May, 1538] LOUISE DE GUISE
On his recovery, Castillon, who had been looking on with some amusement while the Emperor's folk were "busy brewing marriages," approached His Majesty with flattering words, and tried to instil suspicions of Cromwell into his mind. Henry swallowed the bait greedily, and the French Ambassador's remarks on his favourite's "great Spanish passion" rankled in his mind to so great an extent that he sent for Cromwell and rated him soundly, telling him that he was quite unfit to meddle in the affairs of Kings. The wily Frenchman, satisfied that the only way of managing this wayward monarch was to make him fall in love, took advantage of his present mood to speak to him of the Queen of Scotland's sister, Louise de Guise, whom he described as being quite as beautiful as herself, with the additional advantage of being a maid, and not a widow. Henry, who was on his way to Mass when Castillon made this suggestion, slapped him familiarly on the back, and laughed, saying he must hear more of this young lady. The next day the Comptroller of the King's Household was sent to ask the Ambassador for particulars about Mademoiselle de Guise, and was told that she was so like Madame de Longueville that you would hardly know the sisters apart, and that a Scotchman who had seen both, wondered how King James could prefer Mary to so lovely a creature as Louise. The French Ambassador now found himself overwhelmed with attentions. The King sent him presents of venison and artichokes from his gardens, invited him to spend Sunday at Greenwich, and, when the plague broke out in London, lent him the beautiful old house in Chelsea which had belonged to Sir Thomas More, as a country residence.[191]
The wedding of King James was finally celebrated at Châteaudun on the 9th of May, and, hearing that the Duke of Guise and his fair daughter Louise had accompanied the new Queen to Havre, Henry sent Philip Hoby across the Channel to see Mademoiselle de Guise and have her picture painted. These orders were duly executed, and Louise's portrait, probably painted by Holbein, was placed in the King's hands. But, although Henry "did not find the portrait ugly," he was now anxious to see Louise's younger sister, Renée, who was said to be still more beautiful, and would not be put off when Castillon told him that she was about to take the veil in a convent at Reims.
"No doubt," remarked Montmorency, the Constable of France, "as King Henry has made himself Pope in his own country, he would prefer a nun to any other Princess."[192]
Nothing would now satisfy Henry but that the French King or Queen should meet him at Calais with the Duke of Guise's daughters, Mademoiselle de Lorraine, and Mademoiselle de Vendôme, who had all been recommended to his notice. When the English Envoy, Brian, proposed this to Queen Eleanor, she replied indignantly that she was not a keeper of harlots, and the Constable told Castillon once more that French Princesses were not to be trotted out like hackneys at a fair. At last the Ambassador, tired of repeating that this plan was impossible, asked Henry if the Knights of King Arthur's Round Table had ever treated ladies in such a fashion. This brought the King to his senses. He reddened and hesitated, and, after rubbing his nose for some moments, said that his proposal might have sounded a little uncivil, but he had been so often deceived in these matters that he could trust no one but himself.[193]
Still Henry would not give up all hope of winning the fair Louise, and towards the end of August he sent Philip Hoby on a fresh errand to Joinville. As before, he was to take Holbein with him, and, after viewing well the younger sister, ask the Duchess of Guise for leave to take the portraits of both her daughters, Louise and Renée, "in one faire table." Hoby was to explain that he had business in these parts, and that, since he had already made acquaintance with Mademoiselle de Guise at Havre, he could not pass Joinville without saluting her. On leaving Joinville he was to proceed to the Duke of Lorraine's Court, and inform him that the Lord Privy Seal, having heard that His Excellency had a daughter of excellent quality, begged that the King's painter might be allowed to take her portrait. On the 30th of August the travellers reached Joinville, as we learn from the following letter addressed by the Duchess of Guise to her eldest daughter in Scotland:
Aug., 1538] HOLBEIN AT JOINVILLE
"It is but two days since the King of England's gentleman who was at Havre, and the painter, were here. The gentleman came to see me, pretending that he was on his way to find the Emperor, and, having heard that Louise was ill, would not pass by without inquiring after her, that he might take back news of her health to the King his master. He begged to be allowed to see her, which he did, although it was a day when the fever was on her, and repeated the same words which he had already said to me. He then told me that, as he was so near Lorraine, he meant to go on to Nancy to see the country. I have no doubt that he was going there to draw Mademoiselle's portrait, in the same way that he has drawn the others, and so I sent down to the gentleman's lodgings, and found that the said painter was there. Since then they have been at Nancy, where they spent a day and were well feasted and entertained, and at every meal the maître d'hôtel ate with them, and many presents were made them. That is all I know yet, but you see that, at the worst, if you do not have your sister for a neighbour, you may yet have your cousin."[194]
This time Hoby's journey was evidently unsuccessful. Louise was ill of intermittent fever, and Renée had already been sent to the convent at Reims, where she was afterwards professed; and it is clear from Antoinette's letters that she had no wish to marry either of her daughters to Henry. A month before, on the 3rd of August, she wrote to the Queen of Scotland: "I have heard nothing more of the proposals which you know of"; and again on the 18th: "I have begged your father to speak of these affairs to the King, that we may be rid of them if possible, for no one could ever be happy with such a man."[195]