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Queen Mary surprising Courtenay and the Princess Elizabeth
George Cruikshank
July 1840
Steel-engraving
12.3 cm high by 10 cm wide, framed
Illustration for Book II, Ch. XV, of William Harrison Ainsworth's The Tower of London, p. 215.
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Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham.
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Elizabeth was seated in a small room, partially hung with arras, and over the chair she occupied, were placed the portraits of her sire, Henry the Eighth, and two of his wives, Anne Boleyn and Catharine of Aragon. Greatly surprised by the earl's visit, she immediately arose, and in an authoritative tone commanded him to withdraw. [213]
"Save me from this great crime," he cried — "save me from wedding one whom I have never loved — save me from an union, which my soul abhors."
"Are you sincere?"asked Elizabeth, much moved.
"On my soul I am,"replied Courtenay fervently. "Will you fly with me — this night— this hour, — now?"
"I will answer that question," cried a voice, which struck them both as if a thunderbolt had fallen at their feet."I will answer that question,"cried Mary, forcibly throwing aside the arras and gazing at them with eyes that literally seemed to flash fire,— "she will not."
"Had I not heard this with my own ears,"she continued in a terrible tone, addressing her faithless lover, who still remained in a kneeling posture, regarding her with a look of mingled shame and defiance — "had I not heard this with my own ears, and seen it with my own eyes, I could not have believed it! Perfidious villain! you have deceived us both. But you shall feel what it is to incur the resentment of a queen — and that queen the daughter of Henry the Eighth. Come in, sir,"she added to some one behind the arras, and Simon Renard immediately stepped forth. "As I owe the discovery of the Earl of Devonshire's perfidy to you, the least I can do is to let you witness his disgrace."
"I will not attempt to defend myself, gracious madam," said Courtenay, rising.
"Defend yourself!" echoed the Queen, bitterly. "Not a word of your conversation to the Princess has escaped my ears. I was there — behind that curtain — almost as soon as you entered her chamber. I was acquainted with your treachery by this gentleman. I disbelieved him. But I soon found he spoke the truth. A masked staircase enabled me to approach you unobserved. I have heard all— all, traitor, all."
"To play the eaves-dropper was worthy of Simon Renard,"returned Courtenay, with a look of deadly hatred at the ambassador, "but scarcely, I think, befitting the Queen of England."[Chapter XV. — "By Whose Instrumentality Queen Mary became convinced of Courtenay's Inconstancy; And How she Affianced Herself to King Philip of Spain," p. 215]
The intersection of history and romance produces scenes in which Cruikshank is torn between drawing his customary caricature and painting the great figures such as Mary Tudor and Elizabeth behind the scenes, in this case, in the throes of a romantic triangle featuring the handsome youth Edward Courtenay, Earl of Devonshire. He is beloved by the tempestuous Mary and expects that she may make him her consort, but is love with the perceptive Princess Elizabeth. Such soap-opera presented in an historical context with elegant steel-engravings of the characters and situations matched with wood-engravings of the present-day chambers and towers of the Tower of London must have proven irresistible to the British reading public, for the novel had a powerful and widespread influence on the nation's attitudes towards the venerable pile:
As always, the author has excelled at hybridisation. Fact and fiction are skilfully blended here, resulting in a cohesive whole so complete in detail that its reputation as an authority on the history of the Tower endured as late as the 1950s. The Tower of London is also one of the few novels to be equipped with a full index. When Ainsworth began this project, the Tower was an abandoned garrison, closed in most part to the public and mutilated by modern alteration in some areas while practically falling down in others, but as the romance progressed thousands of people visited the monument to trace the places and events depicted by Ainsworth's pen and Cruikshank’s pencil. Demolition ceased due to renewed public interest, and the Tower was restored, both as one of the first Victorian museums and as a patriotic symbol in the national psyche. The novel was therefore extravagantly dedicated to Queen Victoria. [Carver, "Ainsworth & Friends"]
In the present scene, the Tower's hidden passageways facilitate Mary and Renard's catching Courtenay and Elizabeth unawares. The thirty-seven-year-old monarch's catching Courtenay in the very act of proclaiming his love for the Princess Elizabeth has precipitated Mary's arranging this hasty, ill-conceived marriage contract that will prove vastly unpopular with the Protestant population of England. In fact, even the majority of the Council will, as Mary suspects, be opposed the match to the King of Spain on the grounds that it would make England a satellite state in the Hapsburg Empire.
This is a rare instance of Ainsworth and Cruikshank's providing two steel-engravings for a single chapter, as if the pair of illustrations have a cause-and-effect relationship, so that the one is really the extension of the other. Mary, disappointed by Courtenay's betrayal, feels compelled to marry her Catholic cousin, Philip II of Spain, as we see in Queen Mary at the instance of Simon Renard affiancing herself to Philip of Spain at the end of this chapter. Thus, Cruikshank and Ainsworth intertwine the elements of romance and history, of private and public life, in the lives of these celebrate women from English history.
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Last modified 16 October 2017