ascertained. Massey, in his Treatise on the Origin of | Letters, mentions the use of reeds for writing among the Turks, Moors, and the oriental nations generally. The same author remarks, that whenever the word pen occurs in our English translation of the Old and New Testament, we must not understand it to mean a quill pen, but as an iron style or a reed, both of which the early nations used: the former was sharp at one end, like a pointed needle, and at the other end broad and blunt, to rub or scratch out what the writer wished to be erased. Styles were much used among the Romans, they were made of different metals, also of ivory or bone. Wooden styles, or skewers, were found in the inkhorns at Herculaneum. The common material of styles was, however, iron; for we find that, as the Romans were not allowed to wear arms in the city, they often, in a fit of wrath, wounded each other with the writing-style, which they carried about them; hence the origin of the Italian stiletto. Respecting the reeds which were substituted for the blunt style and wax tablet, they are described as having been small, hard, round cafes, about the size of a large swan's quill, and fashioned into shape much as we now do our quills. The supply of them used to be obtained chiefly from Egypt, Cairo, in Asia Minor, and Armenia. Chardin and Tournefort have described in their travels a sort of reed employed for this purpose, which grows in Persia, and which they considered as the best, at that time. These reeds are not originally hollow, but contain a pith, which, however, afterwards dries up in a manner similar to the membranous film in the barrels of our modern quills. These reeds are collected in some places bordering on the Persian Gulf, whence they are sent to every part of the East. They are said to be deposited for some months after they are cut, under a dunghill, when they assume a mixed black and yellow colour, acquire a fine polish and a considerable degree of hardness; this latter quality, however, is rendered of less value, by the circumstance that it is accompanied with a want of that elasticity which is so valuable a property in quill pens. This we can easily conceive, for although bamboo-reeds, and canes, are, in general, elastic in their complete form, yet when they are deprived of the internal parts by drying or any other process, the shell, or cylinder, is not likely to have much elastic property remaining. Thus, much for reed-pens, our information on which is but limited. Concerning quills, much doubt exists as to when they were first applied to the purposes of pens. An anonymous historian of Constantius says that they were so employed in the fifth century; but the oldest certain account is said to be a passage in some writings of Isidore, who died in the year 636; and who, in an enumeration of the materials used in writing, mentions reeds and feathers. There exists, also, a poem on a pen," written in the same century, and to be found in the works of Adhelinus, who died in 709, and who was the first Saxon who wrote in Latin. We supply the following translation. CONCERNING THE PEN OF THE WRITER. Strutt gives the annexed representation of the Anglo-Saxon pen and inkstand. Another writer of the fifth century, quoted by Adrian de Valois, has been considered as affording proof of the use of quill pens at that time, by the following statement :-That Theodoric, King of the Ostrogoths, was so illiterate and stupid, that during the ten years of his reign he was not able to write five letters (THEOD) at the bottom of his edicts. For this reason the letters were cut for him, (we may suppose like our modern stencil plates,) in a plate of gold, and the plate being laid upon the paper, he then traced out the letters with a pen. The Emperor Justin, who flourished about the same period, is said to have shown a similar specimen of ignorance. Alquin, the friend and teacher of Charlemagne, mentions writing pens in the eighth century. After that time, proofs exist which put the question of their use beyond dispute. Mabillon saw a manuscript Gospel of the ninth century, in which the evangelists were represented with pens in their hands. Calami properly signify the reeds used by the ancients in writing; but modern authors have often used the term as a Latin word for pen, and it has been suggested that that was probably the proper term for quills, before their application to the purposes of pens. Reeds were used for a considerable time after the introduction of pens; and in monasteries and convents were frequently used for initial letters, as they made stronger marks than quills. By some letters of Erasmus to Reuchlin, we learn that the latter sent three writing reeds to Erasmus, who expressed a wish that Reuchlin, when he could procure more, would send some to a learned friend of his in England. Erasmus lived between 1467 and 1536, and it would from this appear that quills were scarce at that time. About the period of 1430, the familiar letters of the learned men of Italy, made mention of two inconveniences to which they were subject at that time, viz.; the difficulty of making good ink, and the scarcity of good quills. the The principal birds from which quills have been obtained for making pens, are the goose, the swan, and the crow. Pelicans, and other birds, have also at different times, helped to furnish a portion of quills; but of all these, the goose has furnished by far the larger portion. So immense has become the number of quills employed, that in 1832, (notwithstanding the large consumption of steel pens,) thirtythree million, six hundred and sixty-eight thousand goose quills, were entered for home consumption, greater part of which came from the Netherlands and Germany. An immense quantity is also imported from Russia and Poland, where vast flocks of geese are fed for the sake of their quills alone. The quantity exported from St. Petersburg varies from six to twenty-seven millions. We may form some idea of the number of geese which must be required to afford the supply, when we consider that each wing produces about five good quills, and that by proper manage The shining-white pelican (bittern) which sips with open ment, a goose may afford twenty quills during the throat, year. Hence, it is obvious, that the geese of Great Britain and Ireland could afford but a small supply. The quills are the large feathers taken from the ends of the wing, and have different names according to the quality, which seem to depend principally on the part of the wing from which they are taken. The operation of preparing the quills is called quilldressing, sometimes quill-dutching. The quills as they are taken from the bird, are covered with a membranous skin, and have a toughness and softness which prevents their being easily split. They are also opaque, and the vascular membrane on the interior of the barrel adheres to it so strongly, that it is with difficulty detached. To remedy these defects, and to fit the quills for their destined purpose, is the business of the quill-dresser. He takes a large bundle of the quills, just as they are taken from the bird, and proceeds to separate them into three parcels, differing from each other in the size and quality of the quills. The value is estimated both by the length and the thickness of the barrel; those having the largest and longest, barrels being called "primes," which fetch the highest price in the market; the next best in quality are designated as "seconds," and the third, or smallest size, are called "pinions." The process of sorting being completed, the workmen proceed to "clarify" the quills, the principal object of which is to remove the membranous skin. The quills are plunged for a short time into heated sand: the heat of the sand makes the outer skin crack and peel off, which is further aided by scraping them with a sharp instrument; while, at the same time, the internal membrane becomes shrivelled up, and falls down to the point of the quill. The barrel of the quill is also hardened and rendered transparent by this process, in consequence of the heat consuming or drying up the oily matter resident in it. This latter effect is increased by repeated heatings; and when done for the purpose of hardening the quill, is called dutching, probably from the circumstance that the process was first adopted in Holland. (The term Dutch pens, is frequently applied to quills that have been passed through hot ashes, to remove the grosser fat and moisture, and to render them more transparent.) For the best pens, the process of dutching is repeated several times; but care is necessary, in order that the heating should not be carried so far as to injure the barrel. The quills after this process, are either of the colour of fine thin horn, or of an impure white; but before they are brought to market they undergo another process, with the two-fold object of giving them an uniform yellow colour, and to make them split more easily. They are dipped into diluted aquafortis or nitric acid, which has the effect desired. It is however thought by some, that this process, although it improves their beauty, injures their quality by making them too brittle, so that the slit is apt to run up on pressing with moderate firmness; for this reason, many persons who write much, such as clerks in mercantile houses, &c., frequently prefer a quill which has not undergone this process, as being more durable. The quills having been thus dressed and finished, a portion of the barb is stripped off, to occupy less room in packing, and the quills are tied up into bundles of twenty-five or fifty each, for the market. The process of preparing the quills is, however, subject to some variation. Some dressers adopt the following mode. The quills are first moistened, not by immersion, but by dipping their extremities into water, and allowing the remaining parts to absorb moisture by capillary attraction. They are then heated in the fire or in a charcoal chaffer, and are passed quickly under an instrument with a fine edge, which flattens them in such a manner as to render them apparently useless. They are then scraped and again exposed to heat, whereby they assume their original form. This is a remarkable fact, and may be illustrated by taking a feather and crushing it with the hand so as to destroy it to all appearance; if we now expose it to the action of steam or a similar temperature, it will speedily assume its former condition. Many of the quills after this preparation are cut into pens by means of the pen-cutter's knife, and are also trimmed. A pen-cutter will cut in a day two-thirds of a long thousand, consisting of 1200 according to the stationer's computation. A house in Shoe-Lane, London, cuts generally about 6,000,000 of pens yearly; and during the year 1834, notwithstanding the introduction of steel pens, it cut many more than it had done in any previous year. It is calculated by penmakers, not more than one pen in ten is ever mended. Swan-quills, which are very large in the barrel, are sometimes employed for pens, and though expensive at first, are, perhaps, not dearer ultimately than the smaller quills, their length and capacity of barrel compensating for the larger charge. Crowquills are generally employed in drawing and designing, on account of the fine point to which they can be brought. They are particularly useful in that kind of etching which is intended to imitate prints. Quills may be hardened by steeping them in alumwater, at a boiling temperature for a few minutes. There is a modern contrivance by which six or eight pens may be made out of one large quill. The | narrow end, and also the stalk of the pen being cut off, leaving the barrel only remaining, the latter has a cylinder inserted through it, a little smaller than its own diameter. It is then placed in a machine in such a way that two cutting edges pass along the barrel, one on each side, by which the quill is cut longitudinally into two semi-cylindrical halves. These pieces are then placed in a groove with the convex side undermost, and the edges are made straight and smooth by having a plane run along them. These half-cylinders of quill are then cut into three or four pieces, according to their length, and each piece is operated on by the nibbing-machine, which is a sort of cutting press. A few strokes with a pen-knife then brings each little piece to the form of a pen, which, fixed in a handle, is fit for use. THE VILLAGE CHURCH. MINE be the rude and artless pile, The ivy-mantled turret gray, Within whose old unsculptured aisle, The toil-worn peasant kneels to pray. Beneath, the footstep-graven floor. Who come to gaze and not to pray : The bard of Sion's raptured strain. But here, where lowly hearts are bowed, By toil and sorrows gentler made, Nor earth-born schemes, nor visions proud, The unambitious breast invade; More nearly is His Presence felt, For whom the Heaven of Heaven expands Its arch in vain, who never dwelt In temples built by human hands. The soul's mysterious depths are stirred, How frail the world's unhallowed thrall! LONDON: R. JOHN WILLIAM PARKER, WEST STRAND. PUBLISHED IN WEEKLY NUMBERS, PRICE ONE PENNY, AND IN MONTHLY PARTS, PRICE SIXPENCE. QUEEN ELIZABETH; HER PROGRESSES AND PUBLIC PROCESSIONS. No. II. PALACE OF PLACENTIA, AT GREENWICH, THE BIRTH-PLACE OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. BEFORE entering upon a description of the Pro- Elizabeth was born at the palace of Greenwich, on the 7th of September, 1533. Her mother, Anne Boleyn, or more properly, Bullen, the daughter of Sir Thomas Bullen, had been privately married to King Henry the Eighth, some time in the month of January of the same year; and on the 23rd of May, his previous marriage with Catherine of Arragon had been declared by Archbishop Cranmer, to have been from the beginning, null and invalid. : The birth of Elizabeth was the occasion of much joy; in the account of a contemporary chronicler, we have a very lively and interesting description of the ceremonies which attended her christening :The 7th of September being Sunday, between three and foure of the clocke at afternoone, the Queene was delivered of a faire ladie; for whose good deliverance Te Deum was sung incontinently, and great preparation was made for the christning. The maior, and his brethren, and fortie of the chief citizens, were commanded to be at the christning of the Wednesdaie following. Upon which daie, the maior, Sir Stephen Peacocke, in a gowne of crimosin velvet, with his collar of esses, and all the aldermen in scarlet with collars and chains, and all the councell of the cittie with them, tooke their barge at one of the clocke; and the citiVOL. XII. zens had another barge, and so rowed to Greenwich, where were many lords, knights, and gentlemen assembled. All the walles between the king's pallace and the Fryers were hanged with arras, and all the way strewed with greene rushes. The Fryers church was also hanged with rich arras; the font was of silver, and stoode in the midst of the church three steps high, which was covered with a fine cloth; and divers gentlemen with aprones and towels about their neckes, gave attendance about it, that no filth should come to the fonte; over it hung a square canopie of crimosin sattin fringed with golde; about it was a rayle, covered with a redde saie; between the queere and body of the church was a close place with a pan of fire to make the childe readie. When all things had been thus arranged, the child was brought to the hall, and the procession set forward. First went the citizens two and two; then the gentlemen, esquires, and chaplains; "next after them, the aldermen and the maior alone, and next the kinges counsell; then the kinges chappel in coaps; then barons, bishops, earles." The earl of Essex,-the last of the Bourchiers who had that title, bore the covered basons gilt; after him, with a taper of virgin wax, came the marquess of Exeter, who was put to death by Henry three years afterwards; then the marquess of Dorset, (the father of Lady Jane Grey,) with the salt, and behind him the Lady Mary of Norfolk "bearing the crisome, which was very rich of pearle and stone." The child was borne by the dowager duchess of Norfolk, in a mantle of purple velvet, with a long train furred with ermine. On the right of the duchess was the duke of Norfolk with his marshal's rod, and on her left the duke of Suffolk; before went officers of arms; and afterwards came the countess of Kent, and the earls of Wiltshire and Derby supporting the train. Over the child was a rich canopy, borne by the Lord Rochford, the Lord Hussey, the Lord William Howard, and the 356 Lord Thomas Howard the elder. And lastly, came many ladies and gentlemen. When the childe was come to the church doore, the Byshop of London* met it with divers byshoppes and abbots mitered, and beganne the observances of the sacrament. The god-father was Lorde Thomas Archbyshoppe of Canterburier; the god mothers were the olde Dutchesse of Norfolk and the olde Marchionesse of Dorset, widdowes; and the child was named ELIZABETH: and after that all things were done at the church doore, the child was brought to the font and christned; and that done, Gartar chiefe king of armes cryed aloud, “God of his infinit goodnessc send prosperous life and long to the high and mighty princess of England, ELIZABETH!" And then the trumpets blew; then the childe was brought up to the altar and the Gospell said over it. After that, immediately the Archbyshop of Canterburie confirmed it, the Marchionesse of Excester being god-mother: then the Byshop of Canterburie gave unto the Princesse a standing cup of golde; the Dutchesse of Norfolke gave to her a standing cup of golde fretted with pearle; the Marchionesse of Dorset gave three gilt boles pounced with a cover; and the Marchionesse of Excester gave three standing boles graven all gilt with a cover. Then was brought in wafers, confects, and ipocrasse, in such plentie, that every man had as much as hee coulde desire: then they set forwarde, the trumpets afore going in the same order towards the Kinges pallace, as they did when they came thitherwarde, &c. The mayor and aldermen received the King's thanks in his chamber through the dukes of Suffolk and Norfolk; " and from thence they were had to the seller, and dranke, and so went to their barge." Elizabeth was not three years old when her mother was beheaded. It was on the 19th of May, 1536, that Queen Anne Boleyn was executed on the green before the Tower of London; the marriage of Henry the Eighth with Jane Seymour taking place on the next day. Very soon after the birth of Elizabeth, an Act of Parliament had been passed, declaring that if her mother should die, without leaving any male issue, the crown should descend, on the death of the king, to her and her heirs; thus the princess was placed in the order of succession, not only before the Princess Mary, the daughter of the degraded Queen Catharine, but likewise before even any male issue of the king by a future queen. This arrangement was speedily disturbed upon the death of Queen Anne Boleyn; an act being passed soon after the king's marriage with Jane Seymour, annulling his second marriage as well as his first, and consequently rendering the Princess Elizabeth, as well as the Princess Mary, incapable of succeeding to the crown, which it settled upon Henry's issue by Queen Jane or by any future wife whom he might marry. nor my self, nor none of hers that I have the rewl of that is her women and har gromes: besychyng yow to be good Lord to my Lady and to al hers: And that she may have som rayment; for she hath neither gown, nor kertel, nor petecot, nor no manner of linnin for smokes, nor cerchefes, nor sleves, nor rayls, nor body-stychets, nor handeerchers, nor mofelers, nor begens. All thys har Graces Mostake, I have dreven of as long as I can, that be my trothe I cannot drive it no longer, besechyng yow, my Lord, that ye wel see that her Grace may have that is nedful for har, as my Trost es ye wel do. Beseeching yow, my owen good Lord, that I may know from yow be conting how I shal order my self; and what es the kyng's Graces pleser and yours, that I shal do in every thing. And whatsom ever it shall ples the kyng's Grace or your Ludship to command me at all teyms, I shal folfel et, to the best of my power. There appears to have been some misunderstanding between the Lady Governess and one Mr. Shelton, who was chief of the house at Hunsdon. Lady Brian seems to press very strongly for the interference of Lord Cromwell. My Lord, Mr. Shelton saythe he es Master of thys Hows; what fashion that shal be I cannot tel: for I have not sen et afor. My Lord, ye be so honourable your self, and every man reportethe your Lordsychep lovethe honour that I trust your Lordship will se thys Hows honerabely ordered, how som ever it hath been aforetime, and ef it be not performed, I shal sertify to your Lordship of it. et plese yow, that I may know what your Order is, and if For I fear me it wil be hardly inow performed, for ef the head of ...... knew what honour meaneth, et wel be the beter ordered: ef not it will be hard to bring it to pass. the anxiety of the "discreet lady Governess," as The next paragraph of the letter displays strongly Strype calls her, for the health of her charge, and the extreme imprudence of Master Shelton in meddling with matters which did not concern him. My Lord, Master Shelton wold have my Lady Elizabeth estate.] Alas! my Lord, it is not meet for a child of har to dine and sup every day at the bord of Astat [board of ag [her age], to kepe such rewl yet. I promes you, my Lord, I dare not take et upon me to kepe har Grace in helthe and she keep that rule: for ther she shal se dyvers mets and freuts, and wine: which would be hard for me to refryn her Grace from et. Ye know, my Lord, there is no place of corekcyon ther. And she es yet to young to correct greatly. I know wel, and she be ther I shal nother bryng her up to the king's graces honour nor hers; nor to har helthe nor my pore honesty. Wherfore I shew your Lordship this my descharg, besycheyng you, my Lord, that my Lady may have a mess of met to har owen logyng, with a good dish or two that is meet for her Grace to et of: and the reversion of the mess shal satisfy al her wemen, a gentleman usher and a groom. Which been eleven persons on her side. Suer I am et wil be (in to right little) as great profit to the king's Grace this way as the t'other way. For if al this should be set abroad, they must have three or four mess of meat, where this one mess shal suffice them al with afore; and to be ordered in al things, as her Grace was afore. After the execution of her ill-fated mother, the young Princess Elizabeth seems to have been greatly neg-bread and drink, according as my Lady Maries Grace had lected by her father. Some very curious information concerning the condition to which she was then reduced, and the "ill case," to use Strype's expression, in which she was left, has been handed down to us in a letter printed by Sir Henry Ellis, in his second series of Original Letters. It is addressed by Lady Brian, the governess of the Lady Elizabeth, to Lord Cromwell, from Hunsdon, for instructions concerning her after the death of Queen Anne, her mother. After some preliminary remarks, the Lady Governess thus proceeds: My Lord, when my Lady Marys Grace was born, et pleased the King's Grace to appoint me Lady Mastres; and made me a Barones. And so I have been our . . . . . to the Cheldern hes Grace have had sens. Now et es so my Lady Elizabethe is put from that degre she was afore: and what degree she is at now I know not bot be heryng say; therefor I know not how to order her * Dr. John Stokesley, who held the see from 1530 to 1540. Dr. Thomas Cranmer, who was primate from 1532 till 1553, and in 1656 suffered at the stake under Mary, The description which is contained in this letter of the manners and disposition of the young princess at so early an age, is assuredly not the least interesting part of it. pain with her great teeth, and they come very slowly forth : God knoweth (says the governess) my Lady hath great and causeth me to suffer her Grace to have her wil more than I would; I trust to God and her teeth were wel graft, to have her Grace after another fashion than she is yet: so as I trust the King's Grace shal have great comfort in her Grace. For she is as toward a child, and as gentle of conditions as ever I knew one in my leyf. Jesu preserve her Grace. As for a day or two at a hey teym or whan som I trost so to indever me, that shee shal so do as shal be to ever it shal please the King's Grace to have her set abrod, the King's honeur and hers: and then after to take her ease again. The letter then concludes thus : I think master Shelton wil not be content with this. He may not know it is my desier; but that et es the Kyng's plesure, and yours it should be so. Good my Lord, have my Lady's Grace, and us that be her poor servants, in your rememberance. And your Lordship shal have our harty prayers by the Grace of Jesu: ho ever preserve your Lordship with long life, and as myche honer as your nobel hart can desire. From Hunsdon with the evil hand of har that is your daily bead-woman MARGET BRYAN. The superscription is "To the ryght nobel and my syngeler good Lord my Lord Prive Sel, be thys delyverd." Of the manner in which the Princess Elizabeth was brought up during the remainder of her father's reign, we have scarcely any information. There is extant a record of that period, which furnishes an interesting memorial of her skill and industry at a very early age. It is to be found among the Cottonian Manuscripts, in a list of New Year's Gifts to Prince Edward, in the 30th of Henry VIII. (1539.) The king and his nobles gave principally plate. The Lady Mary's Grace gave a coat of crimson satten, embroidered with gold, with paunses of pearls, and sleeves of tinsel, and four aglets of gold. The LADY ELIZABETH'S GRACE gave a shyrte of Cam'yke, of HER OWNE WOORKYNGE." She was then only in her sixth year. Queen Catharine Parr, the last and most fortunate of Henry's queens, is said to have paid considerable attention to the education of both the young princesses Mary and Elizabeth. Their position was greatly bettered by the act which was passed for the settlement of the Crown, soon after her marriage with the king in 1544, and by which they were both declared capable of succeeding to the throne on certain conditions, after the failure of the king's male issue. We It was Our engraving represents the ancient palace of Placentia at Greenwich, in which Elizabeth was born. Grenewic or Grenevic, as this place was called by the Saxons, is literally the green village, meaning perhaps, as Lysons suggests, the village on the green. have traces of a royal residence at this place, as early as the year 1300, when Edward I. made an offering of seven shillings at each of the holy crosses in the chapel of the Virgin Mary, and the Prince made an offering of half that sum. Henry IV. dates his will in 1408, from his manor of Greenwich. Henry V. granted this manor for life to Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, who died at Greenwich in 1426. soon afterwards granted by Henry VI. to his uncle Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, (the youngest son of Henry IV.) who, in 1433, had the royal licence to fortify and embattle his manor-house, and to make a park of two hundred acres. Soon after this, the duke rebuilt the palace, calling it Placentia, or the Manor of Pleasaunce; he enclosed the park also, and erected within it a tower on the spot where the Obser: vatory now stands. Upon the Duke of Gloucester's death, which happened in 1447, this manor reverted to the Crown. Edward IV. took great pleasure in finishing and enlarging the palace; and for that purpose, expended a considerable sum. In 1466, he granted the manor with the palace and park, to his queen, Elizabeth, for life. In his reign, the marriage of his youthful son Richard, Duke of York, (afterwards murdered with his brother, Edward V., in the Tower,) with Anne Mowbray, daughter and sole heir of the Duke of Norfolk, was solemnized at Greenwich with great splendour. Henry VII. resided much at this palace; his second son, Prince Henry, (afterwards Henry VIII.,) and his third son, Edmund Tudor, created Duke of Somerset, were born there. Lambarde, the author of the Perambulation of Kent, says that this monarch beautified the palace by the addi tion of a brick front towards the water side; and Stow mentions his repairing the palace in 1501.. This Henry the Eighth was born at Greenwich, on the 28th of June, 1491, and was baptized in the parish church by Richard Fox, Bishop of Exeter, Lord Privy Seal; the Earl of Oxford, and Peter Courteney, Bishop of Winchester, being his godfathers. monarch, from partiality, perhaps, to the place of his birth, neglected Eltham, which had been the favourite residence of his ancestors, and bestowed great cost upon Greenwich, till he made it, as Lambarde says, "a pleasant, perfect, and princely palaice." During his reign it became one of the principal scenes of that festivity for which his court was celebrated. marriage with his first queen, Catharine of Arragon was solemnized at Greenwich on the 3rd of June, 1509. On May-day, and the following two days, in the year 1511, tournaments were held there; the His In king himself, Sir Edward Howard, Charles Brandon, and Edward Neville, challenging all comers. 1512, the king kept his Christmas at Greenwich, "with great and plentiful cheer;" and again in 1513, "with great solemnity, dancing, disguisings, and mummers in a most princely manner," among which was introduced the first masquerade ever seen in England. On the 13th of May, 1515, the marriage of Mary queen dowager of France, (Henry's sister) with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, was solemnized publicly at Greenwich. Tournaments were held there in 1517, 1526, and 1536; the king kept his Christmas there in 1521, "with great nobleness and open court," and again in 1525. In 1527 he received the French embassy at this place; and the same year kept his Christmas here" with revels, masks, disguisings, and banquets royal;" as he again did in 1533, in 1537, and in 1543. In the last-mentioned year he entertained twenty-one of the Scottish nobility whom he had taken prisoners at Solway Moss, and gave them their liberty without ransom. Edward the Sixth kept his Christmas at Greenwich, in 1552, George Ferrers, Esq., of Lincoln's Inn, being "Lorde of the merrie disporte." It has been reasonably supposed that the festivities in which he indulged on this occasion, and which were of a character wholly unsuited to his age and constitution, contributed to bring about his death shortly afterwards *; he died at Greenwich Palace on the 6th of July following. Queen Mary was born at Greenwich, in February, 1516; and baptized there a few days after her birth, Cardinal Wolsey being her godfather, and the Lady Catharine and the Duchess of Norfolk her godmothers. Of Elizabeth's birth at this palace, and of the solemnities which accompanied her christening, we have before spoken. When she ascended the throne, Greenwich became her favourite Summer residence; she also visited it occasionally at other seasons of the year. Of the manner in which she kept her court there, and of other particulars concerning this spot, we shall speak hereafter. No part of the Palace represented in our engraving in now standing. Charles the Second pulled it all down, it having become much decayed; he intended to raise a nobler structure on the same spot, but succeeded in erecting only one wing, which forms that part of the present Hospital, commonly called King Charles's Building. "Their dangerous excitement, their fatiguing joyousness, their late hours and table indulgences, were immediately followed by a consumptive cough, so alarming and exhausting, that the lord of misrule and his merry tumults may be more justly supposed to have produced the fatal change in the king's ever-delicate health, than either grief for his lost uncles, or poison from Northumberland in that nosegay of sweet flowers which was presented to him as a great dainty on new year's day.'"-SHARON TURNER |