306 A BOOK OF ENGLISH GARDENS 



many that death and war had thrown into her hands) 

 many sought her in marriage for their sons. 



The Duke of Suffolk wished his son, John de la 

 Pole, to marry her; and Henry VI. wooed her 

 for his half-brother, Edmund Tudor, Earl of 

 Richmond. 



This rival courtship, which is mentioned in 

 Bacon's Life of Henry VII., worried the little girl, 

 and she consulted an old gentlewoman whom she 

 much loved. The advice she received was to com- 

 mend herself to St. Nicholas, the helper of all true 

 maidens, and, as she told her spiritual director, 

 " this counsel she followed, and made her prayers 

 so full often, but especially that night, when she 

 should the morrow after make answer of her mind 

 determinately. A marvellous thing ! The same 

 night as she lay in prayer, calling upon St. Nicholas, 

 whether sleeping or waking she could not assure, 

 but about four of the clock in the morning, one 

 appeared unto her arrayed like a bishop, and 

 naming unto her Edmund, bade her take him unto 

 her husband." 



In her fifteenth year, in 1455, she married 

 Edmund Tudor, and "became allied by birth and 

 marriage to thirty Kings and Queens." Sadly 

 enough, the Earl of Richmond died the following 

 year, leaving her with a tiny son, afterwards 

 Henry VII. 



The Countess of Richmond, wisely considering 



