uly, and she remained in Woodstock more than a year, not,
however, always very closely confined. At Christmas she was taken to
court, and allowed to share in the festivities and rejoicings. On this
occasion--it was the first Christmas after the marriage of Mary and
Philip--the great hall of the palace was illuminated with a thousand
lamps. The princess sat at table next to the king and queen. She was on
other occasions, too, taken away for a time, and then returned again to
her seclusion at Woodstock. These changes, perhaps, only served to make
her feel more than ever the hardships of her lot. They say that one day,
as she sat at her window, she heard a milk-maid singing in the fields,
in a blithe and merry strain, and said, with a sigh, that she wished she
was a milk-maid too.

King Philip, after his marriage, gradually interested himself in her
behalf, and exerted his influence to have her released; and Mary's
ministers had frequent interviews with her, and endeavored to induce her
to make some confession of guilt, and to petition Mary for release as a
matter of mercy. They could not, they said, release her while she
persisted in her innocence, without admitting that they and Mary had
been in the wrong, and had imprisoned her unjustly. But the princess was
immovable. She declared that she was perfectly innocent, and that she
would never, therefore, say that she was guilty. She would rather remain
in prison for the truth, than be at liberty and have it believed that
she had been guilty of disloyalty and treason.

At length, one evening in May, Elizabeth received a summons to go to the
palace and visit Mary in her chamber. She was conducted there by
torch-light. She had a long interview with the queen, the conversation
being partly in English and partly in Spanish. It was not very
satisfactory on either side. Elizabeth persisted in asserting her
innocence, but in other respects she spoke in a kind and conciliatory
manner to the queen. The interview ended in a sort of reconciliation.
Mary put a valuable ring upon Elizabeth's finger in token of the
renewal of friendship, and soon afterward the long period of restraint
and confinement was ended, and the princess returned to her own estate
at Hatfield in Hertfordshire, where she lived some time in seclusion,
devoting herself, in a great measure, to the study of Latin and Greek,
under the instructions of Roger Ascham.

CHAPTER VI.

ACCESSION TO THE THRONE

1555-1