[341] La Maulde Clavière, _op. cit._ 370.
[342] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5569; Calig. D. vi. 188.
[343] Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 51 _et seq._
[344] La Maulde Clavière, _op. cit._ 377.
[347] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5606; Calig. D. vi. 192.
[348] Hall's Chronicle, ed. 1809, p. 572.
[349] Herbert's Life of Henry VIII., p. 51 _et seq._
[350] L. and P. H. VIII., i. 5590; Calig. D. vi. 156.
[351] _Ibid._, i. 5606; Calig. D. vi. 192.
The Earl of Dorset and the other ambassadors, all pensioners of the French treasury, were to return to England on the 27th or 28th, but Suffolk, who had received a large sum of money and also a pension, remained to transact some secret business for the recovery of Navarre. The departure of the English marked practically the close of the marriage festivities, for with the exception of another "repas pantagruélique" at the Hotel de Ville, given by the city to the Queen and Court, followed by a florid oration from a deputation from the University, Mary lived quietly with her husband at St Germains-en-Laye, whither the Court had retired on the 23rd.
[Illustration: FRANCIS I FROM THE PAINTING IN THE LOUVRE (FRENCH SCHOOL)]
The French chroniclers, who suggest that Mary's one idea was to have a son, and to give an heir to France, go certain lengths in their inferences which are not borne out by such contemporary papers as are to be found. Above all, they presuppose that the Queen was capable of a subtle policy to supplant the Dauphin with his own bastard, or failing that with Suffolk's. Against the first possibility has to be put the fact that she was in love with Suffolk, and that this constantly overlay her attitude to Francis, for she was always more woman than queen; against the second, that Suffolk's career depended entirely on his master's pleasure and his happiness on the famous water-side promise, so that it would have been sheer madness in him to have risked either, when before his eyes Death was preparing to do his part in his future felicity. Why should he be the lover of his master's sister and heir, when a few months might see him her husband? He was also ambitious. The judgment of French writers falls short of the events, and is bound up with the sentiment of Francis' couplet,