Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/49

1551.] and prayed us to speak to the Lords of the Council that her controller might shortly return; for, said she, since his departing, I take the accounts myself of my expenses, and learned how many loaves of bread be made of a bushel of wheat; and I wis my father and my mother never brought me up with baking and brewing; and, to be plain with you, I am weary of my office, and, therefore, if my Lords will send mine officer home, they shall do me pleasure; otherwise, if they send him to prison, I beshrew him if he go not to it merrily and with a good will. And I pray God to send you well to do in your souls and bodies too, for some of you have but weak bodies.'

As the moment draws near when Mary will step forward to the front of the historical stage, it is time to give some distinct account of her. She was born in February 1515–16, and was therefore, in her thirty-sixth year. Her face was broad, but drawn and sallow; the forehead large, though projecting too much at the top, and indicating rather passion and determination than intellectual strength. Her eyes were dauntless, bright, steady, and apparently piercing; but she was short-sighted, and insight either into character or thing was not among her capabilities. She was short and ill-figured; above the waist, she was spare, from continued ill-health; below, it is enough to say that she had inherited her father's dropsical tendencies, which were beginning to show themselves. Her voice was deep like a man's, she had a man's appetite, especially for meat; and in times of danger, a man's promptness of action