s in that drama
have been compelled themselves to declare themselves.

Illustration: PLATE 32
KING HENRY VIII
(_Life-study; probably for the Whitehall Painting_)
_Chalks. Munich Collection_

To crown the King's pride, and to the no less intense delight of the
whole nation which saw in this event the rainbow of every promise, at
Hampton Court, on the 12th of October, 1537, Queen Jane Seymour gave
birth to the son who was to reign so briefly as Edward VI. And it was
doubtless in connection with this happy circumstance that the King
commissioned Holbein's design for a truly royal piece of goldsmith's
work. This drawing, generally known as "the Jane Seymour cup," is at
Oxford, in the Bodleian Library (Plate 33).

No sketch of the artist's powers would be even barely complete without a
realising sense of their versatility. And in this design Holbein has more
than equalled the highest achievement of his great contemporary, Benvenuto
Cellini, at this time in the service of the French Court. The initials
of the King and Queen, H. and J., and the exceedingly judicious motto of
the latter--"Bound to obey and to serve"--are recurring devices. But it
is in the originality and unflawed beauty of the whole--the springing
grace of outline, the taste and cunning with which flowers of gold
naturally bloom into gems and pearls, the combination of freest, richest
fancy with every restraint of a pure taste--that the perfection of this
little masterpiece consists.

Illustration: PLATE 33
DESIGN FOR "THE JANE SEYMOUR CUP"
_Bodleian Library_

In the midst of all the public rejoicings, the Te Deums, feasts, and
bonfires, came the thunderclap of the young mother's death. Some
negligence had permitted her to take cold, and on the twelfth day after
his coveted heir was born, Henry VIII. was once again a widower. The
Court went into deepest mourning until the 3rd of February. But Thomas
Cromwell was very shortly authorised to take secret steps to ascertain
what Princess might most suitably fill the late Queen's vacant place and
strengthen the assurance of an unbroken succession.

Choice fell at first on a Roman Catholic--Christina, the sixteen-year-old
widow of Francis Sforza Duke of Milan, who had died in the autumn of
1535. The upshot of private inquiries was that Holbein was sent over to
Brussels in March, 1538, to bring back a portrait of this daughter of
Christian of Denmark and niece of Charles V. And although the painte