault, and many other faults, diminish the value of the book, and very considerably lower its tone as a biography ; but they do not injure its readableness, or detract from the merit of the writer as the princess of antiquarian penny-a-liners. We will take a few instances.

KATHARINE PABR'S NEEDLE-WORK.

At no other period of her life than the interval between her mother's death and her own marriage with Neville Lord Latimer, could Katharine Parr have found leisure to embroider the magnificent counterpane and toilet-cover which are proudly exhibited at Sizergh Castle as trophies of her industry, having been worked by her own hands during a visit to her kinsfolk there. As the ornamental labours of the needle have become once more a source of domestic enjoyment to the ladies of England, and even the lords of the creation appear to derive some pleasure as lookers-on in tracing the progress of their fair friends at the embroidering-frame, a brief description of these beautiful and well-preserved specimens of Katharine Parrs proficiency in that accomplish- ment may not be displeasing. The material on which both counterpane and toilet-cover are worked is the richest white satin, of a fabric with which the production of no modern loom can vie. The centre of the pattern is a medallion, surrounded with a wreath i of natural flowers, wrought n twisted silks and bullion. A spread eagle, in bold relief, gorged with the Imperial crown, forma the middle. At each corner iS a lively heraldic monster of the dragon class, glowing with purple, crimson,

and gold. The field is gaily beset with large flowers in gorgeous colours, highly embossed, and enriched with threads of gold.

The toilet is en suite, but of a smaller pattern. The lapse.of three centuries has scarcely diminished the brilliancy of the colours or tarnished the bullion; nor is the purity of the satin sullied, though both these queenly relics have been used on state occasions by the family in whose possession they have re- mained as precious heir-looms and memorials of their ancestral connexion with Queen Katharine Parr.

QUEEN ELIZABETH AT FIFTEEN.

The residence of the Princess Elizabeth under their roof was fatal to the

wedded happiness of Seymour and Katharine. The Queen, forgetful that a blooming girl in her fifteenth year Was no longer a child, had imprudently en- couraged the Admiral to romp with her royal stepdaughter in her presence. Mrs. Ashley, the Princess Elizabeth's governess, in her deposition before the Privy Council, [when Lord Seymour's case was under the examination which led him to the block,j gives a lively picture of the coarse manners of the times in which such proceedings could be tolerated in a palace, and with royal ladies. " At Chelsea, after my Lord Thomas Seymour was married to the Queen, he would come many mornings into the said Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she were ready, and sometimes before she did rise ; and if she were up, he would bid her good morrow, and me how she did, and strike her on the back familiarly, and SO go forth to his chamber, and sometimes go through to her maidens and play with them. And if the Princess were in bed, he would put open the curtains and bid her good morrow' and she would go further in the bed. And one morning he tried to kiss the Princess in her bed; and this de- ponent was there, and bade him go away for shame. At Hanwortb, for two mornings, the Queen (Katharine Parr) was with him, and they both tickled my Lady Elizabeth in her bed. Another time, at Hanworth, he romped with her in the garden, and cut her gown, being black cloth. into a hundred pieces ; and when Mrs. Ashley came up and chid Lady Elizabeth, she answered, ' She could not strive with all, for the Queen held her while the Lord Admiral cut the dress.' Another time, Lady Elizabeth heard the master-key unlock; and knowing my Lord Admiral would come in, ran out of her bed to her maidens, and then went be- hind the curtain of her bed, and my Lord tarried a long time, in hopes she would come out. Mrs. Ashley could not tell how long. She (Mrs. Ashley) was told these things were complained of, and that the Lady Elizabeth was evil spoken of. Then the Lord Admiral swore, God's precious soul! I will tell my Lord Protector bow I am slandered ; and I will not leave off, for I mean no evil.'

"At Seymour Place, when the Queen slept there, he did use awhile to COM up every morning in his night-gown and slippers : when he found my Lady Elizabeth up and at her book, then he would look in at the gallery-door, and bid her good morrow, and so go on his way : and the deponent told my Lord it was an unseemly sight to see a man so little dressed m a maiden's chamber, with which he was angry, but be left it. At Hanwortb, the Queen told Mrs. Ashley 'that my Lord Admiral looked in at the gallery-window, and saw my Lady Elizabeth with her arms about a man's neck. Upon which Mrs. Ashley questioned her charge regarding it; and the Lady Elizabeth denied it, weeping, and bade them ax all her women if there were any man who came to her ex- cepting Grindall, my Lady Elizabeth's schoolmaster? Howbeit, Mrs. Ashley thought the Queen, being jealous, did feign this story, to the intent that Mrs Ashley might take more heed to the proceedings of Lady Elizabeth and the Lord Admiral. The governess added, that her husband, Mr. Ashley, who it seems was a relative of Anne Boleyn, did often give warning that he feared the Princess did bear some affection to the Lord Admiral, as she would some- times blush when she heard him spoken of." Elizabeth herself told Parry, the cofferer of her household, "that she feared the Admiral loved her but too well, and that the Queen was jealous of them both ; and that, suspecting the frequent access of the Admiral to her, she came suddenly upon them when they were alone, he having her in his arms."

SNUFFERS IN ENGLAND.

The use of snuffers at this sem is a proof that England had surpassed other nations in luxury, although there was still great need ofirnprovement in man- ners and customs. In the Northern countries, the use of snuffers was not com- prehended for centuries afterwards. King Gustavus Adolphus replied to one of his officers, who declared "that he never knew what fear was," "Then you never snuffed a candle," meaning with his fingers. The delicate way of trim- ming the Duke of Holstein's candles forms a laughable page in Roomer's col- lections; and even in the beginning of the present century, a Swedish officer, dining at an English gentleman's table, seized the snuffers, and, after curiously examining them, snuffed the candles with his fingers, and carefully gathering up the snuff, shut it in the snuffers, commending the cleanliness of the English in providing such a receptacle.

A PLAYER'S REPARTEE.

When Heywood, on his return from banishment, presented himself before his royal mistress, " What wind has blown you hither?" asked Queen Mary.

" Two especial ones," replied the comedian ; "one of them, to see your Ma- jesty." " We thank you for that," said Mary ; "but I pray for what purpose was the other?"

"That your Majesty might see me."

AN ADMIRAL UNDER THE TUDORS.

The Lord Admiral Howard had sailed from Portsmouth with the finest ships of the Queen's navy, to join the united fleets of Spain and the Netherlands, that Prince Philip might be escorted to his bride with the utmost maritime pomp. On the appointment of Howard to this command, the Emperor's Am- bassador offered him a pension, as a token of the Prince's gratitude : he referred him to the Queen, who gave leave for its acceptance ; but it had not the least effect on the Lord Admiral's independence, for his national combativeness rose at the sight of the foreign fleets; and Renaud sent a despatch full of com- plaints to the Emperor, saying, "that the Lord Admiral Howard had spoken with great scorn of the Spani.h ships, and irreverently compared them to mus- sel-shells." Moreover, he quarrelled with the Spanish Admiral, and held him very cheap. He added, "that the English sailors elbowed and pushed the Spanish ones whenever they met on shore ; with which rudeness the Lord Ad- miral was by no means displeased." And had it not been for the extreme for- bearance of the Spanish Admiral in preventing his men from going on shore during the month the combined fleets were waiting for Queen Mary's spouse, the English would have picked a quarrel and given their allies battle-royaL To add to all these affronts, Lord Admiral Howard forced the Prince of Spain's ships to do the maritime homage the English fleet always insisted on as so- vereigns of the narrow seas, by striking topsails in the Channel, though the Prince was on board in person.

PORTRAIT OF MARY, BY A VENETIAN AMBASSADOR. Michele, the Venetian Ambassador, who saw Queen Mary at the close of the year 1557, will not allow that she was otherwise than an interesting-look- ing woman. He thus minutely describes her person. " She is of low stature, but has no deformity in any part of her person. She is thin and delicate, al- together unlike her father, who was tall and strongly made; or her mother, who, if not tall, was massive. Her face is well formed ; and her features prover as well as her pictures, that when younger she was not only good looking, but more than moderately handsome ; she would now be so, saving some wrinkles, caused more by sorrow than by age. She looks years older than she is ; and always appears very grave. Her eyes are piercing, and inspire not only defer-

Sire,

e but even fear n those on whom she bends them ; yet she is near.sighted, iniog unable to read or do any thing else without her eyes being close to what- ever she would peruse or well discern. Her voice is powerful, and high-pitched, like that of a man, so that when she speaks she is beard at some little distance." This is a peculiarity often observed in females who sing well, for a very fine voice in singing is often counterbalanced by moat unpleasant tones in speech. "In short," resumes Michele, "she may, at her present age, be considered very good-looking, not only as a Queen but a woman, and ought never to be despised for ugliness." Such is the opinion of a contemporary Ambassador, whose national interest by no means led him to be her adulator; rather the contrary."