The unfortunate and deserted Katharine had retired to Ampthill, in Bedfordshire, where, while the divorce was yet pending, the King continued to treat her with respect and distinction; and endeavoured, by every persuasion, to engage her consent to their disunion; but she continued inflexible in maintaining the validity of her marriage, and would admit no person to her presence who did not approach her with the accustomed ceremonial. Henry, forgetful of his wonted generosity to her, employed menaces against such of her servants who complied with her commands in that particular, but could never make her relinquish her title and pretensions. A jointure was assigned her only as Princess-Dowager. She died at Kimbolton, in Huntingdonshire, on the 6th of January, 1636. A short time before she expired, she wrote a very tender letter to the King, in which she calls him her most dear Lord, King, and Husband; and conIcludes with these words-I make this vow, that mine eyes desire you above all things. The obdurate heart of Henry was softened by this last tender proof of her affection, and he wept as he perused her dying expressions, but the rival queen is said to have enjoyed this completion of her triumph, beyond what decency or humanity allowed.

Katharine was a devout and pious Princess; and latterly led a severe and mortified life. She worked much with her hands, and kept her women always employed about her. When the two legates announced their commission, she appeared before them with a skein of silk round her neck. She was buried in the cathedral church of Peterborough.

COSMO THE JUST.

COSMO I. Grand Duke of Tuscany, of the house of Medici, was born in the year 1519. His father, John de Medici, one of the most liberal men of his age, had formerly served against France, and secured victory to the arms of Charles V. in Italy; but having afterwards quitted the service of the imperialists, he attached himself to Francis I. and fought under his banners at the battle of Pavia, in which that monarch was taken prisoner. The son, of a disposition less warlike, was engaged, in opposition to him, in the interests of Charles, whom he assisted with his treasures for the purpose of retaking Metz, of which Henry II. king of France, had just made himself master. This loan consisted of 200,000 golden crowns, which were borrowed, as Voltaire says, by the possessor of Mexico of the Duke of Florence, which enabled Charles to commence the siege of Metz at the head of 50,000 men. The success of this enterprize, it is well known, did not in any manner correspond with its magnitude; and Charles was obliged to retire, without carrying the city, with the loss of the major part of his army. He was, however, no less sensible of the service received from Cosmo, and, by way of recompence, united to the duchy of Tuscany, Piombino, the island of Elbe, and other domains.

The love of letters, which may be called hereditary in the family of the Medici, rendered Cosmo I. no less celebrated than his predecessors. He attracted the notice of men of learning, attached them to his person by rewards

and distinctions, and founded the University of Pisa. The protection granted to the cause of literature was not the only benefit that resulted from the administration of Cosmo: he governed the state with great wisdom; and, if he had not the honour to be called, like the first of his name, the Father of the People, nor to be distinguished, as was Lorenzo de Medici, by the title of " the Father of the Muses," he bore his share in the glory of the one and the other. This reign of princes favourable to literature, which was likewise the reign of good monarchs, should prevent our adopting on light grounds the prejudices of certain philosophers, who have affected to fear that the protection granted to the sciences and to learned men is not conducive to the happiness of the people, and ill accords with the art of governing. Cosmo instituted, in 1562, the military order of St. Stephen. After a reign of considerable splendour, Cosmo I. died, in 1574, at the age of fifty-five, leaving a son, François Maria, the father of Mary de Medicis, wife of Henry IV. who finished a miserable life in one of those asylums open to indigence, far from the dominions of her father and of the states over which she had presided.

Voltaire speaks of a Cosmo I. Duke of Florence, who killed one of his children for having assassinated the other. This fact, he says, is strictly true, although the circumstance has been disputed by Varillas, with a very ill grace. We regret that the limits of our plan will not permit us to discuss this historical point.