r, with
an increase of the income when she became Queen.

But it was not all plain sailing yet. Ferdinand considered that Henry had
tricked him about the amount and form of the dowry, but the fear that the
King of France might induce the English to enter into a new alliance with
him kept Ferdinand ostensibly friendly. In the summer of 1598 two special
Spanish ambassadors arrived in London, and saw the King for the purpose of
confirming him in the alliance with their sovereigns, and, if we are to
believe Puebla's account of the interview, both Henry and his Queen
carried their expressions of veneration for Ferdinand and Isabel almost to
a blasphemous extent. Henry, indeed, is said to have had a quarrel with
his wife because she would not give him one of the letters from the
Spanish sovereigns always to carry about with him, Elizabeth saying that
she wished to send her letter to the Prince of Wales.

But for all Henry's blandishments and friendliness, his constant requests
that Katharine should be sent to England met with never-failing excuses
and procrastination. It is evident, indeed, throughout that, although the
Infanta was used as the attraction that was to keep Henry and England in
the Spanish, instead of the French, interest, there was much reluctance on
the part of her parents, and particularly of Queen Isabel, to trust her
child, to whom she was much attached, to the keeping of a stranger, whose
only object in desiring her presence was, she knew, a political one. Some
anxiety was shown by Henry and his wife, on the other hand, that the young
Princess should be trained in a way that would fit her for her future
position in England. The Princess Margaret of Austria, daughter of
Maximilian, who had just married Ferdinand's heir, Prince John, was in
Spain, and Puebla reports that the King and Queen of England were anxious
that Katharine should take the opportunity of speaking French with her, in
order to learn the language. "This is necessary, because the English
ladies do not understand Latin, and much less Spanish. The King and Queen
also wish that the Princess should accustom herself to drink wine. The
water of England is not drinkable, and even if it were, the climate would
not allow the drinking of it." The necessary Papal Bulls for the marriage
of the Prince and Princess arrived in 1498, and Henry pressed continually
for the coming of the bride, but Ferdinand and Isabel were in no hurry.
"The manner in which th