the ruthless violence of its oppressor.

There was still another cause of Mary's unpopularity. The daughter of
Katharine of Aragon could not fail to be nurtured in a reverence for the
illustrious line from which she was descended. The education begun in
the cradle was continued in later years. When the young princess was
betrothed to her cousin, Charles the Fifth, it was stipulated that she
should be made acquainted with the language and the institutions of
Castile, and should even wear the costume of the country. "And who,"
exclaimed Henry the Eighth, "is so well fitted to instruct her in all
this as the queen, her mother?" Even after the match with her imperial
suitor was broken off by his marriage with the Portuguese infanta,
Charles still continued to take a lively interest in the fortunes of his
young kinswoman; while she, in her turn, naturally looked to the
emperor, as her nearest relative, for counsel and support. Thus drawn
towards Spain by the ties of kindred, by sympathy, and by interest, Mary
became in truth more of a Spanish than an English woman; and when all
this was completed by the odious Spanish match, and she gave her hand to
Philip the Second, the last tie seemed to be severed which had bound her
to her native land. Thenceforth she remained an alien in the midst of
her own subjects.--Very different was the fate of her sister and
successor, Elizabeth, who ruled over her people like a true-hearted
English queen, under no influence, and with no interests distinct from
theirs. She was requited for it by the most loyal devotion on their
part; while round her throne have gathered those patriotic recollections
which, in spite of her many errors, still render her name dear to
Englishmen.

On the death of her sister, Elizabeth, without opposition, ascended the
throne of her ancestors. It may not be displeasing to the reader to see
the portrait of her sketched by the Venetian minister at this period, or
rather two years earlier, when she was twenty-three years of age. "The
princess," he says, "is as beautiful in mind as she is in body; though
her countenance is rather pleasing from its expression, than
beautiful.[254] She is large and well-made; her complexion clear, and of
an olive tint; her eyes are fine, and her hands, on which she prides
herself, small and delicate. She has an excellent genius, with much
address and self-command, as was abundantly shown in the severe trials
to which she was exposed in the