Page:The Works of Francis Bacon (1884) Volume 1.djvu/501

 HISTORY OF KIM. HKNUY VII. failing in her alchymy, weary of her experiments; -ami partly bring a little sweetened, for that lin king had not touched her name in the confession of Perkin, that he came over again upon good ! irrms, and was reconciled to the king. In the beginning of the next year, being the seventeenth of the king, the Lady Catharine, fourth daughter of Ferdinando and Isabella, King and Queen of Spain, arrived in England at Ply mouth, the second of October, and was married to Prince Arthur, in Paul s, the fourteenth of November following: the prince being then about fifteen years of age, and the lady about eighteen. The manner of her receiving, the manner of her entry into London, and the cele brity of the marriage, were performed with great and true magnificence, in regard of cost, show, and order. The chief man that took the care was Bishop Fox, who was not only a grave counsellor for war or peace, but also a good surveyor of works, and a good master of cere monies, and any thing else that was fit for the active part, belonging to the service of court or state of a great king. This marriage was almost seven years in treaty, which was in part caused by the tender years of the marriage-couple, especi ally of the prince : but the true reason was, that these two princes, being princes of great policy and profound judgment, stood a great time look ing one upon another s fortunes, how they would go; knowing well, that in the mean time the very treaty itself gave abroad in the world a reputation of a strait conjunction and amity be tween them, which served on both sides to many purposes, that their several affairs required, and yet they continued still free. But in the end, when the fortunes of both the princes did grow every day more and more prosperous and assured, and that looking all about them, they saw no better conditions, they shut it up. The marriage money the princess brought, which was turned over to the king by act of renunciation, was two hundred thousand ducats ; whereof one hundred thousand were payable ten days after the solemnization, and the other hun dred thousand at two payments annual ; but part of it to be in jewels and plate, and a due course set down to have them justly and indifferently prized. The jointure or advancement of the lady, was the third part of the Principality of Wales, and of the Dukedom of Cornwall, and of the Earldom of Chester, to be after set forth in severally ; and in case she came to be Queen of England, her advancement was left indefinite, but thus; that it should be as great as ever any forme-- Queen of England had. In all the devices and conceits of the triumphs of this marriage, there was a great deal of astronomy ; the lady being resembled to Hesperus, and the prince to Arcturus, and the old King Alphonsus, that was the greatest astronomer of kings, and was an cestor to the lady, was brought in, to be the for tune-teller of the match. And whosoever had those toys in compiling, they were not altogether pedantical; but you may be sure, that King Arthur, the Briton, and the descent of the Lady Catharine from the house of Lancaster, was in nowise forgotten. But as it should seem, it is not good to fetch fortunes from the stars; for this young prince, that drew upon him at that time, not only the hopes and affections of his country, but the eyes and expectation of foreigners, after a few months, in the beginning of April, deceased at Ludlow castle, where he was sent to keep his resiance and court, as Prince of Wales. Of this prince, in respect he died so young, and by reason of his father s manner of education, that did cast no great lustre upon his children, there is little particular memory : only thus much remaineth, that he was very studious and learned, beyond his years, and beyond the custom of great princes. There was a doubt ripped up in the times following, when the divorce of King Henry the Eighth from the Lady Catharine did so much busy the world, whether Arthur was bedded with his lady or no, whereby that matter in fact, of carnal knowledge, might be made part of the case. And it is true, that the lady herself denied it, or at least her counsel stood upon it, and would not blanch that advantage, although the plenitude of the pope s power of dispensing was the main question. And this doubt was kept long open, in respect of the two queens that succeeded, Mary and Elizabeth, whose legitimations were incompatible one with another, though their suc cession was settled by act of parliament. And the times that favoured Queen Mary s legitima tion would have it believed, that there was no carnal knowledge between Arthur and Catharine. Not that they would seem to derogate from the pope s absolute power, to dispense even in that case: but only in point of honour, and to make the case more favourable and smooth. And the times that favoured Queen Elizabeth s legitima tion, which were the longer and the latter, main tained the contrary. So much there remaineth in memory, that it was half a year s time between the creation of Henry, Prince of Wales, and Prince Arthur s death, which was construed to be, for to expect a full time, whereby it might appear, whether the Lady Catharine were with child by Prince Arthur, or no. Again, the lady herself procured a bull, for the better corrobora- tion of the marriage, with a clause of &quot; vel forsan cognitam,&quot; which was not in the first bull. There was given in evidence also, when the cause of the divorce was handled, a pleasant passage, which was, that in a morning, Prince Arthur, upon his uprising from bed with her, called for drink, which he was not accustomed to do, and finding the gentlemen of his chamber that brought him the drink, to sxm.o at it, anil 10 21