Page:The Queens of England.djvu/224

 190 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. "The natures of the late married couple were, if not opposite, sufficiently differing ; the husband was of a womanish inclina- tion, the wife of a manlike spirit ; the king was humble, devout, spiritually-given, caring only for his soul's health ; the queen was proud, ambitious, worldly-given, and not to be quieted, till, having brought the kingdom to be governed as she pleased, she might see herself free from rivals in the government. The Duke of Gloucester was no ways pleasing to her, as well for "hat he had opposed her marriage — an injury not to be forgot- ten — as likewise that her husband, being long since out of his minority, was still governed by him as formerly when he was under age."* This dissonance of taste and feeling, corrobor- ated by every contemporary and subsequent writer, affords sufficient ground, even perhaps upon the score of necessity, for the independence assumed by Margaret in public affairs from the outset of her career, without reference to the instiga- tions of Beaufort, Suffolk, Buckingham, Somerset and others, who, through her instrumentality, attempted to promote their own political and private schemes. So long as the secret article of the matrimonial negotiation (which relinquished the province of Maine, "the bulwark of Normandy") remained undiscussed, the Marquis of Suffolk- was lauded to the skies for the part he had taken in obtaining a queen for the nation who seemed likely to secure its admira- tion and regard ; but though the obnoxious topic had been hitherto studiously avoided, the rapid approach of the conclu- sion of the truce enforced the necessity of fulfilling its condi- tions. It was evident to Beaufort and his party, that so long as Gloucester opposed the relinquishment of Maine, as a measure most impolitic and fraught with fatal issue to the best interests of the crown, there could be no prospect of success, and there- fore the removal of this powerful opponent to his public plans, and the object alike of his undying hatred, even by the foul means of treachery and murder, did not appall the unrelenting cardinal. We readily avail ourselves of the discrepancies of historians upon this point to exonerate the queen from participation in so horrible a tragedy. Rapin, who in his eagerness to con- demn her, forfeits all claim to impartiality, asserts that she "first encouraged the resolution ;" and Biondi surmises that by "Gloucester's death the queen thought to have established
 * Biondi.