Lord Scroop: I cannot see that ye can mary him to so good a stok as my Lady Parr for divers considerations, first as remembering the wisdome of my seid Lady, and the God wise stok of the Grenes, whereof she is comen; and also of the wise stok of the Pars of Kendal, for all whiche men do looke when they do mary their child, to the wisdom of the blood of that they do mary wt; I speake not of the possibilitie of my Lady Parr's Daughter, who has but one child between her and 800 marcs land to inherit thereof, such possibilities doth oftentymes fall and I speake it because of the possibilitie that befel unto myselfe by my marriage, and therefore in mine opinion the same is to be regarded." Such weighty arguments and powerful reasoning, backed by the earnest zeal of so experienced a man of the world, went home no doubt to the business and bosom of my said Lord Scroop: and we find Lord Dacre writing to Lady Parr thus, "I have promise of my said Lord [Scroop] and of my daughter his wif that they shall not marie their son wtout my consent which they shal not have to no person but unto youe; and undoubtedly my said Lord must needs have some money, and he has nothing to make it of but only the marriage of his sd son, wherefore my full counsaill is that ye be not overr hasty." Shade of Hotspur arise, and supply us with breath for the most indignant comment! Some one has said, that next to the satisfaction derived from the prosperity of an honest man, is that derived from the confusion of a rascal. An admirable Aphorism! Friends of humanity, if you have tears for joy prepare to shed them now! Lord Dacre, to the self-assumed character of Guardian in Chivalry, had combined the duties of Equity Draftsman, and had with his own hand drawn up a short abstract of articles for a family settlement, and for Dame Maude's perusal (inter alia) the following. Item-Yf the Lady Parre wyll pay XII hundred marcs in money the feoffment to be cl after the death of the sd Lord Scrop, so that the hole ffeoffment remayne in the said Lords hands to his seid son and heir come to the of XVIII years. age Item-Of the aforesaid XII hunred marcs VI to be paid att the synying of the indentures of covenante and V hundred marcs to be payd in the II years nexte following by even porcions. Item-The seid Lord Scrop wyll not agree to repay no money after the marriage to be solemnized and executed ne to enter into no covenante by especialtye for the governance of the children during the nonage of them*." This abstract was returned to Lord Dacre, with an answer to the effect that Dame Maude should in no wise medle with the sd bargaine; and hence my Lords earnestness to impress upon her, as we have seen in his aforesaid letter, his full counsaill that she be not over hasty in refusing the proffered alliance. In the corrupted currents of this world * See Nicolson. villany oftentimes succeeds, and upon its chances Lord Dacre perhaps had calculated; but for once he was practically taught the great fact, that there is a Power above that scatters the proud in the abominations of their hearts. "The God wis stok of the Grenes whereof Maude was comen" was in this instance more than a counterpoise against so great an opposition. They would it seems have been taken in their own toils, for she only had £.400 under her father's will-a very small fortune for the daughter of a gentleman even at that day; and the one child between her and 800 marcs of land," lived to be Earl of Essex and Marquis of Northampton. Marry your Daughters in time lest they marry themselves* was a feudal maxim Dame Maude under the circumstances did not relish, although, as the sequel will shew, not wholly unimbued with its spirit. Whether Thomas Lord De Burgh† was in the same forlorn and desperate condition as Lord Scroop, "needing money and nothing to make it of but the marriage of his son" we are unable to say, certain however it is, that his eldest son Edward De Burgh or Borough, a distant relative and widower with children, soon afterwards became her husband. When or where this marriage took place is not recorded: he died in 1529, and left her a Lord Burleigh. + Mill Hon. Auth. 229 calls this her third marriage, but it is a mistake, see Fuller's Worthies, Throgmorton MSS. Speed too forgets to mention it, calling Lord Latimer's her first marriage. widow, when she was little more than fifteen years of age, she bore no child to him. As the seats of the De Burgh family were at Gainsborough in Lincolnshire, and Catterick in Yorkshire, the probability is, for we can place it no higher, that she resided for the most part at one or the other during her husband's lifetime. After his death, she withdrew for a while to her relatives the Stricklands of Sizergh Hall in her native county, and there worked the beautiful embroidered satin bed-quilt and toilette covers to be seen in the Queen's Room there. It is said somewhere, that all the yarn Penelope spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca with moths; whether these valuable webs are all our Penelope spun during her first widowhood we know not; certain it is that they have not filled our Ithaca with moths, and are themselves fresh and as free from such animalcule as if just from the loom. In the same year that she herself became a widow her own widowed mother died. Had Kateryn followed the example of her excellent mother she would have remained a widow. But when about the age of twenty, not having the fear of Tertullian before her eyes*, she was married at Hampton Court a second time to John Neville Lord Latimer, by whom she had John, who succeeded to the title and estates, and a Daughter Margaret. Lord Latimer was a man of years like De Burgh, and a * Tertullian de Monogamiâ; Taylor's Civil Law, “ Marriage." widower with children. Lady Strickland being a Nevil, and Kateryn being employed in spinning her yarn and embroidering quilts and toilet covers at Sizergh, it is not so difficult to understand as to prove at this distance of time how the match was made up and by whom. She now resided for the most part at Snape Hall in Yorkshire, the family seat of the Nevils: and was there when her husband, being a hot-brained Papist, joined the Northern Insurrection or Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536. It is clear however that at this time she was not unknown at Court. She was also at this time a member of the Church of Rome. Lord Latimer died in 1543, having, through her influence at Court, escaped the penalties of High Treason for this pilgrimage of Grace. In the same year (odd enough in her maiden name!) on the 12th of July, 1543, "As if increase of appetite had grown By what it fed on! yet within a month Let me not think! Frailty, thy name is woman! Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes She married for the third time at Hampton Court another mature widower with children King Henry the 8th. They were married publicly and in great state by Gardiner Bishop of Winchester, Mary and Elizabeth and other members of the Royal family attending. When Harry proposed to her, she was |