and intimacy. His piety was considered remarkable, because he heard Mass daily, and approached the sacraments at least four times a year. Capable as he was of prolonged and careful attention to the minutest details of business, he was naturally fond of repose and solitude, especially in summer, when he made a point of seldom granting audiences on affairs of state. So great was his power of self-control, that even in taking vengeance, he would sometimes wait for years for an opportune moment, when he would strike without passion and without pity.[449] His morals were neither better nor worse than those of the majority of his contemporaries. Such was Philip in his twenty-seventh year, at the time of his second marriage. Sorranzo’s description of Mary, at the age of thirty-eight, is important, as coming from the pen of a none too friendly critic. In the Venetian ambassador’s description of England in 1554 occurs the following paragraph:— “The most serene Madam Mary is entitled Queen of England and of France, and Defendress of the Faith. She was born on the 18 February 1515 [1516], so she yesterday completed her thirty-eighth year, and six months. She is of low stature with a red and white complexion, and very thin. Her eyes are white [light?] and large, and her hair reddish; her face is round, with a nose rather low and wide, and were not her age on the decline, she might be called handsome rather than the contrary. She is not of a strong constitution, and of late she suffers from headache, and serious affection of the heart, so that she is often obliged to take medicine, and also to be blooded. She is of very spare diet, and never eats till one or two p.m., although she rises at daybreak, when after saying her prayers, and hearing Mass in private, she transacts business incessantly until after midnight, when she retires to rest; for she chooses to give audience not only to all the members of her Privy Council, and to hear from them every detail of public business, but also to all other persons who ask it of her. Her Majesty’s countenance indicates great benignity and clemency, which are not belied by her conduct, for although she has had many enemies, and though so many of them were by law condemned to death, yet had the executions depended solely on her Majesty’s will, not one of them perhaps would have been enforced; but deferring to her Council in everything, she in this matter likewise complied with the wishes of others, rather than with her own. She is endowed with excellent ability, and more than moderately read in Latin literature, especially with regard to Holy Writ; and besides her native tongue, she speaks Latin, French and Spanish, and understands Italian perfectly, but does not speak it. She is also very generous, but not to the extent of letting it appear that she rests her chief claim to commendation on this quality. She is so confirmed in the Catholic religion, that