"Sir, quoth I," so Mason reported the conversation, "I have from herself nothing to say, for she will not confess the matter till it be proved to her face; but by others I understand, to my great joy, that her garments wax very straight. I never doubted, quoth he, of the matter, but that God, that for her had wrought so many miracles, would make the same perfect to the assisting of nature to his good and most desired work: and I warrant it shall be, quoth he, a man-child. Be it man, quoth I, or be it woman, welcome it shall be; for by that we shall be at the least come to some certainty to whom God shall appoint by succession the government of our estates."—Mason to the King and Queen, November 9: Tytler, vol. ii. p. 444.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 384: Paget and Hastings to the Queen: Ibid. p. 459[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 385: Neantmoins il sera necessaire achever avec elle selon l'advis de vostre Majesté.—Renard to the Emperor: Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 386: Dio gran tempo perduto e hora ritrovato.—Descriptio Reductionis Angliæ: Epist. Reg. Pol. vol. v.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 387: Imbarcatosi adunque sua S. R. ad un hora di giorno, passo a Doure nell' Isola in tre hore et mezza che fu camino di quaranta miglia fatto con extraordinaria prestezza.—Epist. Reg. Pol. vol. v.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 388: "Tu es Polus, qui aperis nobis Polum regni cælorum. Aer, flumina, terra, parietes ipsi, omnia denique te desiderant. Quamdiu abfuisti omnia fuerunt tristia et adversa. In adventu tuo, omnia rident, omnia læta, omnia tranquilla." I have endeavoured to preserve the play on the word Polus, altering the meaning as little as the necessities of translation would allow. It has been suggested to me that the word "parietes" implies properly internal walls, and the allusion was to the defacement of the cathedral.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 389: "Cardinalis cum reginam salutaret, nec ulla humana verba occurrerent tali muliere digna, Sanctis Scripturarum verbis abuti non verebatur, sed in primo congressu iisdem quibus matrem Dei salutavit Angelus, Reginam Polus alloquitur, Ave Maria," etc.—Salkyns to Bullinger: Epistolæ Tigurinæ, p. 169.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 390: "Il Signor Legato rispose che Dio havea voluto, che fusse tardato a tempo piú maturo, perchè egli havesse potuto dire a sua Altezza come diceva Benedictus fructus ventris tui."—Descriptio Reductionis Angliæ.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 391: Descriptio Reductionis Angliæ.[(Back to Main Text)]
Footnote 392: The queen's assurances respecting her child were so emphatic, that even Noailles believed her. Profane persons were still incredulous. On Sunday the 25th, the day after the Te Deums, Noailles says, "S'est trouve ung placard attaché à la porte de son palais, y estant ces mots en substance: 'serons nous si bestes, oh nobles Angloys, que croy renotre reyne estre enciente si non d'un marmot ou d'un dogue?'"[(Back to Main Text)]