Page:The Queens of England.djvu/443

 MARY THE FIRST. 399 in- to fortune-tellers, and the actual plots of her servants, we're hard things to get over, when taken in conjunction with the intercepted correspondence between her and the French ambassador ; and Mary, tortured by what was occurring abroad and at home, knew not on whom to rely for advice or succor. And now the abdication of the emperor in favor of his son furnished the latter with a good excuse for remaining abroad, of which he failed not to avail himself, until, wearied by Mary s unceasing entreaties for his return, and desirous of urging England into a war with France, he came back to his unloved and unlovely wife on the 20th of March, 1557, and was met bv her at Greenwich. But the happiness of Mary on behold- ino- her husband was but of brief duration ; for the Duchess of Lorraine, his fair cousin, for whom it was said he entertained a more than cousinly affection, arrived in England and awak- ened the jealousy of the unhappy queen, no less by her charms than by Philip's evident appreciation of them. Many were the instances of jealousy betrayed by Mary to this fair dame, who remained in England until the following May Nor was it the Duchess of Lorraine alone who excited the jealousy of the queen. Philip used all his endeavors to seduce some of the ladies of her court, and failing in his efforts, descended to low intrigues, which were generally animadverted on. lne dissatisfaction which he experienced and took no pains to con- ceal on finding that his doting wife, however well disposed to forget her duty to her subjects in her blind devotion to his will could not induce them to adopt the measures she urged led Philip to leave England again in the summer that followed his last visit. This step produced a renewal of Mary s cha- grin which powerfully affected her health ; and although she " endeavored to conceal her sufferings, suppressing every demon- stration of torture with a firmness seldom equaled, those around her observed the inroad that disease was making on her life It is a weakness peculiar to sovereigns, when ill, to wish to conceal their danger from their subjects, and courtiers seldom fail to flatter this weakness. Mary, who must have telt that her own terrible state of health forbade the hope of a pro- tracted existence, nevertheless took no step to secure the suc- cession to her sister, unless her satisfaction at Elizabeth s re- jection of the Swedish offer of marriage may be deemed a tacit admission of her right to the crown ; and when Philip, after the victory at St. Ouentin, achieved chiefly, if not wholly, by the