The First Governess of the Netherlands, Margaret of Austria

tions for Princess Margaret, although she tries very hard, as befits her, to bear her trouble gently and wisely; and we try our best to console and please her, endeavouring to make her forget her loss. Her pregnancy, thanks be to God, goes on well, and we hope in His mercy that the result will be a reparation and consolation for our trouble. We do, and will, take as much care of the Princess as we would of her husband if he were alive, and she will always fill the same place as he did in our hearts.'

When this hope had fled, and Ferdinand and Isabella proclaimed their eldest daughter, the Queen of Portugal, as their heir, Maximilian took the matter very philosophically, as well he might, for it brought much nearer the probability which Ferdinand had, as he thought, so cleverly guarded against, that the House of Hapsburg might rule over the greatest empire that had existed since the days of Alexander, and poor little Aragon be swamped by its sovereign's larger interests. Margaret had written to tell her