Page:The Queens of England.djvu/402

MARY THE FIRST, QUEEN REGNANT OF ENGLAND. Few queens have encountered during youth so many or such trying vicissitudes as fell to the lot of Mary, the only child of Henry the Eighth and Katharine of Arragon, the first queen- regnant of England. The historians, who would fairly repre- sent the character and conduct of this queen, should take into account the treatment she received at a period of life when it was most calculated to have a bad effect on her. Whether we look back on the splendor and state with which the early years of her childhood were surrounded, or on the sudden re- verse from regal magnificence to almost positive privation, to which the reckless caprice of her royal father exposed her, it must be admitted that both were highly detrimental to the formation of her character ; and this reflection should serve as an extenuation for many of the faults which in after-life drew on her the censure of historians and the dislike of pos- terity. Mary entered life at Greenwich Palace on the 18th of February, 1516. Although the birth of a daughter must have been some disappointment to Henry, who so earnestly desired to have a male heir to the throne, he had the good feeling to abstain from revealing it, and received the Princess Mary as graciously as he had done the two sons which the queen had previously presented him, and whose premature deaths had occasioned both their parents so much regret. The royal in- fant was consigned to the care of the Countess of Salisbury, a lady whose high character equaled her distinguished birth, and proved the wisdom of the queen's selection of her. To Katharine Pole was confided the nurture of the princess, so that no ignoble blood should mingle with that of the royal stream that flowed in her veins, her wet-nurse being in no remote degree connected with the Countess of Salisbury. The splendor of the preparations for the baptism, and the rich gifts presented to the infant, are satisfactory evidence that her birth 360