[577] S. R. Maitland, Essays on Subjects Connected with the Reformation, p. 422.
[578] Vol. v., p. 765.
[579] Vol. viii., p. 482.
[580] Essays on Subjects Connected with the Reformation, p. 423, by S. R. Maitland, D.D., F.R.S., F.S.A., sometime Librarian to the late Archbishop of Canterbury, and Keeper of the MSS. at Lambeth.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE FORSAKEN QUEEN.
Mary had gone into retirement at Hampton Court, in the spring of 1555, and had refused to relinquish the cherished hope of maternity, till long after her physicians had pronounced that hope vain. But at last in August, she yielded to entreaties, and consented to remove to Oatlands, ostensibly that the palace which the court had inhabited for so many months might undergo a thorough cleansing, the rushes be changed and the floors washed.
The despatches of the Venetian ambassador, Giovanni Michiel, are very important and interesting, as regards the history of the next two years. As he was neither a passionately devoted friend of the Queen, like Renard, nor a malicious foe, such as de Noailles, his correspondence has a special value. Writing in his direct manner to the Doge and Senate, on the 3rd August, he says:—