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friendly relations with her sister at that period, and took part in the festivities. She sat beside the queen at the state supper which was given in the great hall of Westminster, and attended by an assembly of English, Flemish, and Spanish nobles.

    Mary of England.
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    The queen's illness had rendered her incapable of governing, so she can scarcely be held accountable for the cruel executions that took place, though she certainly took on measures to prevent them. Philip was the real sove-

    DEATH OF LATIMER AND RIDLEY.
    reign, and viewed the burning of the two or three hundred martyrs of the Protestant Church with remarkable complacency.
    Fortunately for Bishop Coverdale, the translator of the English Bible, the King of Denmark wrote Queen Mary a

    letter claiming him for a subject, otherwise he too would have died at the stake.
    [A.D. 1555.] The sudden and unexpected abdication of the Emperor Charles V. called King Philip to Spain to receive the S-jptre, and before he left Queen Mary removed from Hampton Court to Greenwich Palace. But whether in England or out of it, Philip was certainly ruler so long as his wife lived, and minute accounts of all church and state affairs were submitted to him during his absence. No power was legally given to him by parliament, but he coolly took it, and gave important orders without so much as consulting the queen.
    When not under her husband's bad influence Mary restored some wise laws, and the fact that insurrections ceased in her reign proves that the poor were not so destitute as they had been during the lives of her father and brother.
    Queen Mary was so ill throughout the rest of the year 1555 that she remained quietly at Greenwich, sometimes making excursions to the country, when she would enter the cottages of the poor and relieve their wants without revealing her identity. This was during Philip's absence; he returned for a short time in 1557 for the purpose of trying to involve England in a war with France. But Mary's finances were at a low ebb, and she did not feel justified in involving her kingdom in the expenses of a war. Philip's army was mustering near Calais, and in order to gratify him with as little cost as possible, she pardoned all the rebels in her prisons on condition that they would join it also. She raised money by borrowing small sums from those of her citizens who had any to spare, and paying them an enormous interest. Philip left England in the summer and never saw his wife again. He succeeded in taking possession of Calais, but the French gained it back a few months later.

    Queen Mary was in a most feeble condition when the Scotch made an invasion in the north of England, nevertheless she expressed her determination to head her army in person. She had all the energy required for such an exploit, but was soon convinced that her bodily health forbade it. Her troops, under Northumberland and Westmoreland, repulsed the Scotch and gained a decided victory over them.
    The rest of Queen Mary's life was filled with schemes for the recovery of Calais, a town highly prized by the English, because it was such an excellent spot for them to land whenever they desired to invade France. So many disputes were the result that, in her perplexity, Mary declared, "that should she die Calais would be found written upon her heart if her breast were opened."
    [A.D. 1558.] Her death was nearer than she suspected, for she contracted a malarial fever in the autumn of 1558, from which she did not recover. King Philip sent a message and a ring by Count de Feria when he heard of his wife's illness, and proposed that she should take measures for th€ recognition of her sister Elizabeth as her successor. Mary complied ; and no sooner had she done so than her whole court flocked to Hatfield, anxious to prove their devotion to the princess who was soon to become their sovereign.
    While the last services of the church were being performed for her, on the morning of November 17, Queen Mary