ded Catholic, or,
rather, she evinced a certain strict adherence to the principles of her
religious faith, which we generally call firmness when it is exhibited
by those whose opinions agree with our own, though we are very apt to
name it bigotry in those who differ from us.

For instance, when the body of young Edward, her brother, after his
death, was to be deposited in the last home of the English kings in
Westminster Abbey, which is a very magnificent cathedral a little way up
the river from London, the services were, of course, conducted according
to the ritual of the English Church, which was then Protestant. Mary,
however, could not conscientiously countenance such services even by
being present at them. She accordingly assembled her immediate
attendants and personal friends in her own private chapel, and
celebrated the interment there, with Catholic priests, by a service
conformed to the Catholic ritual. Was it a bigoted, or only a firm and
proper, attachment to her own faith, which forbade her joining in the
national commemoration? The reader must decide; but, in deciding, he is
bound to render the same verdict that he would have given if it had been
a case of a Protestant withdrawing thus from Catholic forms.

At all events, whether bigoted or not, Mary was doubtless sincere; but
she was so cold, and stern, and austere in her character, that she was
very little likely to be loved. There were a great many persons who
wished to become her husband, but their motives were to share her
grandeur and power. Among these persons, the most prominent one, and the
one apparently most likely to succeed, was a prince of Spain. His name
was Philip.

[Illustration: PORTRAIT OF PHILIP OF SPAIN.]

It was his father's plan, and not his own, that he should marry Queen
Mary. His father was at this time the most wealthy and powerful monarch
in Europe. His name was Charles. He is commonly called in history
Charles V. of Spain. He was not only King of Spain, but Emperor of
Germany. He resided sometimes at Madrid, and sometimes at Brussels in
Flanders. His son Philip had been married to a Portuguese princess, but
his wife had died, and thus Philip was a widower. Still, he was only
twenty-seven years of age, but he was as stern, severe, and repulsive in
his manners as Mary. His personal appearance, too, corresponded with his
character. He was a very decided Catholic also, and in his natural
spirit, haughty, ambitious, and domineeri