Queen Katharine Parr has the reputation of having herself worked the cover of a copy of Petrarch printed at Venice in 1544, and bound in purple velvet (Fig. 5). It is embroidered in coloured silks and gold and silver thread. The design is a large coat-of-arms, that of Katharine herself, with many quarterings, the first being the coat of augmentation granted to her by the king. The coat is surmounted by a royal crown, but the supporters are those of the families of Fitzhugh and Parr; so the work was probably done before Katharine was married to Lord Seymour, but after the king's death. The work is somewhat faded, and the scroll-work in gold cord at the corners is pulled out of place, no doubt the result of bad re-covering, but altogether it is in excellent condition, and is a fine specimen of royal workmanship. The Princess Elizabeth worked the cover of _The Miroir or Glasse of the Synneful Soul_ for Queen Katharine. It is said to have been worked when the Princess was only eleven years old, and it is certainly possible as the workmanship is simple, indeed such as a clever girl might easily do. It is braid work of gold and silver on a blue silk ground. This ground is probably woven with a very large mesh, and is similar to that used by the Princess on the little Book of Prayers she worked for her father. The initials of the queen, "K. P.," occupy the place of honour in the centre, and are enclosed in an elaborate interlaced arrangement of lines and knots of braid, and in each corner, in high relief, is a heartsease, Elizabeth's favourite flower. The volume is now in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. It is, moreover, an interesting proof of the learning of the Princess Elizabeth, as she says it was translated by herself "out of Frenche ryme into English prose, joyning the sentences together as well as the capacitie of my symple witte and small lerning coulde extende themselves," and it is charmingly dedicated "To our most noble and vertuous quene Katherin," to whom Elizabeth, "her humble daughter, wisheth perpetuall felicitie and everlasting joye." CHAPTER II EDWARD VI.--MARY AND ELIZABETH There are specimens of books bound for Edward VI. in the British Museum, both before and after his accession to the throne. Most, if not all of these, in leather, are probably the work of Thomas Berthelet, as they have many points in common, and he continued the "King's printer servaunt," and furnished him also with bindings.