rely beloved
cousin, We greet you well: And whereas it hath
pleased Almighty God, of His infinite goodness, to
add unto the great number of other His benefits
bestowed upon us, the gladding of us with the happy
deliverance of a prince, for the which we do most
humbly thank Him; knowing your affections to be
such towards us as whatsoever shall fortunately
succeed unto us, the same cannot be but acceptable
unto you also; We have thought good to communicate
unto you these happy news of ours, to the intent
you may rejoice with us; and praying for us, give
God thanks for this his work accordingly. Given
under our signet, at our house of Hampton Court,
the ---- of ----, the 1st and 2nd year of our and
my Lord the King's reign.--_MS. Mary, Domestic_,
vol. v. State Paper Office.]

On the 30th, the happy moment was supposed to have arrived; a message
was sent off to London, announcing the commencement of the pains. The
bells were set ringing in all the churches; _Te Deum_ was sung in St.
Paul's; priests wrote sermons; bonfires were piled ready for lighting,
and tables were laid out in the streets.[466] The news crossed the
Channel to Antwerp, and had grown in the transit. The great bell of
the cathedral was rung for the actual birth. The vessels in the river
fired salutes. "The regent sent the English mariners a hundred crowns
to drink," and, "they made themselves in readiness to show some worthy
triumph upon the waters."[467]

[Footnote 466: Noailles to Montmorency, April 30:
_Ambassades_, vol. iv.]

[Footnote 467: Sir Thomas Gresham to the Council:
_MS. Flanders, Mary_, State Paper Office.]

But the pains passed off without result; and whispers began to be
heard, that there was, perhaps, a mistake of a more considerable kind.
Mary, however, had herself no sort of misgiving. She assured her
attendants that all was well, and that she felt the motion of her
child. The physicians professed to be satisfied, and the priests were
kept at work at the Litanies. Up and down the streets they marched,
through city and suburb, park and square; torches flared alon