Page:The Queens of England.djvu/418

376 THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND. of her father, that Elizabeth should reside with her step- mother, Queen Katharine Parr, Mary, on the marriage of the queen with Lord Thomas Seymour, wrote to her sister to offer her a home beneath her roof. Whether Mary was aware of the proposal of marriage made by the artful Seymour to Eliz- abeth on the death of Henry, and when she was only in her fourteenth year, is not known ; but certain it is that if she were acquainted with this fact, it was highly, prudent of her to wish to remove her sister from the house of a man who, four days after his rejection, by Elizabeth, transferred his suit to her step-mother, for whom he had previously entertained an affec- tion, thereby proving the instability of his character, and the ambitious views by which he was actuated. Elizabeth, how- ever, preferred remaining with Katharine Parr to removing to her sister — a preference that argues little for her delicacy, and which very naturally afterwards drew on her not only the jeal- ousy of Katharine Parr, but the censure of those who had opportunities of witnessing the coarse romping and improper familiarities which occurred between her and the unprincipled Seymour. The excuse alleged by Elizabeth for not accepting her sister's invitation was that the queen had shown her so much friendship that she feared to incur the reproach of in- gratitude if she left her. The bad health of Mary, no less than her desire of privacy and avoidance of a court in which her religion caused her to be viewed with jealousy and dis- trust, confined her to Kenninghall, where she passed a con- siderable portion of her time. She, however, paid a visit to the king at St. James's Palace in 1548, when she was received with all the splendor clue to her rank and consanguinity to the sovereign. Among the many courtiers who flocked to the palace to offer homage to the Princess Mary was Lord Thomas Seymour, the widowed husband of Katharine Parr, who had neither lost any portion of the insinuating influence for which he was so remarkable, nor the ambition for which he was no less so. Aware of Mary's fondness for music, and none being permitted, or at least provided in the palace of her brothe/, Seymour took occasion to express his regret that she was de- prived of this pleasure, and his fear that want of,practice would impair her skill in the science. He recommended a person to give her instruction, who it was afterwards ascertained was a creature of his, who was to convey with his lessons in music something of a nature to serve the interests of his artful em-