The next day, Wednesday, 25th July, was the Feast of St. James, the patron of Spain, and the noble cathedral of Winchester was aflame with glowing colour. The ancient nave can never have seen so gorgeous a company as was there assembled in the forenoon. All that pomp, skill, and lavish expenditure could produce was there to do honour to an event which all spectators felt was one of moving interest for the future of the world; because it meant, so far as men might see, the secure fastening upon the neck of England again of the yoke of the Papacy, which Henry VIII. had shaken off, the stifling of the Reformation in Europe, and the reduction of France to a secondary place amongst the nations. Philip, in the white satin suit the Queen had sent him and with a regal mantle of cloth of gold, led his dazzlingly clad bride up the lofty nave to an elevated platform in the centre; and there Gardiner, with three attendant Bishops, made them man and wife. To equalise their rank, it was announced that the Viceroy Figueroa had brought formal instruments from the Emperor, resigning to his son the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem; and this proclamation having been made, the King and Queen, with swords of state borne before them by the Earls of Derby and Pembroke, descended to the high altar, followed by fifty ladies in cloth of gold, to hear Mass, during which, we are told, the Queen never removed her devout eyes from the crucifix. [Illustration: QUEEN MARY AT THE PERIOD OF HER MARRIAGE FROM THE PAINTING BY ANTONIO MOR IN THE PRADO MUSEUM] Rarely can a marriage have taken place prompted on both sides by such elevation of spirit as this. The objects in view may be condemned now, as they were condemned by many at the time, but there is no gainsaying that, so far as Philip and Mary were concerned, they both believed they were making private sacrifice for the public welfare. This feeling was evident through the whole of the marriage negotiations and afterwards, especially in Philip’s case, until it was seen that the plan had failed. It is true that the famished heart of Mary grew to love her husband for his own sake as time went on; but she loved him first and best because he personified the force that was to make England Catholic, whilst she to him meant the influence that was to enable him and his House to wield the power of England against their enemy.