him of a French match, either for his son or for himself; and Maximilian and Philip encouraged him to look for the hand of Maximilian's daughter, Margaret of Savoy. When Philip went to Spain, Margaret was left as Regent of the Netherlands, and since his marriage with her would have given Henry the government of that country, this scheme was more than once the subject of negotiations; but she could not herself be induced to agree to it. A more repulsive match was for some time talked about, owing to Philip's early death (September 25, 1506), namely with his widow, the mad Queen Juana of Castile; which Henry could only have contemplated as a means of obtaining the control of her kingdom. But another project was afterwards set on foot, which tended the same way, and excited the most serious jealousy in Ferdinand. As Philip's son Charles, heir alike to the lands of the House of Austria, the dukedom of Burgundy and the throne of Castile, was but a child under tutelage of his grandfather Maximilian, Henry won the Emperor over to an alliance; and a treaty was concluded at Calais, December 21, 1507, for the marriage of Prince Charles to the King's second daughter, Mary. Bonds were taken from various princes and towns in the Netherlands for the fulfilment of this treaty when the prince should come of age; and, on December 17, 1508, the Sieur de Bergues, who came over at the head of a distinguished embassy, married the Princess by proxy. On the 21st a rich jewel of the Emperor, called the fleur-de-lis, was given in pawn to Henry for 50,000 crowns of gold.
King Henry, who had been subject for some time to attacks of gout, died on April 21, 1509. He had made his will on March 30, leaving large bequests for masses and charitable objects, with strict injunctions to his executors to make restitution for wrongs done in answer to all complaints. He was buried, according to his direction, in the gorgeous chapel he had himself built in Westminster Abbey. During his life he had amassed, it was said, as much gold as all other Kings in Christendom put together. A more distinct and apparently well-founded statement is that at his death • he left in bullion four and a half millions, besides abundance of plate and jewels. Doubtless he had studied to keep a large reserve for his own security, and he made rebellions pay their own expenses in fines. But he had permitted agents, of whom the most notorious were Sir Richard Empson and Edmund Dudley, further to fill his exchequer by extortions, founded generally on antiquated processes of law, for which at the last he expressed remorse. The two great ministers, Cardinal Morton and Sir Reginald Bray, who had paved his way to the throne, had died long before him. They had no doubt given much judicious counsel during the anxieties of the first part of his reign. But in his latter years he was strong both at home and abroad, his friendship being sought after by all European princes. HENRY
