Page:The Queens of England.djvu/522

 472 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. nobleman presented to the mind of the fickle monarch such a contrast between the plainness of the Infanta and che beauty of some of the Italian princesses, that Charles began to grow indifferent on the subject of the proposed alliance; and when the ambassador returned from Lisbon he was so coolly received, that chagrin caused him to take to his bed from real or pre- tended illness. A new crisis relieved him from his embarrass- ment by the turn which affairs took, owing to Bristol's levity and the audacity of his Spanish ally, De Haro, whom Charles ordered to quit the kingdom at a few days' notice. The Chan- cellor and Council at this favorable juncture persuaded Charles that he could not in honor retract from his engagement with Catherine, which Bastido, the French envoy, confirmed ; and a portrait of the young princess herself, brought over by her ambassador, decided the point. The king, on beholding the delicate and soft features there portrayed, with the clear olive complexion and fine dark eyes, which gave expression to a face which could not perhaps be considered actually beau- tiful, immediately exclaimed, "That person could not be un- handsome," and decided the matter. Lord Sandwich was accordingly commissioned with a fleet to conclude the treaty, and to fetch over his bride to England. He was at the same time instructed to take possession of Tangiers. Further dis- appointments, however, were yet to be encountered. Louisa de Guzman, the queen-mother, by the sale of her jewels, and rich plate obtained from the monasteries, had provided the sum arranged to be given as her daughter's dower, but was afterwards compelled to use it to raise forces against Spain ; so that when Lord Sandwich arrived she was unable to furnish the money. In this awkward dilemma she offered to place on board Charles' fleet the amount of half the sum in jewels, sugar, cotton, silk, and other commodities, and promised that the remainder should be paid within a year. Lord Sandwich had no alternative but acquiescence ; but the weight of this un- toward circumstance afterwards fell with full force upon Catherine. Charles' disappointment and chagrin at the arrival of a bride whom he had looked forward to as worth her weight in gold, unaccompanied by the expected dower, may very easily be conceived. These were not the only mortifications which attended the marriage of Catherine. Spain, having at that time great in- fluence with the Papal Court, while the title of the House