[Footnote 498: _Archives des Affaires Etrangères_, Angleterre, vol. i., p. 827, Paris: “Mémoires et Instructions du sieur de la Marque allant vers M. le Connestable.” Froude is also inaccurate in fixing the date of Elizabeth’s departure from Woodstock in July, and in saying that the Princess was received at Hampton Court by Lord William Howard, and that the courtiers flocked round her, offering her their congratulations (vol. vi., p. 357).] [Footnote 499: Foxe, vol. viii., p. 620.] [Footnote 500: Heywood, p. 156.] [Footnote 501: The Queen’s Mistress of the Robes, otherwise spoken of as Clarence.] [Footnote 502: _Acts and Monuments_, ut supra.] [Footnote 503: Calendar of State Papers, Mary, Foreign, 21st May 1555.] [Footnote 504: _Statutes of the Realm_, iv., 255.] [Footnote 505: Sloane MS. 1583, f. 15.] [Footnote 506: _Ibid._] CHAPTER XIII. THE MARTYRS. It is doubtful, even had her hopes of an heir not proved vain, whether Mary would have been able to control the revolutionary movement that had now spread from London into various parts of the country. She had formed an alliance with the most powerful nation in Europe, she had reconciled her kingdom to the one stable institution in Christendom, she had worked incessantly to promote peace between the Emperor and the French King, she had earnestly desired peace in her time; and there was no peace.[507] The enthusiasm with which her advent had been hailed had entirely subsided, except among the poor, in country towns and villages, who loved her to the last, and with whom she came in personal contact, in the most informal manner, distributing alms, counsel and words of kindness and sympathy. Many of her autograph letters in the Cotton Library testify to the fidelity with which she remembered, through life, the claims of her dependants, although she had scanty means wherewith to reward them. The great royal progresses throughout the country, for which Henry VIII. had had so marked a predilection, were often a heavy tax upon the country people. In the time of hay-making or harvesting it was a serious inconvenience to them to be pressed into the royal service, and to have their horses and waggons seized for the transport of household stuff and provisions for the court. As often as not, they received little or no compensation, while their beasts were so fatigued with the additional labour, that a further loss of time was entailed, before they could use them again. Mary seldom went in progress, and when she did, was careful not to trouble and vex the country people, at times when their well-being for the whole year depended on their industry. If she discovered that her Comptroller had not acted fairly by them, she was extremely indignant, and would not rest till she saw the poor folk righted.