Henry the Eighth, and Edmund who was born in 1495. died five years afterwards, at Bishop's Hatfield, and was buried at Seventh, and Elizabeth of York, stands in the body of the chapel, in a curious chantry of cast brass, most admirably executed, and interspersed with effigies, armoriai | Westminster. Margaret, Elizabeth's eibearings, and devices, alluding to the union of the red and white roses. The tomb was executed, according to Stowe, by Peter T., a native of Florence; and in this obscure appeilation antiquaries have discovered Pietro Torregeano, a sculptor once the competitor of Michael Angelo. That artist's pre-eminence he had resented by a hasty blow, for which he was expelled or departed from Florence, and after some vicissitudes of life, was retained as a sculptor by Henry the Seventh, and employed in erecting his father's monument for a sum of one thousand pounds, equivalent to five thousand present money. The small statues that embellish the sepulchre are partly decayed, but the bronze effigy of Elizabeth, said to be a cerrect likeness, is in excellent preservation. Elizabeth of York, by her marriage with Henry the Seventh, had three sons, Arthur, Henry, and Edmund; and four daughters, Margaret, Elizabeth, Mary, and Katherine. The birth, marriage, and death of Arthur have been already mentioned. Henry succeeded his father, as dest daughter, was thrice married; first, to James, the Fourth King of Scots, then to the Eari of Angus, and after being divorced from the Eari, to Harry Stewart. She took a leading part in the affairs of Scotland, and was the mother of a numerous family. Her first son succeeded his father as James the Fifth, and her second son by her second marriage, was the celebrated Lord Darnley, who married the unfortunate Mary, Queen of Scots. She died in October, 1541, and was buried with pomp in the monastery of St. John, in Perth. The Queen's second daughter, Elizabeth, entered the world on the second of July, 1492, and ended her life on the fourteenth of November, 1495; Mary. her third daughter, remarkable for the clearness and beauty of her complexion, became the wife of Louis the Twelfth of France, and on his death married the man of her choice, harles Brandon. Duke of Suffolk. Katherine, the Princess who cost Elizabeth her life, quitted the world a few weeks after entering it, and was interred in Westminster abbey. KATHERINE OF ARRAGON, First Queen of Beurg the Eighth. CHAPTER I. Katherine s birth-Successful rule of her parents in Spain-IIer descent-Betrothment to Prince Arthur-Arrival in England-Pompous marriage-Accompanies Prince Arthur to Luullow-The Prince dies there-She then returns to London, and settles at Croydon--Her marriage to Prince Henry, afterwards Henry the Eighth, negociated-Her objections to a second marriage in England-Betrothment to Prince Henry. our ATHERINE OF ARRAGON, one of most learned and virtuous Queens, was born at the small town of Alcala de Henares, on the fifteenth of December, 1485. She entered the world about a fortnight before she was expected, her mother, Isabella of Castile, being brought to bed with her whilst on the road from the victorious Christian camp at the Moorish city of La Ronda to Toledo, then the capital of Spain, where she had intended to pass her Christmas. Ferdinand, the father of Katherine, was the son of John, King of Arragon and Sicily; and although unlearned, his sound sense, energy, and valour were such, that he rendered Spain one of the most wealthy and prosperous nations in Christendom. By his marriage with Isabella, who was sole sister and heiress to Henry the Fourth, King of Castile and Leon, he became monarch of those important possessions. Ferdinand and his wife lived together in great har mony, "and together did many admirable things and holy works." They expelled the Moors out of Granada and part of Andalusia, and throughout their victorious career they destroyed the moslems of the Mahomeds, and built Christian temples of worship in their place. The magnitude of their operations may be imagined, when it is known that the wealthy city of Granada, which did not surrender till after it had sustained a siege of ten years, was encompassed by a wall twelve miles round, in which there were twelve gates and one thousand towers, and that, at last, it took an army of twelve thousand horse and one hundred thousand foot to conquer this stubbornly-maintained city. Nor was it war against the pagan Moors only that Ferdinand and his energetic consort so successfully engaged. It was their munificence that enabled Columbus to cross the Atlantic, and discover that land where freedom and progress have taken so firm a root, and which has been rather inappropriately named America. a Katherine was the youngest child of family of five. Her mother was a descendant from Edward the Third of the removal of Warwick could be made Engiand, and a lady of great wisdom, sure, and the marriage would not be gravity, and charity, and so strictly reii- brought so near to the murder as to gious, that she daily performed the ca- shock the feelings or strengthen the unnonical and hourly prayers used by favourable judgment of mankind. priests, and made her children do the same. When four years old, Katherine was taken by her parents to Granada, where she was carefully educated, and taught Latin, and where she resided till 1501, when her long-pending marriage to Henry the Seventh's son, Prince Arthur, having been agreed upon, she quitted Granada and the glorious Alhambra, and, in September, embarked at Corunna, and, after a pleasant voyage, landed at Plymouth on the second of October. At Plymouth, Katherine was welcomed by the Duchess of Norfolk, the Earl of Surrey, and other noble personages; and on the fourth of November, King Henry proceeded in person from his palace of Shene, or Richmond, as from this period it was generally called, to meet her. At East Hampstead, the King was joined by Prince Arthur, The royal travellers pressed forward with all the speed that a bad country and rude conveyances would permit, till they reached the Downs, when, to their surprise, a deputation of Spaniards met them, and solemnly forbade them to approach the Princess, declaring that the etiquette of their nation would not allow even the bridegroom to behold his bride before she was a wife. This injunction, however, but heightened the curiosity of Henry, who, after a short consultation with his privy council, mounted his horse, and started off through a pelting November rain to the town of Dogmersfield, where the Infanta had just arrived; and, although opposed by two Spanish prelates and a count, who told This marriage was about seven years in treaty, which, says Lord Bacon, was in part caused by the tender years of the marriage couple, especially of the Prince; but the true reason was. that Henry and Ferdinand, being Princes of great policy and profound judgment, stood a great time looking one upon another's fortunes how they would go. Indeed, we are assured that Ferdinand wrote to Henry, in plain terms, that he saw no assurance of the succession as long as the unfortunate Earl of Warwick lived; and that he was loth to send his daugh-him that she had retired to her chamber, ter to troubles and dangers. Warwick, let it be understood, was the last male of the Plantagenets, Counts of Anjou, who had reigned over England for nearly four hundred years; and what is remarkable, it was not till his murder might have been foreseen, that the illomened nuptials between Arthur and Katherine were celebrated by proxy in Spain. The length of the proceedings preliminary to the matrimonial negotiation, suggests a suspicion that hard conditions were secretly sought by one of the parties; and as the espousals by proxy took place only six months before the execution of Warwick, when it was easy to see that the disorders and revolts of the kingdom would afford a pretext for involving the last of the Plantagenets in a charge of treason, it may readily be believed that the delay was purposely made till the opportune period, when he vowed that he would see her. and speak with her, even if she were in her bed. On finding further opposition of no avail, the Infanta rose and gave audience to King Henry, when, although neither could understand a word spoken by the other, they, by gestures, greeted each other with compliments and cordial welcomes. Meantime, when the King was about to depart, Prince Arthur arrived, and, to the indignation of the Spanish embassy, was introduced by his father to his betrothed. That same afternoon, Arthur and Katherine plighted their troths in person, and the unexpected adventure was closed by a dance in the evening, in which the Prince and the Princess joined. The next day, the Infanta set out for Kennington Palace, in Lambeth, where she abode till the necessary preparations were made for her marriage. The King |