summaryrefslogtreecommitdiff
diff options
context:
space:
mode:
-rw-r--r--.gitattributes4
-rw-r--r--LICENSE.txt11
-rw-r--r--README.md2
-rw-r--r--old/51057-0.txt9271
-rw-r--r--old/51057-0.zipbin184288 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h.zipbin1255554 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/51057-h.htm12488
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/cover.jpgbin129326 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_001.jpgbin58133 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_002.jpgbin758 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_002a.jpgbin793 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_006.jpgbin71028 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_012.jpgbin49123 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_020.jpgbin69272 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_032.jpgbin45530 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_054.jpgbin68080 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_082.jpgbin49324 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_132.jpgbin44760 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_136.jpgbin42550 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_142.jpgbin55173 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_152.jpgbin51131 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_168.jpgbin48388 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_184.jpgbin53684 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_200.jpgbin45195 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_254.jpgbin66892 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_284.jpgbin49050 -> 0 bytes
-rw-r--r--old/51057-h/images/i_294.jpgbin53768 -> 0 bytes
27 files changed, 17 insertions, 21759 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..d7b82bc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.gitattributes
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+*.txt text eol=lf
+*.htm text eol=lf
+*.html text eol=lf
+*.md text eol=lf
diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..6312041
--- /dev/null
+++ b/LICENSE.txt
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements,
+metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be
+in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES.
+
+Procedures for determining public domain status are described in
+the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org.
+
+No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in
+jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize
+this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright
+status under the laws that apply to them.
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..feb12d6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for
+eBook #51057 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/51057)
diff --git a/old/51057-0.txt b/old/51057-0.txt
deleted file mode 100644
index 0c7f6df..0000000
--- a/old/51057-0.txt
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,9271 +0,0 @@
-Project Gutenberg's Lady Jane Grey and Her Times, by Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Lady Jane Grey and Her Times
-
-Author: Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-Release Date: January 27, 2016 [EBook #51057]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY JANE GREY AND HER TIMES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by MWS, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-[Illustration: _Lady Jane Grey_
-
-_From a photo by Emery Walker after the picture by Lucas de Heere in
-the National portrait Gallery_]
-
-
-
-
- LADY JANE GREY
-
- _AND HER TIMES_
-
- By I. A. TAYLOR
-
- _Author of “Queen Hortense and her Friends”
- “Queen Henrietta Maria,” etc._
-
-
- WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- [Illustration]
-
-
- London: HUTCHINSON & CO.
- Paternoster Row [Illustration] 1908
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS
-
-
- CHAPTER I
- PAGE
- The condition of Europe and England--Retrospect--Religious
- Affairs--A reign of terror--Cranmer in danger--Katherine Howard 1
-
-
- CHAPTER II
-
- 1546
-
- Katherine Parr--Relations with Thomas Seymour--Married to
- Henry VIII.--Parties in court and country--Katherine’s
- position--Prince Edward 13
-
-
- CHAPTER III
-
- 1546
-
- The Marquis of Dorset and his family--Bradgate Park--Lady Jane
- Grey--Her relations with her cousins--Mary Tudor--Protestantism
- at Whitehall--Religious persecution 24
-
-
- CHAPTER IV
-
- 1546
-
- Anne Askew--Her trial and execution--Katherine Parr’s
- danger--Plot against her--Her escape 36
-
-
- CHAPTER V
-
- 1546
-
- The King dying--The Earl of Surrey--His career and his fate--The
- Duke of Norfolk’s escape--Death of the King 48
-
-
- CHAPTER VI
-
- 1547
-
- Triumph of the new men--Somerset made Protector--Coronation of
- Edward VI.--Measures of ecclesiastical reform--The Seymour
- brothers--Lady Jane Grey entrusted to the Admiral--The Admiral
- and Elizabeth--His marriage to Katherine 60
-
-
- CHAPTER VII
-
- 1547-1548
-
- Katherine Parr’s unhappy married life--Dissensions between the
- Seymour brothers--The King and his uncles--The Admiral and
- Princess Elizabeth--Birth of Katherine’s child, and her death 80
-
-
- CHAPTER VIII
-
- 1548
-
- Lady Jane’s temporary return to her father--He surrenders her
- again to the Admiral--The terms of the bargain 100
-
-
- CHAPTER IX
-
- 1548-1549
-
- Seymour and the Princess Elizabeth--His courtship--He is sent
- to the Tower--Elizabeth’s examinations and admissions--The
- execution of the Lord Admiral 108
-
-
- CHAPTER X
-
- 1549-1550
-
- The Protector’s position--Disaffection in the country--Its
- causes--The Duke’s arrogance--Warwick his rival--The success of
- his opponents--Placed in the Tower, but released--St. George’s
- Day at Court 126
-
-
- CHAPTER XI
-
- 1549-1551
-
- Lady Jane Grey at home--Visit from Roger Ascham--The German
- divines--Position of Lady Jane in the theological world 139
-
-
- CHAPTER XII
-
- 1551-1552
-
- An anxious tutor--Somerset’s final fall--The charges against
- him--His guilt or innocence--His trial and condemnation--The
- King’s indifference--Christmas at Greenwich--The Duke’s
- execution 154
-
-
- CHAPTER XIII
-
- 1552
-
- Northumberland and the King--Edward’s illness--Lady Jane and
- Mary--Mary refused permission to practise her religion--The
- Emperor intervenes 169
-
-
- CHAPTER XIV
-
- 1552
-
- Lady Jane’s correspondence with Bullinger--Illness of the Duchess
- of Suffolk--Haddon’s difficulties--Ridley’s visit to Princess
- Mary--The English Reformers--Edward fatally ill--Lady Jane’s
- character and position 178
-
-
- CHAPTER XV
-
- 1553
-
- The King dying--Noailles in England--Lady Jane married to
- Guilford Dudley--Edward’s will--Opposition of the law
- officers--They yield--The King’s death 193
-
-
- CHAPTER XVI
-
- 1553
-
- After King Edward’s death--Results to Lady Jane Grey--
- Northumberland’s schemes--Mary’s escape--Scene at Sion
- House--Lady Jane brought to the Tower--Quarrel with her
- husband--Her proclamation as Queen 210
-
-
- CHAPTER XVII
-
- 1553
-
- Lady Jane as Queen--Mary asserts her claims--The English
- envoys at Brussels--Mary’s popularity--Northumberland leaves
- London--His farewells 225
-
-
- CHAPTER XVIII
-
- 1553
-
- Turn of the tide--Reaction in Mary’s favour in the Council--
- Suffolk yields--Mary proclaimed in London--Lady Jane’s
- deposition--She returns to Sion House 237
-
-
- CHAPTER XIX
-
- 1553
-
- Northumberland at bay--His capitulation--Meeting with Arundel,
- and arrest--Lady Jane a prisoner--Mary and Elizabeth--Mary’s
- visit to the Tower--London--Mary’s policy 247
-
-
- CHAPTER XX
-
- 1553
-
- Trial and condemnation of Northumberland--His recantation--Final
- scenes--Lady Jane’s fate in the balances--A conversation with
- her 259
-
-
- CHAPTER XXI
-
- 1553
-
- Mary’s marriage in question--Pole and Courtenay--Foreign
- suitors--The Prince of Spain proposed to her--Elizabeth’s
- attitude--Lady Jane’s letter to Hardinge--The coronation--
- Cranmer in the Tower--Lady Jane attainted--Letter to her
- father--Sentence of death--The Spanish match 275
-
-
- CHAPTER XXII
-
- 1553-1554
-
- Discontent at the Spanish match--Insurrections in the
- country--Courtenay and Elizabeth--Suffolk a rebel--General
- failure of the insurgents--Wyatt’s success--Marches to
- London--Mary’s conduct--Apprehensions in London, and at the
- palace--The fight--Wyatt a prisoner--Taken to the Tower 289
-
-
- CHAPTER XXIII
-
- 1554
-
- Lady Jane and her husband doomed--Her dispute with Feckenham--
- Gardiner’s sermon--Farewell messages--Last hours--Guilford
- Dudley’s execution--Lady Jane’s death 311
-
-
- INDEX 327
-
-
-
-
-LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
-
-
- LADY JANE GREY (Photogravure)--_Frontispiece_.
-
- FACING PAGE
- HENRY VIII. 6
-
- KATHERINE HOWARD 12
-
- HENRY VIII. AND HIS THREE CHILDREN 20
-
- PRINCE EDWARD, AFTERWARDS EDWARD VI. 32
-
- HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY 54
-
- KATHERINE PARR 82
-
- WILLIAM, LORD PAGET, K.G. 132
-
- EDWARD VI. 136
-
- LADY JANE GREY 142
-
- ARCHBISHOP CRANMER 152
-
- EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, K.G. 168
-
- PRINCESS MARY, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-EIGHT 184
-
- LADY JANE GREY 200
-
- QUEEN ELIZABETH 254
-
- THE TOWER OF LONDON 284
-
- HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, K.G. 294
-
-
-
-
-LADY JANE GREY AND HER TIMES
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I
-
- The condition of Europe and England--Retrospect--Religious
- Affairs--A reign of terror--Cranmer in danger--Katherine Howard.
-
-
-In 1546 it must have been evident to most observers that the life
-of the man who had for thirty-five years been England’s ruler and
-tyrant--of whom Raleigh affirmed that if all the patterns of a
-merciless Prince had been lost in the world they might have been found
-in this one King--was not likely to be prolonged; and though it had
-been made penal to foretell the death of the sovereign, men must have
-been secretly looking on to the future with anxious eyes.
-
-Of all the descendants of Henry VII. only one was male, the little
-Prince Edward, and in case of his death the succession would lie
-between his two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, branded by successive Acts
-of Parliament with illegitimacy, the infant Queen of Scotland, whose
-claims were consistently ignored, and the daughters and grand-daughters
-of Henry VII.’s younger daughter, Mary Tudor.
-
-The royal blood was to prove, to more than one of these, a fatal
-heritage. To Mary Stuart it was to bring captivity and death, and
-by reason of it Lady Jane Grey was to be forced to play the part of
-heroine in one of the most tragic episodes of the sixteenth century.
-
-The latter part of Henry VIII.’s reign had been eventful at home and
-abroad. In Europe the three-cornered struggle between the Emperor
-Charles V., Francis of France, and Henry had been passing through
-various phases and vicissitudes, each of the wrestlers bidding for the
-support of a second of the trio, to the detriment of the third. New
-combinations were constantly formed as the kaleidoscope was turned;
-promises were lavishly made, to be broken without a scruple whensoever
-their breach might prove conducive to personal advantage. Religion,
-dragged into the political arena, was used as a party war-cry, and
-employed as a weapon for the destruction of public and private foes.
-
-At home, England lay at the mercy of a King who was a law to himself
-and supreme arbiter of the destinies of his subjects. Only obscurity,
-and not always that, could ensure a man’s safety, or prevent him from
-falling a prey to the jealousy or hate of those amongst his enemies
-who had for the moment the ear of the sovereign. Pre-eminence in
-rank, or power, or intellect, was enough to give the possessor of the
-distinction an uneasy sense that he was marked out for destruction,
-that envy and malice were lying in wait to seize an opportunity to
-denounce him to the weak despot upon whose vanity and cowardice the
-adroit could play at will. Every year added its tale to the long list
-of victims who had met their end upon the scaffold.
-
-For fifteen years, moreover, the country had been delivered over to
-the struggle carried on in the name of religion. In 1531 the King had
-responded to the refusal of the Pope to sanction his divorce from
-Katherine of Aragon by repudiating the authority of the Holy See
-and the assertion of his own supremacy in matters spiritual as well
-as temporal. Three years later Parliament, servile and subservient
-as Parliaments were wont to be under the Tudor Kings, had formally
-endorsed and confirmed the revolt.
-
-“The third day of November,” recorded the chronicler, “the King’s
-Highness held the high Court of Parliament, in the which was concluded
-and made many and sundry good, wholesome, and godly statutes, but
-among all one special statute which authorised the King’s Highness to
-be supreme head of the Church of England, by which the Pope ... was
-utterly abolished out of this realm.”[1]
-
-Since then another punishable crime was added to those, already none
-too few, for which a man was liable to lose his head, and the following
-year saw the death upon the scaffold of Fisher and of More. The
-execution of Anne Boleyn, by whom the match had, in some sort, been
-set to the mine, came next, but the step taken by the King was not to
-be retraced with the absence of the motive which had prompted it; and
-Catholics and Protestants alike had continued to suffer at the hands
-of an autocrat who chastised at will those who wandered from the path
-he pointed out, and refused to model their creed upon the prescribed
-pattern.
-
-In 1546 the “Act to abolish Diversity of Opinion”--called more
-familiarly the Bloody Statute, and designed to conform the faith of
-the nation to that of the King--had been in force for seven years, a
-standing menace to those persons, in high or low place, who, encouraged
-by the King’s defiance of Rome, had been emboldened to adopt the tenets
-of the German Protestants. Henry had opened the floodgates; he desired
-to keep out the flood. The Six Articles of the Statute categorically
-reaffirmed the principal doctrines of the Catholic Church, and made
-their denial a legal offence. On the other hand the refusal to admit
-the royal supremacy in matters spiritual was no less penal. A reign of
-terror was the result.
-
-“Is thy servant a dog?” The time-honoured question might have risen
-to the King’s lips in the days, not devoid of a brighter promise, of
-his youth, had the veil covering the future been withdrawn. “We mark
-curiously,” says a recent writer, “the regular deterioration of Henry’s
-character as the only checks upon his action were removed, and he
-progressively defied traditional authority and established standards of
-conduct without disaster to himself.” The Church had proved powerless
-to punish a defiance dictated by passion and perpetuated by vanity
-and cupidity; Parliaments had cringed to him in matters religious or
-political, courtiers and sycophants had flattered, until “there was
-no power on earth to hold in check the devil in the breast of Henry
-Tudor.”[2]
-
-Such was the condition of England. Old barriers had been thrown down;
-new had not acquired strength; in the struggle for freedom men had
-cast aside moral restraint. Life was so lightly esteemed, and death
-invested with so little tragic importance, that a man of the position
-and standing of Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, when appointed to preach
-on the occasion of the burning of a priest, could treat the matter with
-a flippant levity scarcely credible at a later day.
-
-“If it be your pleasure, as it is,” he wrote to Cromwell, “that I shall
-play the fool after my customary manner when Forest shall suffer, I
-would that my stage stood near unto Forest” (so that the victim might
-benefit by his arguments).... “If he would yet with heart return to his
-abjuration, I would wish his pardon, such is my foolishness.”[3]
-
-Yet there was another side to the picture; here and there, amidst
-the din of battle and the confusion of tongues, the voice of genuine
-conviction was heard; and men and women were ready, at the bidding of
-conscience, to give up their lives in passionate loyalty to an ancient
-faith or to a new ideal. “And the thirtieth day of the same month,”
-June 1540, runs an entry in a contemporary chronicle, “was Dr. Barnes,
-Jerome, and Garrard, drawn from the Tower to Smithfield, and there
-burned for their heresies. And that same day also was drawn from the
-Tower with them Doctor Powell, with two other priests, and there was
-a gallows set up at St. Bartholomew’s Gate, and there were hanged,
-headed, and quartered that same day”--the offence of these last being
-the denial of the King’s supremacy, as that of the first had been
-adherence to Protestant doctrines.[4]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by W. Mansell & Co. after a painting by Holbein.
-
-HENRY VIII.]
-
-No one was safe. The year 1540 had seen the fall of Cromwell, the
-Minister of State. “Cranmer and Cromwell,” wrote the French ambassador,
-“do not know where they are.”[5] Cromwell at least was not to wait
-long for the certainty. For years all-powerful in the Council, he was
-now to fall a victim to jealous hate and the credulity of the master
-he had served. At his imprisonment “many lamented, but more rejoiced,
-... for they banquetted and triumphed together that night, many wishing
-that day had been seven years before; and some, fearing that he should
-escape although he were imprisoned, could not be merry.”[6] They need
-not have feared the King’s clemency. The minister had been arrested on
-June 10. On July 28 he was executed on Tower Hill.
-
-If Cromwell, in spite of his services to the Crown, in spite of the
-need Henry had of men of his ability, was not secure, who could call
-themselves safe? Even Cranmer, the King’s special friend though he
-was, must have felt misgivings. A married man, with children, he was
-implicitly condemned by one of the Six Articles of the Bloody Statute,
-enjoining celibacy on the clergy, and was besides well known to hold
-Protestant views. His embittered enemy, Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester,
-vehement in his Catholicism though pandering to the King on the subject
-of the royal supremacy, was minister; and his fickle master might throw
-the Archbishop at any moment to the wolves.
-
-One narrow escape he had already had, when in 1544 a determined attempt
-had been hazarded to oust him from his position of trust and to
-convict him of his errors, and the party adverse to him in the Council
-had accused the Primate “most grievously” to the King of heresy. It was
-a bold stroke, for it was known that Henry loved him, and the triumph
-of his foes was the greater when they received the royal permission to
-commit the Lord Archbishop to the Tower on the following day, and to
-cause him to undergo an examination on matters of doctrine and faith.
-So far all had gone according to their hopes, and his enemies augured
-well of the result. But that night, at eleven o’clock, when Cranmer, in
-ignorance of the plot against him, was in bed, he received a summons
-to attend the King, whom he found in the gallery at Whitehall, and who
-made him acquainted with the action of the Council, together with his
-own consent that an examination should take place.
-
-“Whether I have done well or no, what say you, my lord?” asked Henry in
-conclusion.
-
-Cranmer answered warily. Knowing his master, and his jealousy of being
-supposed to connive at heresy, save on the one question of the Pope’s
-authority, he cannot have failed to recognise the gravity of the
-situation. He put, however, a good face upon it. The King, he said,
-would see that he had a fair trial--“was indifferently heard.” His
-bearing was that of a man secure that justice would be done him. Both
-he, in his heart, and the King, knew better.
-
-“Oh, Lord God,” sighed Henry, “what fond simplicity have you, so to
-permit yourself to be imprisoned!” False witnesses would be produced,
-and he would be condemned.
-
-Taking his precautions, therefore, Henry gave the Archbishop his
-ring--the recognised sign that the matter at issue was taken out of the
-hands of the Council and reserved for his personal investigation. After
-which sovereign and prelate parted.
-
-When, at eight o’clock the next morning, Cranmer, in obedience to the
-summons he had received, arrived at the Council Chamber, his foes,
-insolent in their premature triumph, kept him at the door, awaiting
-their convenience, close upon an hour. My lord of Canterbury was become
-a lacquey, some one reported to the King, since he was standing among
-the footmen and servants. The King, comprehending what was implied, was
-wroth.
-
-“Have they served my lord so?” he asked. “It is well enough; I shall
-talk with them by and by.”
-
-Accordingly when Cranmer, called at length and arraigned before
-the Council, produced the ring--the symbol of his enemies’
-discomfiture--and was brought to the royal presence that his cause
-might be tried by the King in person, the positions of accused and
-accusers were reversed. Acting, not without passion, rather as the
-advocate of the menaced man than as his judge, Henry received the
-Council with taunts, and in reply to their asseverations that the
-trial had been merely intended to conduce to the Archbishop’s greater
-glory, warned them against treating his friends in that fashion for the
-future. Cranmer, for the present, was safe.[7]
-
-Protestant England rejoiced with the Protestant Archbishop. But it
-rejoiced in trembling. The Archbishop’s escape did not imply immunity
-to lesser offenders, and the severity used in administering the law
-is shown by the fact that a boy of fifteen was burnt for heresy--no
-willing martyr, but ignorant, and eager to catch at any chances of
-life, by casting the blame of his heresy on others. “The poor boy,”
-says Hall, “would have gladly said that the twelve Apostles taught it
-him ... such was his childish innocency and fear.”[8] And England, with
-the strange patience of the age, looked on.
-
-Side by side with religious persecution ran the story of the King’s
-domestic crimes. To go back no further, in the year 1542 Katherine
-Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, had met her fate, and the country had
-silently witnessed the pitiful and shameful spectacle. As fact after
-fact came to light, the tale will have been told of the beautiful,
-neglected child, left to her own devices and to the companionship of
-maid-servants in the disorderly household of her grandmother, the
-Duchess of Norfolk, with the results that might have been anticipated;
-of how she had suddenly become of importance when it had been perceived
-that the King had singled her out for favour; and of how, still “a
-very little girl,” as some one described her, she had been used as a
-pawn in the political game played by the Howard clan, and married to
-Henry. Only a few months after she had been promoted to her perilous
-dignity her doom had overtaken her; the enemies of the party to which
-by birth she belonged had not only made known to her husband misdeeds
-committed before her marriage and almost ranking as the delinquencies
-of a misguided child, but had hinted at more unpardonable misdemeanours
-of which the King’s wife had been guilty. The story of Katherine’s
-arraignment and condemnation will have spread through the land, with
-her protestations that, though not excusing the sins and follies of her
-youth--she was seventeen when she was done to death--she was guiltless
-of the action she was specially to expiate at the block; whilst men may
-have whispered the tale of her love for Thomas Culpeper, her cousin
-and playmate, whom she would have wedded had not the King stepped in
-between, and who had paid for her affection with his blood. “I die a
-Queen,” she is reported to have exclaimed upon the scaffold, “but I
-would rather have died the wife of Culpeper.”[9] And it may have been
-rumoured that her head had fallen, not so much to vindicate the honour
-of the King as to set him free to form fresh ties.
-
-However that might be, Katherine Howard had been sent to answer for her
-offences, or prove her innocence, at another bar, and her namesake,
-Katherine Parr, reigned in her stead.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by W. Mansell & Co. after a painting of the School of
- Holbein.
-
-KATHERINE HOWARD.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II
-
-1546
-
- Katherine Parr--Relations with Thomas Seymour--Married to Henry
- VIII.--Parties in court and country--Katherine’s position--Prince
- Edward.
-
-
-It was now three years since Katherine Parr had replaced the unhappy
-child who had been her immediate predecessor. For three perilous
-years she had occupied--with how many fears, how many misgivings,
-who can tell?--the position of the King’s sixth wife. On a July day
-in 1543 Lady Latimer, already at thirty twice a widow, had been
-raised to the rank of Queen. If the ceremony was attended with no
-special pomp, neither had it been celebrated with the careful privacy
-observed with respect to some of the King’s marriages. His two
-daughters, Mary--approximately the same age as the bride, and who
-was her friend--and Elizabeth, had been present, as well as Henry’s
-brother-in-law, Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, and other officers of
-State. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, afterwards her dangerous foe,
-performed the rite, in the Queen’s Closet at Hampton Court.
-
-Sir Thomas Seymour, Hertford’s brother and Lord Admiral of England,
-was not at Hampton Court on the occasion, having been despatched
-on some foreign mission. More than one reason may have contributed
-to render his absence advisable. A wealthy and childless widow, of
-unblemished reputation, and belonging by birth to a race connected
-with the royal house, was not likely to remain long without suitors,
-and Lord Latimer can scarcely have been more than a month in his grave
-before Thomas Seymour had testified his desire to replace him and to
-become Katherine’s third husband. Nor does she appear to have been
-backward in responding to his advances.
-
-Twice married to elderly men whose lives lay behind them, twice set
-free by death from her bonds, she may fairly have conceived that the
-time was come when she was justified in wedding, not for family or
-substantial reasons, not wholly perhaps, as before, in wisdom’s way,
-but a man she loved.
-
-Seymour was not without attractions calculated to commend him to a
-woman hitherto bestowed upon husbands selected for her by others. Young
-and handsome, “fierce in courage, courtly in fashion, in personage
-stately, in voice magnificent, but somewhat empty in matter,”[10] the
-gay sailor appears to have had little difficulty in winning the heart
-of a woman who, in spite of the learning, the prudence, and the piety
-for which she was noted, may have felt, as she watched her youth slip
-by, that she had had little good of it; and it is clear, from a letter
-she addressed to Seymour himself when, after Henry’s death, his suit
-had been successfully renewed, that she had looked forward at this
-earlier date to becoming his wife.
-
-“As truly as God is God,” she then wrote, “my mind was fully bent,
-the other time I was at liberty, to marry you before any man I know.
-Howbeit God withstood my will therein most vehemently for a time, and
-through His grace and goodness made that possible which seemed to me
-most impossible; that was, made me renounce utterly mine own will and
-follow His most willingly. It were long to write all the processes
-of this matter. If I live, I shall declare it to you myself. I can
-say nothing, but as my Lady of Suffolk saith, ‘God is a marvellous
-man.’”[11]
-
-Strange burdens of responsibility have ever been laid upon the duty of
-obedience to the will of Providence, nor does it appear clear to the
-casual reader why the consent of Katherine to become a Queen should
-have been viewed by her in the light of a sacrifice to principle.
-Whether her point of view was shared by her lover does not appear. It
-is at all events clear that both were wise enough in the world’s lore
-not to brave the wrath of the despot by crossing his caprice. Seymour
-retired from the field, and Katherine, perhaps sustained by the
-inward approval of conscience, perhaps partially comforted by a crown,
-accepted the dangerous distinction she was offered.
-
-To her brother, Lord Parr, when writing to inform him of her
-advancement, she expressed no regret. It had pleased God, she told
-him, to incline the King to take her as his wife, the greatest joy and
-comfort that could happen to her. She desired to communicate the great
-news to Parr, as being the person with most cause to rejoice thereat,
-and added, with a suspicion of condescension, her hope that he would
-let her hear of his health as friendly as if she had not been called to
-this honour.[12]
-
-Although the actual marriage had not taken place until some six months
-after Lord Latimer’s death, no time can have been lost in arranging it,
-since before her husband had been two months in the grave Henry was
-causing a bill for her dresses to be paid out of the Exchequer.
-
-It was generally considered that the King had chosen well. Wriothesley,
-the Chancellor, was sure His Majesty had never a wife more agreeable to
-his heart. Gardiner had not only performed the marriage ceremony but
-had given away the bride. According to an old chronicle the new Queen
-was a woman “compleat with singular humility.”[13] She had, at any
-rate, the adroitness, in her relations with the King, to assume the
-appearance of it, and was a well-educated, sensible, and kindly woman,
-“quieter than any of the young wives the King had had, and, as she knew
-more of the world, she always got on pleasantly with the King, and had
-no caprices.”[14]
-
-The story of the marriage was an old one in 1546. Seymour had returned
-from his mission and resumed his former position at Court as the King’s
-brother-in-law and the uncle of his heir, and not even the Queen’s
-enemies--and she had enough of them and to spare--had found an excuse
-for calling to mind the relations once existing between the Admiral
-and the King’s wife. Nevertheless, and in spite of the blamelessness
-of her conduct, the satisfaction which had greeted the marriage was
-on the wane. A hard task would have awaited Queen or courtier who
-should have attempted to minister to the contentment of all the rival
-parties striving for predominance in the State and at Court, and to be
-adjudged the friend of the one was practically equivalent to a pledge
-of distrust from the other. Whitehall, like the country at large,
-was divided against itself by theological strife; and whilst the men
-faithful to the ancient creed in its entirety were inevitably in bitter
-opposition to the adherents of the new teachers whose headquarters were
-in Germany, a third party, more unscrupulous than either, was made up
-of the middle men who moulded--outwardly or inwardly--their faith upon
-the King’s, and would, if they could, have created a Papacy without a
-Pope, a Catholic Church without its corner-stone.
-
-At Court, as elsewhere, each of these three parties were standing
-on their guard, ready to parry or to strike a blow when occasion
-arose, jealous of every success scored by their opponents. The fall
-of Cromwell had inspired the Catholics with hope, and, with Gardiner
-as Minister and Wriothesley as Chancellor, they had been in a more
-favourable position than for some time past at the date of the King’s
-last marriage. It had then been assumed that the new Queen’s influence
-would be employed upon their side--an expectation confirmed by her
-friendship with the Princess Mary. The discovery that the widow of Lord
-Latimer--so fervent a Catholic that he had joined in the north-country
-insurrection known as the Pilgrimage of Grace--had broken with her
-past, openly displayed her sympathy with Protestant doctrine, and, in
-common with the King’s nieces, was addicted to what was called the “new
-learning,” quickly disabused them of their hopes, rendered the Catholic
-party at Court her embittered enemies, and lent additional danger to
-what was already a perilous position by affording those at present in
-power a motive for removing from the King’s side a woman regarded as
-the advocate of innovation.
-
-So far their efforts had been fruitless. Katherine still held her
-own. During Henry’s absence in France, whither he had gone to conduct
-the campaign in person, she had administered the Government, as
-Queen-Regent, with tact and discretion; the King loved her--as he
-understood love--and, what was perhaps a more important matter, she had
-contrived to render herself necessary to him. Wary, prudent, and pious,
-and notwithstanding the possession of qualities marking her out in some
-sort as the superior woman of her day, she was not above pandering to
-his love of flattery. Into her book entitled _The Lamentations of a
-Sinner_, she introduced a fulsome panegyric of the godly and learned
-King who had removed from his realm the veils and mists of error, and
-in the guise of a modern Moses had been victorious over the Roman
-Pharaoh. What she publicly printed she doubtless reiterated in private;
-and the King found the domestic incense soothing to an irritable
-temper, still further acerbated by disease.
-
-By other methods she had commended herself to those who were about
-him open to conciliation. She had served a long apprenticeship in
-the art of the step-mother, both Lord Borough, her first husband,
-and Lord Latimer having possessed children when she married them;
-and her skill in dealing with the little heir to the throne and his
-sisters proved that she had turned her experience to good account. Her
-genuine kindness, not only to Mary, who had been her friend from the
-first, but to Elizabeth, ten years old at the time of the marriage,
-was calculated to propitiate the adherents of each; and to her good
-offices it was in especial due that Anne Boleyn’s daughter, hitherto
-kept chiefly at a distance from Court, was brought to Whitehall. The
-child, young as she was, was old enough to appreciate the importance of
-possessing a friend in her father’s wife, and the letter she addressed
-to her step-mother on the occasion overflowed with expressions of
-devotion and gratitude. To the place the Queen won in the affections of
-the all-important heir, the boy’s letters bear witness.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From an engraving by F. Bartolozzi after a picture by Holbein.
-
-HENRY VIII. AND HIS THREE CHILDREN.]
-
-There is no need to assume that Katherine’s course of action was wholly
-dictated by interested motives. Yet in this case principle and prudence
-went hand in hand. Henry was becoming increasingly sick and suffering,
-and, with the shadow of death deepening above him, the gifts he asked
-of life were insensibly changing their character. His autocratic and
-violent temper remained the same, but peace and quiet, a soothing
-atmosphere of submissive affection, the absence of domestic friction,
-if not sufficient to ensure his wife immunity from peril, constituted
-her best chance of escaping the doom of her predecessors. To a selfish
-man the appeal must be to self-interest. This appeal Katherine
-consistently made and it had so far proved successful. For the rest,
-whether she suffered from terror of possible disaster or resolutely
-shut her eyes to what might have unnerved and rendered her unfit for
-the part she had to play, none can tell, any more than it can be
-determined whether, as she looked from the man she had married to the
-man she had loved, she indulged in vain regrets for the happiness of
-which she had caught a glimpse in those brief days when she had dreamed
-of a future to be shared with Thomas Seymour.
-
-In spite, however, of her caution, in spite of the perfection with
-which she performed the duties of wife and nurse, by 1546 disquieting
-reports were afloat.
-
-“I am confused and apprehensive,” wrote Charles V.’s ambassador from
-London in the February of that year, “to have to inform Your Majesty
-that there are rumours here of a new Queen, although I do not know how
-true they be.... The King shows no alteration in his behaviour towards
-the Queen, though I am informed that she is annoyed by the rumours.”[15]
-
-With the history of the past to quicken her apprehensions, she may
-well have been more than “annoyed” by them. But, true or false, she
-could but pursue the line of conduct she had adopted, and must have
-turned with relief from domestic anxieties to any other matters that
-could serve to distract her mind from her precarious future. Amongst
-the learned ladies of a day when scholarship was becoming a fashion
-she occupied a foremost place, and was actively engaged in promoting
-educational interests. Stimulated by her step-mother’s approval, the
-Princess Mary had been encouraged to undertake part of the translation
-of Erasmus’s paraphrases of the Gospels; and Elizabeth is found sending
-the Queen, as a fitting offering, a translation from the Italian
-inscribed on vellum and entitled the _Glasse of the Synneful Soule_,
-accompanying it by the expression of a hope that, having passed through
-hands so learned as the Queen’s, it would come forth from them in a new
-form. The education of the little Prince Edward too was pushed rapidly
-forward, and at six years old, the year of his father’s marriage, he
-had been taken out of the hands of women and committed to the tuition
-of John Cheke and Dr. Richard Cox. These two, explains Heylyn, being
-equal in authority, employed themselves to his advantage in their
-several kinds--Dr. Cox for knowledge of divinity, philosophy, and
-gravity of manners, Mr. Cheke for eloquence in the Greek and Latin
-tongues; whilst other masters instructed the poor child in modern
-languages, so that in a short time he spoke French perfectly, and was
-able to express himself “magnificently enough” in Italian, Greek, and
-Spanish.[16]
-
-His companion and playfellow was one Barnaby Fitzpatrick, to whom
-he clung throughout his short life with constant affection. It was
-Barnaby’s office to bear whatever punishment the Prince had merited--a
-method more successful in the case of the Prince than it might have
-proved with a less soft-hearted offender, since it is said that “it was
-not easy to affirm whether Fitzpatrick smarted more for the default
-of the Prince, or the Prince conceived more grief for the smart of
-Fitzpatrick.”[17]
-
-Katherine Parr is not likely to have regretted the pressure put upon
-her stepson; and the boy, apologising for his simple and rude letters,
-adds his acknowledgments for those addressed to him by the Queen,
-“which do give me much comfort and encouragement to go forward in such
-things wherein your Grace beareth me on hand.”
-
-The King’s latest wife was, in fact, a teacher by nature and choice,
-and admirably fitted to direct the studies of his son and daughters, as
-well as of any other children who might be brought within the sphere
-of her influence. That influence, it may be, had something to do with
-moulding the character and the destiny of a child fated to be unhappily
-prominent in the near future. This was Lady Jane Grey.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III
-
-1546
-
- The Marquis of Dorset and his family--Bradgate Park--Lady Jane
- Grey--Her relations with her cousins--Mary Tudor--Protestantism
- at Whitehall--Religious persecution.
-
-
-Amongst the households where both affairs at Court and the religious
-struggle distracting the country were watched with the deepest interest
-was that of the Marquis of Dorset, the husband of the King’s niece and
-father of Lady Jane Grey.
-
-Married at eighteen to the infirm and aged Louis XII. of France, Mary
-Tudor, daughter of Henry VII. and friend of the luckless Katherine of
-Aragon, had been released by his death after less than three months
-of wedded life, and had lost no time in choosing a more congenial
-bridegroom. At Calais, on her way home, she had bestowed her hand upon
-“that martial and pompous gentleman,” Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk,
-who, sent by her brother to conduct her back to England, thought it
-well to secure his bride and to wait until the union was accomplished
-before obtaining the King’s consent. Of this hurried marriage the
-eldest child was the mother of Jane Grey, who thus derived her
-disastrous heritage of royal blood.
-
-It was at the country home of the Dorset family, Bradgate Park, that
-Lady Jane had been born, in 1537. Six miles distant from the town of
-Leicester, and forming the south-east end of Charnwood Forest, it was
-a pleasant and quiet place. Over the wide park itself, seven miles
-in circumference, bracken grew freely; here and there bare rocks
-rose amidst the masses of green undergrowth, broken now and then
-by a solitary oak, and the unwooded expanse was covered with “wild
-verdure.”[18]
-
-The house itself had not long been built, nor is there much remaining
-at the present day to show what had been its aspect at the time when
-Lady Jane was its inmate. Early in the eighteenth century it was
-destroyed by fire, tradition ascribing the catastrophe to a Lady
-Suffolk who, brought to her husband’s home as a bride, complained that
-the country was a forest and the inhabitants were brutes, and, at the
-suggestion of her sister, took the most certain means of ensuring a
-change of residence.
-
-But if little outward trace is left of the place where the victim of
-state-craft and ambition was born and passed her early years, it is not
-a difficult matter to hazard a guess at the religious and political
-atmosphere of her home. Echoes of the fight carried on, openly or
-covertly, between the parties striving for predominance in the realm
-must have almost daily reached Bradgate, the accounts of the incidents
-marking the combat taking their colour from the sympathies of the
-master and mistress of the house, strongly enlisted upon the side of
-Protestantism. At Lord Dorset’s house, though with closed doors, the
-condition of religious affairs must have supplied constant matter for
-discussion; and Jane will have listened to the conversation with the
-eager attention of an intelligent child, piecing together the fragments
-she gathered up, and gradually realising, with a thrill of excitement,
-as she became old enough to grasp the significance of what she heard,
-that men and women were suffering and dying in torment for the sake of
-doctrines she had herself been taught as a matter of course. Serious
-and precocious, and already beginning an education said to have
-included in later years Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, French,
-and Italian, the stories reaching her father’s house of the events
-taking place in London and at Court must have imprinted themselves upon
-her imagination at an age specially open to such impressions, and it is
-not unnatural that she should have grown up nurtured in the principles
-of polemics and apt at controversy.
-
-Nor were edifying tales of martyrdom or of suffering for conscience’
-sake the only ones to penetrate to the green and quiet precincts of
-Bradgate. At his niece’s house the King’s domestic affairs--a scandal
-and a by-word in Europe--must have been regarded with the added
-interest, perhaps the sharper criticism, due to kinship. Henry was
-not only Lady Dorset’s sovereign, but her uncle, and she had a more
-personal interest than others in what Messer Barbaro, in his report
-to the Venetian senate, described as “this confusion of wives.”[19]
-To keep a child ignorant was no part of the training of the day,
-and Jane, herself destined for a court life, no doubt had heard, as
-she grew older, many of the stories of terror and pity circulating
-throughout the country, and investing, in the eyes of those afar off,
-the distant city--the stage whereon most of them had been enacted--with
-the atmosphere of mystery and fear and excitement belonging to a place
-where martyrs were shedding their blood, or heretics atoning for their
-guilt, according as the narrators inclined to the ancient or the novel
-faith; where tragedies of love and hatred and revenge were being
-played, and men went in hourly peril of their lives.
-
-Of this place, invested with the attraction and glamour belonging to a
-land of glitter and romance, Lady Jane had glimpses on the occasions
-when, as a near relation of the King’s, she accompanied her mother to
-Court, becoming for a while a sharer in the life of palaces and an
-actor, by reason of her strain of royal blood, in the pageant ever
-going forward at St. James’s or Whitehall;[20] and though it does not
-appear that she was finally transferred from the guardianship of her
-parents to that of the Queen until after the death of Henry in the
-beginning of the year 1547, it is not unlikely that the book-loving
-child of nine may have attracted the attention of the scholarly
-Queen during her visits to Court and that Katherine’s belligerent
-Protestantism had its share in the development of the convictions which
-afterwards proved so strong both in life and in death.
-
-There is at this date little trace of any connection between Jane
-and her cousins, the King’s children. A strong affection on the part
-of Edward is said to have existed, and to it has been attributed his
-consent to set his sisters aside in Lady Jane’s favour. “She charmed
-all who knew her,” says Burnet, “in particular the young King, about
-whom she was bred, and who had always lived with her in the familiarity
-of a brother.” For this statement there is no contemporary authority,
-and, so far as can be ascertained, intercourse between the two can
-have been but slight. Between Edward and his younger sister, on
-the other hand, the bond of affection was strong, their education
-being carried on at this time much together at Hatfield; and “a
-concurrence and sympathy of their natures and affections, together
-with the celestial bond, conformity in religion,”[21] made it the
-more remarkable that the Prince should have afterwards agreed to set
-aside, in favour of his cousin, Elizabeth’s claim to the succession.
-It is true that in their occasional meetings the studious boy and the
-serious-minded little girl may have discovered that they had tastes in
-common, but such casual acquaintanceship can scarcely have availed to
-counterbalance the affection produced by close companionship and the
-tie of blood; and grounds for the Prince’s subsequent conduct, other
-than the influence and arguments of those about him, can only be matter
-of conjecture.
-
-Of the relations existing between Jane and the Prince’s sisters there
-is little more mention; but the entry by Mary Tudor in a note-book
-of the gift of a gold necklace set with pearls, made “to my cousin,
-Jane Gray,” shows that the two had met in the course of this summer,
-and would seem to indicate a kindly feeling on the part of the older
-woman towards the unfortunate child whom, not eight years later, she
-was to send to the scaffold. Could the future have been laid bare it
-would perhaps not have been the victim who would have recoiled from the
-revelation with the greatest horror.
-
-Although what was to follow lends a tragic significance to the
-juxtaposition of the names of the two cousins, there was nothing
-sinister about the King’s elder daughter as she filled the place
-at Court in which she had been reinstated at the instance of her
-step-mother. A gentle, brown-eyed woman, past her first youth, and
-bearing on her countenance the traces of sickness and sorrow and
-suffering, she enjoyed at this date so great a popularity as almost,
-according to a foreign observer, to be an object of adoration to her
-father’s subjects, obstinately faithful to her injured and repudiated
-mother. But, ameliorated as was the Princess’s condition, she had
-been too well acquainted, from childhood upwards, with the reverses
-of fortune to count over-securely upon a future depending upon her
-father’s caprice.
-
-Her health was always delicate, and during the early part of the
-year she had been ill. By the spring, however, she had resumed her
-attendance at Court, and--to judge by a letter from her little wise
-brother, contemplating from a safe distance the dangerous pastimes
-of Whitehall--was taking a conspicuous part in the entertainments in
-fashion. Writing in Latin to his step-mother, Prince Edward besought
-her “to preserve his dear sister Mary from the enchantments of the
-Evil One, by beseeching her no longer to attend to foreign dances and
-merriments, unbecoming in a most Christian Princess”--and least of
-all in one for whom he expressed the wish, in the course of the same
-summer, that the wisdom of Esther might be hers.
-
-It does not appear whether or not Mary took the admonitions of her
-nine-year-old Mentor to heart. The pleasures of court life are not
-likely to have exercised a perilous fascination over the Princess,
-her spirits clouded by the memory of her melancholy past and the
-uncertainty of her future, and probably represented to her a more or
-less wearisome part of the necessary routine of existence.
-
-Whilst the entertainments the Prince deplored went forward at
-Whitehall, they were accompanied by other practices he would have
-wholly approved. Not only was his step-mother addicted to personal
-study of the Scriptures, but she had secured the services of learned
-men to instruct her further in them; holding private conferences with
-these teachers; and, especially during Lent, causing a sermon to be
-delivered each afternoon for her own benefit and that of any of her
-ladies disposed to profit by it, when the discourse frequently turned
-or touched upon abuses in the Church.[22]
-
-It was a bold stroke, Henry’s claims to the position of sole arbiter
-on questions of doctrine considered. Nevertheless the Queen acted
-openly, and so far her husband had testified no dissatisfaction. Yet
-the practice must have served to accentuate the dividing line of
-theological opinion, already sufficiently marked at Court; some members
-of the royal household, like Princess Mary, holding aloof; others
-eagerly welcoming the step; the Seymours, Cranmer, and their friends
-looking on with approval, whilst the Howard connection, with Gardiner
-and Wriothesley, took note of the Queen’s imprudence, and waited and
-watched their opportunity to turn it to their advantage and to her
-destruction.
-
-[Illustration: Edward Prince
-
- From an engraving by R. Dalton after a drawing by Holbein.
-
-PRINCE EDWARD, AFTERWARDS EDWARD VI.]
-
-Such was the internal condition of the Court. The spring had meanwhile
-been marked by rejoicings for the peace with foreign powers, at last
-concluded. On Whit-Sunday a great procession proceeded from St. Paul’s
-to St. Peter’s, Cornhill, accompanied by a banner, and by crosses from
-every parish church, the children of St. Paul’s School joining in the
-show. It was composed of a motley company. Bishop Bonner--as vehement
-in his Catholicism as Gardiner, and so much less wary in the display
-of his opinions that his brother of Winchester was wont at times to
-term him “asse”--carried the Blessed Sacrament under a canopy, with
-“clerks and priests and vicars and parsons”; the Lord Mayor was there
-in crimson velvet, the aldermen were in scarlet, and all the crafts
-in their best apparel. The occasion was worthy of the pomp displayed in
-honour of it, for it was--the words sound like a jest--the festival of
-a “Universal Peace for ever,” announced by the Mayor, standing between
-standard and cross, and including in the proclamation of general amity
-the names of the Emperor, the King of England, the French King, and all
-Christian Kings.[23]
-
-If soldiers had for the moment consented to proclaim a truce and to
-name it, merrily, eternal, theologians had agreed to no like suspension
-of hostilities, and the perennial religious strife showed no signs of
-intermission.
-
-“Sire,” wrote Admiral d’Annebaut, sent by Francis to London to ratify
-the peace, “I know not what to tell your Majesty as to the order given
-me to inform myself of the condition of religious affairs in England;
-except that Henry has declared himself head of the Anglican Church,
-and woe to whomsoever refuses to recognise him in that capacity. He
-has also usurped all ecclesiastical property, and destroyed all the
-convents. He attends Mass nevertheless daily, and permits the papal
-nuncio to live in London. What is strangest of all is that Catholics
-are there burnt as well as Lutherans and other heretics. Was anything
-like it ever seen?”[24]
-
-Punishment was indeed dealt out with singular impartiality. During the
-spring Dr. Crome had been examined touching a sermon he had delivered
-against Catholic doctrine. Two or three weeks later, preaching once
-more at Paul’s Cross, he had boldly declared he was not there for the
-purpose of denying his former assertions; but a second “examination”
-had proved more effective, and on the Sunday following the feast of
-Corpus Christi he eschewed his heresies.[25] “Our news here,” wrote a
-merchant of London to his brother on July 2, “of Dr. Crome’s canting,
-recanting, decanting, or rather double-canting, be this.”[26] The
-transaction was representative of many others, which, with their
-undercurrent of terror, struggle, intimidation, menace, and remorse,
-formed a melancholy and recurrent feature of the day, the victory
-remaining sometimes with a man’s conscience--whatever it dictates might
-be--sometimes with his fears.
-
-The King was, in fact, still endeavouring to stem the torrent he
-had set loose. In his speech to Parliament on Christmas Eve, 1545,
-after commending and thanking Lords and Commons for their loyalty and
-affection towards himself, he had spoken with severity of the discord
-and dissension prevalent in the realm; the clergy, by their sermons
-against each other, sowing debate and discord amongst the people....
-“I am very sorry to know and hear how unreverently that most precious
-jewel, the Word of God, is disputed, rimed, sung and jangled in every
-ale-house and tavern ... and yet I am even as much sorry that the
-readers of the same follow it in doing so faintly and so coldly. For
-of this I am sure, that charity was never so faint amongst you, and
-virtuous and godly living was never less used, nor God Himself amongst
-Christians was never less reverenced, honoured, and served.”[27]
-
-Delivered scarcely more than a year before his death, Henry’s speech
-was a singular commentary upon the condition of the realm, consequent
-upon his own policy, during the concluding years of his reign.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV
-
-1546
-
- Anne Askew--Her trial and execution--Katherine Parr’s danger--Plot
- against her--Her escape.
-
-
-As the months of 1546 went by the measures taken by the King and his
-advisers to enforce unanimity of practice and opinion in matters
-of religion did not become less drastic. A great burning of books
-disapproved by Henry took place during the autumn, preceded in July
-by the condemnation and execution of a victim whose fate attracted an
-unusual amount of attention, the effect at Court being enhanced by the
-fact that the heroine of the story was personally known to the Queen
-and her ladies. It was indeed reported that one of the King’s special
-causes of displeasure was that she had been the means of imbuing his
-nieces--among whom was Lady Dorset, Jane Grey’s mother--as well as his
-wife, with heretical doctrines.
-
-Added to the species of glamour commonly surrounding a spiritual
-leader, more particularly in times of persecution, Anne Askew was
-beautiful and young--not more than twenty-five at the time of her
-death--and the thought of her racked frame, her undaunted courage, and
-her final agony at the stake, may well have haunted with the horror of
-a night-mare those who had been her disciples, and who looked on from a
-distance, and with sympathy they dared not display.
-
-There were other circumstances increasing the interest with which
-the melancholy drama was watched. Well born and educated, Anne had
-been the wife of a Lincolnshire gentleman of the name of Kyme. Their
-life together had been of short duration. In a period of bitter party
-feeling and recrimination, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty
-the truth on any given point; and whilst a hostile chronicler asserts
-that Anne left her husband in order “to gad up and down a-gospelling
-and gossipping where she might and ought not, but especially in
-London and near the Court,”[28] another authority explains that Kyme
-had turned her out of his house upon her conversion to Protestant
-doctrines. Whatever might have been the origin of her mode of life, it
-is certain that she resumed her maiden name, and proceeded to “execute
-the office of an apostle.”[29]
-
-Her success in her new profession made her unfortunately conspicuous,
-and in 1545 she was committed to Newgate, “for that she was very
-obstinate and heady in reasoning on matters of religion.” The
-charge, it must be confessed, is corroborated by her demeanour under
-examination, when the qualities of meekness and humility were markedly
-absent, and her replies to the interrogatories addressed to her were
-rather calculated to irritate than to prove conciliatory. On this first
-occasion, for example, asked to interpret certain passages in the
-Scriptures, she declined to comply with the request on the score that
-she would not cast pearls among swine--acorns were good enough; and,
-urged by Bonner to open her wound, she again refused. Her conscience
-was clear, she said; to lay a plaster on a whole skin might seem much
-folly, and the similitude of a wound appeared to her unsavoury.[30]
-
-For the time she escaped; but in the course of the following year
-her case was again brought forward, and on this occasion she found
-no mercy. Her examinations, mostly reported by herself, show her as
-alike keen-witted and sharp-tongued, rarely at a loss for an answer,
-and profoundly convinced of the justice of her cause. If she was not
-without the genuine enjoyment of the born controversialist in the
-opportunity of argument and discussion, she possessed, underlying the
-self-assertion and confidence natural in a woman holding the position
-of a religious leader, a fund of indomitable heroism. For she must
-have been fully conscious of her danger. It is possible that, had she
-not been brought into prominence by her association with those in high
-places, she might again have escaped; but, apart from the grudge owed
-her for her influence over the King’s own kin, her attitude was almost
-such as to court her fate. Refusing “to sing a new song of the Lord
-in a strange land,” she replied to the Bishop of Winchester, when he
-complained that she spoke in parables, that it was best for him that
-she should do so. Had she shown him the open truth, he would not accept
-it.
-
-“Then the Bishop said he would speak with me familiarly. I said, ‘So
-did Judas when he unfriendlily betrayed Christ....’ In conclusion,” she
-ended, in her account of the interview, “we could not agree.”
-
-Spirited as was her bearing, and thrilling as the prisoner plainly was
-with all the excitement of a battle of words, it was not strange that
-the strain should tell upon her.
-
-“On the Sunday,” she proceeds--and there is a pathetic contrast between
-the physical weakness to which she confesses and her undaunted boldness
-in confronting the men bent upon her destruction--“I was sore sick,
-thinking no less than to die.... Then was I sent to Newgate in my
-extremity of sickness, for in all my life I was never in such pain.
-Thus the Lord strengthen us in His truth. Pray, pray, pray.”
-
-Her condemnation was a foregone conclusion. It followed quickly, with
-a subsequent visit from one Nicholas Shaxton, who, having, for his own
-part, made his recantation, counselled her to do the same. He spoke
-in vain. It were, she told him, good for him never to have been born,
-“with many like words.” More was to follow. If her assertion is to
-be believed--and there seems no valid reason to doubt it--the rack
-was applied “till I was nigh dead.... After that I sat two long hours
-reasoning with my Lord Chancellor upon the bare floor. Then was I
-brought into a house and laid in a bed with as weary and painful bones
-as ever had patient Job. I thank my God therefore.”
-
-A scarcely credible addition is made to the story, to the effect that
-when the Lieutenant of the Tower had refused to put the victim to the
-torture a second time, the Lord Chancellor, Wriothesley, less merciful,
-took the office upon himself, and applied the rack with his own hands,
-the Lieutenant departing to report the matter to the King, “who seemed
-not very well to like such handling of a woman.”[31] What is certain
-is the final scene at Smithfield, where Shaxton delivered a sermon,
-Anne listening, endorsing his words when she approved of them and
-correcting them “when he said amiss.”
-
-So the shameful episode was brought to an end. The tale, penetrating
-even the thick walls of a palace, must have caused a thrill of horror
-at Whitehall, accentuated by reason of certain events going forward
-there about the same time.
-
-The King’s disease was gaining upon him apace. He had become so
-unwieldy in bulk that the use of machinery was necessary to move him,
-and with the progress of his disorder his temper was becoming more
-and more irritable. In view of his approaching death the question of
-the guardianship and custody of the heir to the throne was increasing
-in importance and the jealousy of the rival parties was becoming more
-embittered. In the course of the summer the Catholics about the Court
-ventured on a bold stroke, directed against no less a person than the
-Queen.
-
-Emboldened by the tolerance displayed by the King towards her religious
-practices and the preachers and teachers she gathered around her,
-Katherine had grown so daring as to make matters of doctrine a constant
-subject of conversation with Henry, urging him to complete the work he
-had begun, and to free the Church of England from superstition.[32]
-Henry appears at first--though he was a man ill to argue with--to
-have shown singular patience under his wife’s admonitions. But daily
-controversy is not soothing to a sick man’s nerves and temper, and
-Katherine’s enemies, watching their opportunity, conceived that it was
-at hand.
-
-Henry’s habits had been altered by illness, and it had become the
-Queen’s custom to wait for a summons before visiting his apartments;
-although on some occasions, after dinner or supper, or when she had
-reason to imagine she would be welcome, she repaired thither on her own
-initiative. But perhaps the more as she perceived that time was short,
-she continued her imprudent exhortations. And still her enemies, wary
-and silent, watched.
-
-Henry appears--and it says much for his affection for her--to have
-for a time maintained the attitude of a not uncomplacent listener.
-On a certain day, however, when Katherine was, as usual, descanting
-upon questions of theology, he changed the subject abruptly, “which
-somewhat amazed the Queen.” Reassured by perceiving no further signs of
-displeasure, she talked upon other topics until the time came for the
-King to bid her farewell, which he did with his customary affection.
-
-The account of what followed--Foxe being, as before, the narrator--must
-be accepted with reservation. Gardiner, chancing to be present, was
-made the recipient of his master’s irritation. It was a good hearing,
-the King said ironically, when women were become clerks, and a thing
-much to his comfort, to come in his old days to be taught by his wife.
-
-Gardiner made prompt use of the opening afforded him; he had waited
-long for it, and it was not wasted. The Queen, he said, had forgotten
-herself, in arguing with a King whose virtues and whose learnedness in
-matters of religion were not only greater than were possessed by other
-princes, but exceeded those of doctors in divinity. For the Bishop and
-his friends it was a grievous thing to hear. Proceeding to enlarge upon
-the subject at length, he concluded by saying that, though he dared not
-declare what he knew without special warranty from the King, he and
-others were aware of treason cloaked in heresy. Henry, he warned him,
-was cherishing a serpent in his bosom.
-
-It was risking much, but the Bishop knew to whom he spoke, and,
-working adroitly upon Henry’s fears and wrath, succeeded in obtaining
-permission to consult with his colleagues and to draw up articles by
-which the Queen’s life might be touched. “They thought it best to
-begin with such ladies as she most esteemed and were privy to all her
-doings--as the Lady Herbert, her sister, the Lady Lane, who was her
-first cousin, and the Lady Tyrwhitt, all of her privy chamber.” The
-plan was to accuse these ladies of the breach of the Six Articles, to
-search their coffers for documents or books compromising to the Queen,
-and, in case anything of that nature were found, to carry Katherine
-by night to the Tower. The King, acquainted with the design, appears
-to have given his consent, and all went on as before, Henry still
-encouraging, or at least not discouraging, his wife’s discourse on
-spiritual matters.
-
-Time was passing; the bill of articles against the Queen had been
-prepared, and Henry had affixed his signature to it, whether with a
-deliberate intention of giving her over to her enemies, or, as some
-said, meaning to deter her from the study of prohibited literature--in
-which case, as Lord Herbert of Cherbury observes, it was “a terrible
-jest.”[33] That Katherine herself did not regard the affair, as soon as
-she came to be cognisant of it, in the light of a kindly warning, is
-plain; for when, by a singular accident, the document containing the
-charges against her was dropped by one of the council and brought for
-her perusal, the effect upon her was such that the King’s physicians
-were summoned to attend her, and Henry himself, ignorant of the
-cause of her illness, and possibly softened by it, paid her a visit,
-and, hearing that she entertained fears that she had incurred his
-displeasure, reassured her with sweet and comfortable words, remained
-with her an hour, and departed.
-
-Though Katherine had played her part well, she must have been aware
-that she stood on the brink of a precipice, and the ghosts of Anne
-Boleyn and Katherine Howard warned her how little reliance could be
-placed upon the King’s fitful affection. Deciding upon a bold step,
-she sought his bed-chamber uninvited after supper on the following
-evening, attended only by her sister, Lady Herbert, and with Lady
-Lane,[34] her cousin, to carry the candle before her. Henry, found in
-conversation with his attendant gentlemen, gave his wife a courteous
-welcome, entering at once--contrary to his custom--upon the subject
-of religion, as if moved by a desire of gaining instruction from her
-replies. Read in the light of what Katherine already knew, this new
-departure may well have been viewed by her with misgiving; and she
-hastened to disclaim the position the King appeared anxious to assign
-her. The inferiority of women being what it was, she said, it was for
-man to supply from his wisdom what they lacked. She being a silly poor
-woman, and his Majesty so wise, how could her judgment be of use to
-him, in all things her only anchor, and, next to God, her supreme head
-and governor on earth?
-
-The King demurred. The attitude of submission may have struck him as
-unfamiliar.
-
-“Not so, by St. Mary,” he said. “You are become a doctor, Kate, to
-instruct us, as we take it, and not to be instructed or directed by us.”
-
-The plain charge elicited, it was more easy to reply to it. The King
-had much mistaken her, Katherine humbly declared. It had ever been
-her opinion that it was unseemly for the woman to instruct and teach
-her lord and husband; her place was rather to learn of him. If she
-had been bold to maintain opinions differing from the King’s, it had
-been to “minister talk”--to make conversation, in modern language--to
-distract him from the thought of his infirmities, as also in the hope
-of profiting by his learned discourse--with more of the same nature.
-
-Henry, perhaps not sorry to be convinced, yielded to the skilful
-flattery thus administered.
-
-“Is it even so, sweetheart?” he said, “and tend your arguments to no
-worse end? Then perfect friends we are now again,” adding, as he took
-her in his arms and kissed her, that her words had done him more good
-than news of a hundred thousand pounds.
-
-The next day had been fixed for the Queen’s arrest. As the appointed
-hour approached the King sought the garden, sending for Katherine
-to attend him there. Accompanied by the same ladies as on the night
-before, the Queen obeyed the summons, and there, under the July sun,
-the closing scene of the serio-comic drama was played. Amused, it may
-be, by the anticipation of his counsellors’ discomfiture, Henry was
-in good spirits and “as pleasant as ever he was in his life before,”
-when the Chancellor, with forty of the royal guard, appeared, ready to
-take possession of the culprit. What passed between Wriothesley and his
-master, at a little distance from the rest of the party, could only be
-matter of conjecture. The Chancellor’s words, as he knelt before the
-angry King, were not audible to the curious bystanders, but the King’s
-rejoinder, “vehemently whispered,” was heard. “Knave, arrant knave,
-beast and fool,” were the epithets applied to the crestfallen official.
-After which, he was promptly dismissed.
-
-Katherine, whether or not she divined the truth, set herself to plead
-Wriothesley’s cause. Ignorance, not will, was in her opinion the
-probable origin of what had so manifestly moved Henry to wrath. The
-advocacy of the intended victim softened the King’s heart even more
-towards her.
-
-“Ah, poor soul,” he said, “thou little knowest how ill he deserves this
-grace at thy hands. On my word, sweetheart, he hath been towards thee
-an arrant knave, and so let him go.”[35]
-
-For the moment, at least, the danger was averted, and before it
-recurred the despot was in his grave, and Katherine was safe. It is
-curious to observe that in the list of contents to the _Acts and
-Monuments_ the danger of the Queen is pointed out, “and how gloriously
-she was preserved by her kind and loving Husband the King.”
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V
-
-1546
-
- The King dying--The Earl of Surrey--His career and his fate--The
- Duke of Norfolk’s escape--Death of the King.
-
-
-The King was dying. So much must have been apparent to all who were in
-a position to judge. None, however, dared utter their thought, since
-it had been made an indictable offence--the act being directed against
-soothsayers and prophets--to foretell his death. Those who wished him
-well or ill, those who would if they could have cared for his soul and
-invited him to make his peace with God before taking his way hence,
-were alike constrained to be mute. Before he went to present himself at
-a court of justice where king and crossing-sweeper stand side by side,
-another judicial murder was to be accomplished, and one more victim
-added to the number of the accusers awaiting him there. This was the
-poet Earl of Surrey, heir to the Dukedom of Norfolk.
-
-Surrey was not more than thirty. But much had been crowded, according
-to the fashion of the time, into his short and brilliant life. Brought
-up during his childhood at Windsor as the companion of the King’s
-illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond--who subsequently married Mary
-Howard, his friend’s sister--Surrey had suffered many vicissitudes
-of fortune; had been in confinement on a suspicion of sympathy with
-the Pilgrimage of Grace; and in 1543 had again fallen into disgrace,
-charged with breaking windows in London by shooting pebbles at them.
-To this accusation he pleaded guilty, explaining, in a satire directed
-against the citizens of London, that his object had been to prepare
-them for the divine retribution due for their irreligion and wickedness:
-
- This made me with a reckless brest,
- To wake thy sluggards with my bowe;
- A figure of the Lord’s behest,
- Whose scourge for synne the Scriptures shew.
-
-He can scarcely have expected that the plea would have availed, and he
-expiated his offence by a short imprisonment, chiefly of importance as
-accentuating his hatred towards the Seymours, who were held responsible
-for it.[36]
-
-In the course of the same year he was more worthily employed in
-fighting the battles of England abroad, where his conduct elicited a
-cordial tribute of praise from Charles V. “Our cousin, the Earl of
-Surrey,” wrote the Emperor to Henry, on Surrey’s return to England,
-would supply him with an account of all that had taken place. “We will
-therefore only add that he has given good proof in the army of whom he
-is the son; and that he will not fail to follow in the steps of his
-father and forefathers, with _si gentil cœur_ and so much dexterity
-that there is no need to instruct him in aught, and you will give him
-no command that he does not know how to execute.”[37]
-
-Two years later Surrey was in command of the English forces at
-Boulogne, there suffered defeat, and was, though not as an ostensible
-result of his failure, superseded by his rival and enemy, the Earl of
-Hertford, brother of the Admiral and head of the Seymour clan.
-
-Such was the record of the man who was to fall a prey to the malice and
-jealousy of the opposite party in the State. His noble birth, his long
-descent, and his brilliant gifts, were so many causes tending to make
-him hated and feared; besides which, even amongst men in whom humility
-was a rare virtue, he was noted for his pride--“the most foolish,
-proud boy,” as he was once described, “that is in England.” When he
-came to be tried for his life those of his own house came forward to
-bear witness to the contempt he had displayed towards inferiors in
-rank, if not in power. “These new men,” he had said scornfully--it was
-his sister who played the part of his accuser--“these new men loved
-no nobility, and if God called away the King they should smart for
-it.”[38] None of the King’s Council, he was reported to have declared,
-loved him, because they were not of noble birth, and also because he
-believed in the Sacrament of the Altar.[39]
-
-In verse he had likewise made his sentiments clear, comparing himself,
-much to his advantage, with the men he hated.
-
- Behold our kyndes how that we differ farre;
- I seke my foes, and you your frendes do threten still with warre.
- I fawne where I am fled; you slay that sekes to you;
- I can devour no yelding pray; you kill where you subdue.
- My kinde is to desire the honoure of the field,
- And you with bloode to slake your thirst on such as to you yeld.
-
-It was a natural and inevitable consequence of his attitude towards
-them that the “new men” hated and sought the ruin of the poet who held
-them up publicly to scorn; and if his great popularity in the country
-was in some sort a shield, it was also calculated to prove perilous, by
-giving rise to suspicion and distrust on the part of a sovereign prone
-to indulge in these sentiments, and thereby to render the success of
-his foes more easy.
-
-The Seymours were aware that their time was short. With the King’s
-approaching death the question of the guardianship of the successor to
-the throne was becoming daily more momentous; and when pride and vanity
-on the part of the Earl, together with treachery on that of friends and
-kin, placed a dangerous weapon in the hands of his opponents, they
-were prompt to use it.
-
-During the summer there was nothing to serve as a presage of his
-fate; and so late as August he took part in the magnificent reception
-accorded to the French ambassadors, successfully vindicating on that
-occasion his right to precedence over the Earl of Hertford, with whom
-he was as usual at open enmity.
-
-A new cause of quarrel had been added to the old. The Duke of Norfolk,
-developing, as age crept upon him, an unwonted desire for peace and
-amity, had lately devised a method of terminating the feud between his
-heir and the Seymour brothers, so powerful, by reason of their kinship
-to Prince Edward, in the State. Not only had he revived a project
-for uniting his widowed daughter, the Duchess of Richmond, to Thomas
-Seymour, Lord Admiral, Katherine Parr’s former lover, but had made a
-further proposal to cement the alliance between the rival houses by
-marrying three of his grandchildren to Hertford’s children.
-
-The old man’s scheme was not destined to succeed. Whether or not
-the Seymours would have consented to forget ancient grudges, Surrey
-remained irreconcilable, flatly refusing his consent to his father’s
-plan. So long as he lived, he declared, no son of his should ever wed
-Lord Hertford’s daughter; and when his sister--perhaps not insensible
-to Thomas Seymour’s attractions--showed an inclination to yield to the
-Duke’s wishes, he addressed bitter taunts to her. Since Seymour was
-in favour with the King, he told her ironically, let her conclude the
-farce of a marriage, and play in England the part which had, in France,
-belonged to the Duchesse d’Étampes, Francis I.’s mistress.
-
-Mary Howard did not marry the Admiral, but, possibly sharing her
-brother’s pride, she never forgot or forgave the insult he had offered
-her; and, repeating the sarcasm as if it had been advice tendered in
-all seriousness, did her best to damn the Earl in his day of extremity.
-In a contemporary Spanish chronicle further particulars, true or false,
-of the quarrel are added. It is there related that, grieved at the
-tales that had reached him of his sister’s lightness of conduct, Surrey
-had taken upon himself to administer a brotherly rebuke.
-
-“Sister,” he said, “I am very sorry to hear what I do about you; and if
-it be true, I will never speak to you again, but will be your mortal
-enemy.”[40]
-
-The Duchess was not a woman to accept the admonition meekly, and it was
-she who was to prove, in the sequel, the more dangerous foe of the two.
-
-The offence for which Surrey nominally suffered the capital penalty
-seems trivial enough. According to the story told by contemporary
-authorities--and it suits well with his overweening pride in his
-ancient blood and royal descent--he caused a painting to be executed
-wherein the Norfolk arms were joined to those of the royal house, the
-motto _Honi soit qui mal y pense_ being replaced by the enigmatical
-device _Till then thus_, and the whole concealed by a canvas placed
-above it.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From an engraving by Scriven after a painting by Holbein.
-
-HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY.]
-
-The very fact of the secrecy observed betrays the Earl’s consciousness
-that he had committed an imprudence. He was guilty of a worse when,
-notwithstanding the terms upon which he stood with his sister, he made
-her his confidant in the matter. The Duchess, in her turn, informed her
-father of what had been done, but to the Duke’s remonstrances Surrey
-turned a deaf ear. His ancestors, he replied, had borne these arms,
-and he was much better than they. Powerless to move him, his father,
-reiterating his fears that it might furnish occasion for a charge of
-treason, begged that the affair might be kept strictly private, to
-which Surrey readily agreed. Both men, however, had reckoned without
-the woman who was daughter to the one, sister to the other. Whether,
-as some aver,[41] the Duchess took the step of betraying her brother
-directly to the King, or merely corroborated the accusations preferred
-against him by others--Sir Richard Southwell, a friend of Surrey’s
-childhood, being the first to denounce him[42]--the matter soon became
-known, the Earl was examined at length, and by the middle of December
-was, with his father, lodged in the Tower on the charge of treason, the
-assumption of the royal arms being viewed as an implied claim to the
-succession to the throne, and as a menace to the little heir. Hertford
-and his brother were at hand to exaggerate the peril to be feared from
-his ambition; and the affection of the populace, who, as he was taken
-through the city to his place of captivity, made great lamentation,[43]
-was not fitted to allay apprehension. A month later the Earl’s trial
-took place at the Guildhall, crowds filling the streets as he went by.
-Brought before his judges, he made so spirited a defence that Holinshed
-admits that “if he had tempered his answers with such modesty as he
-showed token of a right perfect and ready wit, his praise had been the
-greater”; and though neither wit nor modesty was likely to avail to
-save him, it was not without long deliberation that the jury agreed to
-declare him guilty.
-
-Their verdict was pronounced by his implacable enemy, Hertford; being
-greeted by the people with “a great tumult, and it was a long while
-before they could be silenced, although they cried out to them to be
-quiet.”[44]
-
-The prisoner received what was practically sentence of death in
-characteristic fashion. His enemies might have vanquished him, but he
-could still despise them, still assert his inborn superiority to his
-victors.
-
-“Of what have you found me guilty?” he demanded. “Surely you will find
-no law that justifies you; but I know that the King wants to get rid of
-the noble blood around him, and to employ none but low people.”[45]
-
-On January 19, not a week after his trial, the poet, King Henry VIII.’s
-latest victim, was beheaded on Tower Hill. It was not the fault of
-Henry’s advisers that his aged father did not follow him to the grave.
-To have cleared Surrey out of their path was much; but it was not
-enough. The Duke’s heir gone, there were many eager to share amongst
-themselves the Norfolk spoils; Henry was ready to send his old servant
-to join his son; and only the King’s death, on the very night before
-the day appointed for the Duke’s execution, saved him from sharing
-Surrey’s fate. On January 28, 1547, nine days after the Earl had been
-slain, Henry was dead.
-
-The end can have taken few people by surprise. Whether it was
-unexpected by the King none can tell. His will was made--a will paving
-the way for the misfortunes of one of his kin, and preparing the
-scaffold upon which Lady Jane Grey was to die; since, tacitly setting
-aside the claims of his elder sister, Margaret of Scotland, and her
-heirs, he provided that, after his own children, Edward, Mary, and
-Elizabeth, the descendants of Mary Tudor, of whom Jane was, in the
-younger generation, the representative, should stand next in the order
-of succession to the throne. It was the first occasion upon which Lady
-Jane’s position had been explicitly defined, and was the prelude of the
-tragedy that was to follow. Should the unrepealed statutes declaring
-the King’s daughters illegitimate be permitted in the future to weigh
-against his present provisions in their favour, his great niece or her
-mother would, in the event of Prince Edward’s death, become heirs to
-the crown.
-
-For Henry the opportunity of cancelling, had it been possible, the
-injustices of a lifetime was over. “Soon after the death of the Earl of
-Surrey,” writes the Spanish chronicler, “the King felt unwell; and, as
-he was a wise man, he called his council together, and said to them,
-‘Gentlemen, I am unwell, and cannot tell when God may call me, so I
-wish to put my soul in order, and to reward my servants for what they
-have done.’”
-
-The writer was probably drawing upon his imagination, and presenting
-rather a picture of what, in his opinion, ought to have taken place
-than of what truly happened. It quickly became patent to all that the
-end was at hand; but, though the physicians represented to those about
-the dying man that it was fitting that he should be warned of his
-condition, most of them shrank from the task. At length Sir Anthony
-Denny took the performance of the duty upon himself, exhorting his
-master boldly to prepare for death, “calling himself to remembrance of
-his former life, and to call upon God in Christ betimes for grace and
-mercy.”[46]
-
-What followed must again be largely matter of conjecture, the various
-accounts being coloured according to the theological views of the
-narrator. It is possible that, feeling the end near, and calling to
-mind, as Denny bade him, the life he had led, Henry may have been
-visited by one of those deathbed repentances so mercilessly described
-by Raleigh: “For what do they do otherwise that die this kind of
-well-dying, but say to God as followeth: We beseech Thee, O God, that
-all the falsehoods, forswearings, and treacheries of our lives past
-may be pleasing unto Thee; that Thou wilt, for our sakes (that have
-had no leisure to do anything for Thine) change Thy nature (though
-impossible) and forget to be a just God; that Thou wilt love injuries
-and oppressions, call ambition wisdom, and charity foolishness.”[47]
-Into the secrets of the deathbed none can penetrate. Some say the
-King’s remorse, for the execution of Anne Boleyn in particular, was
-genuine; others that he was haunted by visionary fears and terrors. In
-the Spanish chronicle quoted above, it is asserted that, sending for
-“Madam Mary,” his injured daughter, he confessed that fortune--he might
-have said himself--had been hard against her, that he grieved not to
-have married her as he wished, and prayed her further to be a mother to
-the Prince, “for look, he is very little yet.”
-
-The same authority has also drawn what one must believe to be
-an imaginary picture of a final and affecting interview between
-Katherine and her husband, “when the good Queen could not answer for
-weeping.”[48] His account is uncorroborated by other evidence, and it
-is impossible to believe that she can have felt genuine sorrow for the
-death of a man whose life was a perpetual menace to her own.
-
-According to Foxe, when Denny, the courageous servant who had warned
-him of his danger, asked whether he would see no learned divine, the
-King replied that, were any such to be called, it should be Cranmer,
-but him not yet. He would first sleep, and then, according as he felt,
-would advise upon the matter. When, an hour or two later, finding his
-weakness increasing, he sent for the Archbishop, it was too late for
-speech. “Notwithstanding ... he, reaching his hand to Dr. Cranmer, did
-hold him fast,” and, desired by the latter to give some token of trust
-in God, he “did wring his hand in his as hard as he could, and so,
-shortly after, departed.”[49]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI
-
-1547
-
- Triumph of the new men--Somerset made Protector--Coronation of
- Edward VI.--Measures of ecclesiastical reform--The Seymour
- brothers--Lady Jane Grey entrusted to the Admiral--The Admiral
- and Elizabeth--His marriage to Katherine.
-
-
-With the death of the King a change, complete and sudden, passed over
-the face of affairs. So long as Henry drew breath all was uncertain;
-security there was none. The men who were in favour to-day might be
-disgraced to-morrow, and with regard to the government of the country
-and the guardianship of the new sovereign all depended upon the state
-of mind in which death might find him. Happening when it actually did,
-it left the “new men,” the objects of Surrey’s contempt, triumphant.
-Norfolk was in prison on a capital charge; his son was dead. Gardiner
-had fallen into disgrace at the same time as the Howards, and, though
-averting a worse fate by a timely show of submission, had never
-regained his power, his name being omitted by Henry from the list of
-his executors, all, with the exception of Wriothesley the Chancellor,
-adherents of the Seymours and for the most part pledged to the support
-of the Protestant interest. Henry had acted deliberately.
-
-“My Lord of Winchester--I think by negligence--is left out of Your
-Majesty’s will,” said Sir Anthony Browne, kneeling by the King’s side,
-and recalling to the dying man the Bishop’s long service and great
-abilities. But Henry refused to reconsider the question.
-
-“Hold your peace,” he returned. “I remembered him well enough, and of
-good purpose have left him out; for surely, if he were in my testament,
-and one of you, he would cumber you all, and you should never rule him,
-he is of so troublesome a nature.”[50]
-
-Gardiner removed, there was no one left of sufficient influence to
-combat the Seymours. Their day was come.
-
-The King’s death had taken place on Friday, January 28. The Council,
-for reasons of their own, kept the news secret until the following
-Monday, when, amidst a scene of strong emotion, real or simulated, the
-fact was made known to Lords and Commons, Parliament was dissolved, and
-the Commons dismissed, the peers staying in London to welcome their new
-sovereign. On February 1 a fresh and crowning success was scored by the
-dominant party, and Hertford--Wriothesley’s being the sole dissentient
-voice in the governing body--was made Protector and guardian of the
-King. That afternoon Edward received the homage of the Lords spiritual
-and temporal, and the new reign was inaugurated.
-
-On the 20th of the same month the coronation took place with all
-magnificence. On the previous day the nine-year-old King had been
-brought “through his city of London in most royal and goodly wise” to
-Westminster, the crafts standing on one side of the streets to see
-him pass, priests and clerks on the other, with crosses and censers,
-waiting to cense the new sovereign as he went by. The sword of state
-was borne by Dorset, as Constable of England, and his daughter, the
-same age as the King, was probably a witness of the splendid pageant
-and watched her cousin as, in his gown of cloth of silver embroidered
-in gold and with his white velvet jerkin and cape, he rode through the
-city.[51]
-
-At the coronation on the following day Dorset again occupied a
-prominent place, standing by the King and carrying the sceptre,
-Somerset bearing the crown. Cranmer, with no longer anything to fear
-from his enemies, performed the ceremony and delivered an address that
-can have left no doubt in the minds of any of his hearers, if such
-there were, who had clung to the hope that a moderate policy would be
-pursued in ecclesiastical matters, of what was to be expected from the
-men who had in their hands the little head of Church and State. As
-God’s Vice-regent and Christ’s Vicar, Edward Tudor was exhorted to
-see that God was worshipped, idolatry destroyed, the tyranny of the
-Bishop of Rome banished, and images removed, the hybrid ceremony being
-concluded by a solemn high mass, Cranmer acting as celebrant.
-
-Signal success had attended the inauguration of the new régime.
-Dissentients were almost nonexistent. Wriothesley, now Earl of
-Southampton, remained the solitary genuine adherent of the old faith
-belonging to the Council. His lack of caution in putting the great
-seal into commission without the authority of his colleagues afforded
-them an excuse for ousting him from his post of Chancellor; he was
-compelled to resign his office, and received orders to confine himself
-to his house, whilst Hertford, become Duke of Somerset, took advantage
-of his absence to obtain letters patent by which he became virtually
-omnipotent in the State.
-
-The earlier months of his government were chiefly devoted to carrying
-through drastic measures of ecclesiastical reform, in which he was
-aided by conviction in some, and cupidity in others, of his colleagues,
-eager to benefit by the spoliation of the Church. With the education of
-the King in the hands of the Protector, they could count upon immunity
-when he should come to an age to execute justice on his own account,
-and the work went swiftly forward. Gardiner, it was true, offered
-a determined opposition. If he had pandered to his old master, he
-vindicated his character for courage by braving the resentment of the
-men now in power, and paid for his boldness by imprisonment.
-
-By September the internal affairs of the kingdom were on a sufficiently
-settled footing to allow the Protector to turn his attention to
-Scotland. Crossing the border with an army of twenty thousand men, he
-conducted in person a short campaign ending with the victory of Pinkie,
-after which, to the surprise of those who expected to see him follow up
-his success, he hurried home.
-
-His hasty retreat was ascribed to different causes. Some supposed
-him eager to be again at his post, with the prestige of his victory
-still fresh. By others it was imagined that he feared the intrigues
-of his enemies, and in especial of his brother the Admiral. Nor would
-such uneasiness have been without justification. So long as their
-combined strength was necessary to enable them to stand against their
-enemies, the two had made common cause. Somerset was popular in the
-country; the nobles preferred the Admiral. For both a certain distrust
-was entertained by those who felt that “their new lustre did dim the
-light of men honoured with ancient nobility.[52]” The consciousness of
-insecurity kept them at one with each other. Become all-powerful in
-the State, jealousy and passion sundered them. Ambitious, proud, and
-resentful of the Duke’s assumption of undivided authority, Seymour had
-quickly shown an intention of undermining his brother’s position in the
-country, with his hold upon the King, and the Protector may reasonably
-have felt that it was neither safe nor politic, so far as his personal
-interest was concerned, to remain too long at a distance from the
-centre of government.
-
-To the jealousies natural to ambitious men other causes of dissension
-had been added. These were due to the position achieved by Seymour some
-months previous to the Scotch campaign by his marriage with the King’s
-widow.
-
-The conduct of Katherine at this juncture is allowed by her warmest
-partisans to furnish matter for regret. Little information is
-forthcoming concerning her movements at the time of the King’s
-death; nor does any blame attach to her if she regarded that event
-in the light of a timely release, an emancipation from a condition
-of perpetual unrest and anxiety. In any case the age was not one
-when overmuch time was squandered in mourning, real or conventional,
-for the dead; and, judging by the sequel, it is possible that, even
-before the final close was put to her married life, she may have been
-contemplating the recovery of her lost lover. It is said that when
-the Lord Admiral paid her his formal visit of condolence she not only
-received him in private, but candidly confessed how slight was her
-reason to regret a man who had done her the wrong of appropriating her
-youth.[53]
-
-If the conversation is correctly reported, Seymour would augur well
-of the Queen’s willingness, so far as was possible, to make up for
-lost time. But he was not himself inclined to be hurried. Intent upon
-securing every means within his power to assist him in the coming
-struggle for pre-eminence, he did not at once convince himself that it
-was his best policy to become the husband of the King’s step-mother,
-and that a more advantageous alliance was not within his grasp.
-
-Other matters were also occupying his attention; and it was now that
-Lady Jane Grey, unfortunately a factor of importance in the political
-world, was brought prominently forward and that her small figure comes
-first into view in connection with the competition for power and
-influence.
-
-Although allied with the royal house, and in a position to share in
-some sort Surrey’s contempt for the parvenu nobility of whom the
-Seymours were representative, Dorset and the King’s uncles, agreed
-upon the crucial matter of religion, were on good terms; and Henry was
-no sooner dead than it occurred to the Admiral that he might steal a
-march upon his brother and secure to himself a point of vantage in the
-contest between them, by obtaining the custody for the present, and the
-disposal in the future, of the marquis’s eldest daughter.
-
-He lost no time in attempting to compass his purpose. Immediately
-after the late King’s death--according to statements made when, at a
-later date, Seymour had fallen upon evil times--Lord Dorset received
-a visit from a dependant of the Admiral’s, named Harrington, and the
-negotiations ending in the transference of the practical guardianship
-of the child to Seymour were set on foot.
-
-Harrington was, it would seem, the bearer of a letter from his master,
-containing the proposal that Lady Jane should be committed to his care;
-and found the Marquis, on this first occasion, “somewhat cold” in the
-matter. The messenger, however, proceeded to urge the wishes of his
-principal, supporting them by arguments well calculated to appeal to
-an ambitious man. He reported that he had heard Seymour say “that Lady
-Jane was as handsome as any lady in England, and that, if the King’s
-Majesty, when he came of age, would marry within the realm, it was
-as likely he would be there as in any other place, and that he [the
-Admiral] would wish it.”[54]
-
-Such was Harrington’s deposition. Dorset’s account of the interview
-is to much the same effect. Visiting him at his house at Westminster
-“immediately after the King’s death,” he stated that Seymour’s envoy
-had advised him to be content that his daughter should be with the
-Admiral, assuring him that he would find means to place her in marriage
-much to his comfort.
-
-“With whom?” demanded Dorset, plainly anxious to obtain an explicit
-pledge.
-
-“Marry,” answered Harrington, “I doubt not you shall see him marry her
-to the King.”
-
-As a consequence of this conversation Dorset called upon the Admiral
-at Seymour House a week later, and as the two walked in the garden an
-agreement was arrived at, and her father was won over to send for the
-child, who thereafter remained in the Admiral’s house “continually”
-until the death of the Queen.[55]
-
-It was a strange arrangement; the more so that it was evidently
-concluded before the marriage of the late King’s widow to Seymour, a
-man one would imagine to have been in no wise fit to be entrusted with
-the sole guardianship of the little girl. But Dorset was ambitious;
-the favour of the King’s uncle, with the possibility of securing the
-King himself as a son-in-law, was not lightly to be forgone; and the
-sacrifice of Jane was made, not for the last time, to her father’s
-interest.
-
-To the child herself the change from the Bradgate fields and parks to
-the London home of her new guardian must have been abrupt. Yet, though
-she may have felt bewildered and desolate in her new surroundings and
-separated from her two little sisters, her training at home had not
-been of a description to cause her overmuch regret at a parting from
-those responsible for it. It has been said that every child should
-dwell for a time within an Eden of its own, and with many men and
-women the recollection of the unclouded irrational joy belonging to a
-childhood surrounded by love and tenderness may have constituted in
-after years a pledge and a guarantee that happiness is possible, and
-that, in spite of sin and sorrow and suffering, the world is still, as
-God saw it at creation, very good. The garden in which little Jane’s
-childhood was passed was one of a different nature. “No lady,” says
-Fuller pitifully, “which led so many pious, lived so few pleasant days,
-whose soul was never out of the nonage of affliction till Death made
-her of full years to inherit happiness, so severe her education.” Her
-father’s house was to her a house of correction.[56]
-
-Such being the case, the less regret can have mingled with the natural
-excitement of a child brought into wholly new conditions of life, and
-treated perhaps for the first time as a person of importance. Nor
-was it long before circumstances provided her with a home to which
-no exception could be taken. By June Seymour’s marriage with the
-Queen-Dowager had been made public.
-
-In the interval, short though it was, that elapsed between the King’s
-death and the union of his widow and the Admiral, Seymour had had
-time, before committing himself to a renewal of his suit to Katherine,
-to attempt a more brilliant match. Henry had been scarcely a month
-dead before he addressed a letter, couched in the correct terms of
-conventional love-making, to the Princess Elizabeth, now fourteen. He
-wished, he wrote, that it were possible to communicate to the missive
-the virtue of rousing in her heart as much favour towards him as his
-was full of love for her, proceeding to pay the customary tribute to
-the beauty and charm, together with “a certain fascination I cannot
-resist,” by which he had been subjugated.
-
-Elizabeth, at fourteen, was keen-witted enough to estimate aright
-the advantages offered by a marriage with the uncle of the reigning
-sovereign. Nor was she, perhaps, judging by what followed, indifferent
-to the personal attractions of this, her first suitor. Though a certain
-impression of vulgarity is conveyed, in spite of his magnificent voice
-and splendid appearance, by the Lord Admiral, a child twenty years
-younger than himself was not likely to detect, in the recognised Adonis
-of the Court, the presence of this somewhat indefinable attribute. In
-her eyes he was doubtless a dazzling figure; and though she replied
-by a polite refusal to entertain his addresses, it is said that she
-afterwards owed her step-mother a grudge for having discouraged her
-from accepting them. Her answer was, however, a model of maidenly
-modesty. She had, she stated, neither age nor inclination to think of
-marriage, and would never have believed that the subject would have
-been broached so soon after her father’s death. Two years at least must
-be passed in mourning, nor could she decide to become a wife before she
-had reached years of discretion.[57]
-
-That problematical date would not be patiently awaited by a man intent
-upon building up without delay the fabric of his fortunes; and, denied
-the late King’s daughter, Seymour promptly fell back upon his wife. A
-graphic account of the beginning of his courtship is supplied by the
-Spanish chronicle, and, if not reliable for accuracy, the narrative
-no doubt represents what was believed in London, where the writer
-was resident. The question of the marriage had been, according to
-him, first mooted to the Council by the Protector, and though other
-authorities assert that the Duke was opposed to the match, both facts
-may be true. It is not inconceivable that, whilst he would have
-preferred that his brother should have looked less high for a wife,
-the possibility that Seymour might have obtained the hand of the
-King’s sister may have caused the Protector to regard with favour an
-arrangement putting a marriage with the Princess out of the question.
-
-At the Council Board it is said that the proposal received the
-approbation of the Chancellor. Cranmer, though characterising it as an
-act of disrespect to the memory of the late King, promised to interpose
-no obstacle. Paget, the Secretary, went further, engaging that his
-wife, in attendance on the Queen, should push the matter to the best of
-her ability.
-
-After dinner one day, accordingly--to continue the narrative of the
-Spaniard--when the Queen, with all her ladies, was in the great hall
-of the palace, and the Lord Admiral entered, “looking so handsome
-that every one had something to say about him,” Lady Paget, taking
-her opportunity, made a whispered inquiry to the Queen as to her
-opinion of Seymour’s appearance. To which the Queen answered that
-she liked it very much--“oh, how changeable,” sighs the chronicler,
-“are women in that country!” Encouraged by Katherine’s reply, Lady
-Paget ventured to go further, and to hint at a marriage; answering,
-when the Queen replied by demurring on the score of her superior rank
-as Queen-Dowager, that to win so pretty a man you might well stoop.
-Katherine would, she added, continue to retain her royal title.[58]
-
-The Queen did not prove difficult to persuade. If it is true that she
-had been cognisant of Seymour’s attempt to obtain the hand of her
-step-daughter, the fact might have warned her of the nature of the
-love he was offering to herself. But a woman in her state of mind is
-not accessible to reason. A little more than a month after Henry’s
-death the betrothal took place, the marriage following upon it in
-May, and the haste displayed giving singular proof of how far the
-Queen’s old passion had mastered prudence and discretion. The world
-was scandalised, and the King’s daughters in particular were strong
-in their disapproval; Mary, the more energetic of the two on this
-occasion, summoning her sister to visit her, that together they might
-devise means of preventing the impending insult to their father’s
-memory, or concert a method of making their attitude clear.
-
-Elizabeth, though her objections to the match were probably, on
-personal grounds, stronger than those of her sister, was more cautious
-than Mary. The girl, or her advisers, may have been aware of the fact
-that opposition to the King’s uncle would be a dangerous course to be
-pursued by any one whose future was as ill assured as her own; and,
-in answer to her sister, she pointed out, though expressing her grief
-at the affair, that their sole consolation would lie in submission
-to the will of Providence, since neither was able to offer practical
-resistance to the project. Dissimulation, under these circumstances,
-would be their best policy. Mary might decline to visit the Queen, but
-in Elizabeth’s subordinate position she would herself be compelled to
-do so, her step-mother having shown her so much kindness.[59]
-
-Despite public censure, despite the blame and disapproval of critics
-whose disapproval would carry more weight, Katherine may not at this
-time have regretted her defiance of conventional propriety; and those
-spring weeks, passed at her jointure palace in Chelsea, were probably
-the happiest of her life. The nightmare sense of insecurity, which
-can never have been wholly laid to rest so long as Henry lived, was
-removed; the price exacted for her royal dignity had been paid, to the
-uttermost farthing; and she was a free woman. Her old love for Seymour
-had re-awakened in full force, and she believed it was returned. Pious
-and prudent, Katherine had forgotten to be wise. Disillusionment might
-come later, but at present the future smiled upon her; and she may
-fairly have counted upon it to pay, at long last, the debts of the past.
-
-Her letters, light and tender, grave and gay, indicate her mood as
-she awaited the day when she would take her place before the world as
-Seymour’s wife. Whether a marriage had already taken place, though kept
-private as a concession to public opinion, or whether it was still to
-come, there were secret meetings in the early spring mornings by the
-river, when the town was scarcely awake, the more welcome, it may be,
-because of the sense that they were stolen.
-
-“When it shall be your pleasure to repair hither,” wrote Kateryn the
-Quene--her invariable signature--to her lover, “ye must take some
-pains to come early in the morning, that ye may be gone again by seven
-o’clock; and so I suppose ye may come hither without suspect. I pray
-you let me have knowledge over-night at what hour ye will come, that
-your portress [herself] may wait at the gate of the fields for you....
-By her that is, and shall be, your humble, true, and loving wife during
-her life.”
-
-Poor, learned Katherine had fallen an unresisting victim, like any
-other common woman, to the gifts and attractions of the man who was to
-prove so unsatisfactory a husband!
-
-By May 17, if not before, it is clear that the marriage had taken
-place, though the secret had been so closely kept that it was a
-surprise to the bridegroom to discover that it was known to the Queen’s
-own sister, Lady Herbert. On visiting the latter, he told Katherine in
-a letter of this date, she had charged him “touching my lodging with
-your Highness at Chelsea,” the Admiral stoutly maintaining that he
-had done no more than pass by the garden on his way to the house of
-the Bishop of London; “till at last she told me further tokens, which
-made me change colour,” and he had arrived at the conclusion that Lady
-Herbert had been taken into her sister’s confidence.
-
-Meantime the inconvenience of the present condition of things was
-evident; and to Mary--curiously enough, since her disapproval of the
-projected marriage had been so pronounced--Seymour applied for help
-which should enable him to put an end to it. Although he preserved
-the attitude of a mere suitor for the Queen’s hand, it may be that
-the Princess suspected that she was being consulted after the event.
-Her answer was not encouraging. Had the matter concerned her nearest
-kinsman and dearest friend it would, she told the Admiral, stand least
-with her poor honour than with any other creature to meddle in the
-affair, considering whose wife the Queen had lately been.
-
-“If the remembrance of the King’s Majesty my father ... will not suffer
-her to grant your suit, I am nothing able to persuade her to forget the
-loss of him who is, as yet, very rife in mine own remembrance.” If,
-however, the Princess refused the assistance he begged, she assured
-him that, “wooing matters apart, wherein, being a maid, I am nothing
-cunning,” she would be ready in other things to serve him.
-
-The young King, to whom recourse was next had, was found more
-accommodating; and indeed appears to have been skilfully convinced
-that it was by his persuasions that his step-mother had been induced
-to bestow her hand upon his uncle, writing to thank the Queen for her
-gentle acceptation of his suit. The boy, after Katherine’s death and
-her husband’s disgrace, gave an account of the methods used to obtain
-his intervention:
-
-“The Lord Admiral came to me ... and desired me to write a thing for
-him. I asked him what. He said it was none ill thing; it is for the
-Queen’s Majesty. I said if it were good the Lords would allow it; if
-it were ill I would not write on it. Then he said they would take it
-in better part if I would write. I desired him to let me alone in that
-matter. Cheke said afterwards to me, ‘Ye were best not to write.’”[60]
-
-The boy’s letter to the Queen proves that he had subsequently yielded
-to his uncle’s request; and in June the fact of the marriage became
-public property.
-
-The progress of the love-affair will have been watched with interest by
-the curious and jealous eyes of Elizabeth, the half-grown girl, who,
-placed by the Council under her step-mother’s care at Chelsea, had
-ample opportunities of forming her conclusions. Lady Jane Grey may, not
-improbably, have been likewise a spectator of what was going forward.
-There is no evidence to show whether it was before or after the public
-avowal of the marriage that she took up her residence under the Queen’s
-roof. But, having obtained his point and gained her custody, it is
-not unreasonable to imagine that the Admiral may have found a child
-of ten an encumbrance in his household, and have taken the earliest
-opportunity of consigning her to Katherine’s care.
-
-A passive asset as she was in the political reckoning, the debates
-concerning her guardianship must have done something to bring home to
-her mind the consciousness of her importance; and she had doubtless
-been made well aware of her title to consideration by the time that she
-became an honoured inmate of the Lord Admiral’s house. But concerning
-the details of her existence at this date history is dumb, and we can
-but guess at her attitude as, fresh from her country home, she watched,
-under the roof of her new guardian in Seymour Place, the life of the
-great city around; or within the more tranquil precincts of Chelsea
-Palace, with the broad river flowing past, shared in the studies and
-pursuits of her cousin Elizabeth, ready-witted, full of vitality, and
-already displaying some of the traits marking the Queen of future years.
-
-Did the shadow of predestined and early death single little Jane out
-from her companions? Like the comrades of whom Maeterlinck tells,
-“children of precocious death,” possessing no friends amongst the
-playmates who were not about to die, did she stand in some sort apart
-and separate, regarding those around her with a grave smile? We build
-up the unrecorded days of childhood from the few short years that
-followed; and reading backwards, and fitting the fragments of a life
-into its place, we find it difficult to believe that Jane Grey’s
-laughter rang like that of other undoomed children through the pleasant
-Chelsea gardens, that she shared with a whole heart in the games of
-her playfellows, or that the strange seriousness of her youth did not
-envelope the small, sedate figure of the child.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII
-
-1547-1548
-
- Katherine Parr’s unhappy married life--Dissensions between the
- Seymour brothers--The King and his uncles--The Admiral and
- Princess Elizabeth--Birth of Katherine’s child, and her death.
-
-
-The belated idyll of love and happiness enjoyed by “Kateryn the Quene”
-was of pitifully short duration. During the first days of September
-1548, some fifteen months after the stolen marriage at Chelsea, a
-funeral procession left Sudeley Castle, and the body of the wife of the
-Lord Admiral was carried forth to burial, Lady Jane Grey, his ward,
-then in her twelfth year, acting as chief mourner.[61]
-
-Jane had good cause to mourn, in other than an official capacity. It is
-hard to believe that, had Katherine Parr been living, the child she had
-cared for and who had made her home under her roof, would not have been
-saved from the doom destined to overtake her not six years later.
-
-Katherine’s dream had died before she did, and the period of her
-marriage, short though it was, must have been a time of rapid
-disillusionment. It could scarcely, taking the circumstances into
-account, have been otherwise. Seymour was not the man to make the
-happiness of a wife touching upon middle age, studious, learned,
-and devout, “avoiding all occasions of idleness, and contemning
-vain pastimes.”[62] His love, if indeed it had been ever other than
-disguised ambition, was short-lived, and Katherine’s awakening must
-have come all too swiftly.
-
-Nor was the revelation of her husband’s true character her only cause
-of trouble. Minor vexations had, from the first, attended her new
-condition of life, and she had been made to feel that the wife of the
-Protector’s younger brother could not expect to enjoy the deference due
-to a Dowager-Queen. To Katherine, who clung to her former dignity, the
-loss of it was no light matter, and her sister-in-law, the Duchess of
-Somerset, and she were at open war.
-
-Contemporary and early writers are agreed as to the nature of the
-woman with whom she had to deal. “The Protector,” explains the Spanish
-chronicler, giving the popular version of the affair, “had a wife who
-was prouder than he was, and she ruled the Protector so completely that
-he did whatever she wished, and she, finding herself in such great
-state, became more presumptuous than Lucifer.”[63] Hayward attributes
-the subsequent disunion between the brothers, in the first place, to
-“the unquiet vanity of a mannish, or rather a devilish woman ... for
-many imperfections intolerable, but for pride monstrous”;[64] whilst
-Heylyn represents the Duchess as observing that, if Mr. Admiral should
-teach his wife no better manners, “I am she that will.”[65]
-
-The struggle for precedence carried on between the wives could scarcely
-fail to have a bad effect upon the relationship of the husbands,
-already at issue upon graver questions; and Warwick, Somerset’s future
-rival, was at hand to foment the strife between Protector and Admiral,
-and, “secretly playing with both hands,” paved the way for the fall of
-the younger brother and the consequent weakening of the forces which
-barred the way to the attainment of his personal ambitions.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by W. Mansell & Co. after an engraving.
-
-KATHERINE PARR.]
-
-Nor can there be any doubt that, apart from the ill offices of those
-who desired to separate the interests of the brothers, the Protector
-had good reason to stand upon his guard. When Seymour was tried for
-his life during the winter of 1548-9, dependants and equals alike came
-forward to bear witness to his intriguing propensities, their evidence
-going far to prove that, whatever may be thought of Somerset’s conduct
-as a brother in sending him to the scaffold, as head of the State and
-responsible for the government of the realm, he was not without
-justification. It is clear that from the first the Admiral, jealous of
-the position accorded to the Duke by the Council, had been sedulously
-engaged in attempting to undermine his power, and had not disguised
-his resentment at his appropriation of undivided authority. Never had
-it been seen in a minority--so he informed a confidant[66]--that the
-one brother should bear all rule, the other none. One being Protector,
-the other should have filled the post of Governor to the King, so he
-averred; although, on another occasion, contradicting himself, he
-declared he would wish the earth to open and swallow him rather than
-accept either post. There was abundant proof that he had done his
-utmost, whenever opportunity was afforded him, to rouse the King to
-discontent. It was a disagreeable feature of the day that men were in
-no wise slack in accusing their friends in times of disgrace, thereby
-seeking to safeguard their reputations; and Dorset came forward later
-to testify that Seymour had told him that his nephew had divers times
-made his moan, saying that “My uncle of Somerset dealeth very hardly
-with me, and keepeth me so straight that I cannot have money at my
-will.” The Lord Admiral, added the boy, both sent him money and gave it
-to him.[67]
-
-Perhaps the most significant testimony brought against the Admiral
-was that of the little King himself, who asserted that Seymour had
-charged him with being “bashful” in his own affairs, asking why he did
-not speak to bear rule as did other Kings. “I said I needed not, for I
-was well enough,” the boy replied on this occasion. At another time,
-according to his confession, a conversation took place the more grim
-from the simplicity of the language in which it is recorded.
-
-“Within these two years at least,” said Edward, now eleven years old,
-“he said, ‘Ye must take upon yourself to rule, and then ye may give
-your men somewhat; for your uncle is old, and I trust he will not live
-long.’ I answered it were better that he should die.”[68]
-
-It was scarcely possible that the Protector should not have been
-cognisant of a part at least of his brother’s machinations; and he
-naturally, so far as was possible, kept his charge from falling further
-under the influence of his enemies. The young King’s affection for his
-step-mother had been a cause of disquiet to her brother-in-law and
-his wife, care being taken to separate him from her as much as was
-possible. So long as Katherine remained in London it had been Edward’s
-habit to visit her apartments unattended, and by a private entrance.
-Familiar intercourse of this kind terminated when she removed to a
-distance; and, so far as the Lord Protector could ensure obedience,
-little communication was permitted between the two during the short
-time the Queen had to live. The boy, however, was constant to old
-affection, and used what opportunities he could to express it.
-
-“If his Grace could get any spare time,” wrote one John Fowler, a
-servant of the royal household, to the Admiral, “his Grace would write
-a letter to the Queen’s Grace, and to you. His Highness desires your
-lordship to pardon him, for his Grace is not half a quarter of an hour
-alone. But in such leisure as his Grace has, his Majesty hath written
-(here enclosed) his commendations to the Queen’s Grace and to your
-lordship, that he is so much bound to you that he must remember you
-always, and, as his Grace may have time, you shall well perceive by
-such small lines of recommendations with his own hand.”[69]
-
-The scribbled notes, on scraps of paper, written by stealth and as he
-could find opportunity, by the King, testify to the closeness of the
-watch kept upon him; their contents show the means by which the Admiral
-strove to maintain his hold upon his nephew.
-
-“My lord,” so runs the first, “send me, per Latimer, as much as ye
-think good, and deliver it to Fowler.” The second note is one of thanks.
-
-An attempt was made by the Admiral to obtain a letter from the King
-which, complaining of the Protector’s system of restraint, should be
-laid before Parliament; but the intrigue was discovered, the Admiral
-summoned to appear before the Council, and, though he was at first
-inclined to bluster, and replied by a defiance, a hint of imprisonment
-brought him to reason, and some sort of hollow reconciliation between
-the brothers followed.
-
-The King, the unfortunate subject of dispute, was probably lonely
-enough. For his tutor, Sir John Cheke, and for his school-mate, Barnaby
-Fitzpatrick, he appears to have entertained a real affection; but for
-his elder uncle and guardian he had little liking, nor was the Duchess
-of Somerset a woman to win the heart of her husband’s ward. From
-his step-mother and the Admiral he was practically cut off; and his
-sisters, for whom his attachment was genuine, were at a distance, and
-paid only occasional visits to Court. Mary’s influence, as a Catholic,
-would naturally have been feared; and Elizabeth, living for the time
-under the Admiral’s roof, would be regarded likewise with suspicion.
-But the happiness of the nominal head of the State was not a principal
-consideration with those around him, mostly engaged in a struggle
-not only to secure present personal advantages, but to ensure their
-continuance at such time as Edward should have attained his majority.
-
-The relations between the Seymour brothers being that of a scarcely
-disguised hostility, the Admiral had the more reason to congratulate
-himself upon having obtained the possession and disposal of the
-person of Lady Jane Grey--third, save for her mother, in the line of
-succession to the throne. Should her guardian succeed in effecting her
-marriage with the King the arrangement might prove of vital importance.
-On the other hand, Somerset’s matrimonial schemes for the younger
-members of the royal house were of an altogether different nature. He
-would have liked to marry the King to a daughter of his own, another
-Lady Jane, and to have obtained the hand of Lady Jane Grey for his son,
-young Lord Hertford.
-
-Such projects, however, belonged to the future. Nothing could be done
-for the present, nor does it appear that, when Somerset’s scheme
-afterwards became known to the King, it met with any favour in his
-eyes; since, noting it in his journal, he added his private intention
-of wedding “a foreign princess, well stuffed and jewelled.”
-
-So far as Katherine was concerned, her domestic affairs were probably
-causing her too much anxiety to leave attention to spare for those of
-King or kingdom, except as they were gratifying, or the reverse, to
-her husband. Since the May day when she had given herself, rashly and
-eagerly, into the keeping of the Lord Admiral, she had been sorrowfully
-enlightened as to the nature of the man and of his affection; and, if
-she still loved him, her heart must often have been heavy. The presence
-of the Princess Elizabeth under her roof had been disastrous in its
-consequences; and, though it was at first the interest of all to keep
-the matter secret, the inquisition made at the time of the Admiral’s
-disgrace into the circumstances of his married life affords an insight
-into his wife’s wrongs.
-
-In a conversation held between Mrs. Ashley, Elizabeth’s governess,
-and her cofferer, Parry, after the Queen’s death, the possibility of
-a marriage between the widower and the Princess was discussed, Parry
-raising objections to the scheme, on the score that he had heard evil
-of Seymour as being covetous and oppressive, and also “how cruelly,
-dishonourably, and jealously he had used the Queen.”
-
-Ashley, from first to last eager to forward the Admiral’s interests,
-brushed the protest aside.
-
-“Tush, tush,” she replied, “that is no matter. I know him better than
-ye do, or those that do so report him. I know he will make but too much
-of her, and that she knows well enough.”[70]
-
-The same witness confessed at this later date that she feared the
-Admiral had loved the Princess too well, and the Queen had been jealous
-of both--an avowal corroborated by Elizabeth’s admissions, when she
-too underwent examination concerning the relations which had existed
-between herself and her step-mother’s husband.
-
-“Kat Ashley told me,” she deposed, “after the Lord Admiral was married
-to the Queen, that if my lord might have had his own will, he would
-have had me, afore the Queen. Then I asked her how she knew that.
-Then she said she knew it well enough, both from himself and from
-others.”[71]
-
-If the correspondence quoted in a previous page is genuine,[72]
-Elizabeth, though she may have had reason to keep her knowledge to
-herself, can have been in no doubt as to the Admiral’s sentiments at
-the time of her father’s death. With a governess of Mrs. Ashley’s
-type, a girl of fifteen such as Elizabeth was shown to be by her
-subsequent career, and a man like Seymour, it would not have been
-difficult to prophesy trouble. That the Admiral was in love with his
-wife’s charge may be doubted; in the same way that ambition, rather
-than any other sentiment, may be credited with his desire to obtain
-her hand a few months earlier. What was certain was that he amused
-himself, after his boisterous fashion, with the sharp-witted girl
-to an extent calculated to cause both uneasiness and anger to the
-Queen. That no actual harm was intended may be true--he could scarcely
-have been blind to the consequences had he dared to deal otherwise
-with the daughter and sister of Kings; and the whole story, when it
-subsequently came to light, reads like an instance of coarse and vulgar
-flirtation, in harmony with the nature of the man and the habits of
-the times. What is less easy to account for is Katherine’s partial
-connivance, in its earlier stages, at the rough horse-play, if nothing
-worse, carried on by her husband and her step-daughter. A scene, for
-example, is described as taking place at Hanworth, where the Admiral,
-in the garden with his wife and the Princess, cut the girl’s gown,
-“being black cloth,” into a hundred pieces; Elizabeth replying to
-Mrs. Ashley’s protests by saying that “she could not strive with all,
-for the Queen held her while the Lord Admiral cut the dress.” Nor was
-this the only occasion upon which Katherine appears to have looked on
-without disapproval whilst her husband treated her charge in a fashion
-befitting her character neither as Princess nor guest.
-
-The explanation may lie in the fact that the unfortunate Queen was
-attempting to adapt her taste and her manners to those of the man she
-had married. But the condition of the household could not last. A
-crisis was reached when one day Katherine, coming unexpectedly upon the
-two, found Seymour with the Princess in his arms, and decided, none
-too soon, that an end must be put to the situation. It was not long
-after that the households of Queen and Princess were parted, “and as I
-remember,” explained Parry the cofferer, “this was the cause why she
-was sent from the Queen, or else that her Grace parted from the Queen.
-I do not perfectly remember whether of both she [Ashley] said she went
-of herself or was sent away.”[73]
-
-There can be little doubt, one would imagine, that it was Katherine
-who determined to disembarrass herself of her visitor. A letter from
-Elizabeth, evidently written after their separation, appears to show
-that farewell had been taken in outwardly friendly fashion, although
-the promise she quotes Katherine as making has an ambiguous sound about
-it. The Princess wrote to say that she had been replete in sorrow at
-leaving the Queen, “and albeit I answered little, I weighed it more
-deeply when you said you would warn me of all evils that you should
-hear of me; for if your Grace had not a good opinion of me, you would
-not have offered friendship to me that way, that all men judge the
-contrary.”[74]
-
-It is not difficult to detect the sore feeling underlying Elizabeth’s
-acknowledgments of a promise of open criticism. Katherine must have
-breathed more freely when the Princess and her governess had quitted
-the house.
-
-Meantime, in spite of disappointment and anger and care, the winter
-was to bring the Queen one genuine cause of rejoicing. Thrice married
-without children, she was hoping to give Seymour an heir, and the
-prospect was hailed with delight by husband and wife alike. In her
-gladness, and the chief cause of dissension removed, her just grounds
-of complaint were forgotten; her letters continued to be couched in
-terms as loving as if no domestic friction had interrupted her wedded
-happiness, and she ranged herself upon Seymour’s side in his recurrent
-disputes with his brother with a passionate vehemence out of keeping
-with her character.
-
-“This shall be to advertise you,” she wrote some time in 1548, “that
-my lord your brother hath this afternoon made me a little warm. It was
-fortunate we were so much distant, for I suppose else I should have
-bitten him. What cause have they to fear having such a wife! It is
-requisite for them continually to pray for a dispatch of that hell.
-To-morrow, or else upon Saturday ... I will see the King, where I
-intend to utter all my choler to my lord your brother, if you shall not
-give me advice to the contrary.”[75]
-
-Another letter, also indicating the strained relations existing between
-the brothers, is again full of affection for the man who deserved it so
-ill.
-
-“I gave your little knave your blessing,” she tells the Admiral,
-alluding to the unborn child neither parent was to see grow up,
-“... bidding my sweetheart and loving husband better to fare than
-myself.”[76]
-
-A few months more, and hope and fear and love and disappointment were
-alike to find an end. Sudeley Castle, where the final scene took place,
-was a property granted to the Admiral on the death of the late King,
-from which he took his title as Lord Seymour of Sudeley. It was a
-question whether those responsible for the government had the right of
-alienating possessions of the Crown during the minority of a sovereign,
-and the tenure upon which the place was held was therefore insecure,
-Katherine asserting on one occasion that it was her husband’s intention
-to restore it to his nephew when he should come of age. In awaiting
-that event Seymour and his wife had the enjoyment of the beauty for
-which the old building had long been noted.
-
-“Ah, Sudeley Castle, thou art the traitor, not I!” said one of its
-former lords as, arrested by the orders of Henry IV. for treason, and
-taken away to abide his trial, he cast a last look back at his home--a
-possession worthy of being coveted by a King, and by the attainder of
-its owner forfeited to the Crown.
-
-Here, during the summer of 1548--the last Katherine was to see--a
-motley company gathered round the Queen. Jane Grey, “the young and
-early wise,” was still a member of her household, and the repudiated
-wife of Katherine’s brother, the Earl of Northampton--placed, it would
-seem, under some species of restraint--was in the keeping of her
-sister-in-law. Her true and tried friend, Lady Tyrwhitt, described by
-her husband as half a Scripture woman, kept her company, as she had
-done in her perilous days of royal state. Learned divines, living with
-her in the capacity of chaplains, were inmates of the castle, charged
-with the duty of performing service twice each day--exercises little
-to the taste of the master of the house, who made no secret of his
-aversion for them.
-
-“I have heard say,” affirmed Latimer, in the course of one of the
-sermons, preached after Seymour’s execution, in which the Bishop took
-occasion again and again to revile the dead man, “I have heard say
-that when the good Queen that is gone had ordained daily prayer in her
-house, both before noon and after noon, the Admiral getteth him out of
-the way, like a mole digging in the earth. He shall be Lot’s wife to me
-as long as I live.”[77]
-
-To Sudeley also had repaired, in the course of the summer, Lord Dorset,
-possibly desirous of assuring himself that all was well with his little
-daughter. He may have had other objects in view. According to his
-subsequent confession, Seymour had discussed with him the methods to be
-pursued in order to gain popularity in the country, making significant
-inquiries as to the formation of the marquis’s household.
-
-Learning that Dorset had divers gentlemen who were his servants, the
-Admiral admitted that it was well. “Yet,” he added shrewdly, “trust not
-too much to the gentlemen, for they have something to lose”; proceeding
-to urge his ally to make much of the chief yeomen and men of their
-class, who were able to persuade the multitude; to visit them in their
-houses, bringing venison and wine; to use familiarity with them, and
-thus to gain their love. Such, he added, was his own intention.[78]
-
-Another inmate had been received at Sudeley not more than a few weeks
-before Katherine’s confinement. This was the Princess Elizabeth, who
-appears, by a letter she addressed to the Queen when the visit had been
-concluded, to have been at this time again on terms of friendship and
-affection with her step-mother, since writing to Katherine with very
-little leisure on the last day of July, she returned humble thanks for
-the Queen’s wish that she should have remained with her “till she were
-weary of that country.” Yet in spite of the hospitable desire, she can
-scarcely have been a welcome guest, and it must have been with little
-regret that her step-mother saw her depart.
-
-Meantime, the birth of the Queen’s child was anxiously expected.
-Seymour characteristically desired a son who “should God give him
-life to live as long as his father, will avenge his wrongs”--the
-problematical wrongs of a man who had risen to his heights. Elizabeth,
-who had done her best to wreck the Queen’s happiness and peace, was
-“praying the Almighty God to send her a most lucky deliverance”;
-and Mary, more sincere in her friendship, wrote a letter full of
-affection to her step-mother. The preparations made by Katherine for
-the new-comer equalled in magnificence those that might have befitted
-a Prince of Wales; and though the birth of a girl, on August 30, must
-have been in some degree a disappointment, she received a welcome
-scarcely less warm than might have been accorded to the desired son.
-A general reconciliation appears to have taken place on the occasion,
-and the Protector responded to the announcement of the event in terms
-of cordial congratulation, regarding the advent of so pretty a daughter
-in the light of a “prophesy and good hansell to a great sort of happy
-sons.”
-
-Eight days after the rejoicings at the birth Katherine was dead.
-
-Into the circumstances attending her illness and death close
-inquisition was made at a time when it had become an object to throw
-discredit upon the Admiral, and foul play--the use of poison--was
-suggested. The charge was probably without foundation; the facts
-elicited nevertheless afford additional proof of the unsatisfactory
-relations existing between husband and wife, and throw a melancholy
-light upon the closing scene of the union from which so much had been
-hoped.
-
-It was deposed by Lady Tyrwhitt, one of the principal witnesses, that,
-upon her visiting the chamber of the sick woman one morning, two days
-before her death, Katherine had asked where she had been so long,
-adding that “she did fear such things in herself that she was sure she
-could not live.” When her friend attempted to soothe her by reassuring
-words, the Queen went on to say--holding her husband’s hand and being,
-as Lady Tyrwhitt thought, partly delirious--“I am not well handled; for
-those that be about me care not for me, but stand laughing at my grief,
-and the more good I will to them the less good they will to me.”
-
-The words, to those cognisant of the condition of the household,
-must have been startling. The Queen may have been wandering, yet her
-complaint, as such complaints do, pointed to a truth. Others besides
-Lady Tyrwhitt were standing by; and Seymour made no attempt to ignore
-his wife’s meaning, or to deny that the charge was directed against
-himself.
-
-“Why, sweet heart,” he said, “I would do you no hurt.”
-
-“No, my lord, I think not,” answered Katherine aloud, adding, in his
-ear, “but, my lord, you have given me many shrewd taunts.”
-
-“These words,” said Lady Tyrwhitt in her narrative, “I perceived she
-spake with good memory, and very sharply and earnestly, for her mind
-was sore disquieted.”
-
-After consultation it was decided that Seymour should lie down by
-her side and seek to quiet her by gentle words; but his efforts were
-ineffectual, the Queen interrupting him by saying, roundly and sharply,
-“that she would have given a thousand marks to have had her full talk
-with the doctor on the day of her delivery, but dared not, for fear of
-his displeasure.”
-
-“And I, hearing that,” said the lady-in-waiting, “perceived her trouble
-to be so great, that my heart would serve me to hear no more.”[79]
-
-Yet on that same day the dying Queen made her will and, “being
-persuaded and perceiving the extremity of death to approach her,” left
-all she possessed to her husband, wishing it a thousand times more in
-value than it was.[80]
-
-Whether pressure was used, or whether, in spite of all, her old love
-awakened and stirred her to kindness towards the man she was leaving,
-there is nothing to show. But the names of the witnesses--Robert
-Huyck, the physician attending her, and John Parkhurst, her chaplain,
-afterwards a Bishop--would seem a guarantee that the document, dictated
-but not signed--no uncommon case--was genuine.
-
-For the rest, Seymour was coarse and heartless, a man of ambition, and
-intent upon the furtherance of his fortunes. It is not unlikely that,
-when his wife lay dying, his thoughts may have turned to the girl to
-whom he had in his own way already made love; who, of higher rank than
-the Queen, might serve his interests better, and whom her death would
-leave him free to win as his bride. And Katherine, with the memories of
-the last two years to aid her and with the intuitions born of love and
-jealousy, may have divined his thoughts. But of murder, or of hastening
-the end by actual unkindness, there is no reason to suspect him. The
-affair was in any case sufficiently tragic, and one more mournful
-recollection to be stored in the minds of those who had loved the
-Queen.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII
-
-1548
-
- Lady Jane’s temporary return to her father--He surrenders her again
- to the Admiral--The terms of the bargain.
-
-
-One of the secondary but immediate effects of the Queen’s death was to
-send Lady Jane Grey back to her parents. It was indeed to Seymour, and
-not to his wife, that the care of the child had been entrusted; but in
-his first confusion of mind after what he termed his great loss, the
-Admiral appears to have recognised the difficulty of providing a home
-for a girl in her twelfth year in a house without a mistress, and to
-have offered to relinquish her to her natural guardians.
-
-Having acted in haste, he was not slow to perceive that he had
-committed a blunder, and quickly reawakened to the importance of
-retaining the possession and disposal of the child. On September 17,
-not ten days after Katherine’s death, he was writing to Lord Dorset to
-cancel, so far as it was possible, his hasty suggestion that she should
-return to her father’s house, and begging that she might be permitted
-to remain in his hands. In his former letter, he explained, he had
-been partly so amazed at the death of the Queen as to have small regard
-either to himself or his doings, partly had believed that he would be
-compelled, in consequence of it, to break up his household. Under these
-circumstances he had suggested sending Lady Jane to her father, as to
-him who would be most tender of her. Having had time to reconsider
-the question, he found that he would be in a position to maintain his
-establishment much on its old footing. “Therefore, putting my whole
-affiance and trust in God,” he had begun to arrange his household as
-before, retaining the services not only of the gentlewomen of the late
-Queen’s privy chamber, but also her inferior attendants. “And doubting
-lest your lordship should think any unkindness that I should by my
-said letter take occasion to rid me of your daughter so soon after
-the Queen’s death, for the proof both of my hearty affection towards
-you and good will towards her, I mind now to keep her until I shall
-next speak to your lordship ... unless I shall be advertised from your
-lordship of your express mind to the contrary.” His mother will, he has
-no doubt, be as dear to Lady Jane as though she were her daughter, and
-for his part he will continue her half-father and more.[81]
-
-It was clear that the Admiral would only yield the point upon
-compulsion. Dorset, however, was not disposed to accede to his wishes.
-Developing a sudden parental anxiety concerning the child he had been
-content to leave to the care of others for more than eighteen months,
-he replied, firmly though courteously negativing the Admiral’s request.
-
-“Considering,” he said, “the state of my daughter and her tender years
-wherein she shall hardly rule herself as yet without a guide, lest she
-should, for lack of a bridle, take too much the head and conceive such
-opinion of herself that all such good behaviour as she heretofore have
-learned by the Queen’s and your most wholesome instruction, should
-either altogether be quenched in her, or at the least much diminished,
-I shall in most hearty wise require your lordship to commit her to
-the governance of her mother, by whom, for the fear and duty she owes
-her, she shall be most easily ruled and framed towards virtue, which I
-wish above all things to be most plentiful in her.” Seymour no doubt
-would do his best; but, being destitute of any one who should correct
-the child as a mistress and monish her as a mother, Dorset was sure
-that the Admiral would think, with him, that the eye and oversight of
-his wife was necessary. He reiterated his former promise to dispose of
-her only according to Seymour’s advice, intending to use his consent
-in that matter no less than his own. “Only I seek in these her young
-years, wherein she now standeth either to make or mar (as the common
-saying is) the addressing of her mind to humility, soberness, and
-obedience.”[82]
-
-It was the letter of a model parent, anxious concerning the welfare,
-spiritual and mental, of a beloved child, and Dorset, as he sealed and
-despatched it, will have felt that policy and conscience were for once
-in full accord. Lady Dorset likewise wrote, endorsing her husband’s
-views.
-
-“Whereas of a friendly and brotherly good will you wish to have Jane,
-my daughter, continuing still in your house, I give you most hearty
-thanks for your gentle offer, trusting, nevertheless, that for the good
-opinion you have in your sister [by courtesy, meaning herself] you will
-be content to charge her with her, who promiseth you not only to be
-ready at all times to account for the ordering of your dear niece, but
-also to use your counsel and advice on the bestowing of her, whensoever
-it shall happen. Wherefore, my good brother, my request shall be, that
-I may have the oversight of her with your good will, and thereby I
-shall have good occasion to think that you do trust me in such wise as
-is convenient that a sister be trusted of so loving a brother.”
-
-The singular humility of the language used by a king’s grand-daughter
-in demanding restitution of her child is proof of the position held
-by the Admiral in the eyes of those as well fitted to judge of it
-as Dorset and his wife, only six months before he was sent to the
-scaffold. It was none the less plain that they were determined to
-regain possession of their daughter, and, though not abandoning
-the hope of moving her parents from their purpose, Seymour yielded
-provisionally to their will and sent Lady Jane home. A letter from
-the small bone of contention, dated October 1, thanking him for his
-great goodness and stating that he had ever been to her a loving and
-kind father, proves that her removal had taken place by that time. The
-same courier probably conveyed a letter from her mother, making her
-acknowledgments for Seymour’s kindness to the child, and his desire to
-retain her, and adding an ambiguous hope that at their next meeting
-both would be satisfied.[83]
-
-The Admiral, at all events, intended to obtain satisfaction. Where
-his interest was concerned he was an obstinate man. Notwithstanding
-his apparent acquiescence, he meant to retain the custody of Lord
-Dorset’s daughter, and he did so. Even his household understood that
-the concession made in sending her home was but temporary; and, in
-a conversation with another dependant, Harrington--the same who had
-served his master as go-between before--observed that he thought the
-maids were continuing with the Admiral in the hope of Lady Jane’s
-return.
-
-A visit paid by Seymour to Dorset decided the question. “In the
-end”--it is the latter who speaks--“after long debating and much
-sticking of our sides, we did agree that my daughter should return.”
-The Admiral had come to his house, and had been so earnest in his
-persuasions that he could not resist him. The old bait had been once
-again held out--Lady Jane, if Seymour could compass it, was to marry
-the King. Her mother was wrought upon till her consent was gained to
-a second parting; and when this was the case, observed the marquis,
-throwing, according to precedent, the responsibility upon his wife,
-it was impossible for him to refuse his own. He added a pledge that,
-“except the King,” he would spend life and blood for Seymour. Thus
-the alliance between the two was renewed and cemented. A further item
-in the transaction throws an additional and unpleasant light upon the
-means taken to ensure the Lord Marquis’s surrender.
-
-The Admiral was a practical man, and knew with whom he had to deal.
-He had not confined himself to vague pledges, which Dorset knew as
-well as he did that he might never be in a position to fulfil. He had
-accompanied his promises by a gift of hard cash. “Whether, as it were,
-for an earnest penny of the favour that he would show unto him when
-the said Lord Marquis had sent his daughter to the said Lord Admiral,
-he sent the said Lord Marquis immediately £500, parcell of £2,000
-which he promised to lend unto him and would have asked no bond of
-him at all for it, but only to leave the Lord Marquis’s daughter for a
-gage.”[84]
-
-Five hundred golden arguments, and more to follow, were found
-irresistible by the needy Dorset. The pressing necessity that Jane
-should be under her mother’s eye disappeared; the bargain was struck,
-and the guardianship of the child bought and sold.
-
-The Admiral was triumphant. It was not only the point of vantage
-implied by the possession of the little ward which he had feared to
-forfeit, but that his loss might be the gain of his brother and rival.
-There would be much ado for my Lady Jane, he told his brother-in-law,
-Northampton, and my Lord Protector and my Lady Somerset would do what
-they could to obtain her yet for my Lord of Hertford, their son. They
-should not, however, prevail therein, for my Lord Marquis had given
-her wholly to him, upon certain covenants between them two. “And then
-I asked him,” said Northampton, describing the conversation, “what
-he would do if my Lord Protector, handling my Lord Marquis of Dorset
-gently, should obtain his good will and so the matter to lie wholly in
-his own neck? He answered he would never consent thereto.”[85]
-
-Thus Lady Jane was, for the first time, made an instrument of obtaining
-that of which her father stood in need. On this occasion it was money;
-on the next her life was to be staked upon a more desperate hazard. In
-future she appears and disappears, now in sight, now passing behind
-the scenes, against the dark background of intrigue and hatred and
-bloodshed belonging to her times.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX
-
-1548-1549
-
- Seymour and the Princess Elizabeth--His courtship--He is sent to
- the Tower--Elizabeth’s examinations and admissions--The execution
- of the Lord Admiral.
-
-
-The matter of Jane’s guardianship satisfactorily settled, Seymour
-turned his attention to one concerning him yet more intimately. He was
-a free man, and he meant to make use of his freedom. As after the death
-of Henry, so now when fate rendered the project once more possible, he
-determined to attempt to obtain the Princess Elizabeth as his wife. The
-history of the autumn, as regarding him, is of his continued efforts to
-increase his power and influence in the country and to win the hand of
-the King’s sister. Again the contemporary Spanish chronicler supplies a
-popular summary of the affair which, inaccurate as it is, is useful in
-showing how his scheme was regarded by the public.
-
-According to this dramatic account of his proceedings, the Admiral
-went boldly before the Council; observed that, as uncle to the King,
-it was fitting that he should marry honourably; and that, having
-formerly been husband to the Queen, it would not be much more were
-he to be accorded Madam Elizabeth, whom he deserved better than any
-other man. Referred by the Lords of the Council to the Protector, he
-is represented as approaching the Duke with the modest request that he
-might be granted not only Elizabeth as his bride, but also the custody
-of the King.
-
-“When his brother heard this, he said he would see about it.” Calling
-the Council together, he repeated to them the demand made by the
-Admiral that his nephew should be placed in his hands; continuing,
-as the Lords “looked at each other,” that the matter must be well
-considered, since in his opinion his brother could have no good intent
-in asking first for the Princess, and then for the custody of the King.
-“The devil is strong,” said the Protector. “He might kill the King and
-Madam Mary, and then claim the crown.”[86]
-
-Whilst this was the version of the Admiral’s project current in the
-street, there is no doubt that his desire to obtain a royal princess
-for his wife was calculated to accentuate the distrust with which he
-was regarded by the Protector and his friends. He was well known to
-aspire to at least a share in the government. As Elizabeth’s husband
-his position would be so much strengthened that it might be difficult
-to deny it to him, or to maintain the right of Somerset to retain
-supreme power. His proceedings were therefore watched with jealous
-vigilance, his designs upon the King’s sister becoming quickly matter
-of public gossip. It was not a day marked by an over-scrupulous
-observance of respect for the dead, and Katherine was hardly in her
-grave before the question of her successor was freely canvassed amongst
-those chiefly concerned in it.
-
-“When I asked her [Ashley] what news she had from London,” Elizabeth
-admitted when under examination at a later date, “she answered merrily
-‘They say that your Grace shall have my Lord Admiral, and that he will
-shortly come to woo you.’”[87]
-
-The woman, an intriguer by nature and keen to advance Seymour’s
-interests, would have further persuaded her mistress to write a letter
-of condolence to comfort him in his sorrow, “because,” as Elizabeth
-explained, “he had been my friend in the Queen’s lifetime and would
-think great kindness therein. Then I said I would not, for he needs it
-not.”
-
-The blunt sincerity prompting the girl’s refusal did her credit. It
-must have been patent to all acquainted with the situation, and most
-of all to Elizabeth, that the new-made widower stood in no need of
-consolation. But, in spite of her refusal to open communications with
-him, and though a visit proposed by Seymour was discouraged “for fear
-of suspicion,” he can have felt little doubt that in a struggle with
-Protector and Council he would have the Princess on his side.
-
-In Seymour’s household, naturally concerned in his fortunes, the
-projected marriage was a subject of anxious debate; and it was
-recognised by its members that their master was playing a perilous
-game. In a conversation between two of his dependants, Nicholas
-Throckmorton and one Wightman, both shook their heads over the risk he
-would run should he attempt to carry his plan into effect.
-
-Beginning with the conventional acknowledgment of the Admiral’s
-great loss, they wisely decided that it might after all turn to his
-advantage, in “making him more humble in heart and stomach towards my
-Lord Protector’s Grace.” It was also hoped that, Katherine being dead,
-the Duchess of Somerset might forget old grudges and, unless by his
-own fault, be once again favourable towards her husband’s brother. The
-two men nevertheless agreed that the world was beginning to speak evil
-of Seymour, and, discussing the chances of his attempt to match with
-one of the Princesses, they determined, as they loved him, to do their
-best to prevent it, Wightman in especial engaging to do all he could to
-“break the dance.”[88]
-
-If Seymour was going to his ruin it was not to be for lack of warnings.
-Sleeping at the house of Katherine’s friends, the Tyrwhitts, one
-night soon after her death, the question of a marriage with a sister
-of the King’s was mooted; when, although Seymour’s aspirations were
-not definitely mentioned, Sir Robert spoke in a fashion frankly
-discouraging to any scheme of the kind on the part of his guest.
-
-Conversing after supper with his hostess, Seymour called to her husband
-as he passed by, saying jestingly that he was talking with my lady his
-wife in divinity--or divining of the future; that he had told her he
-wished the crown of England might be in as good a surety as that of
-France, where it was well known who was heir. So would it be in England
-were the Princesses married.
-
-Tyrwhitt answered drily. Whosoever married one of them without the
-consent of King or Council, he said he would not wish to be in his
-place.
-
-“Why so?” asked the Admiral. If he, for instance, had married thus,
-would it not be surety for the King? Was he not made by the King? Had
-he not all he had by the King? Was he not most bound to serve him truly?
-
-Tyrwhitt refused to be convinced, reiterating that the man who married
-either Princess had better be stronger than the Council, for “if they
-catch hold of him, they will shut him up.”[89]
-
-Lord Russell, the Lord Privy Seal, spoke no less openly to the
-adventurer of the danger he was running. The two were riding together
-to Parliament House in the Protector’s train, when Russell opened the
-subject by observing that certain rumours were abroad which he was
-very sorry to hear, and that if the Admiral were seeking to marry
-either of the King’s sisters--the special one being left discreetly
-uncertain--“ye seek the means to undo yourself and all those who shall
-come of you.”
-
-Seymour replied carelessly that he had no such thought, and the
-subject dropped. A few days later, however, he himself re-introduced
-it, demanding what reason existed to prevent him, or another man,
-wedding one of the late King’s daughters? Again Russell reiterated
-his warning. The marriage, he declared, would prove fatal to him who
-made it, proceeding to point out--knowing that the argument would have
-more weight with the man with whom he had to do than recommendations
-to caution and prudence--that from a pecuniary point of view the
-match would carry with it no great advantage, a statement vehemently
-controverted by the Admiral, who throughout neither felt nor feigned
-any indifference to the financial aspect of the affair.
-
-During the ensuing months he was busily engaged in the prosecution of
-his scheme. He may have had a genuine liking for the girl to whom his
-attentions had already proved compromising; he could scarcely doubt
-that he had won her affections. But by a clandestine marriage Elizabeth
-would, under the terms of her father’s will, have forfeited her right
-to the succession, and she was therefore safeguarded from any attempt
-on her suitor’s part to induce her to dispense with the consent of the
-lawful authorities. Forced to proceed with circumspection, he made use
-of any opportunity that offered for maintaining a hold upon her, aided
-and abetted by the partisanship of her servants. A fortnight before
-Christmas he proffered the loan of his London house as a lodging when
-she should pay her winter visit to the capital, adding to her cofferer,
-through whom the suggestion was made, that he would come and see her
-Grace; “which declaration,” reported to her by Parry, “she seemed to
-take very gladly and to accept it joyfully.” Observing, moreover, that
-when the conversation turned upon Seymour, and especially when he was
-commended, the Princess “showed such countenance that it should appear
-she was very glad to hear of him,” the cofferer was emboldened to
-inquire whether, should the Council approve, she would marry him.
-
-“When that time comes to pass,” answered Elizabeth, in the language of
-the day, “I will do as God shall put in my mind.”
-
-Notwithstanding her refusal to commit herself, it was not difficult for
-those about her to divine after what fashion she would, in that case,
-be moved to act. Yet she retained her independence of spirit, and when
-told that the Admiral advised her to appeal to the Protector through
-his wife for certain grants of land, as well as for a London residence,
-she turned upon those who had played the part of his mouthpiece in a
-manner indicating no intention of becoming his passive tool.
-
-“I dare say he did not so,” she replied hotly, refusing to credit the
-suggestion he was reported to have made that she, a Tudor, should sue
-to his brother’s wife in order to obtain her rights, “nor would so.”
-
-Parry adhered to his statement.
-
-“Yes,” he answered, “by my faith.”
-
-“Well, I will not do so,” returned his mistress, “and so tell him. I
-will not come there, nor begin to flatter now.”
-
-If the Admiral possessed partisans in the members of Elizabeth’s
-household, it was probably no less owing to hostility towards the
-Somersets than to liking for himself; a passage of arms having taken
-place between Mrs. Ashley and the Duchess, who had found fault with the
-governess, on account of the Princess having gone on a barge on the
-Thames by night, “and for other light parts,” observing--in which she
-was undoubtedly right--that Ashley was not worthy to have the charge of
-the daughter of a King. Such home-truths were not unfitted to quicken
-the culprit’s zeal in the cause of the Admiral, and Ashley was always
-at hand to push his interests.
-
-It was, nevertheless, necessary that the Princess’s dependants should
-act with caution; and, discussing with Lord Seymour the question of a
-visit he desired to pay her, Parry declined to give any opinion on the
-subject, professing himself unacquainted with his mistress’s pleasure.
-The Admiral answered with assumed indifference. It was no matter, he
-said, “for there has been a talk of late ... they say now I shall marry
-my Lady Jane,” adding, “I tell you this but merrily, I tell you this
-but merrily.”[90]
-
-The gossip may have been repeated in the certainty that it would reach
-Elizabeth’s ears and in the hope of rousing her to jealousy. But had it
-suited his plans, there is no reason to doubt that Seymour would not
-have hesitated to gain permanent possession of the ward who had been
-left him “as a gage.” Elizabeth was, however, nearer to the throne, and
-was, beside her few additional years, better suited to please his taste
-than the quiet child who dwelt under his roof.
-
-As it proved he was destined to further his ambitious projects neither
-by marriage with Jane nor her cousin. By the middle of January the
-Protector had struck his blow--a blow which was to end in fratricide.
-Charged with treason, in conspiring to change the form of government
-and to carry off the person of the King, Seymour was sent on January 16
-to the Tower--in those days so often the ante-room to death.
-
-Though he had long been suspected of harbouring designs against his
-brother’s administration, the specific grounds of his accusation were
-based upon the confessions of one Sherrington, master of the mint at
-Bristol; who, under examination, and in terror for his personal safety,
-had declared, truly or falsely, that he had promised to coin money for
-the Admiral, and had heard him boast of the number of his friends,
-saying that he thought more gentlemen loved him than loved the Lord
-Protector. The same witness added that he had heard Seymour say that,
-for her qualities and virtues, Lady Jane Grey was a fit match for the
-King, and he would rather he should marry her than the daughter of the
-Protector.
-
-Many of great name and place in England must have been disquieted by
-the news of the arrest of the man who stood so near the King, and who,
-if any one, could have counted upon being safeguarded by position and
-rank from the consequences of his rashness. His assertion that he was
-more loved than his brother amongst his own class was true, and not a
-few nobles will have trembled lest they should be implicated in his
-fall. Loyalty to a disgraced friend was not amongst the customs of a
-day when the friendship might mean death, and most men were anxious, on
-these occasions, to dissociate themselves from a former comrade.
-
-Elizabeth was not one of those with least to fear, and it is the
-more honourable to her that she showed no inclination to follow the
-example of others, or to abandon the cause of her lover. She was in an
-embarrassing, if not a dangerous situation. No one knew to what extent
-she had been compromised, morally or politically, and the distrust of
-the Government was proved by the arrest of both Ashley and Parry, and
-by the searching examination to which the Princess, as well as her
-servants, was subjected.
-
-Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, placed in charge of the delinquent, with
-directions to obtain from her all the information he could, found it no
-easy task.
-
-“I do assure your Grace,” he wrote to Somerset, “she hath a good wit,
-and nothing is to be got from her but by great policy.”
-
-She would own to no “practice” with regard to Seymour, either on her
-part or that of her dependants. “And yet I do see in her face,” said
-Sir Robert, “that she is guilty, and yet perceive she will abide more
-storms before she will accuse Mrs. Ashley.”
-
-Whatever may be thought of Elizabeth’s former conduct, she displayed at
-this crisis no less staunchness and fidelity in the support of those
-she loved than a capacity and ability rare in a girl of fifteen,
-practically standing alone, confronted with enemies, and without
-advisers to direct her course. Writing to the Protector on January 28,
-she thanked him for the gentleness and good will he had displayed;
-professed her readiness to declare the truth in the matter at issue;
-gave an account of her relations with the Admiral, asserting her
-innocence of any intention of marrying him without the sanction of the
-Council; and vindicated her servants from blame.
-
-“These be the things,” she concluded, “which I declared to Master
-Tyrwhitt, and also whereof my conscience beareth witness, which I would
-not for all earthly things offend in anything, for I know I have a
-soul to be saved as well as other folks have; wherefore I will, above
-all things, have respect unto the same.” One request she made, namely,
-that she might come to Court. Rumours against her honour were afloat,
-accusing her with being with child by the Lord Admiral; and upon these
-grounds, that she might show herself as she was, as well as upon a
-desire to see the King, she based her demand.
-
-Tyrwhitt shook his head over the composition. The singular harmony
-existing between Elizabeth’s story and the depositions extracted from
-her dependants in the Tower struck him as suspicious, and as pointing
-to a preconcerted tale.
-
-“They all sing one song,” he wrote, “and so, I think, they would
-not, unless they had set the note before”; and he continued to watch
-his charge narrowly, and to report her demeanour at headquarters,
-assisted in his office by his wife, who had been sent to replace the
-untrustworthy Ashley as governess to the Princess.
-
-“She beginneth now a little to droop,” he wrote, “by reason she heareth
-that my Lord Admiral’s houses be dispersed. And my wife telleth me
-she cannot hear him discommended, but she is ready to make answer
-thereto.”[91]
-
-Put as brave a face as she might upon the matter, Elizabeth was in
-a position of singular loneliness and difficulty. Her lover was in
-prison on a capital charge, her friend and confidant removed from her,
-her reputation tarnished. Nor was she disposed to accept in a humble
-spirit the oversight of the duenna sent her by the Council. As the
-close friend of the step-mother whose kindness the Princess had so ill
-requited, Lady Tyrwhitt, for her part, would not in any case have been
-prejudiced in favour of her charge, or inclined to take an indulgent
-view of her misdemeanours; and the reception accorded her when she
-arrived to assume her thankless post was not such as to promote good
-feeling. Mrs. Ashley, the girl told the new-comer, was her mistress,
-and she had not so conducted herself that the Council should give her
-another.
-
-Lady Tyrwhitt, no more inclined than she to conciliation, retorted
-that, seeing the Princess had allowed Mrs. Ashley to be her mistress,
-she need not be ashamed to have any other honest woman in that place,
-and so the intercourse of governess and pupil was inaugurated.
-
-That Lady Tyrwhitt’s taunt was undeniably justified did not the more
-soften the Princess towards her, and it was duly reported to the
-authorities in London that she had taken “the matter so heavily that
-she wept all that night and lowered all the next day.... The love,” it
-was added, “she yet beareth [Ashley] is to be wondered at.”
-
-Tact and discretion might in time have availed to reconcile the
-Princess to the change in her household; but the methods employed by
-the Tyrwhitts do not appear to have been judicious. Sir Robert, taking
-up his wife’s quarrel, told her significantly that if she considered
-her honour she would rather ask to have a mistress than to be left
-without one; and, complaining to his superiors that she could not
-digest his advice in any way, added vindictively, “If I should say my
-phantasy, it were more meet she should have two than one.”[92]
-
-So the days went by, no doubt uncomfortably enough for all concerned.
-Regarding Tyrwhitt and his wife in the capacity of gaolers, charged
-with the duty of eliciting her confessions, it was not with them
-that Elizabeth would take counsel as to the best course open to her.
-The revelations attained by cross-examination from her imprisoned
-servants as to the relations upon which she had stood during the
-Queen’s lifetime with Katherine’s husband, were sufficiently damaging
-to lend additional colour to the scandalous reports in circulation,
-and her spirited demand that her fair fame should be vindicated by
-a proclamation forbidding the propagation of slanders concerning
-the King’s sister was fully in character with the woman she was to
-become. Though not without delay, her request was granted, and the
-circumstantial fable of a child born and destroyed may be supposed to
-have been effectually suppressed.
-
-Whilst this had been Elizabeth’s condition during the spring, the man
-to whom her troubles were chiefly due had been undergoing alternations
-of hope and fear. It may have seemed impossible that his brother should
-proceed to extremities. But there were times when, in the silence and
-seclusion of the prison-house, his spirits grew despondent. On February
-16, when his confinement had lasted a month, and his fate was still
-undecided, his keeper, Christopher Eyre, reported that on the previous
-Friday the Lord Admiral had been very sad.
-
-“I had thought,” he said, upon Eyre remarking on his depression,
-“before I came to this place that my Lord’s Grace, with all the rest
-of the Council, had been my friends, and that I had as many friends as
-any man within this realm. But now I think they have forgotten me,”
-proceeding to declare that never was poor knave more true to his Prince
-than he; nor had he meant evil to his brother, though he had thought he
-might have had the custody of the King.[93]
-
-There is something pathetic in the dejection of the Admiral, arrogant,
-proud, vain and ambitious, thus deserted by all upon whose friendship
-he had imagined himself able to count. It is impossible to avoid the
-conviction that, in spite of a surface boldness, the nobles of his
-day were apt to turn craven where personal danger was in question.
-On the battlefield valour was common enough, and when once hope was
-over men had learnt--a needful lesson--to meet death on the scaffold
-with dignity and courage. But so long as a chance of life remained, it
-was their constant habit to abase themselves in order to escape their
-doom. We do not hear of a single voice raised in Seymour’s defence.
-The common people, when Somerset in his turn had fallen a victim to
-jealousy and hate, made no secret of their sorrow and their love; but
-the nobles who had been his brother’s supporters were silent and cowed,
-or went to swell the number of his accusers.
-
-By March 20 hope and fear were alike at an end. A Bill of Attainder
-had been brought into the House of Lords, after an examination of the
-culprit before the Council, when his demand to be confronted with his
-accusers had been refused. The evidence against him was reiterated by
-certain of the peers; the bill was passed without a division; and, in
-spite of the opposition of the Commons, who supported his claim to
-be heard in his own defence, the Protector cut the matter short by a
-message from the King declaring it unnecessary that the demand should
-be conceded. His doom was sealed.
-
-Was he innocent or guilty? Dr. Lingard, after an examination of the
-facts, believes that he was unjustly condemned; that, if he had sought
-a portion of the power vested in the Protector, and might have been
-dangerous to the authority of his brother, the charge for which he was
-condemned--a design to carry off the King and excite a civil war--is
-unproved.
-
-Innocent or guilty, he was to die. In the words of Latimer--who, in
-sermons preached after the execution, made himself the apologist of the
-Council by abuse levelled at the dead man--he perished “dangerously,
-irksomely, horribly.... Whether he be saved or no, I leave it to God.
-But surely he was a wicked man, and the realm is well rid of him.”[94]
-
-Thus Thomas Seymour was done to death by a brother, and cursed by a
-churchman. Sherrington, who had supplied the principal part of the
-evidence against him, received a pardon and was reinstated in his
-office.
-
-Of regret upon the part of friends or kinsfolk there is singularly
-little token. As they had fallen from his side in life, so they held
-apart from him in death. If Elizabeth mourned him she was already too
-well versed in the world’s wisdom to avow her grief, and is reported to
-have observed, on his execution, that a man had died full of ability
-(_esprit_) but of scant judgment.[95] Whether or not the Lord Protector
-was troubled by remorse, he was not likely to make the public his
-confidant; and Katherine, the woman who had loved him so devotedly, was
-dead.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X
-
-1549-1550
-
- The Protector’s position--Disaffection in the country--Its
- causes--The Duke’s arrogance--Warwick his rival--The success of
- his opponents--Placed in the Tower, but released--St. George’s
- Day at Court.
-
-
-The Protector’s conduct with regard to his brother does much to
-alienate sympathy from him in his approaching fall, in a sense
-the consequence and outcome of the fratricide. He “had sealed his
-doom the day on which he signed the warrant for the execution of
-his brother.”[96] If the Admiral, having crossed his will, was not
-safe, who could believe himself to be so? Yet the fashion of the
-accomplishing of his downfall, the treachery and deception practised
-towards him by men upon whom he might fairly have believed himself able
-to count, lend a pathos to the end it might otherwise have lacked.
-
-For the present his power and position showed no signs of diminution.
-The Queen, his wife’s rival, was dead. The Admiral, who had dared to
-measure his strength against his brother’s, would trouble him no more,
-unless as an unquiet ghost, an unwelcome visitant confronting him in
-unexpected places. During his Protectorate he had added property to
-property, field to field, and was the master of two hundred manors. If
-the public finances were low, Somerset was rich, and during this year
-the building of the house destined to bear his name was carried on on a
-scale of splendour proportionate to his pretensions. Having thrown away
-the chief prop of his house, says Heylyn, he hoped to repair the ruin
-by erecting a magnificent palace.
-
-The site he had chosen was occupied by three episcopal mansions and
-one parish church; but it would have been a bold man who would have
-disputed the will of the all-powerful Lord Protector, and the owners
-submitted meekly to be dispossessed in order to make room for his new
-abode. Materials running short, there were rough-and-ready ways of
-providing them conveniently near at hand; and certain “superstitious
-buildings” close to St. Paul’s, including one or two chapels and a
-“fair charnel-house” were demolished to supply what was necessary, the
-bones of the displaced dead being left to find burial in the adjacent
-fields, or where they might. As the great pile rose, more was required,
-and St. Margaret’s, Westminster, was to have been destroyed to furnish
-it, had not the people, less subservient than the Bishops, risen to
-protect their church, and forcibly driven away the labourers charged
-with the work of destruction. St. Margaret’s was saved, but St. John’s
-of Jerusalem, not far from Smithfield, was sacrificed in its stead,
-being blown up with gunpowder in order that its stone-work might be
-turned to account.
-
-The Protector pursued his way unconscious of danger. The Earl of
-Warwick, his future supplanter, looked on and bided his time. The
-condition of the country had become such as to facilitate the designs
-of those bent upon a change in the Government. Into the course of
-public affairs, at home and abroad, it is impossible to enter at
-length; a brief summary will suffice to show that events were tending
-to create discontent and to strengthen the hands of Somerset’s enemies.
-
-The victory of Pinkie Cleugh, though gratifying to national pride, had
-in nowise served the purpose of terminating the war with Scotland.
-Renewed with varying success, the Scots, by means of French aid, had
-upon the whole improved their position, and the hopes indulged in
-England of a union between the two countries, to be peacefully effected
-by the marriage of the King with the infant Mary Stuart, had been
-disappointed, the little Queen having been sent to France and affianced
-to the Dauphin. In the distress prevailing amongst the working classes
-of England, more pressing cause for dissatisfaction and agitation was
-found. Partly the result of the depreciation of the currency during
-the late reign, it was also due to the action of the new owners who,
-enriched by ecclesiastical property, had enclosed portions of Church
-lands heretofore left open to be utilised by the labourers for their
-personal profit. Pasturage was increasing in favour compared with
-tillage; less labour was required, and wages had in consequence fallen.
-
-To material ills and privations, other grievances were added.
-Associated in the minds of the people with their condition of want
-were the changes lately enforced in the sphere of religion. The new
-ministers were often ignorant men, who gave scandal by their manner of
-life, their parishioners frequently making complaints of them to the
-Bishops.
-
-“Our curate is naught,” they would say, “an ass-head, a dodipot [?], a
-lack-latin, and can do nothing. Shall I pay him tithe that doth us no
-good, nor none will do?”[97]
-
-In some cases the fault lay with patrons, who preferred to select a man
-unlikely to assert his authority. Economy on the part of the Government
-was responsible for other unfit appointments, and capable Churchmen
-being permitted to hold secular offices, they were removed from their
-parishes and their flocks were left unshepherded. Against this practice
-Latimer protested in a sermon at St. Paul’s, on the occasion of a
-clergyman having been made Comptroller of the Mint. Who controlled the
-devil at home in his parish, asked the rough-tongued preacher, whilst
-he controlled the Mint?
-
-The condition of things thus produced was not calculated to commend
-the innovations it accompanied to the people, and the introduction of
-the new Prayer-book was in particular bitterly resented in country
-districts. In many parts of England, interest and religion joining
-hands, fierce insurrections broke out, and the measures taken by “the
-good Duke” to allay popular irritation, by ordering that the lands
-newly enclosed should be re-opened, had the double effect of stirring
-the people, thus far successful, to yet more strenuous action in
-vindication of their rights, and of increasing the dislike and distrust
-with which his irresponsible exercise of authority was regarded by the
-upper classes.
-
-Upon domestic troubles--Ket’s rebellion in Norfolk, one of large
-dimensions in the west, and others--followed a declaration of war with
-France, certain successes on the part of the enemy serving to discredit
-the Protector and his management of affairs still further.
-
-Whilst rich and poor were alike disaffected in the country at large,
-the Duke had become an object of jealousy to the members of the Council
-Board who were responsible for having placed him in the position he
-occupied. To a man with the sagacity to look ahead and take account of
-the forces at work, it must have been plain that the possession of
-absolute and undivided power on the part of a subject was necessarily
-fraught with danger, and that the Duke’s astonishing success in
-obtaining the patent conferring upon him supreme and regal authority
-contained in itself the seed and prophecy of ruin. But, besides more
-serious causes of offence, his bearing in the Council-chamber, far
-from being adapted to conciliate opposition, further exasperated his
-colleagues against him. Cranmer and Paget were the last to abandon his
-cause, but on May 8--not two months after his brother’s execution--the
-latter wrote to give him frank warning of the probable consequences
-of his “great cholerick fashions.” It is evident that a stormy scene
-had taken place that afternoon, and that Paget must have been strongly
-convinced of the need for interference before he addressed his
-remonstrance to the despotic head of the Government.
-
-“Poor Sir Richard a Lee,” he wrote, “this afternoon, after your Grace
-had very sore, and much more than needed, rebuked him, came to my
-chamber weeping, and there complaining, as far as became him, of your
-handling of him, seemed almost out of wits and out of heart. Your Grace
-had put him clean out of countenance.” After which he proceeded to warn
-the Duke solemnly, “for the very love he bore him,” of the consequences
-should he not change his manner of conduct.[98]
-
-Paget’s love was quickly to grow cold. During the summer the various
-rebellions in different parts of the country were suppressed, the Earl
-of Warwick playing an important part in the operations. On September
-25 the Protector was, to all appearance, still in fulness of power and
-authority. By October 13 he was in the Tower.
-
-The Spanish spectator again supplies an account of the view taken by
-the man in the street of the initiation of the quarrel which led to
-the Duke’s disgrace and fall. Returned to London, Warwick, accompanied
-by the captains, English and foreign, who had served under him against
-the rebels, is said to have come to Court to demand for his soldiers
-the rewards he considered their due. Met by a refusal on the part of
-the Protector of anything over and above their ordinary wages, his
-indignation found vent. If money was not to be had, it was because of
-the sums squandered by the Duke in building his own palace. The French
-forts were already lost. If the Protector continued in power he would
-end by losing everything.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting in the National
- Portrait Gallery.
-
-WILLIAM, LORD PAGET, K.G.]
-
-Somerset replied with no less heat. He deserved, he said, that Warwick
-should speak as he had spoken, by the favour he had shown him. Warwick
-having retorted that it was with himself and his colleagues that the
-fault lay, since they had bestowed so much power on the Protector,
-the two parted. Of what followed Holinshed gives a description.
-“Suddenly, upon what occasion many marvelled but few knew, every lord
-and councillor went through the city weaponed, and had their servants
-likewise weaponed ... to the great wondering of many; and at the last
-a great assembly of the said Council was made at the Earl of Warwick’s
-lodging, which was then at Ely Place, in Holborn, whither all the
-confederates came privily armed, and finally concluded to possess the
-Tower of London.”[99]
-
-As a counterblast, Somerset issued a proclamation in the King’s name,
-summoning all his subjects to Hampton Court for his defence and that of
-his “most entirely beloved uncle.” Open war was declared.
-
-So far the Archbishop and Paget, both resident with the Court, together
-with the two Secretaries, had adhered to the Protector. Upon Cranmer,
-if upon any one, Somerset, who had done more than any other person
-to establish religion upon its new basis, should have been able to
-count, if not for support, for a loyal opposition. But fear is strong
-and--again it must be repeated--fidelity to the unfortunate was no
-feature of the times; and by both Archbishop and Paget the cause of the
-falling man was abandoned. Not only did they secretly embrace the cause
-of the party headed by Warwick, but private directions were furnished
-by Paget as to the means to be employed in seizing the person of the
-Duke.
-
-Meantime, Hampton Court being judged insufficiently secure, Somerset,
-with a guard of five hundred men, had removed the King, at dead of
-night, to Windsor, a graphic account of the journey being given by the
-chronicler.
-
-“As he went along the road the King was all armed, and carried his
-little sword drawn, and kept saying to the people on the way:
-
-“‘My vassals, will you help me against the people who want to kill me?’
-
-“And everybody cried out, ‘Sir, we will all die for you.’”[100]
-
-Windsor reached, the defence of the Castle and of the sovereign
-was wisely entrusted, in the first instance, to men upon whom the
-Duke could depend. But the Council was successful in lulling any
-apprehensions of violent action to rest. Sir Philip Hoby, according to
-some authorities,[101] was despatched from London with open, as well as
-secret, letters, wherein it was declared that no harm was intended to
-the Duke; order was merely to be taken for the Protectorship. Somerset
-had by this time yielded so far to the forces arrayed against him as to
-recognise the necessity of consenting to some change in the government;
-and at the reassuring terms of the communication all present gave way
-to emotion; wept with joy, after the fashion of the times; thanked
-God, and prayed for the Lords; Paget, in particular, clasping the Duke
-about the knees, and crying with tears, “O my Lord, ye see what my
-lords be!”
-
-The Protector’s ruin had been assured. Trusting to the declarations of
-the Council, he fell an easy prey into their hands. Yielding to the
-representations of Cranmer and Paget, to whose “diligent travail” his
-enemies gratefully ascribed their success, he permitted his trusty
-followers to be replaced in the defence of the Castle by the usual
-royal guard; on October 11 he had been seized and placed in safe
-keeping, and it was reported that the King had a bad cold, and “much
-desireth to be hence, saying that ‘Methinks I am in prison. Here be
-no galleries nor no gardens to walk in.’”[102] The young sovereign
-had also, with a merry countenance and a loud voice, asked how their
-Lordships of the Council were, and when he would see them, saying that
-they should be welcome whensoever they came.
-
-It was plain that objections to a transference of his guardianship were
-not to be expected from the nephew of the Lord Protector, and the Duke
-was removed from Windsor to the Tower, followed by three hundred lords
-and gentlemen, “as if he had been a captive carried in triumph.” It
-would, however, have been more difficult to induce the boy to consent
-to the execution of another of his closest kin, and there may have
-been some fraction of truth in the report which gained currency that
-the King had not been made acquainted with the fact that his uncle was
-actually a prisoner until he learnt it from the Duchess. He then sent
-for the Archbishop and questioned him on the subject.
-
-“Godfather,” he is made to say, “what has become of my uncle, the
-Duke?” The explanation furnished him by Cranmer--to the effect that,
-had God not helped the Lords, the country would have been ruined, and
-it was feared that the Protector might have slain the King himself--did
-not appear to commend itself to the young sovereign. The Duke, he said,
-had never done him any harm, and he did not wish him to be killed.
-
-A King’s wishes, even at thirteen, have weight, and Warwick suddenly
-discovered that good should be returned for evil; and that since it was
-the King’s desire, and the first thing he had asked of his Council, the
-Duke must be pardoned.[103]
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by W. Mansell & Co. after a painting by Holbein.
-
-EDWARD VI.]
-
-What is more certain is that, on condition of an unqualified
-acknowledgment of his guilt, accompanied by forfeiture of offices
-and property, it was decided that Somerset should be set at liberty.
-Self-respect or dignity was not in fashion, and in the eyes of some
-the submission of the late Lord Protector assumed the character of an
-“abjectness.” For the moment it purchased for him safety, and he was
-gradually permitted to regain a certain amount of influence and power.
-Some portion of his wealth was restored to him, and he was at length
-readmitted to the Council and to a limited share in the government. To
-sanguine eyes all seemed to have been placed on a satisfactory footing;
-but jealousy, distrust, and hatred take much killing. The position of
-the man who was the King’s nearest of kin amongst his nobles, and had
-lately been all-powerful in the State, was a difficult one. Warwick was
-rising, and meant to rise; Somerset was not content to remain fallen
-and discredited. What seemed a peace was merely an armistice.
-
-Meantime Warwick and his friends were no more successful than his rival
-in maintaining the national honour, and the peace with France concluded
-during the spring was regarded by the nation as a disgrace. Boulogne
-was surrendered to its natural owners, and in magniloquent terms war
-was once more stated to be at an end for ever between the two countries.
-
-Court and courtiers troubled themselves little with such matters, and
-on St. George’s Day a brilliant company of Lords of the Council and
-Knights of the Garter kept the festival at Greenwich; when a glimpse of
-the thirteen-year-old King is to be caught, in a more boyish mood than
-usual.
-
-Coming out from the discourse preached in honour of the day, in high
-spirits and in the argumentative humour fostered by sermons, the “godly
-and virtuous imp” turned to his train.
-
-“My Lords,” he demanded, “I pray you, what saint is St. George, that we
-here so honour him?”
-
-The sudden attack was unexpected, and, the Lords of the Council being
-“astonied” by it, it was the Treasurer who made reply.
-
-“If it please Your Majesty,” he said, “I did never read in any history
-of St. George, but only in _Legenda Aurea_, where it is thus set down,
-that St. George out with his sword and ran the dragon through with his
-spear.”
-
-The King, when he could not a great while speak for laughing, at length
-said:
-
-“I pray you, my Lord, and what did he do with his sword the while?”
-
-“That I cannot tell Your Majesty,” said he.[104]
-
-Poor little King! poor “godly imp”! It is seldom that his laughter
-rings out through the centuries. Perhaps some of the grave Councillors
-or divines present may have looked askance, considering that it was not
-with the weapon of ridicule that the patron saint of England should be
-most fitly attacked, but with the more legitimate one of theological
-criticism. But to us it is satisfactory to find that there were times
-when even the modern Josiah could not speak for laughing.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI
-
-1549-1551
-
- Lady Jane Grey at home--Visit from Roger Ascham--The German
- divines--Position of Lady Jane in the theological world.
-
-
-Whilst these events had been taking place Jane Grey had been once more
-relegated to the care of her parents, to whose house she had been
-removed upon the imprisonment of her guardian, the Admiral, in January,
-1549. To the helpless and passive plaything of worldly and political
-exigencies, the change from Seymour Place and Hanworth, where she had
-lived under Seymour’s roof, to the quiet of her father’s Leicestershire
-home, must have been great.
-
-Nor was the difference in the moral atmosphere less marked. Handsome,
-unprincipled, gay, magnificent, one imagines that the Admiral, in
-spite of the faults to which she was probably not blind, must have
-been an imposing personage in the eyes of his little charge; and
-self-interest--the interest of a man who did not guess that the future
-held nothing for him but a grave--as well as natural kindliness towards
-a child dependent upon him, will have led him to play the part of her
-“half-father” in a manner to win her affection. Was she not destined,
-should his schemes prosper, to fill the place of Queen Consort? or,
-failing that, might it not be well to turn into earnest the “merry”
-possibility he had mentioned to Parry, and, if Elizabeth was denied
-him, to make her cousin his wife? In any case, so long as she lived
-in his house, Jane was a guest of importance, of royal blood, to be
-treated with consideration, cared for, and flattered.
-
-But now the ill-assorted house-mates had parted. Seymour had taken
-his way to the Tower, as a stage towards the scaffold; and Jane had
-returned--gladly or sorrowfully, who can tell?--to the shelter of the
-parental roof, and to the care of a father and mother determined upon
-neutralising by their conduct any ill-effects produced by her two years
-of emancipation from their control. Once more she was an insignificant
-member of her father’s family, the eldest of his three children,
-subjected to the strictest discipline and, whatever the future might
-bring forth, of little consequence in the present.
-
-It is possible that Lord Dorset’s fears, expressed at the time when
-he was attempting to regain possession of his daughter, had been in
-part realised; and that Jane, “for lack of a bridle,” had “taken too
-much the head,” and conceived an unduly high opinion of herself--it
-would indeed have been a natural outcome of the position she held both
-in her guardian’s house and, as will be seen, in the estimation of
-divines. If this was the case, her mother and he were to do their best
-to “address her mind to humility, soberness, and obedience.” The means
-taken to carry out their intentions were harsh.
-
-Of the year following upon Jane’s return to Bradgate little is known;
-but in the summer of 1550, a picturesque and vivid sketch is afforded
-by Roger Ascham of the child of thirteen[105] upon whom so many hopes
-centred and so many expectations were built. In the description given
-in his _Schoolmaster_[106] of the visit paid by the great scholar to
-Bradgate, light is thrown alike upon the system of training pursued by
-Lord Dorset, upon the character of his daughter, and upon the spirit
-she displayed in conforming to the manner of life enforced upon her.
-
-Ascham, in his capacity of tutor to her cousin Elizabeth, had known
-Jane intimately at Court--so he states in a letter to Sturm, another
-of the academic brotherhood--and had already received learned letters
-from her. Before starting on a diplomatic mission to Germany in the
-summer of 1550, he had visited some friends in Yorkshire, and on his
-way south turned aside to renew his acquaintance with Lady Jane, and to
-pay his respects to her father, who stood high in the estimation of the
-religious party to which Ascham belonged. To this visit we owe one of
-the most distinct glimpses of the girl that we possess.
-
-By a fortunate chance he found “that most noble Lady Jane Grey, to whom
-I was exceeding much beholden,” alone. Lord and Lady Dorset, with all
-their household, were hunting in the park, and Jane, in the seclusion
-of her chamber, was engaged in studying the _Phaedo_ of Plato, “with as
-much delight as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in Boccaccio,”
-when Ascham presented himself to her.
-
-The conversation between the scholar and the student places Lady
-Jane’s small staid figure in clear relief. Notwithstanding Plato’s
-_Phaedo_, notwithstanding, too, the sun outside, the sounds of horns,
-the baying of hounds, and all the other allurements she had proved
-able to resist, there is something very human and unsaintly in her
-fashion of unburthening herself to a congenial spirit concerning the
-wrongs sustained at the parental hands. To Ascham, with whom she had
-been so well acquainted under different circumstances, she opened her
-mind freely when, “after salutation and duty done,” he inquired how it
-befell that she had left the pastimes going forward in the Park.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- After an engraving.
-
-LADY JANE GREY.]
-
-“I wis,” she answered smiling--the smile, surely, of conscious and
-complacent superiority--“all their sport in the Park is but a shadow
-to the pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas, good folk, they never felt
-what true pleasure meant.”
-
-“And how came you, Madame,” asked Ascham, “to this deep knowledge of
-pleasure, and what did chiefly allure you to it, seeing not many women,
-but very few men, have attained thereto?”
-
-Jane, nothing loath to satisfy her guest’s curiosity, did so at length.
-
-“I will tell you,” she answered, “and tell you a truth, which perchance
-you will marvel at. One of the greatest benefits that ever God gave
-me is that He sent me so sharp and severe parents and so gentle a
-schoolmaster. For when I am in presence either of father or mother,
-whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand, or go, eat, drink, be merry
-or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything else, I must do
-it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and number, even so perfectly
-as God made the world, or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly
-threatened, yea presently sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs,
-and other ways, which I will not name for the honour I bear them, so
-without measure disordered, that I think myself in hell, till time come
-that I must go to Mr. Elmer, who teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly,
-with such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time
-nothing whiles I am with him. And when I am called away from him I fall
-on weeping, because, whatever I do else but learning is full of grief,
-trouble, fear, and whole misliking unto me. And thus my book hath been
-so much my pleasure, and bringeth daily to me more pleasure and more,
-that in respect of it all other pleasures in very deed be but trifles
-and troubles to me.”[107]
-
-Jane’s recital of her wrongs, if correctly reported--and Ascham says
-he remembers the conversation gladly, both because it was so worthy of
-memory, and because it was the last time he ever saw that noble and
-worthy lady--proves that her command of the vernacular was equal to
-her proficiency in the dead languages, and that she cherished a very
-natural resentment for the treatment to which she was subjected. There
-is something irresistibly provocative of laughter in the thought of
-the two scholars, old and young, and of the lofty compassion displayed
-by the chidden child towards the frivolous tastes and amusements of
-the parents to whom she doubtless outwardly accorded the exaggerated
-respect and reverence demanded by custom. Few would grudge the
-satisfaction derived from a sympathetic listener to the girl whose
-pleasures were to be so few and days for enjoying them so short.
-
-When Ascham took leave he had received a promise from Jane to write to
-him in Greek, provided that he would challenge her by a letter from
-Germany. And so they parted, to meet no more.
-
-It may be that Lady Jane’s sense of the harshness and severity of her
-treatment at home was accentuated by the tone adopted with regard to
-her by many of the leading Protestant divines. To these men--men to
-whom Mary was Jezebel, Gardiner that lying and subtle Cerberus,[108]
-and by whom persons holding theological views at variance with their
-own were freely and unreservedly handed over to the devil--Jane was
-not only wise, learned, and saintly beyond her years, but to her they
-turned their eyes, hoping for a future when, at the King’s side, she
-might prove the efficient protectress and patroness of the reformed
-Church. Her name was a household word amongst them, and whilst it can
-have been scarcely possible that she was indifferent to the incense
-offered by those to whom she had been instructed to look up, it may
-have rendered the system of repression adopted by her parents more
-unendurable than might otherwise have been the case.
-
-Bradgate was a centre of strong and militant Protestantism. In
-conjunction with Warwick, the Marquis of Dorset was regarded by the
-German school of theologians as one of the “two most shining lights
-of the Church;”[109] and the many letters sent from England to Henry
-Bullinger at Zurich--some of them dated from Bradgate itself--abound
-in allusions to the family, and throw a useful light upon this part
-of Lady Jane’s life. In these epistles her father’s name recurs again
-and again, always in terms of extravagant eulogy, and as that of a
-munificent patron of needy divines. Thus he had bestowed a pension at
-first sight upon Ulmis, a young disciple of Bullinger’s, doubling it
-some months later; and his grateful _protégé_, striving to make what
-return is possible, impresses upon the foreign master the advisability
-of dedicating one of his works to the generous Marquis, anxiously
-sending him, when his request has been granted, the full title to be
-used in so doing. “He told me, indeed,” he adds, “that he had the title
-of Prince, but that he would not wish to be so styled by you, so you
-must judge for yourself whether to keep it back or not.”[110] Bullinger
-is likewise urged to present a copy of one of his books to the
-Marquis’s daughter, “and, take my word for it, you will never repent
-having done so.” A most learned and courteous letter would thereby be
-elicited from her. She had already translated into Greek a good part
-of Bullinger’s treatise on marriage, put by Ulmis himself into Latin,
-and had given it to her father as a New Year’s gift.[111] In May, 1551,
-another letter records that two days had been very agreeably passed at
-Bradgate with Jane, my Lord’s daughter, and those excellent and holy
-persons Aylmer, her tutor, and Haddon, chaplain to the Marquis. “For
-my own part, I do not think there ever lived any one more deserving of
-respect than this young lady, if you regard her family; more learned,
-if you consider her age; or more happy, if you consider both. A report
-has prevailed, and has begun to be talked of by persons of consequence,
-that this most noble virgin is to be betrothed and given in marriage
-to the King’s majesty. Oh, if that event should take place, how happy
-would be the union, and how beneficial to the church!”[112]
-
-A letter despatched by Ulmis on the same day to another of his brethren
-in the faith, Conrad Pellican, craves his advice on behalf of Lady Jane
-with regard to the best means of acquiring Hebrew, a language she was
-anxious to study. She had written to consult Bullinger on the subject,
-but Bullinger was a busy man, and all the world knew how perfect was
-Pellican’s acquaintance with the subject. Pellican may argue that he
-might seem lacking in modesty should he address a young lady, the
-daughter of a nobleman, unknown to him personally. But he is besought
-by Ulmis to entertain no fears of the kind, and his correspondent will
-bear all the blame if he ever repents of the deed, or if Lady Jane
-does not most willingly acknowledge his courtesy. “In truth,” he adds,
-“I do not think that amongst the English nobility for many ages past
-there has arisen a single individual who, to the highest excellences
-of talent and judgment, has united so much diligence and assiduity in
-the cultivation of every liberal pursuit.... It is incredible how far
-she has advanced already, and to what perfection she will advance in a
-few years; for I well know that she will complete what she has begun,
-unless perhaps she be diverted from her pursuits by some calamity of
-the times.... If you write a letter to her, take care, I pray you, that
-it be first delivered to me.”[113]
-
-The letter is dated from the house of the daughter of the Marquis.
-Her mother, it is true, seems to have been at home, though Dorset was
-in Scotland; but it is a curious fact that the grand-daughter of Henry
-VII., through whom Jane’s royal blood was transmitted to her, appears
-to have been by common consent tacitly passed over, as a person of no
-consequence in comparison with her daughter.[114]
-
-Quite a budget of letters were entrusted to the courier who left
-Bradgate on May 29, and was the bearer of the missives addressed by
-Ulmis to his master and his friend. Both John Aylmer, tutor to Lord
-Dorset’s children and afterwards Bishop of London, and Haddon, the
-Marquis’s chaplain, had taken the opportunity of writing to Bullinger,
-doubtless stimulated to the effort by his young disciple.
-
-The preceptor who compared so favourably in Lady Jane’s eyes with her
-parents, was a young Norfolk man, of about twenty-nine, and singularly
-well learned in the Latin and Greek tongues.[115] On James Haddon,
-Bishop Hooper, writing from prison when, three years later, the friends
-of the Reformation had fallen on evil days, pronounced a eulogy in
-a letter to Bullinger. Master James Haddon, he said, was not only a
-friend and very dear brother in Christ, but one he had always esteemed
-on account of his singular erudition and virtue. “I do not think,” he
-added, “that I have ever been acquainted with any one in England who is
-endued either with more sincere piety towards God or more removed from
-all desire of those perishing objects desired by foolish mortals.”[116]
-From Bishop Hooper the panegyric is evidence that Haddon belonged
-to the extreme party in theological matters, in which Aylmer was
-probably in full accord with him. On this particular day in May both
-these devoted and conscientious men were sending letters to the great
-director of souls in Zurich, that of Haddon being written to a man to
-whom he was personally unknown, and with the sole object of opening a
-correspondence and offering a tribute of respect.
-
-Aylmer’s case was a different one. Though also a stranger, he wrote at
-some length, chiefly in the character of the preceptor entrusted with
-Lady Jane’s education, making due acknowledgments for the letters and
-advice which had been of so much use in keeping his patron and his
-patron’s family in the right path, and begging Bullinger to continue
-these good offices towards the pupil, just fourteen, concerning whom
-it is strange to find the young man entertaining certain fears and
-misgivings.
-
-“At that age,” he observes, “as the comic poet tells us, all people are
-inclined to follow their own ways, and, by the attractiveness of the
-objects and the corruptions of nature, are more easily carried headlong
-in pleasure ... than induced to follow those studies that are attended
-with the praise of virtue.” The time teemed with many disorders;
-discreet physicians must therefore be sought, and to tender minds there
-should not be wanting the counsel of the aged nor the authority of
-grave and influential men. Aylmer accordingly entreats that Bullinger
-will minister, by letter and advice, to the improvement of his charge.
-
-An epistle from Jane, dated July 1551, shows that the German theologian
-responded at once to the appeal, since in it she acknowledges the
-receipt of a most eloquent and weighty letter, and mentioning the loss
-she had sustained in the death of Bucer, who appears to have taken
-his part in her theological training, congratulates herself upon the
-possession of a friend so learned as Bullinger, so pious a divine,
-and so intrepid a champion of true religion. Bereaved of the “pious
-Bucer ... who unweariedly did not cease, day and night, and to the
-utmost of his ability, to supply me with all necessary instructions
-and directions for my conduct in life, and who by his excellent advice
-promoted and encouraged my progress and advancement in all virtue,
-godliness, and learning,” she proceeds to beg Bullinger to fill the
-vacant place, and to spur her on if she should loiter and be disposed
-to delay. By this means she will enjoy the same advantages granted
-to those women to whom St. Jerome imparted instruction, or to the
-elect lady to whom the epistle of St. John was addressed, or to the
-mother of Severus, taught by Origen. As Bullinger could be deemed
-inferior to none of these teachers, she entreats him to manifest a
-like kindness.[117] It is plain that Lady Jane, in addressing this
-“brightest ornament and support of the whole Church,” is determined not
-to be outdone in the art of pious flattery; and in her correspondence
-with men who both as scholars and divines held a foremost place in the
-estimation of those by whom she was surrounded, she indemnified herself
-for the mortifications inflicted upon her at home.
-
-The reformers, for their part, were keeping an anxious watch upon the
-course of events in England; and to strengthen and maintain their
-influence over one who might have a prominent part to play in future
-years was of the first importance. A letter from Ascham, who was still
-abroad, dated some months later, supplies yet another example of the
-incense offered to the child of fourteen, and of fulsome adulation
-by which an older head might have been turned. Nothing, he told her,
-in his travels, had raised in him greater admiration than had been
-caused when, on his visit to Bradgate, he had found one so young and
-lovely--so divine a maid--engaged in the study of Plato whilst friends
-and relations were enjoying field sports. Let her proceed thus,
-to the honour of her country, the delight of her parents, her own
-glory, the praise of her preceptor, the comfort of her relations and
-acquaintances, and the admiration of all. O happy Aylmer, to have a
-like scholar!
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by W. Mansell & Co. after a painting by G. Fliccius in
- the National Portrait Gallery.
-
-ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.]
-
-It would be easy to multiply quotations which indicate the place
-accorded to Lord Dorset’s daughter in the estimation of the leaders
-of the extreme party of Protestantism, in whose eyes Cranmer was
-regarded as a possible trimmer. Allowing to him “right views,” Hooper,
-in writing to Bullinger, adds: “we desire nothing more for him than
-a firm and manly spirit.”[118] “Contrary to general expectation,”
-Traheron writes, the Archbishop had most openly, firmly, and learnedly
-maintained the opinion of the German divine upon the Eucharist;
-and Ulmis, alluding to him in terms of praise, repeats that he had
-unexpectedly given a correct judgment on this point. Even the youngest
-of the German theologians felt himself competent to weigh in the
-balances the head of Protestant England.
-
-Protestant England was itself keeping a wary eye upon its Primate.
-“The Archbishop of Canterbury,” wrote Hooper to Bullinger, “to tell
-the truth, neither took much note of your letter nor of your learned
-present. But now, as I hope, Master Bullinger and Canterbury entertain
-the same opinion.” “The people ... that many-headed monster,” he
-wrote again, “is still wincing, partly through ignorance, and partly
-persuaded by the inveiglements of the Bishops and the malice and
-impiety of the mass-priests.”[119]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII
-
-1551-1552
-
- An anxious tutor--Somerset’s final fall--The charges against
- him--His guilt or innocence--His trial and condemnation--The
- King’s indifference--Christmas at Greenwich--The Duke’s execution.
-
-
-Aylmer had been so far encouraged by the success of his appeal to
-Henry Bullinger on behalf of his pupil that he is found, some seven
-months later, calling the Swiss churchman again into council. He was
-possibly over-anxious, but the tone of his communication makes it clear
-that Lady Jane Grey had been once more causing her tutor disquiet.
-Responding, in the first place, to Bullinger’s congratulations upon
-his privilege in acting as teacher to so excellent a scholar, and in
-a family so well disposed to learning and religion, he proceeds to
-request that his correspondent will, in his next letter, instruct
-Lady Jane as to the proper degree of embellishment and adornment of
-the person becoming in young women professing godliness. The tutor is
-plainly uneasy on this subject, and it is to be feared that Jane had
-been developing an undue love of dress. Yet the example of the Princess
-Elizabeth might be fitly adduced, observes Aylmer, furnishing the
-monitor with arguments of which he might, if he pleased, make use. She
-at least went clad in every respect as became a young maiden, and yet
-no one was induced by the example of “a lady in so much gospel light to
-lay aside, much less look down upon, gold, jewels, and braidings of the
-hair.” Preachers might declaim, but no one amended her life. Moreover,
-and as a less important matter, Aylmer desires Bullinger to prescribe
-the amount of time to be devoted to music. If he would handle these
-points at some length there would probably be some accession to the
-ranks of virtue.
-
-One would imagine that it argued ignorance of human nature on the part
-of Lady Jane’s instructor to believe that the admonitions of an old man
-at a distance would have more effect than those of a young man close
-at hand; nor does it appear whether or not Bullinger sent the advice
-for which Aylmer asked. But that his pupil’s incipient leaning towards
-worldly vanities was successfully checked would appear from her reply,
-reported by himself, when a costly dress had been presented to her by
-her cousin Mary. “It were a shame,” she is said to have answered, in
-rejecting the gift, “to follow my Lady Mary, who leaveth God’s Word,
-and leave my Lady Elizabeth, who followeth God’s Word.”
-
-It might have been well for Jane had she practised greater courtesy
-towards a cousin at this time out of favour at Court; but no
-considerations of policy or of good breeding could be expected to
-influence a zealot of fifteen, and Mary, more than double her age, may
-well have listened with a smile.
-
-When Aylmer’s letter was written, the Grey family had left Bradgate and
-were in London. The Marquis had, some two months earlier, been advanced
-to the rank of Duke of Suffolk, upon the title becoming extinct through
-the death of his wife’s two half-brothers, and the tutor may have had
-just cause for disquietude lest the world should make good its claims
-upon the little soul he was so carefully tending. In November 1551
-Mary of Lorraine, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, had applied for leave to
-pass through England on her way north. It had not only been granted,
-but she had been accorded a magnificent reception, Lady Jane, with her
-mother, taking part in the ceremony when the royal guest visited the
-King at Whitehall. Two days later she was amongst the ladies assembled
-to do the Queen honour at her departure for Scotland. It may be that
-this participation in the pomp and splendour of court life had produced
-a tendency in John Aylmer’s charge to bestow overmuch attention upon
-worldly matters, nor can it be doubted that his heart was sore at the
-contrast she had presented to Elizabeth, “whose plainness of dress,”
-he says, still commending the Princess, “was especially noticed on the
-occasion of the visit of the Queen-Dowager of Scotland.”
-
-Perhaps, too, the master looked back with regret to the quiet days
-of uninterrupted study. The Dorset household, when not in London
-itself, were now to be chiefly resident at Sheen, within reach of the
-Court. Jane, too, was growing up; Aylmer was young; and to the “gentle
-schoolmaster” the training of Lord Dorset’s eldest daughter may have
-had an interest not wholly confined to scholarship or to theology. It
-is nevertheless impossible to put back the clock, and the days when his
-pupil could be expected to devote herself exclusively to her studies
-were irrevocably past.
-
-Meantime the hollow treaty of amity between the two great competitors
-for supremacy in the realm was to end. In the spring of 1551 Somerset
-and Warwick were on terms of outward cordiality, and a marriage between
-the Duke’s daughter and the eldest son of his rival, which took place
-with much magnificence in the presence of the King, might have been
-expected to cement their friendship. But by October “carry-tales and
-flatterers,” says one chronicler, had rendered harmony--even the
-semblance of harmony--impossible; or, as was more probable, Warwick,
-suspicious of the intention on the part of the Duke of regaining the
-direction of affairs, had determined to free himself once for all from
-the rivalry of the King’s uncle. Somerset had again been lodged in the
-Tower, to leave it, this time, only for the scaffold.
-
-On the question of his innocence or guilt there has been much
-discussion amongst historians, nor is it possible to enter at length
-into the question. The crimes of which he stood accused were of the
-blackest dye. “The good Duke,” as the people still loved to call him,
-was charged with plotting to gain possession of the King’s person,
-of contriving the murder of Warwick, now to be created Duke of
-Northumberland, of Northampton and Herbert, and was to be tried for
-treason and felony.
-
-Many and various are the views taken as to the guilt of the late
-Protector. Mr. Tytler, most conscientious of historians, after a
-careful comparison of contemporary evidence, has decided in his
-favour. Others have come to a different conclusion. The balance of
-opinion appears to be on his side. His bearing throughout the previous
-summer had been that of an innocent man, who had nothing to fear from
-justice. But justice was hard to come by. His enemy was strong and
-relentless--“a competent lawyer, known soldier, able statesman”--and in
-each of these capacities he was seeking to bring a dangerous competitor
-to ruin. It was, says Fuller, almost like a struggle between a naked
-and an armed man.[120] Yet, open-hearted and free from distrust as he
-is described, Somerset must have been aware of some part of his danger.
-His friends amongst the upper classes had ever been few and cold. The
-reformers, for whom he had done so much, had begun to indulge doubts of
-his zeal. Become possibly weary of persecution, he had tried to make
-a way for Gardiner to leave the prison in which he was languishing,
-and, alone of the Council, had been in favour of permitting to Mary the
-exercise of her religion. These facts were sufficient, in the eyes of
-many, to justify the assertion made by Burgoyne to Calvin that he had
-grown lukewarm, and had scarcely anything less at heart than religion.
-
-He was naturally the last to hear of the intrigues against him, and
-of the accusations brought in his absence from the Council-chamber.
-An attempt, it is true, was made to warn him by Lord Chancellor Rich,
-by means of a letter containing an account of the proceedings which
-had taken place; but, carelessly addressed only “To the Duke,” it
-was delivered, by a blunder of the Chancellor’s servant, to Norfolk,
-Somerset’s enemy. Surprised at the speedy return of his messenger, Rich
-inquired where he had found “the Duke.”
-
-“In the Charter House,” was the reply, “on the same token that he read
-it at the window and smiled thereat.”
-
-“But the Lord Rich,” adds Fuller, in telling the story, “smiled not”;
-resigning his post on the following day, on the plea of old age and a
-desire to gain leisure to attend to his devotions, and thereby escaping
-the dismissal which would have resulted from a betrayal of the secrets
-of the Council.[121]
-
-By October 14 the Duke was cognisant to some extent of the mischief
-that was a-foot, for it is stated in the King’s journal that he sent
-for the Secretary Cecil “to tell him that he suspected some ill.
-Mr. Cecil answered that, if he were not guilty, he might be of good
-courage; if he were, he had nothing to say but to lament him.” It was
-not an encouraging reply to an appeal for sympathy and support, and
-must have been an earnest of the attitude likely to be adopted towards
-the Duke by the rest of his colleagues. Two days later Edward’s journal
-notes his apprehension.
-
-The issue of the struggle was nevertheless uncertain. In spite of his
-unpopularity amongst the nobles, and though, to judge by the entries in
-the royal diary, the course of events was followed by his nephew with
-cold indifference, Somerset was not without his partisans. Constant
-to their old affection, the attack upon him was watched by the common
-people with breathless interest, accentuated by the detestation
-universally felt for the man who had planned his destruction. Hatred
-for Northumberland joined hands with love for Somerset to range them
-on his side. The political atmosphere was charged with excitement.
-Could it be true that the “good Duke” had designed the murder of his
-rival, who, whatever might be thought of him in other respects, was
-one of the chief props of Protestantism? Had the King, as some alleged,
-been in danger? The trial would show; and when it became known that
-the prisoner had been acquitted of treason, and the axe was therefore,
-according to custom, carried out of court, his cause was considered to
-be won; a cry arose that the innocence of the popular favourite had
-been established, and the applause of the crowd testified to their
-rejoicing. It had been premature. Acquitted of the principal offence
-with which he stood charged, he was found guilty of felony, and
-sentenced to death.
-
-The verdict was received with ominous murmurs, and, in a letter to
-Bullinger, Ulmis states that, observing the grave and sorrowful aspect
-of the audience, the Duke of Northumberland was wary enough to take
-his cue from it, and to attempt to propitiate in his own favour the
-discontented crowd.
-
-“O Duke of Somerset,” he exclaimed from his seat, “you see yourself
-brought into the utmost danger, and that nothing but death awaits
-you. I have once before delivered you from a similar hazard of your
-life; and I will not now desist from serving you, how little soever
-you may expect it.” Let Somerset appeal to the royal clemency, and
-Northumberland, forgiving him his offences, would do all in his power
-to save him.[122]
-
-Northumberland’s tardy magnanimity fails to carry conviction. But,
-besides his victim’s popularity in the country, it was reported that
-the “King took it not in good part,” and it was thought well to delay
-the execution, by which means his supplanter might gain credit for
-exercising his generosity by an attempt to avert his doom. Christmas
-was at hand, and it was arranged that the Duke should remain in prison,
-under sentence of death, whilst the feast was celebrated at Court.
-
-In spite of the assertion that the young King had not been unaffected
-by a tragedy that should have touched him closely, there is nothing
-in his own words to indicate any other attitude than that of the
-indifferent spectator--an attitude recalling unpleasantly the
-callousness shown by his father as the women he had loved and the
-statesmen he had trusted and employed were successively sent to the
-block. Though, in justice to Edward, it should be remembered that he
-had never loved his uncle, there is something revolting in his casual
-mention of the measures adopted against him.
-
-“Little has been done since you went,” he wrote to Barnaby Fitzpatrick,
-the comrade of his childish days, now become his favourite, “but the
-Duke of Somerset’s arraignment for felonious treason and the muster of
-the newly erected gendarmery;”[123] and the journal wherein he traces
-the progress of the trial, varying the narrative by the introduction
-of other topics, such as the visit of the Queen-Dowager of Scotland
-and the festivities in her honour, conveys a similar impression
-of coldness. “And so he was adjudged to be hanged,” he records in
-conclusion, noting, with no expression of regret, the result of the
-proceedings.
-
-“It were well that he should die,” Edward had told the Duke’s brother
-in those earlier childish days when incited by the Admiral to rebel
-against the strictness of the discipline enforced by the Protector.
-But, under the mask of indifference, it may be that misgivings awoke
-and made themselves apparent to those who, watching him closely, feared
-that ties of blood might vindicate their strength, and that at their
-bidding, or through compassion, he might interpose to avert the fate of
-one of the only near relations who remained to him. It appears to have
-been determined that the King’s mind must be diverted from the subject;
-and whilst the prisoner was awaiting in the Tower the execution of
-his sentence, special merry-makings were arranged by the men who had
-the direction of affairs at Greenwich, where the court was to keep
-Christmas. Thus it was hoped to “remove the fond talk out of men’s
-mouths,” and to recreate and refresh the troubled spirits of the young
-sovereign. A Lord of Misrule was accordingly appointed, who, dubbed the
-Master of the King’s Pastimes, took order for the general amusement,
-though conducting himself more discreetly than had been the wont of his
-predecessors, and the festival was gaily observed. By these means, says
-Holinshed, the minds and ears of murmurers were well appeased, till it
-was thought well to proceed to the business of executing judgment upon
-the Duke.
-
-In whatever light the ghastly contrast between the uncle awaiting
-a bloody death in the Tower and the noisy merry-making intended to
-drown the sound of the passing-bell in the nephew’s ears may strike
-students of a later day, it is likely that there was nothing in it to
-affect painfully those who joined in the proceedings. Life was little
-considered. Men were daily accustomed to witness violent reverses of
-fortune. The Duke had aimed over-high; he was a danger to rivals whose
-turn it was to rise; he must make way for others. He had moreover been
-too deeply injured to forgive; and, to make all safe, he must die.
-The reign of the Seymours was at an end; that of Northumberland was
-beginning. Two more years and their supplanter, with Suffolk and his
-other adherents, would in their turn have paid the penalty of a great
-ambition, and, “with the sons of the Duke of Somerset standing by,”
-would have followed the Lord Protector to the grave.
-
-There was none to prophesy their fate. Had it been otherwise, it is not
-probable that a warning would have turned them from their purpose.
-For they were reckless gamblers, and to foretell ruin to a man who is
-staking his all upon a throw of the dice is to speak to deaf ears.
-
-So the merry Christmas passed, Jane--third in succession to the
-throne--occupying a prominent position at Court. And Aylmer, fearful
-lest the fruits of his care should be squandered, looked on helplessly,
-and besought Bullinger, on that 23rd of December, to set a limit,
-for the benefit of a pupil in danger, to the attention lawfully to
-be bestowed on the world and its vanities; a letter from Haddon, the
-Duke’s chaplain, following fast and betraying his participation in the
-anxieties of his colleague by an entreaty that, from afar, the eminent
-divine would continue to exercise a beneficent influence upon his
-master’s daughter.
-
-Meantime the day had arrived when it was considered safe to carry
-matters against the King’s uncle to extremities, and on January 23, six
-weeks after his trial, the Duke of Somerset was taken to Tower Hill, to
-suffer death in the presence of a vast crowd there assembled.
-
-Till the last moment the throng had persisted in hoping against hope
-that the life of the man they loved might even now, at the eleventh
-hour, be spared; and at one moment it seemed that they were not to
-be disappointed. The Duke had taken his place upon the scaffold, and
-had begun his speech, when an interruption occurred, occasioned, as
-it afterwards proved, by an accidental collision between the mass of
-spectators and a body of troops who had received orders to be present
-at the execution, and, finding themselves late, had ridden hard and
-fast to make up for lost time. This was the simple explanation of
-the occurrence; but, to the excited mob gathered together, every
-nerve strained and full of pity and fear and horror, the sound of the
-thundering hoofs seemed something supernatural and terrible. Was it a
-sign of divine interposition?
-
-“Suddenly,” recounts an eye-witness, “suddenly came a wondrous fear
-upon the people ... by a great sound which appeared unto many above
-in the element as it had been the sound of gunpowder set on fire in
-a close house bursting out, and by another sound upon the ground as
-it had been the sight of a great number of great horses running on
-the people to overrun them; so great was the sound of this that the
-people fell down one upon the other, many with bills; and other ran
-this way, some that way, crying aloud, ‘Jesus, save us! Jesus, save
-us!’ Many of the people crying, ‘This way they come, that way they
-come, away, away.’ And I looked where one or other should strike me on
-the head, so I was stonned [stunned?]. The people being thus amazed,
-espies Sir Anthony Brown upon a little nag riding towards the scaffold,
-and therewith burst out crying in a voice, ‘Pardon, pardon, pardon!’
-hurling up their caps and cloaks with these words, saying, ‘God save
-the King! God save the King!’ The good Duke all the while stayed, and,
-with his cap in his hand, waited for the people to come together.”[124]
-
-Whatever had been Sir Anthony’s errand, it had not been one of mercy;
-and when the excitement following upon the panic was calmed the doomed
-man and the crowd were alike aware that the people had been misled by
-hope, and that no pardon had been brought. It is at such a moment that
-a man’s mettle is shown. With admirable dignity Somerset bore the blow.
-As for a moment he had participated in the expectation of the cheering
-throng the colour had flickered over his face; but, recovering himself
-at once, he resumed his interrupted speech.
-
-“Beloved friends,” he said, “there is no such matter as you vainly hope
-and believe.” Let the people accept the will of God, be quiet as he was
-quiet, and yield obedience to King and Council. A few minutes more and
-all was over. Somerset, in the words of a chronicler, had taken his
-death very patiently--with the strange patience in which the victims of
-injustice scarcely ever failed; the crowd, true to the last to their
-faith, pressing forward to dip their handkerchiefs in his blood, as in
-that of a martyr.
-
-The laconic entry in the King’s journal, to the effect that the Duke
-of Somerset had had his head cut off on Tower Hill, presents a sharp
-contrast to the popular emotion and grief. The deed was, at all events,
-done; Northumberland had cleared his most formidable competitor from
-his path, and had no suspicion that the tragedy of that winter’s day
-was in truth paving the way for his own ultimate undoing.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting in the National
- Portrait Gallery.
-
-EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, K.G.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII
-
-1552
-
- Northumberland and the King--Edward’s illness--Lady Jane and
- Mary--Mary refused permission to practise her religion--The
- Emperor intervenes.
-
-
-For the moment master of the field, Northumberland addressed himself
-sedulously to the task of strengthening and consolidating the position
-he had won. In the Council he had achieved predominance, but the
-King’s minority would not last for ever, and the necessity of laying
-the foundation of a power that should continue when Edward’s nominal
-sovereignty should have become a real one was urgent.
-
-The lad was growing up; nor were there wanting moments causing those
-around him to look on with disquietude to the day when the nobles
-ruling in his name might be called upon to give an account of their
-stewardship. A curious anecdote tells how, as Northumberland stood one
-day watching the King practising the art of archery, the boy put a
-“sharp jest” upon him, not without its significance.
-
-“Well aimed, my liege,” said the Duke merrily, as the arrow hit the
-white.
-
-“But you aimed better,” retorted the lad, “when you shot off the head
-of my uncle Somerset.”[125]
-
-It was a grim and ominous pleasantry, and in the direct charge it
-contained of responsibility for the death of Edward’s nearest of kin
-another shaft besides the arrow may have been sent home. The Tudors
-were not good at forgiving. Even had the King seen the death of the
-Duke’s rival and victim without regret, it was possible that he would
-none the less owe a grudge to the man to whom it was due; nor was
-Northumberland without a reason for anticipating with uneasiness the
-day when Edward, remembering all, should hold the reins of Government
-in his own hands.
-
-Under these circumstances it was clearly his interest to commend
-himself to the young sovereign, and the system he pursued with regard
-to his education and training were carefully adapted to that purpose.
-Whilst the Protector had had the arrangement of affairs, his nephew had
-been kept closely to his studies; Northumberland, “a soldier at heart
-and by profession, had him taught to ride and handle his weapons,” the
-boy welcoming the change, and, though not neglecting his books, taking
-pleasure in every form of bodily exercise;[126] not without occasional
-pangs of conscience, when more time had been spent in pastime than he
-“thought convenient.”
-
-“We forget ourselves,” he would observe, finding fault with himself
-sententiously in royal phrase, upon such occasions, “that should not
-lose _substantia pro accidente_.”[127]
-
-It had been the Protector’s custom to place little money at his
-nephew’s disposal, thus rendering him comparatively straitened in
-the means of exercising the liberality befitting his position; and
-part of the boy’s liking for the Admiral had been owing to the gifts
-contrasting with the niggardliness of the elder brother. Profiting by
-his predecessor’s mistakes, Northumberland’s was a different policy. He
-supplied Edward freely with gold, encouraged him to make presents, and
-to show himself a King; acquainting him besides with public business,
-and flattering him by asking his opinion upon such matters.[128]
-
-The Duke might have spared his pains. It was not by Edward that he
-was to be called to account. But at that time there were no signs to
-indicate how futile was the toil of those who were seeking to build
-their fortunes upon his favour. A well-grown, handsome lad, his health
-had given no special cause for anxiety up to the spring of 1552. In the
-March of that year, however, a sharp and complicated attack of illness
-laid him low and sowed the seeds of future delicacy.
-
-“I fell sick of the smallpox and the measles,” recorded the boy in
-his diary. “April 15th the Parliament broke up because I was sick and
-unable to go abroad.”
-
-To us, who read the laconic entry in the light thrown upon it by future
-events, it marks the beginning of the end--not only the end of the
-King’s short life, but the beginning of the drama in which many other
-actors were to be involved and were to meet their doom. As yet none of
-the anxious watchers suspected that death had set his broad arrow upon
-the lad; and in the summer he had so far recovered as to be sending a
-blithe account to Barnaby Fitzpatrick, then in France, of a progress
-he had made in the country, and its attendant enjoyments. Whilst his
-old playfellow had been occupied in killing his enemies, and sore
-skirmishing and divers assaults, the King had been killing wild beasts,
-having pleasant journeys and good fare, viewing fair countries, and
-seeking rather to fortify his own than to spoil another man’s[129]--so
-he wrote gaily to Fitzpatrick.
-
-Meantime his illness, with the dissolution of Parliament consequent
-upon it, had probably emptied London; the Suffolk family, with others,
-returning to their country home. In July Lady Jane was on a visit
-to her cousin, the Princess Mary, at Newhall; when, once more, an
-indiscreet speech--a scoff, on this occasion, directed against the
-outward tokens of that Catholic faith to which Mary was so vehemently
-loyal--may, repeated to her hostess, have served to irritate her
-towards the offender against the rules of courtesy and good taste.
-Under other circumstances, it might have been passed over by the older
-woman with a smile; but subjected to annoyance and petty persecution
-by reason of her religion and saddened and embittered by illness and
-misfortune, the trifling instance of ill-manners on the part of a
-malapert child of fifteen may have had its share in accentuating a
-latent antagonism.
-
-In the course of the previous year a controversy had reached its height
-which had been more or less imminent since the statute enjoining
-the use of the new Prayer-book had been passed, a work said to have
-afforded the King--then eleven years of age--“great comfort and
-quietness of mind.” From that time forward--the decree had become
-law in 1549--there had been trouble in the royal family, as might
-be expected when opinion on vital points of religion, the burning
-question of the day, was widely and violently divergent, and friends
-and advisers were ever at hand to fan the flame of discord in their own
-interest or that of their party.
-
-No one could be blind to the fact that the ardent Catholicism of the
-Princess Mary, next in succession to the throne, constituted a standing
-menace to the future of religion as recently by law established, and to
-the durability of the work hastily carried through in creating a new
-Church on a new basis. Furthermore it was considered that her present
-attitude of open and determined opposition to the decree passed by
-Parliament was a cause of scandal in the realm. It was certainly one of
-annoyance to the King and Council.
-
-Cranmer would probably have liked to keep the peace. An honest
-man, but no fanatic and holding moderate views, he might have been
-inclined, having got what he personally wanted, to adopt a policy of
-conciliation. Affairs had gone well with him; his friends were in
-power; and, if he failed to inspire the foreign divines and their
-English disciples with entire trust, it was admitted in 1550 by John
-Stumpius, of that school, that things had been put upon a right
-footing. “There is,” he added, “the greatest hope as to religion, for
-the Archbishop of Canterbury has lately married a wife.”[130]
-
-Matters being thus comfortably arranged, Cranmer, if he had had his
-way, might have preferred to leave them alone. But what could one man
-do in the interests of peace, when Churchmen and laity were alike
-clamouring for war, when the King’s Council were against the concession
-of any one point at issue, and the King himself had composed, before he
-was twelve years old, and “sans l’aide de personne vivant,” a treatise
-directed against the supremacy of the Pope? To the honour of the King’s
-counsellors, few victims had suffered the supreme penalty during his
-reign on account of their religious opinions;[131] but Gardiner and
-Bonner, as well as Bishops Day and Heath, were in prison, and if the
-lives of the adherents of the ancient faith were spared, no other
-mitigation of punishment or indulgence was to be expected by them.
-
-Under pressure from the Emperor the principal offender had been at
-first granted permission to continue the practice of her religion.
-But when peace with France rendered a rupture with Charles a less
-formidable contingency than before, it was decided that renewed efforts
-should be made to compel the Princess Mary to bow to the fiat of King
-and Council. Love of God and affection for his sister forbade her
-brother, he declared, to tolerate her obstinacy longer, the intimation
-being accompanied by an offer of teachers who should instruct her
-ignorance and refute her errors.
-
-Mary was a match for both King and Council. In an interview with the
-Lords she told them that her soul was God’s, and that neither would
-she change her faith nor dissemble her opinions; the Council replying
-by a chilling intimation that her faith was her own affair, but that
-she must obey like a subject, not rule like a sovereign. The Princess,
-however, had a card to play unsuspected by her adversaries. The dispute
-had taken place on August 18. On the 19th the Council was unpleasantly
-surprised by a strong measure on the part of the imperial ambassador,
-in the shape of a declaration of war in case his master’s cousin was
-not permitted the exercise of her religion.
-
-The Council were in a difficulty. War with the Emperor, at that moment,
-and without space for preparation, would have been attended with grave
-inconvenience. On the other hand Edward’s tender conscience had outrun
-that of his ministers, and had become so difficult to deal with that
-all the persuasions of the Primate and two other Bishops were needed
-to convince the boy, honest and zealous in his intolerance, that
-“to suffer or wink at [sin] for a time might be borne, so all haste
-possible was used.”
-
-A temporising answer was therefore returned to the imperial ambassador,
-“all haste possible” being made in removing English stores from
-Flanders, so that, in case of a rupture, they might not fall into
-Charles’s hands. This accomplished, fresh and stringent measures were
-taken to compel the Princess’s obedience; her chief chaplain was
-committed to the Tower, charged with having celebrated Mass in his
-mistress’s house, and three of the principal officers of her household
-were sent to join him there as a punishment for declining to use
-coercion to prevent a recurrence of the offence.
-
-An interview followed between Mary and a deputation of members of
-the Council, who visited her with the object of enforcing the King’s
-orders. The Princess received her guests with undisguised impatience;
-requested them to be brief; and, having listened to what they had to
-say, answered shortly that she would lay her head upon a block--no idle
-rhetoric in those days--sooner than use any other form of service than
-that in use at her father’s death; when her brother was of full age she
-was ready to obey his commands, but at present--good, sweet King!--he
-could not be a judge in such matters. Her chaplains, for the rest,
-could do as they pleased in the matter of saying Mass, “but none of
-your new service shall be used in my house, or I will not tarry in it.”
-
-Thus the controversy practically ended. The Council dared not proceed
-to extremities against the Emperor’s cousin, and tacitly agreed to let
-her alone, having supplied her with one more bitter memory to add to
-the account which was to be lamentably settled in the near future.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV
-
-1552
-
- Lady Jane’s correspondence with Bullinger--Illness of the Duchess
- of Suffolk--Haddon’s difficulties--Ridley’s visit to Princess
- Mary--the English Reformers--Edward fatally ill--Lady Jane’s
- character and position.
-
-
-The removal of the two Seymour brothers, whilst it had left
-Northumberland predominant, had also increased the importance of the
-Duke of Suffolk. Both by reason of the position he personally filled,
-and owing to his connection, through his wife, with the King, he was
-second to none in the State save the man to whom Somerset’s fall was
-due and who had succeeded to his power. He shared Northumberland’s
-prominence, as he was afterwards to share his ruin; and, as one of the
-chief props of Protestantism, he and his family continued to be objects
-of special interest to the divines of that persuasion, foreign and
-English.
-
-Lady Jane, as before, was in communication with the learned Bullinger,
-and in the same month--July 1552--that her visit had been paid to the
-Princess Mary she was sending him another letter, dated from Bradgate,
-expressing her gratitude for the “great friendship he desired to
-establish between them, and acknowledging his many favours.” After
-a second perusal of his latest letter--since a single one had not
-contented her--the benefit derived from it had surpassed that to be
-obtained from the best authors, and in studying Hebrew she meant to
-pursue the method he recommended.
-
-In August more pressing interests must have taken the place of study,
-for at Richmond in Surrey her mother was attacked by a sickness
-threatening at one time to prove fatal.
-
-“This shall be to advertise you,” wrote the Duchess’s husband, hastily
-summoned from London, to Cecil, “that my sudden departing from the
-Court was for that I had received letters of the state my wife was
-in, who I assure you is more liker to die than to live. I never saw a
-sicker creature in my life than she is. She hath three diseases....
-These three being enclosed in one body, it is to be feared that death
-must needs follow. By your most assured and loving cousin, who, I
-assure you, is not a little troubled.”
-
-His anxiety was soon relieved. The Duchess was not only to outlive,
-but, in her haste to replace him, was to show little respect for his
-memory. She must quickly have got the better of her present threefold
-disorder, for in the course of the same month a letter was sent from
-Richmond by James Haddon, the domestic chaplain, to Bullinger, making
-no mention of any cause of uneasiness as to the physical condition of
-his master’s wife. He was preoccupied by other matters, disquieted by
-scruples of conscience, and glad to unburthen himself to the universal
-referee with regard to certain difficulties attending his position in
-the Duke’s household.
-
-It was true that he might have hesitated to communicate the fears and
-misgivings by which he was beset to a guide at so great a distance,
-had not John ab Ulmis--who, as portrayed by these letters, was
-somewhat of a busybody, eager to bring all his friends into personal
-relations, and above all to magnify the authority and importance of
-his master in spiritual things--just come in and encouraged him to
-write, stating that it would give Bullinger great satisfaction to be
-informed of the condition of religion in England, and likewise--a more
-mundane curiosity--of that of the Suffolk household. Entering into a
-description of both, therefore, in a missive containing some three
-thousand words, Haddon fully detailed the sorrows and perplexities
-attending the exercise of the office of chaplain, even in the most
-orthodox and pious of houses.
-
-After dealing with the first and important subject of religion at
-large, he proceeded to treat of the more complicated question--the
-condition of the ducal household, and especially the duties attaching
-to his own post.
-
-Of the general regulation of the house, Ulmis, he said, was more
-capable than he of giving an account. It was rather to be desired that
-Bullinger should point out the method he would recommend. But upon
-one point Haddon was anxious to obtain the advice of so eminent a
-counsellor, and he went on to explain at length the case of conscience
-by which he had been troubled. This was upon the question of the
-lawfulness or unlawfulness of conniving, by silence, at the practice of
-gambling.
-
-The situation was this. The Duke and Duchess had strictly forbidden the
-members of their household to play at cards or dice for money. So far
-they had the entire approval of their chaplain. But--and here came in
-Haddon’s cause of perplexity--the Duke himself and his most honourable
-lady, with their friends--perhaps, too, their daughter, though there is
-no mention of her--not only claimed a right to play in their private
-apartments, but also to play for money. The divergence between precept
-and practice--common in all ages--was grievous to the chaplain,
-weighted with the responsibility for the spiritual and moral welfare of
-the whole establishment, from his “patron” the Duke, down to the lowest
-of the menials. At wearisome and painstaking length he recapitulated
-the arguments he was wont to employ in his remonstrances against the
-gambling propensities he deplored, retailing, as well, the arguments
-with which the offenders met them. “In this manner and to this effect,”
-he says, “the dispute is often carried on.”
-
-During the past months matters had reached a climax. As late as up
-to the previous Christmas he had confined himself to administering
-private rebukes; but, perceiving that his words had taken no effect,
-he had forewarned the culprits that a public reprimand would follow a
-continued disregard of his monitions. Upon this he had been relieved
-to perceive that there had been for a time a cessation of the
-reprehensible form of amusement, and had cherished a hope that all
-would be well. It had been a vain one. Christmas had come round--the
-season marked by mummeries and wickedness of every kind, when persons
-especially served the devil in imitation, as it seemed, of the ancient
-Saturnalia; and though this was happily not the case in the Suffolk
-family, Duke and Duchess had joined in the general backsliding to the
-extent of returning to their old evil habit. Such being the case,
-Haddon had felt that he had no choice but to carry out his threat.
-
-In his Christmas sermon he had taken occasion to administer a reproof
-as to the general fashion of keeping the feast, including in his
-rebuke, “though in common and general terms,” those who played cards
-for money. No one in the household was at a loss to fix upon the
-offenders at whom the shaft was directed. The Duke’s servants, if they
-followed his example, took care never to be detected in so doing;
-and, accepting the reprimand as addressed to themselves, the Duke and
-Duchess took it in bad part, arguing that Haddon would have performed
-all that duty required of him by a private remonstrance. From that
-time, offence having been given by his plain speech, the chaplain had
-returned to his old custom of administering only private rebukes; thus
-conniving, in a measure, at the practice he condemned, lest loss of
-influence in matters of greater moment should follow. “I bear with it,”
-he sighed, “as a man who holds a wolf by the ears.” Conscience was,
-however, uneasy, and he begged Bullinger to advise in the matter and to
-determine how far such concessions might be lawfully made.
-
-Looking impartially at the question, it says much for the Duke’s good
-temper and toleration that the worthy Haddon continued to fill his
-post, and that when, a few months later, he was promoted to be Dean
-of Exeter, he wrote that the affection between himself and his master
-was so strong that the connection would even then not be altogether
-severed.[132] His attitude is a curious and interesting example of the
-position and status of a chaplain in his day, being wholly that of a
-dependant, and yet carrying with it duties and rights strongly asserted
-on the one side and not disallowed upon the other.
-
-The Duchess, having recovered from her illness, had taken her three
-daughters to visit their cousin Mary, and when the younger children
-were sent home Jane remained behind at St. John’s, Clerkenwell, the
-London dwelling of the Princess, until her father came to fetch wife
-and daughter away. That the whole family had been thus entertained
-indicates that they were at this time on a friendly footing with the
-Princess. But though the Duke of Suffolk was doubtless alive to the
-necessity of maintaining amicable relations, so far as it was possible,
-with his wife’s cousin and the next heir to the crown, it must have
-been no easy matter, at a time when party spirit ran so high, for one
-of the chief recognised supporters of Protestantism to continue on
-terms of cordiality with the head and hope of the Catholic section of
-the nation. Mary was not becoming more conciliatory in her bearing as
-time went on, and an account of a visit paid her by Ridley, now Bishop
-of London in place of Bonner, deprived and in prison, is illustrative
-of her present attitude.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting by Joannes Corvus in
- the National Portrait Gallery.
-
-PRINCESS MARY, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-EIGHT.]
-
-It was to Hunsdon that, in the month of September, Ridley came to pay
-his respects to the King’s sister, cherishing, it may be, a secret
-hope that where King and Council had failed, he might succeed; and his
-courteous reception by the officers of her household was calculated
-to encourage his sanguine anticipations. Mary too, when, at eleven
-o’clock, he was admitted to her presence, conversed with her guest
-right pleasantly for a quarter of an hour, telling him that she
-remembered the time when he had acted as chaplain to her father, and
-inviting him to stay to dinner. It was not until after the meal was
-ended that the Bishop unfolded the true object of his visit. It was
-not one of simple courtesy; he had come, he said, to do his duty by her
-as her diocesan, and to preach before her on the following Sunday.
-
-If Mary prepared for battle, she answered at first with quiet dignity.
-It was observed that she flushed; her response, however, was merely to
-bid him “make the answer to that himself.” When, refusing to take the
-hint, the Bishop continued to urge his point, she spoke more plainly.
-
-“I pray you, make the answer (as I have said) to this matter yourself,”
-she repeated, “for you know the answer well enough. But if there be no
-remedy but I must make you answer, this shall be your answer: the door
-of the parish church adjoining shall be open for you if you come, and
-you may preach if you list; but neither I nor any of mine shall hear
-you.”
-
-To preach to an empty church, or to a handful of country yokels, would
-not have answered the episcopal purpose; and Ridley was plainly losing
-his temper.
-
-He hoped, he said, she would not refuse to hear God’s word. The
-Princess answered with a scoff. She did not know what they now called
-God’s word; she was sure it was not the same as in her father’s
-time--to whom, it will be remembered, the Bishop had been chaplain.
-
-The dispute was becoming heated. God’s word, Ridley retorted, was the
-same at all times, but had been better understood and practised in some
-ages than in others. To this Mary replied by a personal thrust. He
-durst not, she told him, for his ears, have avowed his present faith
-in King Henry’s time; then--asking a question to which she must have
-known the answer--was he of the Council? she demanded. The inquiry
-was probably intended as a reminder that his rights did not extend to
-interference with the King’s sister, as well as to elicit, as it did,
-the confession that he held no such post.
-
-“You might well enough, as the Council goeth nowadays,” observed
-Mary carelessly; proceeding, at parting, to thank the Bishop for his
-gentleness in coming to see her, “but for your offering to preach
-before me I thank you never a whit.”
-
-In the presence of his hostess the discomfited guest appears to have
-kept his temper under control, but, having duly drunk of the stirrup
-cup presented to him by her steward, Sir Thomas Wharton, he gave free
-expression to his sentiments.
-
-“Surely I have done amiss,” he said, looking “very sadly,” and
-explaining, in answer to Wharton’s interrogation, that he had erred
-in having drunk under a roof where God’s word was rejected. He should
-rather have shaken the dust off his feet for a testimony against the
-house and departed instantly, he told the listeners assembled to speed
-him on his way--whose hair, says Heylyn, in relating this story, stood
-on end with his denunciations.[133]
-
-If scenes of this kind were not adapted to promote good feeling between
-belligerents in high places, neither was the spirit of the dominant
-party in the country one to conciliate opposition. It is not easy, as
-the figures of the English pioneers of Protestantism pass from time to
-time across the stage, in these years of their first triumph, to do
-them full justice. To judge a man by one period of his life, whether it
-is youth or manhood or old age, is scarcely fairer than to pronounce
-upon the colour and pattern of an eastern carpet, only one square
-yard of it being visible. The adherents of the new faith are here
-necessarily represented in a single phase, that of prosperity. At the
-top of the wave, they are seen at their worst, assertive, triumphant,
-intolerant and self-satisfied, the bull-dogs of the Reformation, only
-withheld by the leash from worrying their fallen antagonist. Thus, for
-the most part, they appear in Edward’s reign. And yet these men, a year
-or two later, were many of them capable of an undaunted courage, an
-impassioned belief in the common Lord of Protestant and Catholic, and
-a power of endurance, which have graven their names upon the national
-roll-call of heroes.
-
-Meantime, more and more, the King’s precarious health was suggestive of
-disturbing contingencies. It may be that, as some assert, his uncle’s
-death, once become irrevocable, had preyed upon his spirits--that he
-“mourned, and soon missed the life of his Protector, thus unexpectedly
-taken away, who, now deprived of both uncles, howsoever the time
-were passed with pastimes, plays and shows, to drive away dumps, yet
-ever the remembrance of them sat so near his heart that lastly he
-fell sick....”[134] But though it is possible that, as his strength
-declined, matters he had taken lightly weighed upon his spirits, it is
-not necessary to seek other than natural and constitutional causes for
-a failure of health. That failure must have filled many hearts with
-forebodings.
-
-There had been no attempt hitherto to ignore or deny the position
-occupied by Mary as next heir to the throne. When, at the New Year, she
-visited her brother, the honours rendered to her were a recognition of
-her rights, and the Northumberlands and Suffolks occupied a foremost
-place amongst the “vast throng” who rode with her through the city or
-met her at the palace gate and brought her to the presence-chamber of
-the King. Before the next New Year’s Day came round Edward was to be in
-his grave; Mary would fill his place; and the little cousin Jane, now
-spending a gay Christmas with her father’s nephews and wards, the young
-Willoughbys, at Tylsey, would be awaiting her doom in the Tower.
-
-The shadow was already darkening over the King. It is said that the
-seeds of his malady had been sown by over-heating in his sports,
-during the progress of which he had sent so joyous an account to
-Fitzpatrick.[135] Soon after his sister’s visit he caught a bad cold,
-and unfavourable symptoms appeared. He had, however, youth in his
-favour, and few at first anticipated how speedy would be the end. Vague
-disquiet nevertheless quickly passed into definite alarm. In February
-the patient’s condition was such that Northumberland, who of all men
-had most at stake, summoned no less than six physicians, desiring them
-to institute an examination and to declare upon their oath, first,
-whether they considered the King’s disease mortal, and, if so, how
-long he was likely to live. The reply made by the doctors was that
-the malady was incurable, and that the patient might live until the
-following September.[136] Northumberland had obtained his answer; it
-was for him to take measures accordingly.
-
-In March Edward’s last Parliament met and ended. “The King being
-a little diseased by cold-taking,” recorded a contemporary
-chronicle,[137] “it was not meet for his Grace to ride to Westminster
-in the air,”[138] and on the 31st--it was Good Friday--the Upper House
-waited upon him at Whitehall, Edward in his royal robes receiving the
-Lords Spiritual and Temporal. At seven that evening Parliament was
-dissolved.
-
-Many hearts, loyal and true and pitiful, will have grieved at the signs
-of their King’s decay. But to Northumberland, watching them with the
-keenness lent by personal interest, personal ambition, and possibly by
-a consciousness of personal peril, they must have afforded absorbing
-matter of preoccupation. The exact time at which the designs by which
-the Duke trusted to turn the boy’s death to his advantage rather than
-to his ruin took definite shape and form must remain to some extent
-undetermined--his plans were probably decided by the verdict given by
-the doctors in February; it is certain that in the course of the spring
-they were elaborated, and that in them Lady Jane Grey, ignorant and
-unsuspicious, was a factor of primary importance. She was to be the
-figure-head of the Duke’s adventurous vessel.
-
-The precise date of her birth is not known, but she was now in her
-sixteenth or seventeenth year--a sorrowful one for her and for all she
-loved. Childhood was a thing she had left behind; she was touching upon
-her brief space of womanhood; a few months later and that too would be
-over; she would have paid the penalty for the schemes and ambitions of
-others.
-
-The eulogies of her panegyrists have, as a natural effect of
-extravagant praise, done in some sort an injury to this little
-white saint of the English Reformation. We do not readily believe in
-miracles; nor do infant prodigies either in the sphere of morals or
-attainments attract us. Yet, setting aside the tragedy of her end,
-there is something that appeals for pity in the very precocity upon
-which her contemporaries are fond of dwelling, testifying as it does
-to a wasted childhood, to a life robbed of its natural early heritage
-of carelessness and grace. To have had so short a time to spend on the
-green earth, and to have squandered so large a portion of it amongst
-dusty folios, and in the acquirement of learning; to have pored over
-parchments while sun and air, flowers and birds and beasts--all that
-should make the delight of a child’s life, the pageant of a child’s
-spring, was passed by as of no account; further, to have grown up
-versed in the technicalities of barren theological debate, the simple
-facts of Christ’s religion overlaid and obscured by the bitterness of
-professional controversialists,--almost every condition of her brief
-existence is an appeal for compassion, and Jane, from her blood-stained
-grave, cries out that she had not only been robbed of life by her
-enemies, but of a childhood by her friends.
-
-To a figure defaced by flattery and adulation, whose very virtues and
-gifts were made to minister to party ends, it is difficult to restore
-the original brightness and beauty which nevertheless belonged to it.
-But here and there in the pages of the Italian evangelist, Michel
-Angelo Florio, who was personally acquainted with her, pictures are to
-be found which, drawn with tender touches, set the girl more vividly
-before us than is done by the stilted commendations of English devotees
-or German doctors of theology. Many times, he says--times when it may
-be hoped she had forgotten that there were opponents to be argued
-with or heretics to be convinced or doctrinal subtleties to be set
-forth--she would speak of the Word of God and almost preach it to those
-who served her;[139] and Florio himself, recounting the indignities
-and insults he had suffered by reason of his opinions, had seen her
-weep with pity, so that he well knew how much she had true religion at
-heart.[140]
-
-Her attendants, too--in days when her melancholy end had caused each
-trifling incident to be treasured like a relic by those to whom she had
-been dear--related that she did not esteem rank or wealth or kingdom
-worth a straw in comparison with the knowledge God had granted to
-her of His only Son.[141] It must be remembered that in no long time
-she was to give proof, by her fashion of meeting death, that these
-phrases were no repetition of a lesson learned by rote, no empty and
-conventional form of words, but the true and sincere confession of a
-living faith.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV
-
-1553
-
- The King dying--Noailles in England--Lady Jane married to Guilford
- Dudley--Edward’s will--Opposition of the law officers--They
- yield--The King’s death.
-
-
-The King was becoming rapidly worse, and as his malady increased upon
-him, strange suspicions were afloat amongst the people, their hatred to
-Northumberland giving its colour to their explanation of the situation.
-He himself, or those upon whom he could count, were ever with the sick
-boy, and hints were uttered--as was sure to be the case--of poison. For
-this, murmured the populace, had the King’s uncles been removed, his
-faithful nobles disgraced; and the condition of public opinion caused
-the Duke, alarmed at its hostility, to publish it abroad that Edward
-was better.[142]
-
-In May a rally appears to have in fact taken place, giving rise in
-some quarters to false hopes of recovery, and Mary wrote to offer her
-congratulations to her brother upon the improvement in his health. On
-May 13 the new French ambassador, Noailles, whose audience had been
-deferred from day to day, was informed by the Council that their master
-was so much better that he would doubtless be admitted to the royal
-presence in the course of a few days. The doctors told a different
-story, and Noailles believed the doctors. A diplomatist himself, he
-knew the uses of lying perhaps too well to condemn it severely. That
-the King was dying was practically certain, and though those whose
-object it was to conceal the fact lest measures should be concerted
-to ensure the succession of the rightful heir, might do their best to
-disguise the fact, the truth must become known before long.
-
-Meantime the French envoy, in the interest of the reformed party in
-England--not by reason of their religion, but as opposed to Mary, the
-Emperor’s cousin--was quite willing to play into Northumberland’s
-hands, and to assist him in the work of spreading abroad the report
-that the King’s malady was yielding to treatment. He and his
-colleagues were accordingly conducted to an apartment near to the
-presence-chamber, where they were left for a certain time alone, in
-order to convey the impression that they had been personally received
-by the sovereign. Some days later it was confessed, but as a peril
-past, that Edward had been seriously ill. He was then stated to be out
-of danger, and the ambassadors were admitted to his presence, finding
-him very weak, and coughing much.[143]
-
-The rally had been of short duration. Hope of recovery had, in truth,
-been abandoned; and those it concerned so intimately were forced to
-face the situation to be created by his death. It was a situation
-momentous alike to men whose fortunes had been staked upon the young
-King’s life, and to others honestly and sincerely solicitous regarding
-the welfare of the realm and the consequences to the new religion
-should his eldest sister succeed to the throne.
-
-Every one of the Lords of the Council and officers of the Crown,
-with almost all the Bishops, save those who had suffered captivity
-and deprivation, had personal reasons for apprehension. Scarcely a
-single person of influence or power could count upon being otherwise
-than obnoxious to the heir to the crown. That most of them would be
-displaced from their posts was to be expected. Some at least must
-have felt that property and life hung in the balance. But it was
-Northumberland who, as he had most to lose, had most to fear. The
-practical head of the State, and wielding a power little less than
-that of Somerset, he had amassed riches and offices to an amount
-bearing witness to his rapacity. In matters of religion he had been
-as strong, though less sincere, in his opposition to the Church
-claiming Mary’s allegiance as his predecessor. During the preceding
-autumn the iconoclastic work of destruction had been carried on
-in the metropolitan Cathedral; the choir, where the high altar had
-been accustomed to stand, had been broken down and the stone-work
-destroyed.[144] Gardiner and Bonner, who, as prominent sufferers for
-the Catholic cause, would have Mary’s ear, were in prison. For all
-this Northumberland, with the King’s Council as aiders and abettors,
-was responsible. Not a single claim could be advanced to the liking
-or toleration of the woman presently to become head of the State. If
-safety was to be ensured to the advisers of her brother, steps must
-be taken at once for that purpose. Northumberland and Suffolk set
-themselves to do so.
-
-It was on May 18 that Noailles and his colleagues had been at length
-permitted to pay their respects to the sick boy. On Whitsunday, the
-23rd--the date, though not altogether certain, is probable--three
-marriages were celebrated at Durham House, the London dwelling-place
-of the Duke of Northumberland. On that day the eldest daughter of the
-Duke of Suffolk became the wife of Lord Guilford Dudley, the Duke
-of Northumberland’s fourth and, some say, favourite son; her sister
-Katherine was bestowed upon Lord Herbert, the earl of Pembroke’s
-heir--to be repudiated by him the following year--and Lady Katherine
-Dudley, Northumberland’s daughter, was married to Lord Hastings.[144]
-
-The object of the threefold ceremony was clear. The main cause of
-it, and of the haste shown in carrying it through, was a dying boy,
-whose life was flickering out a few miles distant at Greenwich. It
-behoved his two most powerful subjects, Northumberland and Suffolk, to
-strengthen their position as speedily as might be, and by this means it
-was hoped to accomplish that object.
-
-The place chosen for the celebration of the weddings might have
-served--perhaps it did--to host and guests as a reminder of the perils
-of those who climbed too high. Durham House, appropriated in his
-days of prosperity by Somerset--to the indignation of Elizabeth, who
-laid claim to the property--had been forfeited to the Crown upon his
-attainder, and was the dwelling of his more fortunate rival; and, as
-if to drive the lesson further home, the very cloth of gold and silver
-lent from the royal coffers to deck the bridal party had been likewise
-drawn from the possessions of the ill-starred Duke. The dead furnished
-forth the festal array of the living.
-
-That day, with its splendid ceremonial--the marriages took place with
-much magnificence in the presence of a great assembly, including
-the principal personages of the realm--presents a grim and striking
-contrast to what was to follow. None were present, so far as we know,
-with the eyes of a seer, to discern the thin red ring foretelling the
-proximate fate of the girl who played the most prominent part in it,
-or to recognise in death the presiding genius of the pageant. Yet the
-destiny said in old days to dog the steps of those doomed to a violent
-death and to be present at their side from the cradle to the grave must
-have stood by many, besides the bride, who joined in the proceedings
-on that Whitsunday. Where would Northumberland be that day year? or
-Suffolk? or young Guilford Dudley? or, a little later, the Bishop who
-tied the knots?
-
-How Jane played her part we can only guess, or what she had thought
-of the arrangement, hurriedly concluded, by which her future was
-handed over to the keeping of her boy husband. Whether willing or
-unwilling, she had no choice but to obey, to accept the bridegroom
-chosen for her--a tall, handsome lad of seventeen or nineteen, it is
-not clear which--and to make the best of it. Rosso indeed, deriving his
-information from Michele, Venetian ambassador in London, and Bodoaro,
-Venetian ambassador to Charles V., states that after much resistance,
-urged by her mother and beaten by her father, she had consented to
-their wishes. It may have been true; and, standing at the altar, her
-thoughts may have wandered from the brilliant scene around her to the
-room at Greenwich, where the husband proposed for her in earlier days
-was dying. She might have been Edward’s wife, had he lived. She can
-scarcely have failed to have been aware of the hopes and designs of
-her father, of those of the dead Admiral, and of others; she had, in
-a measure, been brought up in the expectation of filling a throne.
-But the plan was forgotten now. Edward was to be the husband neither
-of Jane nor of that other cousin, not of royal blood, the daughter
-of his sometime Protector, whose father was dead and mother in the
-Tower; nor yet of the foreign bride, well stuffed and jewelled, of
-whom he had himself bragged. He was dying, like any other boy of no
-royal race, upon whose life no momentous issues hung. From his sick-bed
-he had taken a keen interest in what was going forward, appearing,
-says Heylyn, as forward in the marriages as if he had been one of the
-principals in the plot against him.[145] He might be fond of Jane,
-but even had he loved her--which there is nothing to show--he was too
-far within the shadow of the grave to feel any jealousy in seeing her
-handed over to another bridegroom.
-
-At the demeanour of the little victim of the Whitsun sacrifice we can
-but guess. Grave and serious we picture her, as it was her wont to
-be, with the steadfast face depicted by the painters of the day--far,
-in spite of Seymour’s boast, from being “as handsome as any lady in
-England,” but with a purity and simplicity, a stillness and repose,
-restful to those who looked into the quiet eyes and marked the
-tranquillity of the countenance. Did she, in her inward cogitations,
-divine that there was danger ahead? If so we can fancy she was ready
-to face it. Were it God’s will, then let it come. Peril was the
-anteroom, death the portal, of the eternal city--the heavenly Jerusalem
-in which she believed.
-
-Such was the image printed upon the time by the woman-child who
-was never to know maturity, as it lived in the tender and loving
-remembrance of her contemporaries, the delicately sculptured figure of
-a saint in the temples of the iconoclasts.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From an engraving by George Noble after a painting by Holbein.
-
-LADY JANE GREY.]
-
-By the country at large the sudden marriages were regarded with
-suspicion. “The noise of these marriages bred such amazement in the
-hearts of the common people, apt enough in themselves to speak the
-worst of Northumberland, that there was nothing left unsaid which might
-serve to show their hatred against him, or express their pity for the
-King.”[146] Overbearing and despotic, the merciless “bear of Warwick,”
-as he was nicknamed, was so detested that by some the failure of his
-scheme was afterwards ascribed rather to his unpopularity than to love
-for Mary. Yet it was Northumberland who, with the blindness born of
-a sanguine ambition, was to trust, six weeks later, to the populace
-to join with him in dispossessing the King’s sister, for whom they
-had always shown affection, and in placing his daughter-in-law and
-her boy-husband upon the throne. So glaring a misapprehension of the
-situation demands explanation, and it is partly supplied by a French
-appreciation of the Duke’s character. According to M. Griffet, he was
-more heedful to conceal his own sentiments than capable of discerning
-those of others; a man of ambition who neither knew whom to trust nor
-whom to suspect; who, blinded by presumption, was therefore easily
-deceived, and who nevertheless believed himself to possess to the
-highest degree the gift of deceiving all the world.[147] Such as he
-was, he had deceived himself to his undoing.
-
-Meantime Lady Jane’s marriage had made for the moment little change
-in her manner of life. She had answered the purpose for which she was
-required, and was permitted temporarily to retire behind the scenes.
-It is said--and there is nothing unlikely in the assertion--that,
-the ceremony over and obedience having been rendered to her parents’
-behest, she entreated that she might continue with her mother for
-the present. She and her new husband were so young, she pleaded. Her
-request was granted. She was Guilford Dudley’s wife, could be the wife
-of no other man, and that was, for the moment, sufficient.
-
-There was much to think of, much to do. Measures had to be taken to
-keep the King’s sisters at a distance, lest his old affection, for
-Elizabeth in particular, reawakening might frustrate the designs of
-those bent upon moulding events to their advantage. Above all, there
-was the pressing necessity of inducing the King to exclude them by
-will from their rightful heritage. On June 16 Noailles had again been
-conferring with the doctors, and had learnt that, in their opinion,
-Edward could not live till August. Ten days later Northumberland
-came from Greenwich to visit the envoy, and to prevent his going to
-Court. He then told the Frenchman that, nine days earlier, the King
-had executed his will in favour of the Duke’s daughter-in-law, Lady
-Jane[148]--“qui est vertueuse, sage, et belle,” reported the envoy to
-his master some three weeks later.[149]
-
-Of the manner in which the will had been obtained full information is
-available. It was not out of love for Northumberland that Edward had
-yielded to his representations. The Throckmorton MS.[150] asserts that
-Edward abhorred the Duke on account of his uncle’s death. Sir Nicholas
-Throckmorton, in attendance on the King, should be a good authority; on
-the other hand, he was opposed to the Duke’s designs. Whether or not
-the latter was personally distasteful to the boy, it was no difficult
-matter to represent the situation in a fashion to lead him to believe
-the sole alternative was the course suggested to him. Conscientious,
-pious, scrupulous to a fault, and worn by disease, the future of
-religion could be made to hang upon his fiat, and the thought of Mary,
-a devout Catholic, or even Elizabeth, who might marry a foreign prince,
-seated upon the throne, filled him with apprehensions for the welfare
-of a people for whom he felt himself responsible. Yet he, with little
-to love, had loved both his sisters, and the thought of the sick lad,
-torn between duty and affection, a tool in the hands of unprincipled
-and ambitious men who could play on his sensitive conscience and
-over-strained nerves at will, and turn his piety to their advantage, is
-a painful one.
-
-The Duke’s arguments lay ready to his hand. Religion was in danger, the
-Church set up by Edward in jeopardy; the work that he had done might be
-destroyed as soon as he was in his grave. How could he answer it before
-God were he, who was able to avert it, to permit so great an evil? The
-remedy was clear. Let him pass over his sisters, already pronounced
-severally illegitimate by unrepealed statutes of Parliament, and entail
-the crown upon those who, under his father’s will, would follow upon
-Mary and Elizabeth, the descendants of Mary Tudor, known to be firm in
-their attachment to the reformed faith.
-
-Edward yielded. Given the circumstances, the power exercised by the
-Duke over him, his physical condition, his fears for religion, he could
-scarcely have done less. With his own hand he drew up the draft of
-a will which, amended at Northumberland’s bidding, left the crown in
-unmistakable terms to Lady Jane and her heirs male. It had now to be
-made law and accepted by the Council.
-
-On June 11 Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
-Sir Thomas Bromley, another Justice of the same court, Sir Richard
-Baker, Chancellor of the Augmentations, and the Attorney- and
-Solicitor-General were called to Greenwich, and were introduced into
-the King’s apartment, Northampton, Gates, and others being present
-at the interview. If what took place on this occasion and at the
-other audiences of the legal officers with the King, as recorded by
-themselves, is naturally, as Dr. Lingard has pointed out, represented
-in such a manner as to extenuate their conduct in Mary’s eyes, there
-seems no reason to doubt that Montagu’s account is substantially
-true.[151]
-
-In his sickness, Edward told them, he had considered the state of the
-realm, and of the succession, should he die without leaving direct
-heirs; and, proceeding to point out the danger to religion and to
-liberty should his sister Mary succeed to the throne, he ordered them
-to “make a book with speed” of his articles.
-
-The lawyers demurred, but the King, feverishly eager to put an end
-to the business, and conscious perhaps that if the thing were not
-done quickly it might not be done at all, refused to listen to the
-objections they would have urged, dismissing them with orders to carry
-out his pleasure with haste. For all his gentleness and piety, Edward
-was a Tudor, and no less peremptory than others of his race.
-
-Two days later--it was June 14--having deliberated on the question, the
-men of law acquainted the Council with their decision. The thing could
-not be done. To make or execute the “devise” according to the King’s
-instructions would be treason. The report was made to Sir William
-Petre at Ely Place; but the Duke of Northumberland was at hand, and
-came thereupon into the Council-chamber, “being in a great rage and
-fury, trembling for anger, and, amongst all his ragious talk called
-Sir Edward Montagu traitor, and further said he would fight any man in
-his shirt in that quarrel.” It was plain that no technical or legal
-obstacles were to be permitted to turn him from his purpose.
-
-The following day the law-officers were again called to Greenwich.
-Conveyed in the first place to a chamber behind the dining-room, they
-met with a chilling reception. “All the lords looked upon them with
-earnest countenances, as though they had not known them;” and, brought
-into the King’s presence, Edward demanded, “with sharp words and angry
-countenance,” why his book was not made?
-
-Montagu, as spokesman for his colleagues, explained. Had the King’s
-device been executed it would become void at the King’s death, the
-Statute of Succession passed by Parliament being still in force. A
-statute could be altered by statute alone. On Edward’s replying that
-Parliament should then shortly be called together, Montagu caught at
-the solution. The matter could be referred to it, and all perils saved.
-But this was not the King’s meaning. The deed, he explained, was to be
-executed at once, and was to be afterwards ratified by Parliament. With
-growing excitement, he commanded the officers, “very sharply,” to do
-his bidding; some of the lords, standing behind the King, adding that,
-did they refuse, they were traitors.
-
-The epithet was freely bandied about in those days, yet it never failed
-to carry a menace; and Montagu, in as “great fear as ever he was in all
-his life before, seeing the King so earnest and sharp, and the Duke so
-angry the day before,” and being an “old weak man and without comfort,”
-began to look about for a method of satisfying King and Council without
-endangering his personal safety. In the end he gave way, consenting
-to prepare the required papers, on condition that he might first be
-given a commission under the great seal to draw up the instrument, and
-likewise a pardon for having done so. Northumberland had won the day.
-
-It was afterwards reported that when the will was signed a great
-tempest arose, with a whirlwind such as had never been seen, the
-sky dark and fearful, lightning and infinite thunder; one of the
-thunderbolts accompanying that terrible storm falling upon the
-miserable church where heresy was first begotten.... “This accident was
-observed by many persons of sense and prudence, and was considered a
-great sign of the avenging justice of God.”[152]
-
-The Council, undeterred by the manifestations of divine wrath, were
-not backward in endorsing the deed. Overborne by the Duke, probably
-also influenced by the apprehension of a compulsory restoration of
-Church spoils should Mary succeed, they unanimously acquiesced in the
-act of injustice. To a second paper, designed by the Duke to commit
-his colleagues further, twenty-four councillors and legal advisers
-set their hands. By June 21 the official instrument had received the
-signatures of the Lords of the Council, other peers, judges, and
-officers of the Crown, to the number of 101. The Princesses had been
-set aside, and the fatal heritage, so far as it was possible, secured
-to Lady Jane. The King, at the direction of her nearest of kin, had in
-effect affixed his signature to her death-sentence.
-
-When Northumberland was assured of success he gave a magnificent
-musical entertainment, to which the French ambassador was bidden. Three
-days earlier it had been reported to Noailles that Edward was at the
-point of death, and he was surprised at the merry-making and the good
-spirits prevalent. The affair, it was explained to him, was in honour
-of the convalescence of the King, who had been without fever for two
-days, and whose recovery appeared certain.[153] The envoy doubtless
-expressed no incredulity, and congratulated the company upon the good
-tidings. He knew that Edward was moribund, and understood that the
-rejoicings were in truth to celebrate the approaching elevation to the
-throne of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law.
-
-Was she present? We cannot tell; but it was the Duke’s policy to make
-her a prominent figure, and Noailles’ description of her beauty and
-goodness implies a personal acquaintance.
-
-It only remained for Edward to die. All those around him, with perhaps
-some few exceptions amongst his personal attendants, were eagerly
-awaiting the end. All had been accomplished that was possible whilst
-he was yet alive, and Northumberland and his friends were probably
-impatient to be up and doing. His sisters were at a distance, his
-uncles dead, Barnaby Fitzpatrick was abroad, and he was practically
-alone with the men who had made him their tool. The last scene is full
-of pathos. Three hours before the end, lying with his eyes shut, he was
-heard praying for the country which had been his charge.
-
-“‘O God,’ he entreated, ‘deliver me out of this miserable and wretched
-life, and take me among Thy chosen; howbeit not my will, but Thine, be
-done. Lord, I commend my spirit to Thee. O Lord, Thou knowest how happy
-it were for me to be with Thee. Yet, for Thy chosen’s sake, send me
-life and health, that I may truly serve Thee. O my Lord God, bless Thy
-people and save Thine inheritance. O Lord God, save Thy chosen people
-of England. O Lord God, defend this realm from Papistry and maintain
-Thy true religion, that I and my people may praise Thy holy Name, for
-Jesus Christ His sake.’
-
-“Then turned he his face, and seeing who was by him, said to them:
-
-“‘Are ye so nigh? I thought ye had been further off.’
-
-“Then Doctor Owen said:
-
-“‘We heard you speak to yourself, but what you said we know not.’
-
-“He then (after his fashion, smilingly) said, ‘I was praying to
-God.’”[154]
-
-The end was near.
-
-“I am faint,” he said. “Lord, have mercy upon me, and take my spirit”;
-and so on July 7, towards night, he passed away. On the following day
-Noailles communicated to his Court “le triste et piteux inconvénient de
-la mort” of Edward VI., last of the Tudor Kings.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-1553
-
- After King Edward’s death--Results to Lady Jane
- Grey--Northumberland’s schemes--Mary’s escape--Scene at Sion
- House--Lady Jane brought to the Tower--Quarrel with her
- husband--Her proclamation as Queen.
-
-
-A boy was dead. A frail little life, long failing, had gone out. That
-was all. Nevertheless upon it had hung the destinies of England.
-
-Speculations and forecasts as to the consequences had Edward lived
-are unprofitable. Yet one wonders what, grown to manhood, he would
-have become--whether the gentle lad, pious, studious, religious, the
-modern Josiah, as he was often called, would have developed, as he
-grew to maturity, the dangerous characteristics of his Tudor race, the
-fierceness and violence of his father, the melancholy and relentless
-fanaticism of Mary, the absence of principle and sensuality of
-Elizabeth. Or would he have fulfilled the many hopes which had found
-their centre in him and have justified the love of his subjects, given
-him upon credit?
-
-It is impossible to say. What was certain was that his part was played
-out, and that others were to take his place. Amongst these his little
-cousin Jane was at once the most innocent and the most unfortunate.
-
-Hitherto she had looked on as a spectator at life. Her skiff moored in
-a creek of the great river, she had watched from a place of comparative
-calm the stream as it rushed by. Here and there a wave might make
-itself felt even in that quiet place; a wreck might be carried past,
-or she might catch the drowning cry of a swimmer as he sank. But
-to the young such things are accidents from participation in which
-they tacitly consider themselves exempted, regarding them with the
-fearlessness due to inexperience. Suddenly all was to be changed. Torn
-from her anchorage, she was to be violently borne along by the torrent
-towards the inevitable catastrophe.
-
-As yet she was ignorant of the destiny prepared for her. Under her
-father’s roof, she had pursued her customary occupations, and by some
-authorities her third extant letter to Bullinger--another tribute
-of admiration and flattery, and containing no allusion to current
-events--is believed to belong to the interval occurring between her
-marriage and the King’s death. The allusion to herself as an “untaught
-virgin,” and the signature “Jane Grey,” seem to give it a date earlier
-in the year. The time was fast approaching when leisure for literary
-exercises of the kind would be lacking.
-
-It would have been difficult to trace her movements precisely at
-this juncture were it not that she has left a record of them in
-a document--either directly addressed to Mary from her prison or
-intended for her eyes--in which she demonstrated her innocence.[155]
-Notwithstanding the promise made by the Duchess of Northumberland
-at her marriage that she should be permitted to remain at home, she
-appears to have been by this time living with her husband’s parents,
-and, upon Edward’s death becoming imminent, she was informed of the
-fact by her father-in-law, who forbade her to leave his house; adding
-the startling announcement that, when it should please God to call the
-King to His mercy, she would at once repair to the Tower, her cousin
-having nominated her heir to the throne.
-
-The news found her totally unprepared; and, shocked and partly
-incredulous, she refused obedience to the Duke’s commands, continuing
-to visit her mother daily, in spite of the indignation of the Duchess
-of Northumberland, who “grew wroth with me and with her, saying that
-she was determined to keep me in her house; that she would likewise
-keep my husband there, to whom I should go later in any case, and that
-she would be under small obligation to me. Therefore it did not seem
-to me lawful to disobey her, and for three or four days I stayed
-in her house, until I obtained permission to resort to the Duke of
-Northumberland’s palace at Chelsea.” At this place--the reason of her
-preference for it is not given--she continued, sick and anxious, until
-a summons reached her to go to Sion House, there to receive a message
-from the King. It was Lady Sydney, a married daughter of the Duke’s,
-who brought the order, saying, “with more gravity than usual,” that it
-was necessary that her sister-in-law should obey it; and Lady Jane did
-not refuse to do so.
-
-Sion House, where the opening scene of the drama took place, was
-another of the possessions of the Duke of Somerset, passed into the
-hands of his rival. A monastery, founded by Henry V. at Isleworth, it
-had been seized, with other Church property, in 1539, and had served
-two years later as prison to the unhappy child, Katherine Howard. The
-place had been acquired by Somerset in the days of his power, when the
-building of the great house, which was to replace the convent, was
-begun. The gardens were enclosed by high walls, a triangular terrace in
-one of their angles alone allowing the inmates to obtain a view of the
-country beyond.[156] In 1552 it had, with most of the late Protector’s
-goods and chattels, been confiscated, and during the following year,
-the year of the King’s death, had been granted to Northumberland. It
-was to this place that Lady Jane was taken to receive the message said
-to be awaiting her from the King.
-
-Her destination reached, Sion House was found empty; but it was not
-long before those who were pulling the strings arrived. The message
-from the King had been a fiction. Edward’s gentle spirit was at rest,
-and he himself forgotten in the rush of events. There was little time
-for thought of the dead. The interests of religion and of the State, as
-some would call it, the ambition of unscrupulous and unprincipled men,
-as it would be named by others, demanded the whole attention of the
-steersmen who stood, for the moment, at the helm.
-
-It had been decided to keep the fact of the King’s death secret until
-measures should have been taken to ensure the success of the desperate
-game they were playing. To secure possession of the person of his
-natural successor was of the first importance; and a letter had been
-despatched to Mary when her brother was manifestly at the point of
-death which it was hoped would avail to bring her to London and would
-enable her enemies to fulfil their purpose. Stating that the King was
-very ill, she was entreated to come to him, as he earnestly desired the
-comfort of her presence.
-
-Mary must have been well aware of the risk she would run in responding
-to the appeal; and it says much for her courage and her affection
-that she did not hesitate to incur it. A fortunate chance, however,
-frustrated the designs against her. Starting from Hunsdon, where
-the tidings had found her, she had reached Hoddesden on her way to
-Greenwich, when she was met by intelligence that determined her to go
-no further. The King was dead; nor was it difficult to discern in the
-urgent summons, sent too late to accomplish its ostensible purpose, a
-transparent attempt to induce her to place herself in the power of her
-enemies.
-
-Opinions have differed as to the means by which Northumberland’s scheme
-was frustrated. Some say that the news was conveyed to the Princess by
-the Earl of Arundel. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton also claims credit for
-the warning. According to this account of the matter, a young brother
-of his, in attendance upon Northumberland, had become cognisant of the
-intended treachery, and had come post-haste to report what was a-foot
-at his father’s house. A few words spoken by Sir John Gates, visiting
-the Duke before he had risen, were all that had reached the young man’s
-ears, but those words had been of startling significance, the state of
-affairs being what it was.
-
-“What, sir,” he had heard Gates say, “will you let the Lady Mary
-escape, and not secure her person?”
-
-A consultation was hurriedly held at Throckmorton House, between the
-father and his three sons. Sir Nicholas, who had been present at the
-King’s death, was too well aware of the circumstances to minimise the
-importance of his brother’s story, and, summoning the Princess Mary’s
-goldsmith, it was decided to entrust him with the duty of conveying
-a caution to his mistress, and stopping her journey. Sir Nicholas’s
-metrical version of what followed may be given.[157]
-
- Mourning, from Greenwich did I straight depart,
- To London, to a house which bore our name.
- My brethren guessèd by my heavie hearte,
- The King was dead, and I confess’d the same:
- The hushing of his death I didd unfolde,
- Their meaning to proclaime Queene Jane I tolde.
-
- * * * * *
-
- Wherefore from four of us the newes was sent
- How that her brother hee was dead and gone;
- In post her goldsmith then from London went,
- By whom the message was dispatcht anon.
- Shee asked, “If wee knewe it certainlie?”
- Who said, “Sir Nicholas knew it verilie.”
-
-The first stroke hazarded by the conspirators had resulted in failure.
-Mary, after some deliberation, turned her face northwards, and escaped
-the snare laid for her by her enemies.
-
-The next object of Northumberland and his friends was to obtain the
-concurrence of the City to the substitution of his daughter-in-law
-for the rightful heir. Various as were the views of the best means of
-ensuring success, all the Council were agreed on one point, namely,
-“that London was the hand which must reach Jane the crown.”[158] London
-was to be made to do it. On July 8 the Lord Mayor, with six aldermen,
-six “merchants of the staple, and as many merchant adventurers,” were
-summoned to Greenwich, were there secretly informed of the King’s
-death, and of his will by letters patent, “to which they were sworn and
-charged to keep it secret.”
-
-All this had been done before Lady Jane was summoned to Sion House. It
-was time for the stage Queen to make her appearance, and at Sion the
-facts were made known to her.[159]
-
-Of her reception of the great news accounts vary. A graphic picture,
-painted in the first place by Heylyn, has been copied by divers other
-historians. The learned John Nichols, unable to trace it in any
-contemporary documents or records, has decided that it must be classed
-amongst “those dramatic scenes in which historical writers formerly
-considered themselves justified in indulging.”[160]
-
-He is probably right; yet an early and generally accepted tradition
-has a value of its own, and may be true to the spirit, if not to the
-letter, of what actually occurred. Mary herself afterwards told the
-envoy of Charles V. that she believed her cousin to have had no part in
-the Duke of Northumberland’s enterprise; and, supposing her to have
-been ignorant, or only dimly cognisant, of the plot, the revelation
-of it may easily have occasioned her a shock. It has been constantly
-asserted that, in this first interview with those who, calling
-themselves her subjects, were practically the masters of her fate, she
-began by declining to be a party to their scheme; and if her letter,
-written at a later date, from the Tower to Mary, does not wholly
-confirm the assertion, it points to an attitude of reluctant assent.
-Her mother-in-law had given her hints of what was intended, but, like
-the announcement made by the Duke at Durham House of her approaching
-greatness, they were too incredible to be taken seriously; and the
-fact that when she was joined at Sion by the Dukes of Northumberland
-and Suffolk they did not at once make the matter plain, but confined
-the conversation for a time to indifferent subjects, seems to indicate
-a doubt upon their part of her pliability. There was, nevertheless,
-a change in their demeanour and bearing giving rise in her mind to
-an uneasy consciousness of a mystery she had not fathomed; whilst
-Huntingdon and Pembroke, who were present, treated her with even more
-incomprehensible reverence, and went so far as to bow the knee.
-
-On the arrival of her mother, together with the Duchess of
-Northumberland, the explanation of the riddle took place. The tidings
-of the King’s death and of her exaltation was broken to her, together
-with the reasons prompting Edward to set aside his sisters in her
-favour. The nobles fell upon their knees, took her formally for their
-Queen, and swore--it was shortly to be proved how little the oath was
-worth--to shed their blood in defence of her rights.
-
-“Having heard which things,” pursues Lady Jane in her apology, “with
-infinite grief of spirit, I call to witness those lords who were
-present that I was so stunned and stupefied that, overcome by sudden
-and unexpected sorrow, they saw me fall to the ground, weeping very
-bitterly. And afterwards, declaring to them my insufficiency, I
-lamented much the death of so noble a prince; and at the same time
-turned to God, humbly praying and beseeching Him that, if what was
-given me was in truth and legitimately mine, He would grant me grace
-and power to govern to His glory and service, and for the good of this
-realm.”[161]
-
-There is, as Dr. Lingard points out, nothing unnatural in this
-description of what had occurred; whereas the grandiloquent language
-attributed to her by some historians is most unlikely to have been
-used at a moment both of grief and excitement. According to these
-authorities, not only did she defend Mary’s right, and denounce
-those who had conspired against it, but delivered a lengthy oration
-upon the fickleness of fortune. “If she enrich any, it is but to make
-them the subject of her sport; if she raise others, it is but to
-pleasure herself with their ruins. What she adored yesterday, to-day
-is her pastime. And if I now permit her to adorn and crown me, I must
-to-morrow suffer her to crush and tear me to pieces”--proceeding to
-cite Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn as examples of those who had,
-to their own undoing, worn a crown. “If you love me sincerely and in
-good earnest,” she is made to say, “you will rather wish me a secure
-and quiet fortune, though mean, than an exalted condition exposed to
-the wind, and followed by some dismal fall.”
-
-Poor little plaything of the fortune she is represented as
-anathematising, the designs of those who were striving to exalt her
-were due to nothing less than a sincere love. Any other puppet would
-have answered their purpose equally well, so that the excuse of royal
-blood was in her veins. But Jane, willing or unwilling, was to be made
-use of for their ends, and it was vain for her to protest.
-
-On the following day, July 10, the Queen-designate was brought,
-following the ancient custom of Kings on their accession, to the
-Tower; reaching it at three o’clock, to be received at the gate by
-Northumberland, and formally presented with the keys in the presence of
-a great crowd who looked on at the proceedings in sinister silence and
-gave no sign of rejoicing or cordiality.
-
-Shortly after, the Marquis of Winchester, in his capacity of Treasurer,
-brought the crown jewels, with the crown itself, “asking me,” wrote
-Jane, “to put it on my head, to try whether it fitted me or not. Who
-knows well that, with many excuses, I refused. He not the less insisted
-that I should boldly take it, and that another should be made that my
-husband might be crowned with me, which I certainly heard unwillingly,
-and with infinite grief and displeasure.”[162]
-
-The idea that young Guilford Dudley, with no royal blood to make his
-claim colourable, was intended to share her dignity appears to have
-roused his wife, somewhat strangely, to hot indignation. She at least
-was a Tudor on her mother’s side; but what was Dudley, that he should
-aspire so high? Had she loved her boy-husband she might have taken a
-different view of his pretensions; but there is nothing to show that
-she regarded him with any special affection, and she was disposed to
-use her authority after a fashion neither he nor his father would
-tolerate.
-
-At first Guilford, taken by surprise, appeared inclined to yield the
-point, and in a conversation between the two, when Winchester had
-withdrawn, he agreed that, were he to be made King, it should be only
-by Act of Parliament. Thereupon, losing no time in setting the matter
-on a right footing, Jane sent for the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke,
-and informed them that, if she were to be Queen, she would be willing
-to make her husband Duke; “but to make him King I would not consent.”
-
-Though Arundel and Pembroke were probably quite at one with her on
-the question, that she should show signs of exercising an independent
-judgment was naturally exasperating to those to whom it was due that
-she was placed in her present position; and when the Duchess of
-Northumberland became aware of what was going forward she not only
-treated Lady Jane, according to her own account, very ill, but stirred
-up Guilford to do the like; the boy, primed by his mother, declaring
-that he would in no wise be Duke, but King, and, holding sulkily aloof
-from his wife that night, so that she was compelled, “as a woman,
-and loving my husband,” to send the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke to
-bring him to her, otherwise he would have left in the morning, at his
-mother’s bidding, for Sion. “Thus,” ends the poor child, “I was in
-truth deceived by the Duke and Council, and badly treated by my husband
-and his mother.”
-
-The discussion was premature. Boy and girl were all too soon to learn
-that it was not to be a question of crowns for either so much as of
-heads to wear them. Whilst the wrangle had been carried on in the
-Tower, the first step had been taken towards bringing the disputants to
-the scaffold. The death of the King had been made public, together with
-the provisions of his will, and Jane had been proclaimed Queen in two
-or three parts of the City.
-
-“The tenth day of the same month,” runs the entry in the _Grey Friar’s
-Chronicle_, “after seven o’clock at night, was made a proclamation
-in Cheap by three heralds and one trumpet ... for Jane, the Duke of
-Suffolk’s daughter, to be Queen of England. But few or none said ‘God
-save her.’”
-
-There was a singular unanimity upon the subject amongst the citizens
-of London. It is said that upon the faces of the heralds forced to
-proclaim the new Queen their discontent was visible;[163] and a curious
-French letter sent from London at the time states, after mentioning the
-absence of any acclamation upon the part of the people, that a moment
-afterwards they had broken out into lamentation, clamour, tears, sighs,
-sadness, and desolation impossible to describe.
-
-Thus inauspiciously was Lady Jane’s nine days’ reign inaugurated. On
-a great catafalque in Westminster Abbey the dead boy-King was lying,
-guarded day and night by twelve watchers until he should be given
-sepulture. But there was little leisure to attend to his obsequies on
-the part of the men who had made him their tool, and had staked their
-lives and fortunes upon the success of their plot. For the present
-all had gone according to their hopes. “Through the pious intents
-of Edward, the religion of Mary, the ambition of Northumberland,
-the simplicity of Suffolk, the fearfulness of the judges, and the
-flattery of the courtiers”--thus Fuller sums up the causes to which the
-situation was due--“matters were made as sure as man’s policy can make
-that good which in itself is bad.” It was quickly to be seen to what
-that security amounted.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII
-
-1553
-
- Lady Jane as Queen--Mary asserts her claims--The English envoys at
- Brussels--Mary’s popularity--Northumberland leaves London--His
- farewells.
-
-
-To enter in any degree into the position of “Jane the Queen” during
-the brief period when she was the nominal head of the State, the time
-in which she lived, as well as the prevalent conception of royalty in
-England, must be taken into the reckoning.
-
-In our own days she would not only have been a mere cipher--as indeed
-she was--but would have been content to remain such, so far as actual
-power was concerned. Royalty, stripped of its reality, is largely
-become a mere matter of show, a part of the pageant of State. In the
-case of a child of sixteen it would wear that character alone. But in
-the days of the Tudors a King was accustomed to govern; even in the
-hands of a minor a sceptre was not a mere symbolic ornament.
-
-And Lady Jane was precisely the person to take a serious view of her
-duties. Thoughtful, conscientious, and grave beyond her years, she had
-no sooner found herself a Queen than she had asserted her authority in
-opposition to that of the man who had invested her with the dignity by
-announcing her intention of refusing to allow it to be shared by his
-son--already, it appears by letters from Brussels, recognised there as
-Prince Consort--and shut up in the gloomy fortress to which she had
-been taken she was occupied with the thought of her duty to the kingdom
-she believed herself to be called to rule over, of the necessity of
-providing for the wants of the nation, and more especially for the
-future of religion. Whilst, perhaps, all the time there lingered in
-her mind a misgiving, lifting its head to confront her from time to
-time with a paralysing doubt, torturing to a sensitive and scrupulous
-nature; was she indeed the rightful Queen of England?
-
-Mary had lost no time in asserting her claims. On July 9--the day
-before that of Jane’s proclamation--she had written a letter to the
-Council from Kenninghall in Norfolk, expressing her astonishment
-that they had neither communicated to her the fact of her brother’s
-death, nor had caused her to be proclaimed Queen, and requiring them
-to perform this last duty without delay. The rebuke reaching London
-on the morning of January 11 “seemed to give their Lordships no other
-trouble than the returning of an answer,”[164] which they did in terms
-of studied insult, reminding her of her alleged illegitimacy, and
-exhorting her to submit to her lawful sovereign, Queen Jane, else she
-should prove grievous unto them and unto herself. This unconciliatory
-document received the signature of every one of the Council, including
-Cecil, who was afterwards at much pains to explain his concurrence in
-the proceedings of his colleagues; and Northumberland, as he despatched
-it, must have felt with satisfaction that it would be difficult for
-those responsible for the missive to make their peace with the woman to
-whom it was addressed.
-
-The terms in which the defiance was couched show the little importance
-attached to the chances that Henry VIII.’s eldest daughter would ever
-be in a position to vindicate her rights. Once again her enemies had
-failed to take into account the stubborn justice of the people. Though
-by many of them Mary’s religion was feared and disliked, they viewed
-with sullen disapproval the conspiracy to rob her of her heritage. And
-Northumberland they hated.
-
-The sinister rumours current during the last few years were still
-afloat; justified, as it seemed, by the course of recent events. It
-was said that the Duke had incited Somerset to put his brother to
-death, and had then slain Somerset, in order that, bereft of his
-nearest of kin, the young King might the more easily become his
-victim. The reports of foul play were repeated, and it was said that
-Edward had been removed by poison to make way for Northumberland’s
-daughter-in-law. That he had not come by his death by fair means was
-indeed so generally believed that the Emperor, writing to Mary when she
-had defeated her enemies, counselled her to punish all those that had
-been concerned in it.[165]
-
-The charge of poisoning was not so uncommon as to make it strange
-that it should be thought to have been instrumental in removing an
-obstacle from the path of an ambitious man. In Lady Jane’s pitiful
-letter to her cousin she stated--doubtless in good faith--that poison
-had twice been administered to her, once in the house of the Duchess
-of Northumberland--when the motive would have been hard to find--and
-again in the Tower, “as I have certain evidence.” What the poor child
-honestly believed had been attempted in her case, the angry people
-imagined had been successfully accomplished in the case of their young
-King, and his death was another item laid to the charge of the man they
-hated.
-
-The news of what was going forward in England had by this time become
-known abroad. Though letters had been addressed by the Council to
-Sir Philip Hoby and Sir Richard Morysine, ambassadors at Brussels,
-announcing the King’s death and his cousin’s accession, the tidings
-had reached them unofficially before the arrival of the despatches from
-London. As the envoys were walking in the garden, they were joined by a
-servant of the Emperor’s, Don Diego by name, who, making profession of
-personal good will towards their country, expressed his regret at its
-present loss, adding at the same time his congratulations that so noble
-a King--meaning, it would seem, Guilford Dudley--had been provided for
-them, a King he would himself be at all times ready to serve.
-
-The envoys replied that the sorrowful news had reached them, but not
-the joyous--that they were glad to hear so much from him. Don Diego
-thereupon proceeded to impart the further fact of Edward’s will in
-favour of Lady Jane. With the question whether the two daughters of
-Henry VIII. were bastards or not, strangers, he observed, had nothing
-to do. It was reasonable to accept as King him who had been declared
-such by the nobles of the land; and Diego, for his part, was bound to
-rejoice that His Majesty had been set in this office, since he was his
-godfather, and--so long as the Emperor was in amity with him--would be
-willing to shed his blood in his service.[166]
-
-This last personal detail probably contained the explanation of Don
-Diego’s approbation of an arrangement which could scarcely be expected
-to commend itself to his master, and likewise of the curiously
-subordinate part awarded to Lady Jane in his account of it. But
-whatever might be the opinion of foreigners, it had quickly been made
-plain in England that the country would not be content to accept either
-the sovereignty of Jane or of her husband without a struggle.
-
-Of the temper of the capital a letter or libel scattered abroad,
-after the fashion of the day, during the week, is an example. In this
-document, addressed by a certain “poor Pratte” to a young man who had
-been placed in the pillory and had lost his ears in consequence of his
-advocacy of Mary’s rights, love for the lawful Queen, and hatred of
-the “ragged bear,” Northumberland, is expressed in every line. Should
-England prove disloyal, misfortune will overtake it as a chastisement
-for its sin; the Gospel will be plucked away and the Lady Mary replaced
-by so cruel a Pharaoh as the ragged bear. Her Grace--in marked contrast
-to the sentiments commonly attributed to the Duke--is doubtless more
-sorrowful for her brother than glad to be Queen, and would have been as
-glad of his life as the ragged bear of his death. In conclusion, the
-writer trusts that God will shortly exalt Mary, “and pluck down that
-Jane--I cannot nominate her Queen, for that I know no other Queen but
-the good Lady Mary, her Grace, whom God prosper.” To those who would
-Mary to be Queen poor Pratte wishes long life and pleasure; to her
-opponents, the pains of Satan in hell.[167]
-
-Such was the delirious spirit of loyalty towards the dispossessed
-heir, even amongst those who owed no allegiance to Rome. It was not
-long before the Council were to be taught by more forcible means than
-scurrilous abuse to correct their estimate of the situation and of the
-forces at work, strangely misapprehended at the first by one and all.
-
-News was reaching London of the support tendered to Mary. The Earls of
-Sussex and of Bath had declared in her favour; the county of Suffolk
-had led the way in rising on her behalf; nobles and gentlemen, with
-their retainers, were flocking to her standard; it was becoming clearer
-with every hour that she would not consent to be ousted from her rights
-without a fierce struggle.
-
-Measures for meeting the resistance of her adherents had to be taken
-without delay; and Northumberland, wisely unwilling to absent himself
-from the capital at a juncture so critical, had intended to depute
-Suffolk to command the forces to be led against her; to gain, if
-possible, possession of her person, and to bring her to London. This
-was the arrangement hastily made on July 12. Before nightfall it had
-been cancelled at the entreaty of the titular Queen.
-
-It is not difficult to enter into the Lady Jane’s feelings, threatened
-with the absence of her father on a dangerous errand. With her nervous
-fears of poison, her evident dislike of her mother-in-law, and ill
-at ease in new circumstances and surroundings, she may well have
-clung to the comfort and support afforded by his presence; nor is it
-incomprehensible that she had “taken the matter heavily” when informed
-of the decision of the Council. Her wishes might have had little effect
-if other causes had not conspired to assist her to gain her object, and
-it has been suggested that those of the lords already contemplating the
-possibility of Mary’s success, and desirous of being freed from the
-restraint imposed by Northumberland’s presence amongst them, may have
-had a hand in instigating her request, proffered with tears, that her
-father might tarry at home in her company. The entreaty was, at all
-events, in full accordance with their desires, and pressure was brought
-upon Northumberland to induce him to yield to her petition--leaving
-Suffolk in his place at the Tower, and himself leading the troops north.
-
-Many reasons were urged rendering it advisable that the Duke should
-take the field in person. He had been the victor in the struggle with
-Kett, of which Norfolk had been the scene, and enjoyed, in consequence,
-a great reputation in that county, where it seemed that the fight
-with Mary and her adherents was to take place. He was, moreover, an
-able soldier; Suffolk was not. On the other hand, it was impossible
-for Northumberland to adduce the true motives prompting his desire to
-continue at headquarters; since chief amongst them was the wisdom and
-prudence of remaining at hand to maintain his personal influence over
-his colleagues and to keep them true to the oaths they had sworn. In
-the end he consented to bow to their wishes.
-
-“Since ye think it good,” he said, “I and mine will go, not doubting of
-your fidelity to the Queen’s Majesty, which I leave in your custody.”
-
-More than the Queen’s Majesty was left to their care. The safety, if
-not the life, of the man chiefly responsible for the conspiracy which
-had made her what she was, hung upon their loyalty to their vows, and
-Northumberland must have known it. But Lady Jane was to have her way,
-and the Council, waiting upon her, brought the welcome news to the
-Queen, who humbly thanked the Duke for reserving her father at home,
-and besought him--she was already learning royal fashions--to use his
-diligence. To this Northumberland, surely not without an inward smile,
-answered that he would do what in him lay, and the matter was concluded.
-
-At Durham House, next day, the Duke’s retinue assembled.[168] In the
-forenoon he met the Council, taking leave of them in friendly sort,
-yet with words betraying his misgivings in the very terms used to
-convey the assurance of his confidence in their good faith and fidelity.
-
-He and the other nobles who were to be his companions went forth, he
-told the men left behind, as much to assure their safety as that of the
-Queen herself. Whilst he and his comrades were to risk their lives in
-the field, their preservation at home, with the preservation of their
-children and families, was committed to those who stayed in London. And
-then he spoke some weighty words, the doubts and forebodings within him
-finding vent:
-
-“If we thought ye would through malice, conspiracy, or dissension,
-leave us your friends in the briars and betray us, we could as well
-sundry ways forsee and provide for our own safeguards as any of you,
-by betraying us, can do for yours. But now, upon the only trust and
-faithfulness of your honours, whereof we think ourselves most assured,
-we do hazard and jubarde [jeopardize] our lives, which trust and
-promise if ye shall violate, hoping thereby of life and promotion, yet
-shall not God count you innocent of our bloods, neither acquit you
-of the sacred and holy oath of allegiance made freely by you to this
-virtuous lady, the Queen’s Highness, who by your and our enticement is
-rather of force placed therein than by her own seeking and request.”
-Commending to their consideration the interests of religion, he again
-reiterated his warning. “If ye mean deceit, though not forthwith,
-yet hereafter, God will revenge the same,” ending by assuring his
-colleagues that his words had not been caused by distrust, but that he
-had spoken them as a reminder of the chances of variance which might
-grow in his absence.
-
-One of the Council--the narrator does not give his name--took upon him
-to reply for the rest.
-
-“My Lord,” he answered, “if ye mistrust any of us in this matter
-your Grace is far deceived. For which of us can wipe his hands clean
-thereof? And if we should shrink from you as one that is culpable,
-which of us can excuse himself as guiltless? Therefore herein your
-doubt is too far cast.”
-
-It was characteristic of times and men that, far from resenting the
-suspicion of unfaith, the sole ground upon which the Duke was asked to
-base a confidence in the fidelity of his colleagues was that it would
-not be to their interest to betray him.
-
-“I pray God it may be so,” he answered. “Let us go to dinner.”
-
-After dinner came an interview with Jane, who bade farewell to the Duke
-and to the lords who were to accompany him on his mission. Everywhere
-we are confronted by the same heavy atmosphere of impending treachery.
-As the chief conspirator passed through the Council-chamber Arundel
-met him--Arundel, who was to be one of the first to leave the sinking
-ship, and who may already have been looking for a loophole of escape
-from a perilous situation. Yet he now prayed God be with his Grace,
-saying he was very sorry it was not his chance to go with him and bear
-him company, in whose presence he could find it in his heart to shed
-his blood, even at his foot.
-
-The words, with their gratuitous and unsolicited asseveration of loyal
-friendship, must have been remembered by both when the two met again.
-It is nevertheless possible that, moved and affected, the Earl was
-sincere at the moment in his protestations.
-
-“Farewell, gentle Thomas,” he added to the Duke’s “boy,” Thomas Lovell,
-taking him by the hand, “Farewell, gentle Thomas, with all my heart.”
-
-The next day Northumberland took his departure from the capital. As
-he rode through the city, with some six hundred followers, the same
-ominous silence that had greeted the proclamation of Lady Jane was
-preserved by the throng gathered together to see her father-in-law
-pass. The Duke noticed it.
-
-“The people press to see us,” he observed gloomily, “but not one sayeth
-God speed us.”
-
-When next Northumberland and the London crowd were face to face it was
-under changed circumstances.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII
-
-1553
-
- Turn of the tide--Reaction in Mary’s favour in the Council--Suffolk
- yields--Mary proclaimed in London--Lady Jane’s deposition--She
- returns to Sion House.
-
-
-Northumberland was gone. The weight of his dominant influence was
-removed, and many of his colleagues must have breathed more freely.
-In the Tower Lady Jane, with those of the Council left in London,
-continued to watch and wait the course of events. It must have been
-recognised that the future was dark and uncertain; and whilst the lords
-and nobles looked about for a way of escape should affairs go ill
-with the new government, the boy and girl arbitrarily linked together
-may have been drawn closer by the growing sense of a common danger.
-Guilford Dudley did not share his father’s unpopularity. Young and
-handsome, he is said to have been endowed with virtues calling forth an
-unusual amount of pity for his premature end,[169] and Heylyn declared
-that of all Dudley’s brood he had nothing of his father in him.[170]
-“He was,” says Fuller, adding his testimony, “a goodly and (for aught
-I find to the contrary) a godly gentleman, whose worst fault was that
-he was son to an ambitious father.”[171] The flash of boyish ambition
-he had evinced in his determination to be content with nothing less
-than kingship must have been soon extinguished by the consciousness
-that life itself was at stake.
-
-For quicker and quicker came tidings of fresh triumphs for Mary, each
-one striking at the hopes of her rival’s partisans. News was brought
-that Mary had been proclaimed Queen first in Buckinghamshire; next at
-Norwich. Her forces were gathering strength, her adherents gaining
-courage. Again, six vessels placed at Yarmouth to intercept her flight,
-should she attempt it, were won over to her side, their captains, with
-men and ordnance, making submission; whereat “the Lady Mary”--from
-whose mind nothing had been further than flight--“and her company were
-wonderful joyous.”
-
-This last blow hit the party acknowledging Jane as Queen hard; nor were
-its effects long in becoming visible. In the Tower “each man began to
-pluck in his horns,” and to cast about for a manner of dissevering his
-private fortunes from a cause manifestly doomed to disaster. Pembroke,
-who in May had associated himself with Northumberland by marrying
-his son to Katherine Grey, was one of the foremost in considering
-the possibility of quitting the Tower, so that he might hold
-consultation with those without; but as yet he had not devised a means
-of accomplishing his purpose. Each day brought its developments within
-the walls of the fortress, and beyond them. On the Sunday night--not
-a week after the crown had been fitted on Jane’s head--when the Lord
-Treasurer, then officiously desirous of adding a second for her
-husband, was leaving the building in order to repair to his own house,
-the gates were suddenly shut and the keys carried up to the mistress of
-the Tower. What was the reason? No one knew, but it was whispered that
-a seal had been found missing. Others said that she had feared some
-packinge [_sic_] in the Treasurer. The days were coming when it would
-be in no one’s power to keep the Lords of the Council at their post
-under lock and key.
-
-That Sunday morning--it was July 16--Ridley had preached at Paul’s
-Cross before the Mayor, Aldermen, and people, pleading Lady Jane’s
-cause with all the eloquence at his command. Let his hearers, he said,
-contrast her piety and gentleness with the haughtiness and papistry
-of her rival. And he told the story of his visit to Hunsdon, of his
-attempt to convince Mary of her errors, and of its failure, conjuring
-all who heard him to maintain the cause of Queen Jane and of the
-Gospel. But his exhortations fell on deaf ears.
-
-And still one messenger of ill tidings followed hard upon the heels of
-another. Cecil, with his natural aptitude for intrigue, was engaging
-in secret deliberations with members of the Council inclined to be
-favourable to Mary, finding in especial the Lord Treasurer, Winchester,
-the Earl of Arundel, and Lord Darcy, willing listeners, “whereof I
-did immediately tell Mr. Petre”--the other Secretary--“for both our
-comfort.”[172] Presently a pretext was invented to cover the escape
-of the lords from the Tower. It was said that Northumberland had sent
-for auxiliaries, and that it was necessary to hold a consultation with
-the foreign ambassadors as to the employment of mercenaries.[173]
-The meeting was to take place at Baynard’s Castle, Arundel observing
-significantly that he liked not the air of the Tower. He and his
-friends may indeed have reflected that it had proved fatal to many less
-steeped in treason than they. To Baynard’s Castle some of the lords
-accordingly repaired, sending afterwards to summon the rest to join
-them, with the exception of Suffolk, who remained behind, in apparent
-ignorance of what was going forward.
-
-In the consultation, held on July 19, the deathblow was dealt to the
-hopes of those faithful to the nine-days’ Queen. Arundel was the first
-to declare himself unhesitatingly on Mary’s side, and to denounce the
-Duke, from whom he had so lately parted on terms of devoted friendship.
-He boasted of his courage in now opposing Northumberland--a man of
-supreme authority, and--as one who had little or no conscience--fond
-of blood. It was by no desire of vengeance that Arundel’s conduct was
-prompted, he declared, but by conscience and anxiety for the public
-welfare; the Duke was actuated by a desire neither for the good of the
-kingdom nor by religious zeal, but purely by a desire for power, and he
-proceeded to hold him up to the reprobation of his colleagues.
-
-Pembroke made answer, promising, with his hand on his sword, to make
-Mary Queen. There were indeed few dissentient voices, and, though
-some of the lords at first maintained that warning should be sent to
-Northumberland and a general pardon obtained from Mary, their proposals
-did not meet with favour, and they did not press them.
-
-A hundred men had been despatched on various pretexts, and by degrees,
-to the Tower, with orders to make themselves masters of the place,
-in case Suffolk would not leave it except upon compulsion; but the
-Duke was not a man to lead a forlorn hope. Had Northumberland been at
-hand a struggle might have taken place; as it was, not a voice was
-raised against the decision of the Council, and with almost incredible
-rapidity the face of affairs underwent a change, absolute and complete.
-Suffolk, so soon as the determination of the lords was made known to
-him, lost no time in expressing his willingness to concur in it and to
-add his signature to the proclamation of Mary, already drawn up.[174]
-He was, he said, but one man; and proclaiming his daughter’s rival in
-person on Tower Hill, he finally struck his colours; going so far, as
-some affirm, as to share in the demonstration in the new Queen’s honour
-in Cheapside, where the proclamation was read by the Earl of Pembroke
-amidst a scene of wild enthusiasm contrasting vividly with the coldness
-and apathy shown by the populace when, nine days earlier, they had been
-asked to accept the Duke of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law as their
-Queen.
-
-“For my time I never saw the like,” says a news-letter,[175] “and by
-the report of others the like was never seen. The number of caps that
-were thrown up at the proclamation were not to be told.... I saw myself
-money was thrown out at windows for joy. The bonfires were without
-number, and, what with shouting and crying of the people and ringing of
-the bells, there could no one hear almost what another said, besides
-banquetings and singing in the street for joy.”
-
-Arundel was there, as well as Pembroke, with Shrewsbury and others, and
-the day was ended with evensong at St. Paul’s.
-
-And whilst all this was going on outside, in the gloom of the Tower,
-where the air must have struck chill even on that July day, sat the
-little victim of state-craft--“Cette pauvre reine,” wrote Noailles
-to his master, “qui s’en peut dire de la féve”--a Twelfth Night’s
-Queen--in the fortress that had seen her brief exaltation, and was so
-soon to become to her a prison. As the joy-bells echoed through the
-City and the shouting of the people penetrated the thick walls she must
-have wondered what was the cause of rejoicing. Presently she learnt it.
-
-That afternoon had been fixed for the christening of a child born
-to Underhyll--nicknamed, on account of his religious zeal, the
-Hot-Gospeller--on duty as a Gentleman Pensioner at the Tower. The baby
-was highly favoured, since the Duke of Suffolk and the Earl of Pembroke
-were to be his sponsors by proxy and Lady Jane had signified her
-intention of acting as godmother, calling the infant Guilford, after
-her husband.
-
-Lady Throckmorton, wife to Sir Nicholas, in attendance on Jane,[176]
-had been chosen to represent her mistress at the ceremony; and, on
-quitting the Tower for that purpose, had waited on the Queen and
-received her usual orders, according to royal etiquette. Upon her
-return, the baptism over, she found all--like a transformation scene at
-the theatre--changed. The canopy of state had been removed from Lady
-Jane’s apartment, and Lady Jane herself, divested of her sovereignty,
-was practically a prisoner.[177]
-
-During the absence of the Lady-in-waiting, Suffolk, his part on
-Cheapside played, had returned to the Tower, to set matters there on
-their new footing. Informing his daughter, as one imagines with the
-roughness of a man smarting under defeat, that since her cousin had
-been elected Queen by the Council, and had been proclaimed, it was
-time she should do her honour, he removed the insignia of royalty. The
-rank she had possessed not being her own she must make a virtue of
-necessity, and bow to that fortune of which she had been the sport and
-victim.
-
-Rising to the occasion, Jane, as might be expected, made fitting
-reply. The words now spoken by her father were, she answered, more
-becoming and praiseworthy than those he had uttered on putting her in
-possession of the crown; proceeding to moralise the matter after a
-fashion that can only be attributed to the imaginative faculties of
-the narrator of the scene. This done she, more naturally, withdrew
-into her private apartments with her mother and other ladies and gave
-way, in spite of her firmness, to “infinite sorrow.”[178] A further
-scene narrated by the Italian, Florio, on the authority of the Duke of
-Suffolk’s chaplain--“as her father’s learned and pious preacher told
-me”--represents her as confronted with some at least of the men who had
-betrayed her, and as reproaching them bitterly with their duplicity.
-Without vouching for the accuracy of the speech reported, touches are
-discernible in it--evidences of a very human wrath, indignation, and
-scorn--unlikely to have been invented by men whose habit it was to
-describe the speaker as the living embodiment of meekness and patience,
-and it may be that the evangelist’s account is founded on fact.
-
-“Therefore, O Lords of the Council,” she is made to say, “there is
-found in men of illustrious blood, and as much esteemed by the world
-as you, double dealing, deceit, fickleness, and ruin to the innocent.
-Which of you can boast with truth that I besought him to make me a
-Queen? Where are the gifts I promised or gave on this account? Did ye
-not of your own accord drag me from my literary studies, and, depriving
-me of liberty, place me in this rank? Alas! double-faced men, how well
-I see, though late, to what end ye set me in this royal dignity! How
-will ye escape the infamy following upon such deeds?” How were broken
-promises, violated oaths, to be coloured and disguised? Who would trust
-them for the future? “But be of good cheer, with the same measure it
-shall be meted to you again.”
-
-With this prophecy of retribution to follow she ended. “For a good
-space she was silent; and they departed, full of shame, leaving her
-well guarded.”[179]
-
-Her attendants were not long in availing themselves of the permission
-accorded them to go where they pleased. The service of Lady Jane was,
-from an honour, become a perilous duty; and they went to their own
-homes, leaving their nine-days’ mistress “burdened with thought and
-woe.” The following morning she too quitted the Tower, returning to
-Sion House. It was no more than ten days since she had been brought
-from it in royal state.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX
-
-1553
-
- Northumberland at bay--His capitulation--Meeting with Arundel, and
- arrest--Lady Jane a prisoner--Mary and Elizabeth--Mary’s visit to
- the Tower--London--Mary’s policy.
-
-
-The unanimous capitulation of the Council, in which he was by absence
-precluded from joining, sealed Northumberland’s fate. The centre of
-interest shifts from London to the country, whither he had gone to meet
-the forces gathering round Mary. The ragged bear was at bay.
-
-Arundel and Paget had posted northwards on the night following the
-revolution in London to inform the Queen of the proceedings of the
-Council and to make their peace with the new sovereign; Paget’s success
-in particular being so marked that the French looker-on reported that
-his favour with the Queen “etait chose plaisante à voir et oir.” The
-question all men were asking was what stand would be made by the leader
-of the troops arrayed against her. That Northumberland, knowing that he
-had sinned too deeply for forgiveness, would yield without a blow can
-scarcely have been contemplated by the most sanguine of his opponents,
-and the singular transmutation taking place in a man who hitherto,
-whatever might have been his faults or crimes, had never been lacking
-in courage, must have taken his enemies and what friends remained to
-him by surprise.
-
-“Bold, sensitive, and magnanimous,” as some one describes him,[180]
-he was to display a lack of every manly quality only explicable on
-the hypothesis that the incessant strain and excitement of the last
-three weeks had told upon nerves and spirits to an extent making it
-impossible for him to meet the crisis with dignity and valour.
-
-Hampered with orders from the Council framed in Mary’s interest and
-with the secret object of delaying his movements until her adherents
-had had time to muster in force, he did not adopt the only course--that
-of immediate attack--offering a possibility of success, and had
-retreated to Cambridge when the news that Mary had been proclaimed in
-London reached him. From that instant he abandoned the struggle.
-
-On the previous day the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Doctor
-Sandys, had preached, at his request, a sermon directed against Mary.
-Now, Duke and churchman standing side by side in the market-place,
-Northumberland, with the tears running down his face, and throwing
-his cap into the air, proclaimed her Queen. She was a merciful woman,
-he told Sandys, and all would doubtless share in her general pardon.
-Sandys knew better, and bade the Duke not flatter himself with false
-hopes. Were the Queen ever so much inclined to pardon, those who ruled
-her would destroy Northumberland, whoever else were spared.
-
-The churchman proved to have judged more accurately than the soldier.
-An hour later the Duke received letters from the Council, indicating
-the treatment he might expect at their hands. He was thereby bidden,
-on pain of treason, to disarm, and it was added that, should he come
-within ten miles of London, his late comrades would fight him. Could
-greater loyalty and zeal in the service of the rising sun be displayed?
-
-Fidelity was at a discount. His troops melted away, leaving their
-captain at the mercy of his enemies. In the camp confusion prevailed.
-Northumberland was first put under arrest, then set again at liberty
-upon his protest, based upon the orders of the Council that “all men
-should go his way.” Was he, the leader, to be prevented from acting
-upon their command? Young Warwick, his son, was upon the point of
-riding away, when, the morning after the scene in the market-place, the
-Earl of Arundel arrived from Queen Mary with orders to arrest the Duke.
-
-What ensued was a painful spectacle, Northumberland’s bearing, even in
-a day when servility on the part of the fallen was so common as to be
-almost a matter of course, being generally stigmatized as unworthy of
-the man who had often given proof of a brave and noble spirit.[181] As
-the two men met, it may be that the Duke augured well from the Queen’s
-choice of a messenger. If he had, he was to be quickly undeceived.
-Arundel was not disposed to risk his newly acquired favour with the
-sovereign for the sake of a discredited comrade, and Northumberland
-might have spared the abjectness of his attitude; as, falling on his
-knees, he begged his former friend, for the love of God, to be good to
-him.
-
-“Consider,” he urged, “I have done nothing but by the consents of you
-and all the whole Council.”
-
-The plea was ill-chosen. That Arundel had been implicated in the
-treason was a reason the more why he could not afford to show mercy
-to a fellow-traitor; nor was he in a mood to discuss a past he would
-have preferred to forget and to blot out. It is the unfortunate who
-are prone to indulge in long memories, and the Earl had just achieved
-a success which he was anxious to render permanent. Disregarding
-Northumberland’s appeal, he turned at once to the practical matter in
-hand. He had been sent there by the Queen’s Majesty, he told the Duke;
-in her name he arrested him.
-
-Northumberland made no attempt at resistance. He obeyed, he answered
-humbly; “and I beseech you, my Lord of Arundel, use mercy towards me,
-knowing the case as it is.”
-
-Again Arundel coldly ignored the appeal to the past.
-
-“My lord,” he replied, “ye should have sought for mercy sooner. I
-must do according to my commandment,” and he handed over his prisoner
-forthwith to the guards who stood near.
-
-For two hours, denied so much as the services of his attendants, the
-Duke paced the chamber wherein he was confined, till, looking out of
-the window, he caught sight of Arundel passing below, and entreated
-that his servants might be admitted to him.
-
-“For the love of God,” he cried, “let me have Cox, one of my chamber,
-to wait on me!”
-
-“You shall have Tom, your boy,” answered the Earl, naming the
-lad, Thomas Lovell, of whom, a few days earlier, he had taken so
-affectionate a leave. Northumberland protested.
-
-“Alas, my lord,” he said, “what stead can a boy do me? I pray you let
-me have Cox.” And so both Lovell and Cox were permitted to attend their
-master. It was the single concession he could obtain.[182]
-
-Thus Northumberland met his fate.
-
-The Queen’s justice had overtaken more innocent victims. Lady Jane’s
-stay at Sion House had not been prolonged. By July 23, not more than
-three days after she had quitted the Tower, she returned to it, not as
-a Queen, but as a captive, accompanied by the Duchess of Northumberland
-and Guilford Dudley, her husband. More prisoners were quickly added to
-their number. Northumberland was brought, with others of his adherents,
-from Cambridge. Northampton, who had hurried to Framlingham, where
-Mary then was, to throw himself upon her mercy, arrived soon after;
-with Bishop Ridley, who, notwithstanding his recent declamations
-against the Queen, had resorted with the rest to Norfolk, had met with
-an unfriendly reception from Mary, and was sent back to London “on a
-halting horse.”[183]
-
-It is singular that to the Duke of Suffolk, prominent amongst those who
-had been arrayed against her, the new Queen showed unusual indulgence.
-So far as actual deeds were concerned, he had been second in guilt
-only to Northumberland; though there can be little doubt that he
-was led and governed by the stronger will and more soaring ambition
-of his confederate. Lady Jane being, besides, his daughter, and not
-merely married to his son, it would have been natural to expect that
-he would have been called to a stricter account than Dudley. He was,
-as a matter of course, arrested and consigned to the Tower; but when
-a convenient attack of illness laid him low--a news-letter reporting
-that he was “in such case as no man judgeth he could live”[184]--and
-his wife represented his desperate condition to her cousin the Queen,
-adding that, if left in the Tower, death would ensue, Mary appears to
-have made no difficulty in granting her his freedom, merely ordering
-him to confine himself to his house, rather as restraint than as
-chastisement.[185]
-
-Mary could afford to show mercy. On August 3 she made her triumphal
-entry into the capital which had proved so loyal to her cause, riding
-on a white horse, with the Earl of Arundel bearing before her the sword
-of state, and preceded by some thousand gentlemen in rich array.
-
-Elizabeth was at her side--Elizabeth, who had learnt wisdom since
-the days, nearly five years ago, when she had compromised herself
-for the sake of Seymour. During the crisis now over, she had shown
-both prudence and caution, playing in fact a waiting game, as she
-looked on at the contest between her sister and Northumberland, and
-carefully abstaining from taking any side in it, until it should be
-seen which of the two would prove victorious. To her, as well as to
-Mary, a summons had been sent as from her dying brother; more wary
-than her sister, she detected the snare, and remained at Hatfield,
-whilst Mary came near to falling a prey to her enemies. At Hatfield
-she continued during the ensuing days, being visited by commissioners
-from Northumberland, who offered a large price, in land and money, in
-exchange for her acquiescence in Edward’s appointment of Lady Jane as
-his successor. If Elizabeth loved money, she loved her safety more; and
-returned an answer to the effect that it was with her elder sister that
-an agreement must be made, since in Mary’s lifetime she herself had
-neither claim nor title to the succession. Leti,[186] representing her
-as regarding Lady Jane as a _jeune étourdie_--the first and only time
-the epithet can have been applied to Suffolk’s grave daughter--states
-that she indignantly expostulated with Northumberland upon the wrong
-done to herself and Mary. She is more likely to have kept silence;
-and it is certain that an opportune attack of illness afforded her an
-excuse for prudent inaction. When Mary’s cause had become triumphant
-she had recovered sufficiently to proceed to London, meeting her sister
-on the following day at Aldgate, and riding at her side when she made
-her entry into the capital.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting attributed to F.
- Zuccaro.
-
-QUEEN ELIZABETH.]
-
-The two presented a painful contrast: Mary prematurely aged by
-grief and care, small and thin, “unlike in every respect to father
-or mother,” says Michele, the Venetian ambassador, “with eyes so
-piercing as to inspire not only reverence, but fear”; Elizabeth, now
-twenty, tall and well made, though possessing more grace than beauty,
-with fine eyes, and, above all, beautiful hands, “della quale fa
-professione”--which she was accustomed to display.
-
-Her entry into the City made, Mary proceeded, according to ancient
-custom, and as her unwilling rival had done three weeks before, to
-the Tower, where a striking scene took place. On her entrance she
-was met by a group of those who, imprisoned during the two previous
-reigns, awaited her on their knees. Her kinsman, Edward Courtenay,
-was there--since he was ten years old he had known no other home--and
-the Duchess of Somerset, widow of the Protector, with the old Duke of
-Norfolk, father to Surrey, Tunstall, the deprived Bishop of Durham,
-and Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. In Mary’s eyes some of these were
-martyrs, suffering for their fidelity to the faith for which she had
-herself been prepared to go to the scaffold; for others she felt the
-natural compassion due to captives who have wasted long years within
-prison walls; and, touched and overcome by the sight of that motley
-company, she burst into tears.
-
-“These are my prisoners,” she said, as she bent and kissed them.
-
-Their day was come. By August 11 Gardiner was reinstated in Winchester
-House, which had been appropriated to the use of the Marquis of
-Northampton, now perhaps inhabiting the Bishop’s quarters in the Tower.
-The Duke of Norfolk, the Duchess of Somerset, Courtenay, were all at
-liberty. Bonner was once more exercising his functions as Bishop
-of London. But their places in the old prison-house were not left
-vacant: fresh captives being sent to join those already there. Report
-declared--prematurely--that sentence had been passed on Northumberland,
-Huntingdon, Gates, and others. Pembroke, notwithstanding the zealous
-share he had taken in proclaiming Mary Queen, as well as Winchester and
-Darcy, were confined to their houses.
-
-All necessary measures had been taken for the security of the
-Government. It was time to think of the dead boy lying unburied
-whilst the struggle for his inheritance had been fought out. In the
-arrangements for her brother’s funeral Mary displayed a toleration
-that must have gone far to raise the hopes of the Protestant party,
-awaiting, in anxiety and dread, enlightenment as to the course the
-new ruler would pursue with regard to religion. Permitting her
-brother’s obsequies to be celebrated by Cranmer according to the ritual
-prescribed by the reformed Prayer-book, she caused a Requiem Mass
-to be sung for him in the Tower in the presence of some hundreds of
-worshippers, notwithstanding the fact that, according to Griffet, “this
-was not in conformity with the laws of the Roman Church, since the
-Prince died in schism and heresy.”[187]
-
-It was the moment when Mary, the recipient, as she told the French
-ambassador, of more graces than any living Princess; the object of the
-love and devotion of her subjects; her long years of misfortune ended;
-her record unstained, should have died. But, unfortunately, five more
-years of life remained to her.
-
-The presage of coming trouble was not absent in the midst of the
-general rejoicing, and the first notes of discord had already been
-struck. Emboldened by the Requiem celebrated in the Tower, a priest
-had taken courage, and had said Mass in the Church of St. Bartholomew
-in the City. It was then seen how far the people were from being
-unanimous in including in their devotion to the Queen toleration for
-her religion. “This day,” reports a news-letter of August 11, “an old
-priest said Mass at St. Bartholomew’s, but after that Mass was done,
-the people would have pulled him to pieces.”[188] “When they saw him
-go up to the altar,” says Griffet, “there was a great tumult, some
-attempting to throw themselves upon him and strike him, others trying
-to prevent this violence, so that there came near to being blood
-shed.”[189]
-
-Scenes of this nature, with the open declarations of the Protestants
-that they would meet the re-establishment of the old worship with an
-armed resistance, and that it would be necessary to pass over the
-bodies of twenty thousand men before a single Mass should be quietly
-said in London, were warnings of rocks ahead. That Mary recognised
-the gravity of the situation was proved by the fact that, after an
-interview with the Mayor, she permitted the priest who had disregarded
-the law to be put into prison, although taking care that an opportunity
-of escape should shortly be afforded him.[190]
-
-A proclamation made in the middle of August also testified to some
-desire upon the Queen’s part, at this stage, to adopt a policy of
-conciliation. In it she declared that it was her will “that all men
-should embrace that religion which all men knew she had of long time
-observed, and meant, God willing, to continue the same; willing all men
-to be quiet, and not call men the names of heretick and papist, but
-each man to live after the religion he thought best until further order
-were taken concerning the same.”[191]
-
-Though the liberty granted was only provisional and temporary, there
-was nothing in the proclamation to foreshadow the fires of Smithfield,
-and it was calculated to allay any fears or forebodings disquieting the
-minds of loyal subjects.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XX
-
-1553
-
- Trial and condemnation of Northumberland--His recantation--Final
- scenes--Lady Jane’s fate in the balances--A conversation with her.
-
-
-The great subject of interest agitating the capital, when the
-excitement attending the Queen’s triumphal entry had had time to
-subside, was the approaching trial of the Duke of Northumberland and
-his principal accomplices. On August 18 the great conspirator, with
-his son, the Earl of Warwick, and the Marquis of Northampton, were
-arraigned at Westminster Hall, the Duke of Norfolk, lately himself a
-prisoner, presiding, as High Steward of England, at the trial.
-
-Its issue was a foregone conclusion. If ever man deserved to suffer
-the penalty for high treason, that man was Northumberland. His brain
-had devised the plot intended to keep the Queen out of the heritage
-hers by birth and right; his hand had done what was possible to execute
-it. He had commanded in person the forces arrayed against her, and had
-been taken, as it were, red-handed. He must have recognised the fact
-that any attempt at a defence would be hopeless. Two points of law,
-however, he raised: Could a man, acting by warrant of the great seal
-of England, and by the authority of the Council, be accused of high
-treason? And further, could he be judged by those who, implicated in
-the same offence, were his fellow-culprits?
-
-The argument was quickly disposed of. If, as Mr. Tytler supposes,[192]
-the Duke’s intention was to appeal to the sanction of the great seal
-affixed to Edward’s will, the judges preferred to interpret his
-plea, as most historians have concurred in doing, as referring to
-the seal used during Lady Jane’s short reign; and, thus understood,
-the authority of a usurper could not be allowed to exonerate her
-father-in-law from the guilt of rebellion. As to his second question,
-so long as those by whom he was to be judged were themselves
-unattainted, they were not disqualified from filling their office.
-Sentence was passed without delay, the Duke proffering three requests.
-First, he asked that he might die the death of a noble; secondly, that
-the Queen would be gracious to his children, since they had acted by
-his command, and not of their own free will; and thirdly, that two
-members of the Council Board might visit him, in order that he might
-declare to them matters concerning the public welfare.
-
-The trial had been conducted on a Friday. The uncertainty prevailing
-as to the condition of public sentiment in the city may be inferred
-from the fact, that, when the customary sermon was to be preached at
-Paul’s Cross on the following Sunday, it was considered expedient
-to have the preacher chosen by the Queen surrounded by her guards,
-lest a tumult should ensue. The state of feeling in the capital must
-have been curiously mixed. Mary was the lawful sovereign, and had
-been brought to her rights amidst universal rejoicing. Northumberland
-was an object of detestation to the populace. Yet, whilst the Queen
-was undisguisedly devoted to a religion to which the majority of her
-subjects were hostile, the Duke was regarded as, with Suffolk, the
-chief representative and support of the faith they held and the Church
-as by law established. If his adherence to Protestant doctrine, as was
-now to appear, had been a matter of policy rather than of conviction,
-it had been singularly successful in imposing upon the multitude;
-though, according to the story which makes him observe to Sir Anthony
-Browne that he certainly thought best of the old religion, “but,
-seeing a new one begun, run dog, run devil, he would go forward,” he
-had been at little pains to conceal his lack of genuine sympathy with
-innovation.[193] When the speech was made, suspicion of Catholic
-proclivities would have been fatal to his position and his schemes.
-The case was now reversed. He was about to forfeit, by the fashion of
-his death, the solitary merit he had possessed in the eyes of a large
-section of his countrymen; to throw off the mask, however carelessly
-it had been worn; and to give the lie, at that supreme moment, to the
-professions of years.
-
-It is said that, in consequence of the request he had preferred at
-his trial that he might be visited by some members of the Council, he
-was granted an interview with Gardiner and another of his colleagues,
-name unknown; that the Bishop of Winchester subsequently interceded
-with the Queen on his behalf, and was sanguine of success; but that,
-in deference to the Emperor’s advice, Mary decided in the end that the
-Duke must die.[194] To Arundel, in spite of the little encouragement he
-had received at Cambridge to hope that the Earl would prove his friend,
-Northumberland wrote, begging for life, “yea, the life of a dog, that
-he may but live and kiss the Queen’s feet.”[195] All was in vain.
-Prayers, supplications, entreaties, were useless. He was to die.
-
-Of those tried together with him, two shared his sentence--Sir Thomas
-Palmer and Sir John Gates. Monday, August 21, had been fixed for the
-executions, Commendone, the Pope’s agent, delaying his journey to
-Italy at Mary’s request that he might be present on the occasion.[196]
-For some unexplained reason, they were deferred. It was probably in
-order to leave Northumberland time to make his recantation at leisure;
-for he had expressed his desire to renounce his errors “and to hear
-Mass and to receive the Sacrament according to the old accustomed
-manner.”[197]
-
-The account of what followed has been preserved in detail. At nine in
-the morning the altar in the chapel was prepared; and thither the Duke
-was presently conducted by Sir John Gage, Constable of the Tower, four
-of the lesser prisoners being brought in by the Lieutenant. Dying men,
-three of them, and the rest in jeopardy, it was a solemn company there
-assembled as the officiating priest proceeded with the ancient ritual.
-At a given moment the service was interrupted, so that the Duke might
-make his confession of faith and formally abjure the new ways he had
-followed for sixteen years, “the which is the only cause of the great
-plagues and vengeance which hath light upon the whole realm of England,
-and now likewise worthily fallen upon me and others here present for
-our unfaithfulness; ... and this I pray you all to testify, and pray
-for me.”
-
-After which, kneeling down, he asked forgiveness from all, and forgave
-all.
-
-“Amongst others standing by,” says the narrator of the scene, “were
-the Duke of Somerset’s sons,” Hertford and his brother, boys scarcely
-emerged from childhood; watching the fallen enemy of their house, and
-remembering that to him had been chiefly due their father’s death.
-
-Other spectators were some fourteen or fifteen merchants from the City,
-bidden to the chapel that they might witness the ceremony and perhaps
-make report of the Duke’s recantation to their fellows.
-
-The news of what was going forward must have spread through the
-Tower, partly palace, partly dungeon, partly fortress; and men must
-have looked strangely upon one another as they heard that the leader
-principally responsible for all that had happened in the course of the
-last month, to whom the safety of the Protestant faith had been war-cry
-and watchword, had abjured it as the work of the devil. Where was
-truth, or sincerity, or pure conviction to be found?
-
-Of Lady Jane, during this day, there is but one mention. The limelight
-had been turned off her small figure, and she had fallen back into
-obscurity. Yet we hear that, looking through a window, she had seen
-her father-in-law led to the chapel, where he was, in her eyes, to
-imperil his soul. But whether she had been made aware of what was in
-contemplation we are ignorant.
-
-The final scene took place on the succeeding day. At nine o’clock the
-scaffold was ready, and Sir John Gates, with young Lord Warwick, were
-brought forth to receive Communion in the chapel (“Memorandum,” says
-the chronicler again, “the Duke of Somerset’s sons stood by”). By one
-after the other, their abjuration had been made, and the priest present
-had offered what comfort he might to the men appointed to die.
-
-“I would,” he said, “ye should not be ignorant of God’s mercy, which is
-infinite. And let not death fear you, for it is but a little while, ye
-know, ended in one half-hour. What shall I say? I trust to God it shall
-be to you a short passage (though somewhat sharp) out of innumerable
-miseries into a most pleasant rest--which God grant.”
-
-As the other prisoners were led out the Duke and Sir John Gates met at
-the garden gate. Northumberland spoke.
-
-“Sir John,” he said, “God have mercy on us, for this day shall end both
-our lives. And I pray you, forgive me whatsoever I have offended; and
-I forgive you, with all my heart, although you and your counsel was a
-great occasion thereof.”
-
-“Well, my Lord,” was the reply, “I forgive you, as I would be forgiven.
-And yet you and your authority was the only original cause of all
-together. But the Lord pardon you, and I pray you forgive me.”
-
-So, not without a recapitulation of each one’s grievance, they made
-obeisance, and the Duke passed on. Again, “the Duke of Somerset’s sons
-stood thereby”--the words recur like a sinister refrain.
-
-The end had come. Standing upon the scaffold, the Duke put off his
-damask gown; then, leaning on the rail, he repeated the confession
-of faith made on the previous day, begging those present to remember
-the old learning, and thanking God that He had called him to be a
-Christian. With his own hands he knit the handkerchief about his eyes,
-laid him down, and so met the executioner’s blow.
-
-Gates followed, with few words. Sir Thomas Palmer, having witnessed the
-ghastly spectacle, came last. That morning, whilst preparations for the
-executions were being made, he had been walking in the Lieutenant’s
-garden, observed, says that “resident in the Tower” in whose diary so
-many incidents of this time have been preserved, to seem “more cheerful
-in countenance than when he was most at liberty in his lifetime”; and
-when the end was at hand, he met it, as some men did meet death in
-those days, with undaunted courage, and with a heroism not altogether
-unaffected by dramatic instinct.
-
-Though apparently implicitly included amongst the prisoners who had
-made their peace with the Church, he is not recorded to have taken
-any prominent part in the affair, and his dying speech dealt with no
-controversial matters, but with eternal verities confessed alike by
-Catholic and Protestant. At his trial he had denied that he had ever
-borne arms against the Queen; though, charged with having been present
-when others did so, he acknowledged his guilt. He now passed that
-matter over, with a brief admission that his fate had been deserved at
-God’s hands: “For I know it to be His divine ordinance by this mean to
-call me to His mercy and to teach me to know myself, what I am, and
-whereto we are all subject. I thank His merciful goodness, for He has
-caused me to learn more in one little dark corner in yonder Tower than
-ever I learned by any travail in so many places as I have been.” For
-there he had seen God; he had seen himself; he had seen and known what
-the world was. “Finally, I have seen there what death is, how near
-hanging over every man’s head, and yet how uncertain the time, and how
-unknown to all men, and how little it is to be feared. And why should
-I fear death, or be sad therefore? Have I not seen two die before
-mine eyes, yea, and within the hearing of mine ears? No, neither the
-sprinkling of the blood, or the shedding thereof, nor the bloody axe
-itself, shall not make me afraid.”
-
-Taking leave of all present, he begged their prayers, forgave the
-executioner, and, master of himself to the last, kneeling, laid his
-head upon the block.
-
-“I will see how meet the block is for my neck,” he said, “I pray thee,
-strike me not yet, for I have a few prayers to say. And that done,
-strike in God’s name. Good leave have thou.”
-
-So the scene came to an end. The three rebels whose life Mary had
-taken--no large number--had paid the forfeit of their deed. That night
-the Lancaster Herald, a dependant of the Duke of Northumberland, more
-faithful to old ties and memories than those in higher place, sought
-the Queen, and begged of her his master’s head, that he might give it
-sepulture. In God’s name, Mary bade him take his lord’s whole body and
-bury him. By a curious caprice of destiny the Duke was laid to rest in
-the Tower at the side of Somerset.[198] There, in the reconciliation of
-a common defeat, the ancient rivals were united.
-
-The three chief victims had thus paid the supreme penalty. The rest
-of the participators in Northumberland’s guilt, if not pardoned, were
-suffered to escape with life. Young Warwick had shared his father’s
-condemnation, and, finding that the excuse of youth was not to be
-allowed to avail in so grave a matter, had contented himself with
-begging that, out of his goods, forfeited to the Crown, his debts
-might be paid. Returning to the Tower, he had afterwards followed his
-father’s example in abjuring Protestantism, and had listened, with
-the older victims, to the words addressed by the priest to the men
-appointed to die. Whether or not he had been aware that he was to be
-spared, Mass concluded, he had been taken back to his lodging and had
-not shared the Duke’s fate.
-
-Northampton’s defence had been a strange one. He had, he said, forborne
-the execution of any public office during the interregnum and, being
-intent on hunting and other sports, had not shared in the conspiracy.
-The plea was not allowed to stand, but though he, like Warwick, was
-condemned, he was likewise permitted to escape with life. As Warwick’s
-youth may have made its appeal to Mary, so she may have remembered that
-Northampton was the brother of her dead friend, Katherine Parr, and
-have allowed that memory to save him.
-
-Lady Jane’s fate had hung in the balances. By some she was still
-considered a menace to the stability of her cousin’s throne. Charles
-V.’s ambassadors, representing to the Queen the need of proceeding
-with caution in matters of religion, urged the necessity of executing
-punishment upon the more guilty of those who had striven to deprive her
-of her crown, clemency being used towards the rest. In which class was
-Jane to be included? The determination of that question would decide
-her fate. At an interview between Mary and Simon Renard, one of the
-Emperor’s envoys, it was discussed, the Queen declaring that she could
-not make up her mind to send Lady Jane to the scaffold; that she had
-been told that, before her marriage with Guilford Dudley, she had been
-bestowed upon another man by a _contrat obligatoire_, rendering the
-subsequent tie null and void. Mary drew from this hypothetical fact the
-inference that her cousin was not the daughter-in-law of the Duke of
-Northumberland’s, adding that she had had no share in his undertaking,
-and that, as she was innocent, it would be against her own conscience
-to put her to death.
-
-Renard demurred. He said, what was probably true, that it was to be
-feared that the alleged contract of marriage had been invented to
-save Lady Jane; and it would be necessary at the least to keep her a
-prisoner, since many inconveniences might be expected were she set at
-liberty. To this Mary agreed, promising that her cousin should not
-be liberated without all precautions necessary to ensure that no ill
-results would follow.[199]
-
-This interview must have taken place shortly before Northumberland’s
-death; for on August 23 the Emperor, to whom it had been duly
-reported, was replying by a reiteration of his opinion that all
-those who had conspired against the Queen, as well as any concerned
-in Edward’s death, should be chastised without mercy. He advised that
-the executions should take place simultaneously, so that the pardon
-of the less guilty should follow without delay. If Mary was unable to
-resolve to put “Jeanne de Suffolck” to death, she ought at least to
-relegate her to some place of security, where she could be kept under
-supervision and rendered incapable of causing trouble in the realm.
-
-That Mary had decided upon this course is clear, and there is no
-reason to believe that Lady Jane would have suffered death had it
-not been for her father’s subsequent conduct. In the meantime, she
-remained a prisoner in the Tower, and on August 29, eleven days after
-the executions on Tower Hill, she is shown to us in one of the rare
-pictures left of her during the time of her captivity. On that day--a
-Tuesday--the diarist in the Tower, admitted to dine at the same
-table as the royal prisoner, placed upon record an account of the
-conversation.
-
-Besides Lady Jane, who sat at the end of the board, there was present
-the narrator himself, one Partridge,[200] and his wife--it was in
-“Partridge’s house,” or lodging within the Tower, that the guests
-met--with Lady Jane’s gentlewoman and her man. Her presence had been
-unexpected by the diarist, as he was careful to explain, excusing his
-boldness in having accepted Partridge’s invitation on the score that he
-had not been aware that she dined below.
-
-Lady Jane did not appear anxious to stand on her dignity. Desiring
-guest and host to be covered, she drank to the new-comer and made him
-welcome. The conversation turned, naturally enough, upon the conduct of
-public affairs, of which Lady Jane was inclined to take a sanguine view.
-
-“The Queen’s Majesty is a merciful Princess,” she observed. “I beseech
-God she may long continue, and send His merciful grace upon her.”
-
-Religious matters were discussed, Lady Jane inquiring as to who had
-been the preacher at St. Paul’s the preceding Sunday.
-
-“I pray you,” she asked next, “have they Mass in London?”
-
-“Yea, forsooth,” was the answer, “in some places.”
-
-“It may be so,” she said. “It is not so strange as the sudden
-conversion of the late Duke. For who would have thought he would have
-so done?” negativing at once and decidedly the suggestion made by some
-one present that a hope of escaping his imminent doom and winning
-pardon from the Queen might supply an explanation of his change of
-front.
-
-“‘Pardon?’ repeated the dead man’s daughter-in-law. ‘Woe worth him! He
-hath brought me and our stock into most miserable calamity and misery
-by his exceeding ambition. But for the answering that he hoped for
-life by his turning, though other men be of that opinion, I utterly
-am not. For what man is there living, I pray you, although he had
-been innocent, that would hope of life in that case; being in the
-field against the Queen in person as general, and, after his taking,
-so hated and evil spoken of by the commons? and at his coming into
-prison so wondered at as the like was never heard by any man’s time?
-Who was judge that he should hope for pardon, whose life was odious
-to all men? But what will ye more? Like as his life was wicked and
-full of dissimulation, so was his end thereafter. I pray God I, nor no
-friend of mine, die so. Should I who [am] young and in my fewers [few
-years?] forsake my faith for the love of life? Nay, God forbid, much
-more he should not, whose fatal course, although he had lived his just
-number of years, could not have long continued. But life was sweet, it
-appeared; so he might have lived, you will say, he did [not] care how.
-Indeed the reason is good, he that would have lived in chains, to have
-had his life, by like would leave no other means attempted. But God be
-merciful to us, for He saith, whoso denyeth Him before men, He will not
-know in His Father’s Kingdom.’”
-
-The conviction of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law that his recantation
-had not been a mere device designed to lengthen his days may be allowed
-in some sort to weigh in favour of the man she hated; and it is also
-fair to remember that if his first abjuration may be accounted for by
-a lingering hope that it might purchase life, any such expectation
-must have been abandoned before the final repetition of it upon the
-scaffold. In Lady Jane’s eyes, however, there seems to have been little
-to choose between a sham apostacy and a genuine reversion to his older
-creed.
-
-“With this and much like talk the dinner passed away,” and with
-exchange of courtesies the little company separated. The brief shaft of
-light throwing Lady Jane’s figure into relief fades and leaves her once
-more in the shadow--a shadow that was to deepen above her till the end.
-It was early days of captivity still. Yet one discerns something of the
-passionate longing of the prisoner for freedom in her wonder that life
-in chains could be accounted worth any sacrifice.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXI
-
-1553
-
- Mary’s marriage in question--Pole and Courtenay--Foreign
- suitors--The Prince of Spain proposed to her--Elizabeth’s
- attitude--Lady Jane’s letter to Hardinge--The coronation--Cranmer
- in the Tower--Lady Jane attainted--Letter to her father--Sentence
- of death--The Spanish match.
-
-
-To Mary there were at present matters of more personal and pressing
-moment than the fate of her ill-starred cousin. It was essential that
-the kingdom should be provided as quickly as possible with an heir
-whose title to the throne should admit of no question. Mary was no
-longer young and there was no time to lose. The question in all men’s
-minds was who was to be the Queen’s husband. Amongst Englishmen, Pole,
-who, though a Cardinal, was not in priest’s orders, and Courtenay, the
-prisoner of the Tower, were both of royal blood, and considered in the
-light of possible aspirants to her hand. The first, however, was soon
-set aside, as disqualified by age and infirmity. Towards Courtenay
-she appeared for a time not ill-disposed. His unhappy youth, his long
-captivity, may have told in his favour in the eyes of a woman herself
-the victim of injustice and misfortune. He was young, not more than
-twenty-seven, handsome--called by Castlenau “l’un des plus beaux entre
-les jeunes seigneurs de son âge”--and the Queen cherished a special
-affection for his mother. He had been restored to the forfeited honours
-of his family, had been made Earl of Devonshire and Knight of the
-Bath. Gardiner also, whose opinion carried weight, was an advocate of
-the match. But on his enfranchisement from prison the young man had
-not used his liberty wisely. His head turned by the position already
-his, and the chance of a higher one, he had started his household
-on a princely scale, inducing many of the courtiers to kneel in his
-presence. Follies such as these Mary might have condoned, although the
-fact that she directed her cousin to accept no invitations to dinner
-without her permission indicates the exercise of a supervision somewhat
-like that to be kept over an emancipated schoolboy. But at a moment
-when he was aspiring to the highest rank to be enjoyed by any subject,
-his moral misconduct was matter of public report and sufficient to
-deter any woman from becoming his wife. He was also headstrong and
-self-willed, “so difficult to guide,” sighed Noailles, “that he will
-believe nobody; and as one who has spent his life in a tower, seeing
-himself now in the enjoyment of entire liberty, cannot abstain from its
-delights, having no fear of those things which may be placed before
-him.”
-
-To these causes, rather than to the romantic passion for Elizabeth
-attributed to Courtenay by some other writers, Dr. Lingard attributes
-Mary’s refusal to entertain the idea of becoming his wife. “In public
-she observed that it was not for her honour to marry a subject, but to
-her confidential friends she attributed the cause to the immorality of
-Courtenay.”[201]
-
-Her two English suitors disposed of, it remained to select a husband
-from amongst foreign princes--the King of Denmark, the Prince of
-Spain, the Infant of Portugal, the Prince of Piedmont, being all under
-consideration. A few months ago Mary had been a negligible quantity
-in the marriage market; she had now become one of the most desirable
-matches in Europe. She was determined to follow in her choice the
-advice of the Emperor; and the Emperor had hitherto abstained from
-proffering it, contenting himself with negativing the candidature of
-the son of the King of the Romans. It was not until September 20 that,
-in answer to her repeated inquiries, he instructed his ambassadors
-to offer her the hand of his son; requesting that the matter should
-be kept secret, even from her ministers of State, until he had been
-informed whether she was inclined to accept his suggestion.[202] The
-contents of the Emperor’s despatch must have been communicated to
-the Queen immediately before her coronation on September 30; but not
-being as yet made public there was nothing to interfere with the loyal
-rejoicings of the people, to whom the very idea of the Spanish match
-would have been abhorrent.
-
-Meantime the attitude of Elizabeth was increasing the desire of the
-Catholic party that a direct heir should be born to the Catholic
-Queen. The nation was insensibly dividing itself into two camps, and
-the Protestant and Catholic parties eyed one another with suspicion,
-each looking to the sister who shared its faith for support. The
-enthusiasm displayed towards Elizabeth by a section of the people was
-not conducive to the continuance of affectionate relations between
-the Queen and the next heir to the throne, Pope Julius describing the
-younger sister as being in the heart and mouth of every one. Elizabeth
-was in a position of no little difficulty. She desired to continue
-on good terms with the Queen; she was not willing to relinquish her
-chief title to honour in Protestant eyes; and it is possible that
-genuine religious sentiment, a sincere preference for the creed she
-professed, may have added to her embarrassment. It may have been due
-to conviction that she declined to bow to her sister’s wishes by
-attending Mass, refusing so much as to be present at the ceremonial
-which created Courtenay Earl of Devonshire. It was satisfactory to know
-that Protestant England looked on and applauded. It was less pleasant
-to hear that some of the Queen’s hot-headed friends, interpreting her
-refusal as an act of disrespect to their mistress, had demanded--though
-vainly--her arrest; and though on September 6 Noailles reported to
-his master that on the previous Saturday and Sunday the Princess had
-proved deaf to the arguments of preachers and the solicitations of
-Councillors, and had gone so far as to make a rude reply to the last,
-she suddenly changed her tactics, fell on her knees, weeping, before
-Mary, and begged that books and teachers might be supplied to her, so
-that she might perhaps see cause to alter the faith in which she had
-been brought up. The expectation seems to have been promptly realised.
-On September 8 she accompanied the Queen to Mass, and, expressing an
-intention of establishing a chapel in her house, wrote to the Emperor
-to ask permission to purchase the ornaments for it in Brussels.
-
-It was a season of sudden conversions. Elizabeth was not the only
-person who saw the wisdom of conforming in appearance or in sincerity
-to the standard set up by the Queen. Hardinge, a chaplain of the
-Duke of Suffolk’s--he must have succeeded to the post of the worthy
-Haddon--had recognized his errors; and it is believed that to him a
-letter of Lady Jane’s--though signed with her unmarried name--was
-addressed. Printed in English, and abroad, perhaps through the
-instrumentality of her former tutor, Aylmer, it is an epistle of
-expostulation, reproof, and warning, couched in the violent language
-of the time. To her “noble friend, newly fallen from the truth” she
-writes, marvelling at him, and lamenting the case of one who, once the
-lively member of Christ, was now the deformed imp of the devil, and
-from the temple of God was become the kennel of Satan--with much more
-in the same strain. It has not been recorded what effect, if any, the
-missive produced upon the delinquent to whom it was addressed.
-
-Elizabeth, for her part, had effectually made her peace with her
-sister. The coronation, on October 10, found their relations restored
-to a pleasant footing, and Elizabeth’s proper place at the ceremony was
-assured to her. To Mary, a sad and lonely woman, the reconciliation
-must have been welcome. To Elizabeth the material advantages of
-standing on terms of affection with the Queen will have appealed more
-strongly than motives of sentiment; and that her attitude was surmised
-by those about her would seem to be shown by a curious incident
-reported in the despatches of the imperial ambassador.
-
-As the younger sister bore the crown to be placed upon Mary’s head, she
-complained to M. de Noailles, who stood near, of its weight. It was
-heavy, she said, and she was weary.
-
-The Frenchman replied with a flippant jest, overheard by Charles’s
-ambassador, though Noailles himself, perhaps convicted of indiscretion,
-makes no mention of it in his account of the day’s proceedings. Let
-Elizabeth have patience, he replied. When the crown should shortly be
-upon her own head it would appear lighter.[203]
-
-Outwardly all was as it should be. Mary held her sister’s hand in an
-affectionate clasp, assigning to her the place of honour next her own
-at the ensuing banquet, and court and nation looked on and were edified.
-
-Gardiner, now not only Bishop of Winchester but Lord Chancellor,
-had performed the rites of the coronation, in the absence of the
-Archbishops, both in confinement. The Tower had been once more opening
-its hospitable doors, and a fortnight earlier its resident diarist had
-noted Cranmer’s arrival. “Item, the Bishop of Canterbury was brought
-into the Tower as prisoner, and lodged in the Tower over the gate
-anenst the water-gate, where the Duke of Northumberland lay before his
-death.”
-
-Nor was Cranmer the only churchman to find a lodging there. Doctor
-Ridley had preceded him to the universal prison-house, and on the same
-day that the Archbishop took up his residence in it “Master Latimer was
-brought to the Tower prisoner; who at his coming said to one Rutter,
-a warder there, ‘What, my old friend, how do you? I am now come to
-be your neighbour again,’ and was lodged in the garden in Sir Thomas
-Palmer’s lodging.”
-
-Ominous quarters both! It was a day when the great fortress received,
-and discharged, many guests.
-
-If Cranmer had drawn his imprisonment upon himself, the imprudence
-to which it was due did him honour. He had at first been treated by
-Mary with an indulgence the more singular when it is remembered that
-he had been the instrument of her mother’s divorce, and a strenuous
-supporter of Lady Jane. Prudence would have dictated the adoption
-on his part of a policy of silence; but, confined to his house at
-Lambeth, and regarding with the bitterness inevitable in a man of his
-convictions the steps in course of being taken for the restoration of
-the ancient worship, the news that Mass had been once again celebrated
-in Canterbury Cathedral, and that it was commonly reported that it
-had been done with his consent and connivance, was too much for him.
-Feeling the need of clearing himself from what he regarded as a
-damaging imputation, he wrote and spread abroad a declaration of his
-faith and opinions, adding to it a violent attack upon the rites of the
-Catholic Church. By Mary and her advisers the challenge could scarcely
-have been ignored; and it was this document, read to the people in the
-streets, which was the cause of the Archbishop being called before the
-Council and committed to the Tower on a charge of treason accompanied
-by the spreading abroad of seditious libels.[204]
-
-The Tower continued to be, in some sort, the centre of all that was
-going forward. On September 27, two days before the coronation, Mary
-had again visited the fortress whither she had so nearly escaped being
-brought in quite another character and guise. Elizabeth came with her,
-and she was attended by the whole Council--just as they had, not three
-months before, attended upon Jane, the innocent usurper. And somewhere
-in the great dark building the little Twelfth-night Queen must have
-listened to the pealing of the joy-bells and to the acclamations of the
-people who had kept so ominous a silence when she herself had made her
-entry. Perhaps young Guilford Dudley too, who a week or two before had
-been accorded “the liberty of the leads on Beacham’s Tower,” may have
-stood above, catching a glimpse of the show, and remembering the day
-when he and his wife had their boy-and-girl quarrel, because she would
-not make him a King.
-
-The two questions of the hour were those relating to the Queen’s
-marriage and to matters of religion. When Parliament met on October 5,
-the news of the Spanish match had not been announced, and the bills
-of chief interest passed were one dealing with the important point of
-the validity of Katherine of Aragon’s marriage, and a second, which,
-avoiding any discussion of the Papal supremacy, the only thoroughly
-unpopular article of the Catholic creed, cancelled recent legislation
-on ecclesiastical matters, and restored the ritual in use during the
-last year of Henry’s reign. The other important measure carried in this
-session was the attainder of Cranmer, Lady Jane and her husband, and
-Sir Ambrose Dudley.
-
-So far as Lady Jane was concerned the step was purely formal, intended
-to serve as a warning to her friends, and it was understood on all
-hands that a pardon would be granted to the guiltless figure-head of
-the conspiracy. Yet to a nervous child, not yet seventeen, there may
-well have been something terrifying in the sentence hanging over her,
-and it seems to have been about this time that she addressed a letter
-to her father which could scarcely have been otherwise conceived had
-she expected in truth to suffer the penalty due to treason.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From an etching by W. Hollar. Photo by W. A. Mansell & Co.
-
-THE TOWER OF LONDON.]
-
-“If I may without offence rejoice in mine own mishap,” she wrote,
-“meseems in this I may account myself blessed, that washing mine hands
-with the innocency of my fact, my guiltless blood may cry before
-the Lord, mercy, mercy to the innocent. And yet I must acknowledge
-that being constrained, and, as you wot well enough, continually
-assailed, in taking upon me I seemed to consent, and therein offended
-the Queen and her laws, yet do I assuredly trust that this mine offence
-towards God is much the less, in that being in so royal an estate as I
-was, mine enforced honour never agreed with mine innocent heart.”[205]
-
-The trial was held on November 13, on which day Cranmer, with Guilford,
-and his brother, and Lady Jane, were all conducted on foot to the
-Guildhall to answer the charge of treason.
-
-The Archbishop led the way, followed by young Dudley. After them came
-Lady Jane, a childish figure of woe, dressed in black, with a French
-hood, also black, a book bound in black velvet hanging at her side, and
-another in her hand.
-
-Her condemnation was a foregone conclusion, and, pleading guilty, she
-was sentenced to death, by the axe or by fire, according to the old
-brutal law dealing with a woman convicted of treason. As she returned
-to the Tower a demonstration took place in her honour, not unlikely
-to be productive of some uneasiness to those in power, and little
-calculated to serve her cause.
-
-The London populace were more favourably disposed towards her in
-misfortune, than in her brief period of prosperity. The sight of the
-forlorn pair, still no more than boy and girl, touched and moved the
-multitude, and crowds accompanied them to their place of captivity. It
-is said that this was the solitary occasion upon which she and Guilford
-Dudley met during their imprisonment.
-
-Another cause, besides simple pity, was perhaps responsible for the
-tenderness displayed towards the Queen’s rival. A week or two before
-the trial the news of the Spanish match had been made known to the
-public, and may have had the effect of suggesting doubts as to the
-wisdom of the enthusiastic welcome given to Mary. At the beginning of
-November the affair had been undecided, and Gardiner was telling the
-Emperor’s envoy candidly that, if the Queen asked his advice, he would
-counsel her to choose an Englishman for her husband. The nation, he
-added, was deeply prejudiced against foreign domination, especially in
-the case of Spaniards, and the proposed union would also produce war
-with France.
-
-Mary’s mind, however, was made up, nor had she any intention of being
-swayed by Gardiner’s advice. On the night of October 30 she took
-the singular step of summoning the ambassador, Simon Renard, to her
-apartment; when, in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and after
-repeating on her knees the _Veni Creator_, she gave him her promise to
-wed the Prince of Spain. In the face of the curious determination thus
-shown to bind herself by a contract irrevocable in her own eyes, it
-is strange to find historians attributing to her a continued leaning
-towards Courtenay.
-
-When the fact got abroad that the Emperor’s son was destined to
-become the Queen’s husband, London thrilled with indignation; whilst
-Parliament made its sentiments plain by means of a deputation which,
-in an address containing an entreaty that she would marry, expressed
-a hope that her choice would fall upon an Englishman. But Mary was a
-Tudor. Dispensing with the customary medium of the Chancellor, she
-gave her reply in person. Thanking the petitioners for their zeal,
-she declared herself disposed to act upon their advice and to take a
-husband. It was, however, for herself alone to select one, according to
-her inclination, and for the good of her kingdom.
-
-Simon Renard, reporting the scene, observed that her speech had been
-applauded by the nobles present, Arundel informing the Chancellor
-in jest that he had been deprived of his office, since the Queen
-had undertaken the functions belonging to it. In the pleasantry the
-Emperor’s envoy detected a warning that should Gardiner continue his
-opposition to the match he would not long retain his present post.[206]
-
-The Bishop yielded. He may have agreed with Renard. At all events, the
-Queen being determined, and recognising that he was unable to deter
-her from the measure upon which she had decided, he took the prudent
-step of putting himself on her side. His opposition removed, Renard was
-able to inform his master, on December 17, that Mary had received him
-in open daylight, had informed him that the necessity for secrecy was
-at an end, and that she regarded her marriage as a thing definitely and
-irrevocably fixed.[207]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXII
-
-1553-1554
-
- Discontent at the Spanish match--Insurrections in the
- country--Courtenay and Elizabeth--Suffolk a rebel--General
- failure of the insurgents--Wyatt’s success--Marches to
- London--Mary’s conduct--Apprehensions in London, and at the
- palace--The fight--Wyatt a prisoner--Taken to the Tower.
-
-
-When the year 1553 drew towards its close there was nothing to
-indicate that any catastrophe was at hand. The crisis appeared to be
-past and no further danger to be apprehended. Northumberland and his
-principal accomplices had paid the penalty of their treason. Suffolk,
-with lesser criminals, had been allowed to escape it; the rest of the
-confederates had been practically pardoned. If some were still in
-confinement it was understood to be without danger to life or limb.
-In the Tower Lady Jane and her husband lay formally under sentence of
-death, but the conditions of their captivity had been lightened; on
-December 18 Lady Jane was accorded “the liberty of the Tower,” and was
-permitted to walk in the Queen’s garden and on the hill; Guilford and
-his brother--Elizabeth’s Leicester--were allowed the liberty of the
-leads in the Bell Tower. Both Northampton and young Warwick--who did
-not long survive his enfranchisement--had been released. No further
-chastisement seemed likely to be inflicted in expiation of the late
-attempt to keep Mary out of her rights.
-
-Yet discontent was on the increase. As early as November steps had been
-taken to induce Courtenay to head a new conspiracy. He was timid and
-faint-hearted, and urged delay, and nothing had, so far, come of it.
-It would be well, he said, advocating a policy of procrastination, to
-wait to be certain that the Queen was determined upon the Spanish match
-before taking hazardous measures to oppose it.[208]
-
-Thus Christmas had found the country ostensibly at peace, and the
-prisoners in the Tower with no reason to fear any change for the worse
-in their condition. On the following day the thunder of the cannon
-discharged as a welcome to the Emperor’s ambassadors sounded in their
-ears, and was, though they were ignorant of it, the prelude of their
-destruction. The arrival of envoys expressly charged with the marriage
-negotiations put the matter beyond doubt; nor was England in a mood to
-submit passively to a union it hated and feared.
-
-By January 2 the Counts of Egmont and Laing and the Sieur de Corriers
-had reached the capital; landing at the Tower, where they were greeted
-with a salute from the guns, and met by the Earl of Devonshire, who
-escorted them through the City. “The people, nothing rejoicing, held
-down their heads sorrowfully.” When on the previous day the retinue
-of the Spanish envoys had ridden through the town, more forcible
-expression had been given to public opinion, and they had been pelted
-with snowballs.[209]
-
-Matters were pressed quickly on. By January 13 the formal announcement
-of the unpopular arrangement, with its provisions, was made by Gardiner
-in the Presence-chamber at Westminster to the lords and nobles there
-assembled; hope could no longer be entertained that the Queen would be
-otherwise persuaded. “These news,” adds the Tower diarist, “although
-they were not unknown to many and very much disliked, yet being now in
-this wise pronounced, was not only credited, but also heavily taken of
-sundry men; yea, and almost each man was abashed, looking daily for
-worse matters to grow shortly after.”
-
-They did not look in vain. The unpopularity of the Spanish match was
-the direct cause of the insurrections which soon broke out. Indirectly
-it was the cause of the death of Lady Jane Grey.
-
-Wild tales were afloat, rousing the passions of the angry people to
-fever-heat. Some reports stated that Edward was still alive; others
-asserted that the tower and the forts were to be seized and held by an
-imperialist army; abuse of every kind was directed against the Prince
-of Spain and his nation. Mary was said to have given her pledge that
-she would marry no foreigner, and by the breach of this promise she was
-declared to have forfeited the crown. Fresh schemes were set on foot
-for a rising in the spring. It does not appear that the substitution
-of Lady Jane for her cousin was again generally contemplated. That
-plan had resulted in so complete a failure that it had probably been
-tacitly admitted that the arrangement would not work. But the eyes of
-many were turning towards Elizabeth. She was to wed Courtenay, and they
-were jointly to occupy the throne. The two principally concerned were
-not likely to have refused to fall in with the project had it seemed to
-offer a fair chance of success, and France was in favour of it.
-
-“By what I hear,” wrote Noailles, “it will be by my Lord Courtenay’s
-own fault if he does not marry her, and she does not follow him to
-Devonshire,”--the selected centre of operations--“but the misfortune
-is that the said Courtenay is in such fear that he dares undertake
-nothing. I see no reason that prevents him save lack of heart.”
-
-Courtenay was in truth not the stuff of which conductors of revolutions
-are made. Gratitude and loyalty would not have availed to keep him
-true to Mary, and in able hands he might have become the instrument
-of a rebellion. But Gardiner found no difficulty in so playing on his
-apprehensions as to lead him to divulge the plots that were on foot;
-and his revelations, or betrayals, whichever they are to be called,
-precipitated the action of the conspirators. If their enterprise was to
-be attempted, no time must be lost.[210]
-
-On January 20 it became known that Devonshire was in arms, “resisting
-the King of Spain’s coming,” and that Exeter was in the hands of the
-insurgents. By the 25th the Duke of Suffolk, with his two brothers,
-Lord John and Lord Leonard Grey, had fled from his house at Sheen, and
-gone northwards to rouse his Warwickshire tenants to insurrection. It
-was currently reported that he had narrowly escaped being detained,
-a messenger from the Queen having arrived as he was on the point of
-starting, with orders that he should repair to Court.
-
-“Marry,” said the Duke, “I was coming to her Grace. Ye may see I am
-booted and spurred ready to ride, and I will but break my fast and go.”
-
-Bestowing a present upon the messenger, he gave him drink, and himself
-departed, no one then knew whither.
-
-That same day tidings had reached the Council that Kent had risen, Sir
-Thomas Wyatt at its head, with Culpepper, Cobham, and others, alleging,
-as their sole motives, resistance to the Prince of Spain, and the
-removal of certain lords from the Council Board. Sir John Crofts had
-proceeded to Wales to call upon it to join the insurrectionary movement.
-
-The country being thus in a turmoil the two persons who should have
-taken the lead and upon whom much of the success of the insurgents
-depended were playing a cautious game. Courtenay was at Court, and
-Elizabeth remained at Ashridge to watch the event, no doubt prepared
-to shape her course accordingly. A letter addressed to her by her
-partisans, counselling her withdrawal to Dunnington, as to a place of
-greater safety, had been intercepted by the authorities; and she had
-received an invitation, or command, to join her sister at St. James’s,
-where, it was significantly added, she would be more secure than either
-at Ashridge or Dunnington. On the score of ill-health she disobeyed the
-summons, fortifying the house, and assembling around it some numbers of
-armed retainers.
-
-[Illustration:
-
- From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting by Joannes Corvus in
- the National Portrait Gallery.
-
-HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, K.G.]
-
-The hopes built by the insurgents upon the general discontent
-throughout the country were doomed to disappointment. It was one thing
-to disapprove of the Queen’s choice; it was quite another to take up
-arms against her. Devonshire proved cold; most of the leaders there
-were seized, or compelled to make their escape to France; Crofts had
-been pursued to Wales, and was arrested before he had time to rally any
-support in the principality.
-
-Suffolk had done no better in the Midlands. Authorities are divided
-as to his intentions. By Dr. Lingard it is considered uncertain
-whether he meant to press Elizabeth’s claims or to revive those of his
-daughter. With either upon the throne the dominance of the Protestant
-religion would have been ensured, and, unlike Northumberland, Suffolk
-was sincere and honest in his attachment to the principles of the
-Reformation. Other writers, however, assert categorically that he
-caused Lady Jane to be proclaimed at his halting-places as he went
-north; and the sequel seems to make it probable that she had been once
-more forced into a position of dangerous prominence.
-
-Whatever may have been the exact nature of the scheme he propounded,
-the country made no response to his appeal; after a skirmish near
-Coventry he gave up hopes of any immediate success, disbanded his
-followers, and, betrayed by a tenant upon whose fidelity he had
-believed he could count, fell into the hands of those in pursuit of
-him. By February 10 he had gone to swell the numbers of the prisoners
-in the Tower.
-
-The rising in Kent had alone answered in any degree to the expectations
-of its promoters. Drawn into the conspiracy, if his own assertions are
-to be credited, by Courtenay, Wyatt had become the most conspicuous
-leader of the insurrection known by his name. He was well fitted
-for the post. Brave, skilful, and secret, he was, says Noailles, “un
-gentilhomme le plus vaillant et assuré que j’ai jamais ouï parler”; and
-whether or not he had been deserted by the man to whom it was due that
-he had taken up arms, he was not disposed to submit to defeat without a
-struggle.
-
-Fixing his headquarters at Rochester, he had gathered together a body
-of some fifteen thousand men, and was there found by the Duke of
-Norfolk, sent at the head of the Queen’s forces against him. The utmost
-enthusiasm prevailed amongst the insurgents, and when a herald arrived
-in Rochester commissioned by the Duke to proclaim a pardon for all who
-would consent to lay down arms, “each man cried that they had done
-nothing wherefore they should need any pardon, and that quarrel which
-they took they would die and live in it.”[211] Sir George Harper was in
-fact the sole rebel who accepted the proffered boon.
-
-Worse was to follow. At the first encounter of the royal troops with
-the Kentish men Captain Bret, leading five hundred Londoners, went
-over to the rebels, explaining in a spirited speech the grounds for
-his desertion, the miseries which might be expected to befall the
-nation should the Spaniards bear rule over it, and expressing his
-determination to spend his blood “in the quarrel of this worthy
-captain, Master Wyatt.”[212]
-
-It was an ominous beginning to the struggle, and at the applause
-greeting Bret’s announcement, the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Ormond,
-and Jerningham, Captain of the Guard, fled. Wyatt, taking instant
-advantage of the situation, rode in amongst the Queen’s troops, crying
-out that any who desired to join him should be welcome and that those
-who wished might depart.
-
-Most of the men accepted the alternative of throwing in their lot with
-Wyatt and his company, leaving their leaders to return without them
-to London. “Ye should have seen,” adds the diarist, from whom these
-details and many others of this episode are taken, “some of the Guard
-come home, their coats turned, all ruined, without arrows or string in
-their bow, or sword, in very strange wise; which discomfiture, like
-as it was very heart-sore and displeasing to the Queen and Council,
-even so it was almost no less joyous to the Londoners and most part of
-others.”
-
-With the capital in this temper, the juncture was a critical one. Wyatt
-was marching on London, and who could say what reception he would
-meet with at the hands of the discontented populace? The fact that he
-was encountered at Deptford by a deputation from the Council, sent to
-inquire into his demands, is proof of the apprehensions entertained.
-The interview did not end amicably. Flushed with victory, Wyatt was not
-disposed to be moderate. To Sir Edward Hastings, who asked the reason
-why, calling himself a true subject, he played the part of a traitor,
-he answered boldly that he had assembled the people to defend the realm
-from the danger of being overrun by strangers, a result which must
-follow from the proposed marriage of the Queen.
-
-Hastings temporised. No stranger was yet come who need be suspected.
-Therefore, if this was their only quarrel, the Queen would be content
-they should be heard.
-
-“To that I yield,” returned Wyatt warily, “but for my further surety I
-would rather be trusted than trust.”
-
-In carrying out this principle of caution it was reported that he had
-pressed his demand for confidence so far as to require that the custody
-of the Tower, and the Queen’s person within it, should be conceded to
-him. If this was the case, he can scarcely have felt much surprise
-that the negotiations were brought to an abrupt conclusion, Hastings
-replying hotly that before his traitorous conditions should be granted,
-Wyatt and twenty thousand with him should die. And thus the conference
-ended.[213]
-
-London was in a ferment. Mayor, aldermen, and many of the citizens went
-about in armour, “the lawyers pleaded their causes in harness,” and
-when Dr. Weston said Mass before the Queen on Ash Wednesday he wore
-a coat of mail beneath his vestments. There had been no need to bid
-the Spanish ambassadors to depart, those gentlemen having prudently
-decamped as speedily as possible. Upon February 2 Mary in person
-proceeded to the Guildhall, and, there meeting the chief amongst the
-citizens, made them a speech which was an admirable combination of
-appeal and independence, and showed that if outwardly she bore no
-resemblance to father or sister the Tudor spirit was alive in her. She
-had come, she said, to tell them what they already knew--of the treason
-of the Kentish rebels, who demanded the possession of her person, the
-keeping of the Tower, and the placing and displacing of her counsellors.
-
-That day marked the crisis in the progress of the insurrection. Mary’s
-visit to the Guildhall had taken place on February 2. When on the
-following day Wyatt, leaving Deptford, marched to Southwark the tide
-had turned. His followers were falling away; no other part of the
-country was in arms to support him; and his position was becoming
-desperate. His daring, nevertheless, did not fail. A price had been
-put upon his head, and, aware of the proclamation, he caused his name
-to be “fair written,” and set it on his cap. The act of bravado was
-characteristic of the spirit of the popular leader.
-
-Meantime the measures to be taken against him were anxiously
-discussed. On the 4th Sir Nicholas Poynings, on duty at the Tower,
-waited upon the Queen to receive her orders, and to learn whether the
-ordnance was to be directed upon Southwark, and the houses knocked down
-upon the heads of Wyatt and his men, quartered in that district.
-
-Mary, to her honour, refused to authorise the drastic mode of attack.
-
-“Nay,” she replied, “that were pity; for many poor men and householders
-are like to be undone there and killed. For, God willing, they shall be
-fought with to-morrow.”
-
-The innocent were not to be involved in the destruction of the guilty.
-Her decision was unwelcome at the Tower. The night before Sir John
-Bridges had expressed his surprise to the sentinel on duty that the
-rebels had not yet been fought.
-
-“By God’s mother,” he added, “I fear there is some traitor abroad, that
-they be suffered all this while. For surely if it had been about my
-sentry [or beat] I would have fought with them myself, by God’s grace.”
-
-Wyatt, strangely enough, was no less pitiful than the Queen. Although
-she had refused permission for the discharge of the guns, they had been
-directed by those responsible for them upon the spot where the rebel
-body was stationed; and, in terror of a cannonade, the inhabitants, men
-and women, approached the insurgent leader “in most lamentable wise,”
-setting forth the danger his presence was bringing upon them, and
-praying him for the love of God to have pity. The appeal was not made
-in vain.
-
-“At which words he, being partly abashed, stayed awhile, and then said
-these, or much like words, ‘I pray you, my friends, content yourselves
-a little, and I will soon ease you of this mischief. For God forbid
-that you, or the least child here, should be hurt or killed on my
-behalf,’ and so in most speedy manner marched away.”
-
-A meeting was to have taken place before sunrise with some of the
-disaffected in the City. By this means it had been hoped that a
-surprise might be contrived. But a portion of Kingston Bridge, where
-the river was to be crossed, had been destroyed; time was lost in
-repairing it, and the assignation at Ludgate was missed. The scheme
-had supplied Wyatt’s last chance and failure was staring him in the
-face. Rats were leaving the sinking vessel. The Protestant Bishop of
-Winchester, who had hitherto lent the countenance of his presence in
-the camp to the insurgents, fled beyond seas; Sir George Harper, having
-rejoined Wyatt’s forces, deserted for the second time, and made his
-way to St. James’s to give warning to the Court of the approach of the
-rebel leader.
-
-Such being the condition of things, it is singular to find that at the
-palace something like a panic was prevailing. Mary was entreated by
-her ministers to seek safety at the Tower; and, though deciding in the
-end to remain at her post, she appears at first to have been inclined
-to act upon the suggestion. A plan of action was determined upon in
-a hurried consultation. Wyatt, it was agreed, was to be permitted to
-reach the City, with a certain number of his followers, and having been
-thus detached from the main body of his troops it was hoped that he
-would be trapped and seized.
-
-In the meantime arrangements were made for the defence of the Queen and
-the palace. Edward Underhyll, the Hot-Gospeller for whose child Lady
-Jane had stood godmother six months earlier, and who was on duty as a
-gentleman-pensioner at St. James’s, has left a graphic account of the
-scene there that night, and of the terror of the Queen’s ladies when
-the pensioners, armed with pole-axes, were placed on guard in their
-mistress’s apartments. The breach of etiquette appears to have struck
-them as an earnest of the peril to which it was owing. Was such a sight
-ever seen, they cried, wringing their hands, that the Queen’s chamber
-should be full of armed men?
-
-Underhyll, for his part, soon received his dismissal. As the usher
-charged with the duty looked at the list of the pensioners before
-calling them over, his eye was caught by the well-known name of the
-Hot-Gospeller.
-
-“By God’s Body,” he said, “that heretic shall not watch here!” and
-Underhyll, taking his men with him, and professing satisfaction at his
-exemption from duty, went his way.
-
-By the morning he had reconsidered the matter, and thought it well to
-ignore his rebuff and return to his post. For the present, he joined
-company with one of the Throckmortons, who had just left the palace
-after reporting there the welcome tidings of the capture of the Duke of
-Suffolk at Coventry, the two proceeding together to Ludgate, intending
-to pass the remainder of the night in the City. The gate, however, was
-found to be fast locked, and those on guard within explained, with much
-ill-timed laughter, to the tired wayfarers outside, that they were not
-entrusted with the keys, and could give admittance to none.
-
-It was disconcerting intelligence to men in search of a lodging and
-repose; and Throckmorton, in especial, fresh from his hurried journey,
-felt that he was hardly treated.
-
-“I am weary and faint,” he complained, “and I wax now cold.” No man
-would open his door in this dangerous time, and he would perish that
-night. Such was his piteous lament.
-
-Underhyll, a man of resource, had a plan to propose.
-
-“Let us go to Newgate,” he suggested. He thought himself secure of
-an entrance there into the city. At the worst, he had acquaintances
-within the prison--like most men at that day--having recently been
-in confinement there. The door of the keeper of the gaol was without
-the gate, and Underhyll entertained no doubts of finding a hospitable
-reception in his old quarters. Throckmorton, it was true, declared
-at first that he would almost as soon die in the street as seek so
-ill-omened a refuge; but in the end the two proceeded thither, and, a
-friend of Underhyll’s being fortunately in command of the guard placed
-outside the gate, the wanderers were permitted to enter the City.
-
-Whilst consternation and alarm were felt at the palace at the tidings
-of Wyatt’s approach, the rebel leader himself must have been aware that
-the game had been played and lost. Yet he kept up a bold front, and
-refused to acknowledge that he was beaten.
-
-“Twice have I knocked, and not been suffered to enter,” he was reported
-to have said. “If I knock the third time I will come in, by God’s
-grace.”
-
-They were brave words. An incident of his march to Kingston
-nevertheless sounds the note of a consciousness of impending defeat.
-Meeting, as he went, a merchant of London who was known to him, he
-charged him with a greeting to his fellow-citizens. “And say unto them
-from me that when liberty and freedom was offered them they would not
-accept it, neither would they admit me within their gates, who for
-their freedom and the disburthening of their griefs and oppression by
-strangers would have frankly spent my blood in that their cause and
-quarrel; ... therefore they are the less to be bemoaned hereafter when
-the miserable tyranny of strangers shall oppress them.”
-
-It may be that by some amongst the men to whom the message was sent his
-words were remembered thereafter.
-
-Still the insurgents pushed on. By nine in the morning Knightsbridge
-was reached. Disheartened, weary, and faint for lack of food, they
-were in no condition to stand against the Queen’s troops. But the mere
-fact of their vicinity was disquieting to those in no position to form
-a correct estimate of their strength or weakness, and when Underhyll
-returned to the palace he found confusion and turmoil there.
-
-His men were stationed in the hall, which was to be their special
-charge. Sir John Gage, with part of the guard, was placed outside the
-gate, the rest of the guard were within the great courtyard; the Queen
-occupying the gallery by the gatehouse, whence she could watch what
-should befall.
-
-This was the disposition of the defenders, when suddenly a body of the
-rebels made their way to the very gates of the palace. A struggle took
-place; Gage and three of the judges who had been with him retreated
-hurriedly within the gates, Sir John, who was old, stumbling in his
-haste and falling in the mire. Within all was in disorder. The gates
-had clanged to behind Gage, his soldiers, and the men of law, as
-they gained the shelter of the courtyard. Without the rebels were
-using their bows and arrows. The guard stationed in the outer court,
-attempting to make good their entrance to the hall, were forcibly
-ejected by the gentlemen pensioners in charge of it. Poor Gage--“so
-frighted that he could not speak to us”--and the three judges, also in
-such terror that force would have been necessary to keep them out, were
-alone admitted to the comparative safety it afforded.
-
-There was in truth little reason for alarm. The manœuvre decided upon
-during the night had been executed. The Queen’s troops, Pembroke at
-their head, had deliberately permitted Wyatt to break through their
-lines, and, with some hundreds of his men, to proceed eastward. Behind
-him the enemy had closed up, and he was separated from the main body of
-the rebels, thus left leaderless to be engaged by the royal forces. The
-Queen’s orders had been successfully carried out. But to the anxious
-watchers in the palace the affair may have worn the aspect of a defeat,
-if not of a treason, and there were not wanting those who suspected
-Pembroke of a betrayal of his trust. A shout was raised that all was
-lost.
-
-“Away, away! a barge, a barge!--let the Queen be placed in safety!” was
-the cry.
-
-Again Mary was to show that she was a Tudor. She would not beat a
-retreat before rebels. Where, she inquired, was the Earl of Pembroke?
-and receiving the answer that he was in the field, “Well then,” she
-said, “fall to prayer, and I warrant you that we shall have better news
-anon, for my lord will not deceive me, I know well. If he would, God
-will not, in Whom my chief trust is, Who will not deceive me.”
-
-Though it was well to have confidence in God, men with arms in their
-hands would have liked to use them, and the pensioners entreated
-Sir Richard Southwell, in authority within the palace, to have the
-gates opened that they might try a fall with the enemy; else, they
-threatened, they would break them down. It was too much shame that the
-doors should be shut upon a few rebels.
-
-Southwell was quite of the same mind; and, interceding with Mary,
-obtained her leave for the pensioners to have their way, provided they
-would not go out of her sight, since her trust was in them--a command
-she reiterated as, the gates being thrown open, the band marched under
-the gallery, where she still kept her place. It was not long before her
-confidence in the commander of the royal troops was justified, and news
-was brought that put an end to all fear. Wyatt was taken.
-
-At the head of that body of his men who had been allowed to clear the
-enemy’s lines, he had ridden on towards the City, had passed Temple
-Bar and Fleet Street, till Ludgate was reached. There he halted. He
-had kept his tryst, fulfilled the pledge he had given, and knocked,
-as he had promised, at the gate. Let them open to him; Wyatt was
-there--successful so long, he may have thought there was magic in the
-name--Wyatt was there; the Queen had granted their requests.
-
-The City remained unmoved; and, in terms of insult, Sir William Howard
-refused him entrance.
-
-“Avaunt, traitor,” he said, barring the way, “thou shalt not come in
-here.”
-
-It was the last blow. The poor chance that the City might have lent its
-aid had constituted the single remaining possibility of a retrieval
-of the fortunes of the insurrection. That vanished, the end was
-inevitable. London had blustered, had expressed its detestation for the
-Spanish match, had paraded its Protestantism; it was now plain that it
-had not meant business, and the man who had taken it at its word was
-doomed.
-
-A strange little scene followed--a scene forming an interlude, as it
-were, in the tumult and excitement of the hour. It may be that the
-effects of the strain and fatigue of the last weeks, of the hopes
-and fears that had filled them, of the march of the night before,
-unlightened by any genuine anticipation of victory, were suddenly felt
-by the man who had borne the burden and heat of the day. At any rate,
-turning without further parley, he made his way back to the Bel Savage
-Inn, and there “awhile stayed, and, as some say, rested him upon a
-seat.” Sitting there, trapped by his enemies, in “the shirt of mail,
-with sleeves very fair, velvet cassock, and the fair hat of velvet with
-broad bone-work lace” he had worn that day, he may have looked on and
-seen the future bounded by a scaffold. Then, rousing himself, he rose,
-and returned by the way he had come, until Temple Bar was reached.
-
-Though the combat was there renewed, all must have known that further
-resistance was vain, and at length, yielding to a remonstrance at the
-shedding of useless blood, Wyatt consented to acknowledge his defeat
-and to yield himself a prisoner to Sir Maurice Berkeley. He had fought
-the battle of many men who had taken no weapon in hand to support him.
-When false hopes had at one time been entertained of his success “many
-hollow hearts rejoiced in London at the same.” But scant sympathy will
-have been shown to the vanquished.
-
-It remained to consign the captives to the universal house of
-detention. By five o’clock in the afternoon, as the spring day was
-closing in, Wyatt and five of his comrades had been conducted to the
-Tower by Jerningham. They arrived by water, and were met at the
-bulwark by Sir Philip Denny, who greeted the prisoners with words of
-fierce upbraiding.
-
-“Go, traitor,” he said, as Wyatt passed by, “there was never such a
-traitor in England.”
-
-Wyatt turned upon him.
-
-“I am no traitor,” he answered. “I would thou should well know thou art
-more traitor than I; and it is not the part of an honest man to call me
-so.”
-
-He was right; but courtesy to the defeated was no article of the code
-of the day. At the Tower Gate Sir John Bridges, the Lieutenant, stood,
-likewise ready to receive and to revile his prisoners. To each in turn
-he addressed some varied form of abuse, taking Wyatt, who came last, by
-the collar “in very rigorous manner,” and shaking him.
-
-“‘Thou villain and unhappy traitor,’ he cried, ... ‘if it were not that
-the law must justly pass upon thee, I would strike thee through with my
-dagger.’
-
-“To whom Wyatt made no answer, but, holding his arms under his side,
-and looking grievously with a grim look upon the said Lieutenant, said,
-‘It is no mastery now,’ and so they passed on.”
-
-Thus ended Wyatt’s rebellion. Together with her father’s treason, it
-had sealed Lady Jane’s fate, and that of the boy-husband who shared her
-captivity.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XXIII
-
-1554
-
- Lady Jane and her husband doomed--Her dispute with
- Feckenham--Gardiner’s sermon--Farewell messages--Last
- hours--Guilford Dudley’s execution--Lady Jane’s death.
-
-
-Those anxious days when the fortunes of England and its Queen appeared
-once more to hang in the balance had sealed the fate of the prisoners
-in the Tower. They must die. Mary had been warned that the clemency
-shown to her little cousin was unwise; she had struggled against the
-counsellors who had striven to convince her that the usurper, so long
-as she lived, was a menace to the peace of the realm, and the stability
-of her government. Their warnings had been justified, and Jane must pay
-the penalty.
-
-What was to be done was to be done quickly. It was perhaps feared
-that, with leisure to reconsider the matter, the Queen would even now
-retract her consent to deliver up the victim; nor was there any excuse
-for delay. The boy and girl already lay under sentence of death; it
-was only necessary to carry it into effect. So far as this life was
-concerned Lady Jane’s doom was fixed.
-
-It remained to take thought for her soul. With death staring them in
-the face, many had been lately found willing to conform their faith
-to the Queen’s. Why should it not be so with the Queen’s cousin? To
-compass this object Mary’s chaplain, Dr. Feckenham, the new Dean of St.
-Paul’s, was sent to plead with the captive, and to strive to reconcile
-her with God and the Church before she went hence.
-
-The ambassador was well chosen. Learned and devout, he had been bred
-a Benedictine, and had, under Henry VIII., suffered imprisonment
-on account of his faith; until Sir Philip Hoby, in his own words,
-“borrowed him of the Tower.” Since then it had been his habit to hold
-disputations, “earnest yet modest,” according to Fuller, in defence of
-his religion, and was honoured by Mary and Elizabeth alike. This was
-the man to whom was entrusted the difficult task of convincing Lady
-Jane of her errors. It was scarcely to be anticipated that he would
-succeed, but he seems to have performed the thankless duty laid upon
-him with gentleness and good feeling.
-
-Arrived at the Tower--his whilom place of captivity--Feckenham, after
-some preliminary courtesies, disclosed the object of his visit, adding
-certain persuasive arguments, to which the prisoner made reply that
-he had delayed too long, and time was over-short to allow her to give
-attention to these matters. The answer, in whatever sense it was
-meant, was sufficiently ambiguous to afford a sanguine and anxious
-man grounds for hope that, with leisure for discussion, he might
-win a favourable hearing; considering his proposed convert “in very
-good dispositions,” he went to seek the Queen; and, describing his
-interview, had no difficulty in inducing her to grant a three-days’
-reprieve. Friday, February 9, had been at first appointed for the
-execution, and when--for reasons undisclosed to the public--it was
-deferred until the following Monday, the change may have given rise
-in some quarters to expectations unwarranted by the event. There were
-those determined to hold Mary to her purpose.
-
-On Sunday, the 11th, Gardiner preached before the Queen, dealing first
-with the doctrine of free will; secondly, with the institution of
-Lent; thirdly, with the necessity of good works; and fourthly, with
-Protestant errors. After which he came to the practical question in all
-men’s minds. He asked a boon of the Queen’s Highness--that, like as
-she had beforetime extended her mercy, particularly and privately, so
-through her lenity and gentleness much conspiracy and open rebellion
-were grown, according to the proverb, _nimia familiaritas parit
-contemptum_, which he brought in for the purpose that she would now
-be merciful to the body of the Commonwealth and conservation thereof,
-which could not be unless the rotten and hurtful members thereof
-were cut off and consumed. “And thus he ended soon after, whereby all
-the audience did gather there should shortly follow sharp and cruel
-execution.”[214]
-
-Whether or not Gardiner’s discourse was directed against a tendency to
-waver in her intention on the part of his mistress, it was proved that
-there was nothing in that direction to be apprehended. Meantime, armed
-with the boon he had obtained, Feckenham had returned to the Tower, to
-beg the captive to make use of the reprieve for the salvation of her
-soul.
-
-Lady Jane’s reply was not encouraging. She had not, she told him,
-intended her words to be repeated to the Queen; she had already
-abandoned worldly things, had no thought of fear, and was prepared to
-meet death patiently in whatsoever form might please the Queen. To the
-flesh it was indeed painful, but her soul was joyful at quitting this
-darkness, and rising, as by God’s mercy she hoped to rise, to eternal
-light.[215]
-
-It was not to be expected that the priest, a good man, full of zeal for
-his religion and of solicitude for the dying culprit, would consent
-to relinquish, without an effort, the attempt to utilise the respite
-he had been granted. Of what followed accounts vary, according to
-the theological proclivities of the narrator of the scene, an early
-pamphlet asserting that Feckenham, finding himself, in reasoning,
-“in all holy gifts so short of [Lady Jane’s] excellence that he
-acknowledged himself fitter to be her disciple than teacher, thereupon
-humbly besought her to deliver unto him some brief sum of her faith
-which he might hereafter keep, and as a faithful witness publish to
-the world; to which she willingly condescended, and bade him boldly
-question her in what points of religion soever it pleased him.”[216]
-
-The attitude ascribed to Queen Mary’s chaplain would seem more likely
-to be due to imagination than to fact. It appears, however, that a
-species of “catechising argument” did in truth take place in the
-presence of witnesses, an account of which was set down in writing, and
-received Lady Jane’s signature. The only result of the discussion was
-the strengthening rather than shaking of her convictions; and though it
-was not until she stood upon the scaffold that the last farewells of
-the disputants were taken, Feckenham must soon have been aware that his
-efforts would be made in vain. It may be hoped that to the imagination
-of the chronicler is again to be ascribed the manner of the parting of
-the two on this first occasion, when, feeling himself to be worsted
-in argument, Feckenham is said to have “grown into a little choler,”
-and used language unsuitable to his gravity, received with smiles and
-patience by the cause of his irritation. It is further stated that to
-a final speech of her visitor, to the effect that he was sorry for her
-obstinacy, and was certain that they would meet no more, Lady Jane, not
-altogether with the meekness attributed to her, retorted that his words
-were indeed most true, since, unless he should repent, he was in a sad
-and desperate case, and she prayed God that, as He had given him His
-great gift of utterance, He might open his heart to His truth.[217]
-
-So the days passed, and the fatal one was at hand. On Saturday,
-February 10, the Duke of Suffolk, with his brother, Lord John Grey,
-had been brought prisoners to the Tower; but it does not appear
-that any meeting took place between father and daughter, and Lady
-Jane’s leave-taking was made in writing; sentences of farewell being
-inscribed by her and her husband in a manual of prayers belonging, as
-is conjectured, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, and used by her on the
-scaffold. In this volume three sentences were written.
-
- “Your loving and obedient son,” wrote Guilford, “wisheth unto your
- Grace long life in this world, with as much joy and comfort as
- ever I wished to myself, and in the world to come joy everlasting.
-
- G. DUDDELEY.”
-
-Jane’s farewell followed:
-
- “The Lord comfort your Grace, and that in His word wherein all
- creatures only are to be comforted. And though it has pleased God
- to take away two of your children, yet think not, I most humbly
- beseech your Grace, that you have lost them, but trust that we,
- by leaving this mortal life, have won an immortal life. And I,
- for my part, as I have honoured your Grace in this life, will
- pray for you in another life.
-
- “Your Grace’s humble daughter,
- “JANE DUDDELEY.”
-
-The same book bears another inscription addressed to the Lieutenant of
-the Tower, Bridges, apparently at his own request.
-
- “Forasmuch as you have desired,” Jane wrote, “so simple a woman to
- write in so worthy a book, good Master Lieutenant, therefore I
- shall as a friend desire you, and as a Christian require you, to
- call upon God to incline your heart to His laws, to quicken you
- in His way, and not to take the word of truth utterly out of your
- mouth. Live still to die, that by death you may purchase eternal
- life, and remember the end of Methuselah, who, as we read in the
- Scriptures, was the longest liver that was of a man, died at the
- last; for as the preacher saith, there is a time to be born and a
- time to die, and the day of death is better than the day of our
- birth. Yours, as the Lord knoweth, as a friend,
-
- “JANE DUDDELEY.”
-
-Such an admonition to the Lieutenant, written when death was very near,
-is characteristic. It was ever Lady Jane’s custom to use her pen, and
-the habit clung to her. Tradition asserts that three sentences, the one
-in Greek, the other in Latin, and the third in English, were written by
-her in yet another book; and though it has been argued that she would
-have been in no condition to compose epigrams in the dead languages
-at a moment when death was staring her in the face, there is nothing
-improbable in the story, unsupported as it is by evidence. As a man
-lives, he dies; and Jane had been a scholar and a moralist from her
-cradle.
-
-“If justice dwells in my body”--thus the sentences are said to have
-run--“my soul will receive it from the mercy of God.--Death will pay
-the penalty of my fault, but my soul will be justified before the Face
-of God.--If my fault merited chastisement, my youth, at least, and my
-imprudence, deserved excuse. God and posterity will show me grace.”
-
-A letter of exhortation addressed to her sister Katherine likewise
-remains, another proof of her desire to impress upon others the lessons
-life had taught her. Having been reading, the night before her death,
-in “a fair New Testament in Greek,” she found, on closing it, some
-few leaves of clean paper, unwritten, at the end of the volume, and
-made use of them to convey her final farewell to the sister she was
-leaving behind, giving it in charge to her servant as a token of love
-and remembrance. As might have been expected, with the thought of
-the morrow before her, death was the recurrent burden of her theme.
-“Live still to die,” she told little Katherine, as she had told the
-Lieutenant of the Tower, “and that by death you may purchase eternal
-life; and trust not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen your
-life ... for as soon will the Lord be glorified in the young as in
-the old.... Once more let me entreat thee to learn to die.... Desire
-with St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ, with whom even in
-death there is life.... As touching my death, rejoice as I do ... that
-I shall be delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption; for I
-am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal life, win one that is
-immortal, joyful, and everlasting.”
-
-Another composition is extant, said to belong to this last period, and
-showing the writer, it may be, in a more pathetic light than that
-thrown upon her by disputes with controversialists, or exhortations to
-those she left behind. This is a prayer, exhibiting not so much the
-premature woman as the child--a child, it is true, facing death with
-steadfast faith and resignation, but nevertheless frightened, unhappy,
-“unquieted with troubles, wrapped in cares, overwhelmed with miseries,
-vexed with temptations ... craving Thy mercy and help, without the
-which so little hope of deliverance is left that I may utterly despair
-of my liberty.”[218]
-
-Of liberty it was, in truth, time to despair. It is said that for two
-hours on this last night two bishops, with other divines, made a vain
-attempt to accomplish the conversion that Feckenham had failed to
-effect[218]; after which we may hope that, worn out and exhausted, the
-prisoner forgot her troubles in sleep. And so the night passed away.
-
-In another part of the great fortress young Guilford Dudley was also
-preparing for the end. It is said[219] that, “desiring to give his wife
-the last kisses and embraces,” he begged for an interview, but that she
-refused the request--not disallowed by Mary--replying that, could sight
-have given souls comfort, she would have been very willing; that since
-it would only increase the misery of each, and bring greater grief, it
-would be best to put off their meeting, since soon they would see each
-other in another place and live joined for ever by an indissoluble tie.
-If the story is true, there is something a little inhuman--or perhaps
-only belonging to the coldness of a child--in the wisdom which, at that
-moment, could weigh and balance the disadvantages of a leave-taking and
-refuse it. It is not, however, out of character.
-
-It had been at first intended that the two should suffer together
-on Tower Hill. Fearing the effect upon the populace, the order was
-cancelled, and it was decided that, whilst Guilford’s execution should
-take place as originally arranged, Lady Jane should meet her death
-within the precincts of the Tower itself. As the lad, led to his doom,
-passed below her window, the two looked upon each other for the last
-time. Young Dudley met the end bravely. Taking Sir Anthony Browne,
-John Throckmorton and others by the hand, he asked their prayers;
-then, attended by no priest or minister, he knelt to pray, “holding up
-his eyes and hands to God many times,” before the executioner did his
-work and he went to join the father who was responsible for his fate,
-“bewailed with lamentable tears” even by those of the spectators who
-till that day had never seen him.[220]
-
-A ghastly incident, variously recorded, followed. His body thrown into
-a cart, and his head wrapped in a cloth, he was brought into the
-Tower chapel, where Lady Jane, having probably left her apartments
-on her way to her own place of execution, encountered the cart and
-those in charge of it, seeing the husband who had passed beneath her
-window a few minutes earlier living, taken from it a corpse--a sight
-to her, says the chronicler, no less than death. It “a little startled
-her,” observes another narrator, “and many tears were seen to descend
-and fall upon her cheeks, which her silence and great heart soon
-dried.”[221] According to a third account, she addressed the dead.
-
-“Oh, Guilford, Guilford,” she is made to exclaim, “the antepast that
-you have tasted and I shall soon taste, is not so bitter as to make
-my flesh tremble; for all this is nothing to the feast that you and I
-shall partake this day in Paradise.”
-
-It had been ten o’clock when Guilford had left his prison. By the time
-that the first act of the tragedy was over, a scaffold had been erected
-upon the green over against the White Tower, and led by the Lieutenant,
-the chief victim was brought forth, “her countenance nothing abashed,
-neither her eyes moisted with tears,”[222] as she moved onwards, a book
-in her hand--the same she gave afterwards to Sir John Bridges--from
-which she prayed all the way until the scaffold was reached. With
-her were her two gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tylney and Eleyn, who both
-“wonderfully wept” as they accompanied their mistress; and Feckenham
-was also present, her kindly opponent, perhaps even now hoping against
-hope that success might crown his efforts. As the two stood together at
-the place of execution, she took him by the hand, and, embracing him,
-bade him leave her--desiring, it may be, to spare him the sight of what
-was to follow. Might God our Lord, she said, give him all his desires;
-she was grateful for his company, although it had given her more
-disquiet than, now, the fear of death.[223]
-
-Like most of her fellow-sufferers she had come prepared with a speech.
-That her sentence was lawful she admitted, but reasserted the absence
-on her part of any desire for her elevation to the throne, “touching
-the procurement and desire thereof by me or my half, I do wash my hands
-in innocency before God and the face of you, good Christian people,
-this day,” and therewith she wrung her hands, in which she had her
-book; proceeding to make confession of the faith in which she died,
-owning that she had neglected the word of God, and loved herself and
-the world, and thereby merited her punishment. “And yet I thank God
-that He hath thus given me time and respite to repent. And now, good
-people, while I am alive, I pray you to assist me with your prayers.”
-
-After this, kneeling down, she turned to Feckenham, who had not availed
-himself of her suggestion that he should leave her.
-
-“Shall I say this psalm?” she asked him; and on his assenting repeated
-the _Miserere_ in English, before, rising again, she prepared for the
-end, giving her book to Bridges, brother to the Lieutenant, who stood
-by, and her gloves and handkerchief to one of her ladies. With her
-own hands she untied her gown, rejecting the aid of the executioner,
-and, turning to her maids for assistance, removed her “frose
-paast”--probably some kind of head-dress--let down her hair, throwing
-it over her eyes, and knit a “fair handkerchief” about them.
-
-After kneeling for her forgiveness, the executioner directed her to
-take her place on the straw.
-
-“Then she said,
-
-“‘I pray you despatch me quickly.’
-
-“Then she kneeled down, saying,
-
-“‘Will you take it off before I lay me down?’
-
-“And the hangman answered her,
-
-“‘No, madame.’”
-
-The handkerchief was bound about her eyes, blinding her.
-
-“What shall I do?” she said, feeling for the block. “Where is it?”
-
-Then, as some one standing near guided her, she laid down her head,
-and saying, “Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” met the blow of
-the executioner.
-
-Thus died Lady Jane Grey, most guiltless of traitors; who, to quote
-Fuller’s panegyric, possessed, at sixteen, the innocency of childhood,
-the beauty of youth, the solidity of middle, and the gravity of old,
-age; who had had the birth of a princess, the learning of a clerk, the
-life of a saint, and the death of a malefactor.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX
-
-
- Annebaut, Admiral d’, French ambassador, 33
-
- Arundel, Earl of, 222, 236, 240, 241, 242, 247, 249-51, 253, 262, 287
-
- Ascham, Roger, 141-4, 152
-
- Ashley, Katherine, Princess Elizabeth’s governess, 88-91, 110, 115,
- 116
-
- Ashridge, Princess Elizabeth at, 294
-
- Askew, Anne, Trial and execution of, 36-41
-
- Aylmer, John, Lady Jane’s tutor, 143, 149, 150, 152, 154-7, 165
-
-
- Baker, Sir Richard, 204
-
- Barnes, Dr., burnt, 6
-
- Bath, Earl of, 231
-
- Baynard’s Castle, Meeting at, 240
-
- Bel Savage Inn, Wyatt at, 309
-
- Berkeley, Sir Maurice, Wyatt surrenders to, 309
-
- Bloody Statute, The, 4
-
- Bodoaro, Venetian ambassador to Charles V., 198
-
- Bonner, Dr., Bishop of London, 32, 38, 175, 255, 256
-
- Borough, Lord, Katherine Parr’s first husband, 19
-
- Bradgate Park, 25 _seq._
-
- Brandon, Charles, Duke of Suffolk, 24
-
- Bret, Captain, 296
-
- Bridges, Sir John, Lieutenant of the Tower, 300, 310, 317, 318
-
- Bromley, Sir Thomas, 204
-
- Browne, Sir Anthony, 61, 166, 261, 321
-
- Bucer, the reformer, 150, 151
-
- Bullinger, Henry, 145-55, 161, 165, 179, 180, 211
-
- Burgoyne, 159
-
-
- Calvin, 159
-
- Cecil, Secretary, 160, 179, 227, 240
-
- Charles V., The Emperor, 2, 49, 176, 277, 288
-
- Cheke, John, Edward VI.’s tutor, 22
-
- Clerkenwell, Lady Jane visits Mary at, 183
-
- Commendone, the Pope’s agent, 262
-
- Corriers, Sieur de, 290
-
- Courtenay, Edward, afterwards Earl of Devonshire, 255, 275-7, 280,
- 290, 292-4
-
- Cox, Dr., tutor to Edward VI., 22
-
- Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 7, 8-10, 59, 62, 72, 131, 133, 135,
- 152, 153, 174, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285
-
- Crofts, Sir John, 294
-
- Crome, Dr., 34
-
- Cromwell, Thomas, 5;
- executed, 6, 7
-
- Culpeper, Thomas, 11
-
-
- Darcy, Lord, 240, 256
-
- Day, Bishop, 175
-
- Denmark, King of, 277
-
- Denny, Sir Anthony, 58
-
- -- Sir Philip, 310
-
- Deptford, Wyatt at, 297
-
- Diego, Don, 229
-
- Dorset, Marchioness of, afterwards Duchess of Suffolk. _See_ Suffolk
-
- Dorset, Marquis of, afterwards Duke of Suffolk. _See_ Suffolk
-
- Dudley, Lord Guilford, married to Lady Jane Grey, 196 _seq._, 221,
- 222, 229, 237, 238, 283;
- attainted and sentenced, 284-6, 289, 316, 320;
- executed, 321, 322
-
- -- Sir Ambrose, 284
-
- -- _See_ Warwick and Northumberland
-
-
- Edward, Prince, afterwards Edward VI., 1;
- education, 22, 23;
- relations with Lady Jane, 28;
- and with Elizabeth, 29;
- his coronation, 62;
- his uncles, 83-85, 134-8, 162, 163, 169-71;
- illness, 172, 173, 175;
- religious scruples, 176;
- dying, 189, 193, 194, 199;
- his will, 202-7;
- death, 209;
- funeral, 256
-
- Egmont, Count of, 290
-
- Eleyn, Lady Jane Grey’s attendant, 323
-
- Elizabeth, Princess, 1, 13, 20, 29;
- Seymour her suitor, 70, 71, 73, 78;
- relations with Seymour, 88-91, 95, 108 _seq._, 155, 156;
- set aside by Edward’s will, 203;
- enters London with Mary, 253-5, 278, 279;
- at Mary’s coronation, 280, 281, 283, 292, 294
-
- Eyre, Christopher, 122
-
-
- Feckenham, Dr., Dean of St. Paul’s, 312, 314, 315, 316, 323, 324
-
- Fitzpatrick, Barnaby, 23, 162, 172, 208
-
- Florio, Michel Angelo, 192, 245
-
- Fowler, John, 85
-
- Fuller, quoted, 69, 159, 325
-
-
- Gage, Sir John, Constable of the Tower, 263, 305, 306
-
- Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, 7, 13, 16, 32, 39, 42 _seq._, 60, 64,
- 175, 255, 262, 286, 287, 288, 313, 314
-
- Garrard, burned, 6
-
- Gates, Sir John, 204, 215, 256;
- sentenced, 263, 265;
- executed, 266
-
- Grey, Lady Jane, 2, 23;
- childhood and education, 26;
- relations with her cousins, 28-30;
- consigned to Seymour’s custody, 67 _seq._;
- her parents’ severity, 69;
- with Queen Katherine Parr, 77 _seq._;
- reclaimed by her parents, 100-104;
- sent back to Seymour, 105-107, 166;
- return to Bradgate, 139;
- interview with Ascham, 141-4;
- intercourse with Protestant divines, 145-52;
- love of dress, 154, 155, 156, 165;
- visits Mary, 173;
- letter to Bullinger, 178, 179;
- visit to Mary, 183;
- at Tylsey, 188;
- her eulogists, 190, 191;
- Florio’s description of her, 192;
- her marriage, 196 _seq._;
- made Edward’s heiress, 203, _seq._;
- receives the news, 212, 217-220;
- at the Tower, 220;
- quarrels with Guilford Dudley, 221, 222;
- proclaimed, 223;
- her reign, 225;
- begs that her father may remain in London, 232;
- takes leave of Northumberland, 233;
- deposed, 244-6;
- returns to Sion House, _ibid._, 264;
- her fate uncertain, 269, 270, 271;
- conversation in the Tower, 271-4;
- letter to Hardinge 279, 280;
- attainted, 284;
- tried and sentenced, 285;
- indulgence shown her, 289, 295;
- her fate sealed, 311;
- interviews with Feckenham, 312, 314-16;
- her written farewells, 317-19;
- refuses to see Guilford Dudley, 320, 321;
- meets his body, 322;
- her execution, 323-5
-
- Grey, Lady Katherine, 196;
- Lady Jane’s letter to, 319
-
- -- Lord John, 293, 316
-
- -- Lord Leonard, 293
-
- -- _See_ Suffolk
-
-
- Haddon, James, 148, 149, 165, 179-83
-
- Hardinge, Lady Jane’s letter to, 279, 280
-
- Harper, Sir George, 296, 301
-
- Harrington, Lord Seymour’s servant, 67, 68, 104
-
- Hastings, Lord, 196
-
- -- Sir Edward, 298
-
- Heath, Bishop, 175
-
- Henry VIII., King, 1 _seq._, 34, 35, 36;
- displeased with his wife, 44 _seq._;
- reconciled with her, 47;
- dying, 48;
- death, 56 _seq._
-
- Herbert, Lady, 43, 45, 75
-
- -- Lord, of Cherbury, quoted, 44
-
- Hertford, Lord, son of the Protector, 87, 106
-
- -- _See_ Somerset
-
- Hoby, Sir Philip, 228, 229, 313
-
- Hooper, Bishop, 149
-
- Howard, Sir William, 308
-
- Hunsdon, Mary at, 184
-
- Huntingdon, Earl of, 218, 256
-
- Huyck, Dr. Robert, 98
-
-
- Jerningham, Captain of the Guard, 297, 309
-
- Jerome, burned, 6
-
-
- Katherine, Queen, of Aragon, 3
-
- -- Howard, Queen, 10, 11, 12
-
- -- Parr, Queen, 12;
- marriage to Henry, 13;
- her past, 14, 15;
- as Queen, 17 _seq._;
- Protestant sympathies, 41;
- plot against her, 43 _seq._;
- her escape, 47;
- Queen-dowager, 65;
- marriage to Lord Seymour, 69-77;
- married life, 80 _seq._;
- illness and death, 96-9
-
- Kett’s Rebellion, 130, 232
-
-
- Laing, Count of, 290
-
- Lane, Lady, Katherine Parr’s cousin, 43, 45
-
- Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, 5, 6, 94, 129, 130, 281, 282
-
- -- Lord, Katherine Parr’s second husband, 18
-
- Lee, Sir Richard a, 131
-
- Lovell, Thomas, 236, 251
-
-
- Maeterlinck, quoted, 78
-
- Mary Stuart, 1, 2, 128
-
- -- Tudor, Princess, afterwards Queen, 1, 13, 18, 19, 29-32, 59, 73,
- 76, 155;
- quarrels with Council, 174-7;
- visited by Ridley, 184-6;
- set aside in Edward’s will, 203;
- plot against, 214;
- escape, 215, 216;
- at Kenninghall, 226, 227;
- popular enthusiasm for, 230, 231;
- successful, 238 _seq._;
- proclaimed, 242, 247, 248;
- enters London, 253, 254;
- at the Tower, 255, 256, 258, 268, 269-71;
- marriage question, 275 _seq._;
- coronation, 280, 281;
- Spanish match, 286 _seq._;
- at the Guildhall, 299;
- conduct during Wyatt’s Rebellion, 300 _seq._, 311, 313, 314
-
- Mary of Lorraine, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, 156, 165
-
- Michele, Venetian ambassador, 198
-
- Montagu, Sir Edward, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, 204, 205, 206
-
- Morysine, Sir Richard, 228, 229
-
-
- Newhall, Mary and Lady Jane at, 173
-
- Noailles, French ambassador, 193, 194, 207, 208, 243, 276, 279, 280,
- 281, 296
-
- Norfolk, Duke of, 52;
- imprisoned, 55, 159, 255, 259, 296, 297
-
- Northampton, Earl of, at first Lord Parr, 16, 93, 106, 158, 204, 255,
- 259, 269
-
- Northumberland, Duchess of, 212, 218, 222, 228
-
- -- Duke of, at first Earl of Warwick, 82, 128, 132, 133, 145, 157;
- his unpopularity, 160, 161, 164, 169, 170, 171;
- his schemes, 189, 190, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 200;
- his character, 201;
- dictates Edward’s will, 202, 203, 205, 206, 207, 208, 212;
- his conspiracy, 215, 216;
- at Sion House with Lady Jane, 218 _seq._;
- commander of the forces, 232-6;
- fall and arrest, 247-51;
- trial and sentence, 259 _seq._;
- recantation, 263;
- execution, 266;
- burial, 268;
- discussed by Lady Jane, 272, 273
-
-
- Ormond, Earl of, 297
-
- Owen, Dr., 209
-
-
- Paget, Lady, 72
-
- -- Secretary, 72, 131, 132, 133, 135, 247
-
- Palmer, Sir Thomas, 262, 266, 267, 268
-
- Parkhurst, Rev. John, 98
-
- Parr, Lord. _See_ Northampton
-
- Parry, Princess Elizabeth’s Cofferer, 88, 114, 115, 116
-
- Partridge’s lodging in the Tower, Lady Jane at, 271 _seq._
-
- Pellican, Conrad, 147
-
- Pembroke, Earl of, 196, 218, 222, 238, 241;
- proclaims Mary, 242, 243, 306, 307
-
- Petre, Secretary of the Council, 240
-
- Philip, Prince of Spain, 277, 286, 291, 292, 293
-
- Piedmont, Prince of, 277
-
- Pinkie, Battle of, 128
-
- Pole, Cardinal, 275
-
- “Poor Pratte,” 230
-
- Portugal, Infant of, 277
-
- Powell, Dr., hanged, 6
-
- Poynings, Sir Nicholas, 300
-
-
- Raleigh, Sir Walter, quoted, 1, 58
-
- Renard, Simon, imperial envoy, 270, 286, 287
-
- “Resident in the Tower,” The, 271 _seq._
-
- Rich, Lord Chancellor, 159, 160
-
- Richmond, Duchess of, 52, 53
-
- Ridley, Bishop, 184-6, 239, 252, 281
-
- Russell, Lord, Privy Seal, 113
-
-
- Sandys, Dr., Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, 248, 249
-
- Seymour, Sir Thomas, Lord Admiral, afterwards Lord Seymour of
- Sudeley, 13;
- Katherine Parr’s lover, 14, 15, 17;
- opposes his brother, 64;
- obtains Lady Jane’s custody, 66, 67, 68;
- is suitor to Elizabeth, 70, 71;
- marries Katherine Parr, 72-7, 81, 82, 83 _seq._;
- relations with Elizabeth, 88-91;
- his wife’s death, 96 _seq._;
- again Elizabeth’s suitor, 108 _seq._;
- in the Tower, 117, 122, 123;
- trial and execution, 124, 125
-
- -- _See_ Somerset
-
- Shaxton, Nicholas, 40
-
- Shrewsbury, Earl of, 242
-
- Sion House, Lady Jane at, 213 _seq._
-
- Somerset, Duchess of, 82, 83, 136, 255
-
- -- Edward Seymour, Duke of, at first Earl of Hertford, 13;
- rivalry between him and Surrey, 50 _seq._;
- Lord Protector, 61;
- and Duke of Somerset, 63;
- campaign in Scotland, 64;
- dissensions with his brother, 64, 65, 71, 81, 82, 83, 84, 92, 96,
- 109;
- his wealth, 127;
- in danger, 130 _seq._;
- prisoner, 135;
- pardoned, 136;
- in the Tower, 157 _seq._;
- trial, 161;
- execution, 165, 166, 167;
- his spoils, 197, 213
-
- Southwell, Sir Richard, 307
-
- Sudeley Castle, 80, 93
-
- Suffolk, Duchess of, at first Marchioness of Dorset, Lady Jane Grey’s
- mother, 24, 27, 36, 102, 103, 105, 142, 145, 148, 218
-
- Suffolk, Duke of, at first Marquis of Dorset, 24, 62, 67, 68, 100-7,
- 142, 148;
- created Duke, 178, 179, 231, 232, 233, 242, 243, 244, 245, 252, 253,
- 293, 295, 316, 317
-
- Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of, 48 _seq._, 54;
- trial, 55;
- execution, 56
-
- Sydney, Lady, 213
-
-
- Throckmorton House, 215
-
- -- John, 321
-
- -- Lady, 243, 244
-
- -- Sir Nicholas, 111, 202, 215, 216, 243 note
-
- Traheron, 152
-
- Tudor, Mary, daughter of Henry VII., 24
-
- -- _See_ Mary
-
- Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, 255
-
- Tylney, Elizabeth, 323
-
- Tyrwhitt, Lady, 43, 97, 98, 112, 120, 121
-
- Tyrwhitt, Sir Robert, 112, 118, 119, 120, 121
-
-
- Ulmis, John ab, 146, 147, 153, 161, 180
-
- Underhyll, Edward, the “Hot-Gospeller,” 243, 302-5
-
-
- Warwick, Earl of. _See_ Northumberland
-
- -- Earl of, son to Duke of Northumberland, 249, 259, 265, 268, 269
-
- Weston, Dr., 298
-
- Wharton, Sir Thomas, 186
-
- Wightman, Sir Thomas Seymour’s servant, 111
-
- Winchester, Marquis of, 221, 239, 240, 256
-
- Wriothesley, Chancellor, and afterwards Earl of Southampton, 16, 32,
- 40, 47, 60, 61
-
- Wyatt, Sir Thomas, rebel leader, 293, 295 _seq._, 307, 309, 310
-
-
-_Printed by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury._
-
-
-
-
-FOOTNOTES
-
-
-[1] Hall’s _Chronicle_.
-
-[2] Martin Hume, _The Wives of Henry VIII._, p. 447.
-
-[3] Ellis’s _Original Letters_, Series III., vol. iii., p. 203.
-
-[4] _Grey Friar’s Chronicle_ (Camden Society), p. 44.
-
-[5] Martin Hume, _Wives of Henry VIII._, p. 344.
-
-[6] Holinshed.
-
-[7] Strype’s _Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer_.
-
-[8] Hall’s _Chronicle_.
-
-[9] _Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII._, translated by Martin Hume.
-
-[10] Hayward’s _Life of Edward VI._
-
-[11] Sir H. Ellis, _Original Letters_.
-
-[12] _Calendar, Henry VIII._, vol. xviii., p. 1.
-
-[13] Speed.
-
-[14] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._, translated by Martin Hume.
-
-[15] Martin Hume, _Wives of Henry VIII._, p. 438.
-
-[16] Heylyn’s _Reformation_.
-
-[17] Heylyn’s _Reformation_.
-
-[18] Andrew Bloxam.
-
-[19] _Calendar of State Papers_ (Venetian), p. 346.
-
-[20] It is stated in the _Dictionary of National Biography_ that Lady
-Jane was attached to the Queen’s household in 1546, but I am unable
-to discover any proof of the fact. Speed, in his chronicle, makes two
-or three mentions of her, from which other biographers have concluded
-that she was in close attendance on Katherine Parr during the King’s
-lifetime. But it seems clear that he made a confusion between Lady
-_Jane_, the King’s great-niece, and Lady _Lane_, Katherine’s cousin,
-born Maud Parr, who was at that time a member of her household.
-
-[21] Naunton.
-
-[22] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_.
-
-[23] _Grey Friars’ Chronicle_ (Camden Society), p. 50.
-
-[24] G. Leti, _Vie d’Elizabeth, Reine d’Angleterre_, t. i., p. 153.
-
-[25] _Grey Friars’ Chronicle_ (Camden Society), p. 51.
-
-[26] Ellis’s _Original Letters_, Series II., vol. ii., p. 176.
-
-[27] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 537.
-
-[28] N. D., quoted, with disapproval, by Speed.
-
-[29] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 200.
-
-[30] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_.
-
-[31] Dr. Lingard, quoting the narrative attributed to Anne, credits
-neither it nor the addition for which Foxe is responsible, stating
-that there is no other instance of a woman being subjected to
-torture, that a written order from the Lords of the Council was
-necessary before it could be inflicted, and that it was not customary
-for either the Chancellor or his colleagues to be present on these
-occasions.--_History_, vol. v., p. 201.
-
-[32] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_.
-
-[33] _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 561.
-
-[34] Speed, and Miss Strickland following him, read the name “Jane.”
-
-[35] _Acts and Monuments_, Speed’s _Chronicle_, Lord Herbert of
-Cherbury, etc.
-
-[36] Bapst, _Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes_, p. 275.
-
-[37] Bapst, _Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes_, p. 287.
-
-[38] Lord Herbert of Cherbury, _Life of Henry VIII._, p. 564.
-
-[39] _Ibid._, p. 563.
-
-[40] _Chronicle of King Henry VIII. of England_ (translated by Martin
-Hume), p. 182.
-
-[41] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._ (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 152.
-
-[42] Bapst, _Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes_, p. 346.
-
-[43] _Grey Friars’ Chronicle_, p. 52.
-
-[44] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._ (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 147.
-
-[45] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._ (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 148.
-
-[46] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_, vol. v., p. 689.
-
-[47] _History of the World._
-
-[48] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._ (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 152.
-
-[49] _Acts and Monuments_, vol. v., p. 689.
-
-[50] _Acts and Monuments_, vol. v., p. 691.
-
-[51] _Literary Remains of Edward VI._, Roxburgh Club, ed. Nichols.
-
-[52] Hayward’s _Life of Edward VI._, p. 82.
-
-[53] Leti, _Vie de la Reine Elizabeth_, p. 166.
-
-[54] Haynes, _State Papers_. It is difficult to distinguish between
-statements relating to the negotiations with regard to Lady Jane
-carried on at this date, and those taking place eighteen months later.
-
-[55] Tytler, _England under Edward VI. and Mary_, vol. i.
-
-[56] Fuller’s _Worthies_.
-
-[57] Leti, _Vie de la Reine Elizabeth_, p. 163.
-
-[58] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._, p. 158.
-
-[59] Leti, _Vie de la Reine Elizabeth_, p. 170.
-
-[60] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[61] _An Historical Account of Sudeley Castle._
-
-[62] Quoted by Strype.
-
-[63] _Chronicle of Henry VIII._, p. 156.
-
-[64] Hayward, _Life of Edward VI._, p. 82.
-
-[65] Heylyn’s _Reformation_, p. 71.
-
-[66] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[67] _Ibid._
-
-[68] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[69] _State Papers._ Quoted in Strickland’s _Queens of England_, vol.
-iii., p. 272.
-
-[70] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[71] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[72] Leti is responsible for it.
-
-[73] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 96.
-
-[74] Tytler, _Edward and Mary_, vol. i., p. 70.
-
-[75] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 61.
-
-[76] _Ibid._
-
-[77] Quoted _Remains of Edward VI._
-
-[78] Tytler, _Edward and Mary_, vol. i.
-
-[79] Haynes, _State Papers_, pp. 103, 104.
-
-[80] Miss Strickland, _Queens of England_, vol. iii., p 281.
-
-[81] Haynes, _State Papers_, pp. 77, 78.
-
-[82] Haynes, _State Papers_, pp. 78, 79.
-
-[83] Tytler, _Edward VI. and Mary_, vol. i., p. 134.
-
-[84] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 76.
-
-[85] _Ibid._, pp. 79, 80.
-
-[86] _Chronicle of King Henry VIII._, p. 163.
-
-[87] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 89.
-
-[88] Haynes, _State Papers_.
-
-[89] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 109.
-
-[90] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 98.
-
-[91] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 108.
-
-[92] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 71.
-
-[93] Haynes, _State Papers_, p. 106.
-
-[94] Latimer’s _Sermons_, quoted by Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 279.
-
-[95] Leti, _Vie de la Reine Elizabeth_.
-
-[96] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 293.
-
-[97] Strype’s _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. ii., p. 2.
-
-[98] Tytler, _Edward VI. and Mary_, vol. i., p. 174.
-
-[99] Holinshed, vol. iii., p. 1014.
-
-[100] _Chronicle of King Henry VIII._, p. 187.
-
-[101] See Tytler, _Edward VI. and Mary_, vol. i., p. 241. Dr. Lingard
-expresses doubts as to the document upon which Tytler relies, and
-Froude acquits the Council of treachery.
-
-[102] Tytler, _Edward VI. and Mary_, vol. i., p. 242.
-
-[103] _Chronicle of King Henry VIII._, p. 192.
-
-[104] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_, vol. vi., pp. 351, 352.
-
-[105] Ascham describes her as fifteen--a manifest error.
-
-[106] Roger Ascham, _The Schoolmaster_, bk. ii.
-
-[107] Ascham, _The Schoolmaster_, bk. i.
-
-[108] _Zurich Letters_, Parker Society.
-
-[109] _Ibid._
-
-[110] _Zurich Letters_, vol. ii., Parker Society, p. 399.
-
-[111] _Ibid._, p. 427.
-
-[112] _Zurich Letters_, vol. ii., p. 430.
-
-[113] _Zurich Letters_, p. 433.
-
-[114] There is little mention of Lady Jane’s mother in contemporary
-records. But the nature of the woman, and her heritage of Tudor blood,
-is sufficiently indicated by the fact that not a fortnight after her
-husband had been executed, and about a month after Lady Jane’s death
-she bestowed herself in marriage upon her equerry.
-
-[115] Becon’s _Jewel of Joy_, Parker Society.
-
-[116] _Zurich Letters_, p. 103.
-
-[117] _Zurich Letters_, vol. i., p. 5.
-
-[118] _Zurich Letters_, vol. i., p. 72.
-
-[119] _Zurich Letters_, vol. i., pp. 76, 77.
-
-[120] _Church History_, vol. i., p. 338.
-
-[121] _Church History_, vol. i., p. 340.
-
-[122] _Zurich Letters_, vol. ii., p. 441.
-
-[123] Fuller’s _Church History_, vol. i., p. 341.
-
-[124] Ellis’s _Original Letters_, Series III., vol. i., p. 216.
-
-[125] Heylyn’s _Reformation_, vol. ii., p. 7.
-
-[126] Soranzo’s Report (_Venetian Calendar_), p. 535.
-
-[127] Strype’s _Ecclesiastical Memorials_, vol. ii., p. 2.
-
-[128] _Venetian Calendar_, p. 535.
-
-[129] Fuller’s _Church History_, vol, i., p. 345.
-
-[130] _Zurich Letters_, vol. ii., p. 466. Meaning that Cranmer, who had
-already been married some years, had brought his wife from Germany, and
-owned her openly. See Strype.
-
-[131] Two victims were burnt for heresy, Joan Bocher and a Dutch
-surgeon, named Pariss. A priest is also stated by Wriothesley to have
-been hanged and quartered, July 7, 1548.
-
-[132] _Zurich Letters_, pp. 281 _et seq._
-
-[133] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_, vol. vi., pp. 354-5. Heylyn’s
-_Reformation_.
-
-[134] Speed’s _Chronicle_, p. 1122.
-
-[135] Heylyn’s _Reformation_, vol. i., p. 291.
-
-[136] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_, p. 5.
-
-[137] Wriothesley’s _Chronicle_, vol. ii., p. 82.
-
-[138] _Ibid._
-
-[139] Florio’s _Life_, p. 27.
-
-[140] _Ibid._, p. 28.
-
-[141] _Ibid._
-
-[142] Heylyn’s _Reformation_, p. 297.
-
-[143] _Ambassades de Noailles_; Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements sur
-l’Histoire de Marie_.
-
-[144] Wriothesley’s _Chronicle_, vol. ii., p. 79.
-
-[145] _Reformation_, vol. i., p. 294.
-
-[146] Heylyn’s _Reformation_, vol. i., p. 294.
-
-[147] Griffet, _Éclaircissements_, etc., p. 16.
-
-[148] _Ambassades de Noailles_, vol. i., p. 49.
-
-[149] _Ibid._, p. 57.
-
-[150] Quoted in Strickland’s _Queen Mary_.
-
-[151] Fuller’s _Church History_, vol. i., pp. 369 _et seq._
-
-[152] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_.
-
-[153] Griffet’s _Éclaircissements_, etc.
-
-[154] Foxe’s _Acts and Monuments_, vol. vi., p. 352.
-
-[155] The paper is only to be found in two Italian histories, Pollini’s
-_Istoria Ecclesiastica della Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra_ and Raviglio
-Rosso’s account of the events following upon Edward’s death, stated to
-be partly drawn from the despatches of Bodoaro. The discrepancies here
-and there in the translation point to both having had access to an
-English version.
-
-[156] _History of Syon Monastery_, Aungier.
-
-[157] _Chronicle of Queen Jane_ (Camden Society), p. 2.
-
-[158] Speed’s _Chronicle_, p. 1127.
-
-[159] Heylyn makes Durham House the scene of the announcement. In
-this he seems clearly to be mistaken, as it is stated in the _Grey
-Friar’s Chronicle_ that she was brought down the river from Richmond to
-Westminster, and so to the Tower.
-
-[160] _The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_ (Camden Society), p.
-3.
-
-[161] Letter from Jane to Mary, Pollini’s _Istoria Ecclesiastica della
-Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra_, pp. 355-8.
-
-[162] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_, p. 13.
-
-[163] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_, p. 9.
-
-[164] Heylyn’s _Reformation_.
-
-[165] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_.
-
-[166] Strype’s _Memorials_.
-
-[167] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, ed. John Nichols
-(Camden Society), App., pp. 116-121.
-
-[168] The foregoing details are mostly taken from Stowe’s _Chronicle_.
-At this point _The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_ by a
-Resident in the Tower (Camden Society), takes up the tale. The
-anonymous author plainly speaks from personal knowledge, and is the
-principal authority for this period.
-
-[169] Grafton’s _Chronicle_.
-
-[170] Heylyn’s _Reformation_.
-
-[171] Fuller’s _Worthies_.
-
-[172] Tytler’s _Edward and Mary_, vol. ii., p. 202.
-
-[173] Rosso’s _Succesi_.
-
-[174] Rosso’s _Succesi_.
-
-[175] Quoted in _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 11.
-
-[176] This fact, together with Sir Nicholas’s subsequent trial, seems
-to throw doubt upon the veracity of his versified account of the
-services he had rendered to Mary.
-
-[177] _Biog. Brit._ Quoted in _Lady Jane Grey’s Literary Remains_.
-
-[178] _L’Istoria Ecclesiastica della Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra._
-Pollini, pp. 274, 275. Rosso’s _Succesi_, p. 20.
-
-[179] M. A. Florio, _Vita_, pp. 58, 59.
-
-[180] _Dictionary of National Biography._
-
-[181] Rosso, _Succesi_, p. 23.
-
-[182] _Chronicle of Queen Jane_, etc., pp. 10, 11.
-
-[183] Foxe, _Acts and Monuments_.
-
-[184] _Chronicle of Queen Jane_, etc. p. 16.
-
-[185] Rosso.
-
-[186] _Vie d’Elizabeth_, p. 198.
-
-[187] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 23.
-
-[188] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 16.
-
-[189] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 25.
-
-[190] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, pp. 26, 27.
-
-[191] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 24.
-
-[192] _Edward and Mary_, vol. ii., p. 224.
-
-[193] _Peerage of England_ (1799), vol. ii., p. 406. Quoted in
-_Strickland’s Queens of England_.
-
-[194] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., pp. 390, 391.
-
-[195] _Ibid._, p. 391.
-
-[196] Tytler, _Edward and Mary_, vol. ii., p. 227.
-
-[197] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, from which the
-following details of the execution are mostly taken.
-
-[198] _Peerage of England_ (1709), vol. ii., p. 406. Quoted in Miss
-Strickland’s _Queens_.
-
-[199] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 55.
-
-[200] Dr. Nichols suggests that Partridge may have been Queen Mary’s
-goldsmith of that name, apparently resident in the Tower during the
-following year.
-
-[201] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 393.
-
-[202] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 65.
-
-[203] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 60.
-
-[204] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 401.
-
-[205] Speed’s _Chronicle_.
-
-[206] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, pp. 125-6.
-
-[207] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 127.
-
-[208] Lingard, _History_, vol. v., p. 411.
-
-[209] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 34.
-
-[210] Griffet, _Nouveaux Éclaircissements_, p. 118.
-
-[211] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 38 _et seq._
-
-[212] _Ibid._
-
-[213] Speed’s _Chronicle_, p. 1133.
-
-[214] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, p. 54.
-
-[215] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_, p. 53.
-
-[216] _Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey_, 1615, p. 22.
-
-[217] It will be seen that the bearing of the two opponents on the
-scaffold would seem to give the lie to this account of their interview;
-unless, the heat of argument over, both should have regretted what had
-passed.
-
-[218] _Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey_, 1615, p. 25.
-
-[219] Rosso, _Succesi_, etc., p. 57.
-
-[220] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary._
-
-[221] _Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey_, 1615, p. 30.
-
-[222] _Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary_, pp. 54-6. The author,
-“resident in the Tower,” was doubtless an eye-witness of the scene.
-
-[223] Rosso, _Succesi d’Inghilterra_, etc., pp. 57, 58.
-
-
-
-
-Transcriber’s Notes
-
-
-Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a
-predominant preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not
-changed.
-
-Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.
-
-Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.
-
-Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.
-
-Index often used semi-colons between page number references. They have
-been replaced by commas in this eBook. Semi-colons between sub-entries
-have been retained.
-
-Frontispiece: The original caption attributes the painting to “Lucas
-? Heere” where the “?” represents an indistinct letter. It should be
-“de”, and that is what is used in this eBook.
-
-The illustrations on the Title Page are just very small decorations.
-
-Page 13: The chapter number was misprinted as “I”; changed here to “II”.
-
-Page 29: “to my cousin, Jane Gray,” was printed with the surname
-spelled that way.
-
-Page 35: Closing quotation mark added after “and served.”
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Jane Grey and Her Times, by
-Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY JANE GREY AND HER TIMES ***
-
-***** This file should be named 51057-0.txt or 51057-0.zip *****
-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
- http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/0/5/51057/
-
-Produced by MWS, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
-be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
-States without permission and without paying copyright
-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country outside the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
- This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
- most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
- restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
- under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
- eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
- United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
- are located before using this ebook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
- the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
- you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
- to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
- agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
- Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
- within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
- legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
- payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
- Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
- Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
- Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
- you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
- does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
- License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
- copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
- all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
- works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
- any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
- electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
- receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
- distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-For additional contact information:
-
- Dr. Gregory B. Newby
- Chief Executive and Director
- gbnewby@pglaf.org
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-
diff --git a/old/51057-0.zip b/old/51057-0.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index ab7b8be..0000000
--- a/old/51057-0.zip
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h.zip b/old/51057-h.zip
deleted file mode 100644
index 6b877fa..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h.zip
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/51057-h.htm b/old/51057-h/51057-h.htm
deleted file mode 100644
index 31869af..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/51057-h.htm
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,12488 +0,0 @@
-<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN"
- "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd">
-<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">
- <head>
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;charset=utf-8" />
- <meta http-equiv="Content-Style-Type" content="text/css" />
- <title>
- The Project Gutenberg eBook of Lady Jane Grey and Her Times, by I. A. Taylor.
- </title>
- <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" />
- <style type="text/css">
-
-body {
- margin-left: 40px;
- margin-right: 40px;
-}
-
-h1,h2 {
- text-align: center;
- clear: both;
- margin-top: 2.5em;
- margin-bottom: 1em;
-}
-
-h1 {line-height: 1;}
-
-h2.chap {margin-bottom: 0;}
-h2+p {margin-top: 1.5em;}
-h2 .subhead {display: block; margin-top: 1em; margin-bottom: 1em;}
-
-.transnote h2 {
- margin-top: .5em;
- margin-bottom: 1em;
-}
-
-.subhead {
- text-indent: 0;
- text-align: center;
- font-size: smaller;
-}
-.subhead+.subhead {
- font-size: 67%;
- margin-left: 5%; margin-right: 5%;
- font-weight: normal;
-}
-
-p {
- text-indent: 1.75em;
- margin-top: .51em;
- margin-bottom: .24em;
- text-align: justify;
-}
-.caption p {text-align: center; text-indent: 0;}
-p.center {text-indent: 0;}
-
-.p0 {margin-top: 0em;}
-.p1 {margin-top: 1em;}
-.p2 {margin-top: 2em;}
-.up1 {margin-top: -1.4em;}
-.vspace {line-height: 1.5;}
-
-.in0 {text-indent: 0;}
-.in2 {padding-left: 2em;}
-.l4 {padding-right: 4em;}
-
-.small {font-size: 70%;}
-.smaller {font-size: 85%;}
-.larger {font-size: 125%;}
-.large {font-size: 150%;}
-
-p.drop-cap {text-indent: 0; margin-bottom: 1.1em;}
-p.drop-cap:first-letter {
- float: left;
- margin: .11em .4em 0 0;
- font-size: 300%;
- line-height:0.7em;
- text-indent: 0;
- clear: both;
-}
-p.drop-cap.i .smcap1 {margin-left: -.3em;}
-p.drop-cap.a .smcap1 {margin-left: -.75em;}
-p.drop-cap .smcap1 {margin-left: -1.2em;}
-p.drop-cap.b .smcap1 {margin-left: -1.4em;}
-p.drop-cap.al .smcap1 {margin-left: -1.8em;}
-p .smcap1 {font-size: 125%;}
-.smcap1 {font-variant: small-caps;}
-
-.center {text-align: center;}
-
-.right {text-align: right;}
-
-.smcap {font-variant: small-caps;}
-.smcap.smaller {font-size: 75%;}
-
-hr {
- width: 33%;
- margin-top: 4em;
- margin-bottom: 4em;
- margin-left: 33%;
- margin-right: auto;
- clear: both;
-}
-
-.tb {
- text-align: center;
- padding-top: .76em;
- padding-bottom: .24em;
-}
-
-table {
- margin-left: auto;
- margin-right: auto;
- max-width: 80%;
- border-collapse: collapse;
-}
-
-.tdl {
- text-align: justify;
- vertical-align: top;
- padding-right: 1em;
- padding-left: 1.5em;
- text-indent: -1.5em;
-}
-
-.tdc {text-align: center;}
-.tdc.chap, .tdc.chapsub {
- font-size: 110%;
- padding-top: 2em;
- padding-bottom: 0;
-}
-.tdc.chapsub {padding-top: .5em; padding-bottom: .5em; font-size: 100%;}
-
-.tdr {
- text-align: right;
- vertical-align: bottom;
- padding-left: .3em;
- white-space: nowrap;
-}
-.tdl.tpad, .tdr.tpad {padding-top: 2em;}
-#loi .tdl, #loi .tdr {padding-top: .4em;}
-
-.pagenum {
- position: absolute;
- right: 4px;
- text-indent: 0em;
- text-align: right;
- font-size: 70%;
- font-weight: normal;
- font-variant: normal;
- font-style: normal;
- letter-spacing: normal;
- line-height: normal;
- color: #acacac;
- border: 1px solid #acacac;
- background: #ffffff;
- padding: 1px 2px;
-}
-
-.figcenter {
- margin: 2em auto 2em auto;
- text-align: center;
- page-break-inside: avoid;
- max-width: 100%;
-}
-
-img {
- padding: 1em 0 0 0;
- max-width: 100%;
- height: auto;
-}
-img.nopad {padding: 0;}
-
-.caption {
- font-weight: bold;
- text-align: center;
- margin-top: .75em;
-}
-
-ul {margin-left: 3em; padding-left: 0;}
-li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 2em; text-indent: -2.5em; text-align: left;}
-
-.footnotes {
- border: thin dashed black;
- margin: 4em 5% 1em 5%;
- padding: .5em 1em .5em 1.7em;
-}
-
-.footnote {font-size: .95em;}
-.footnote p {text-indent: 1em;}
-.footnote p.in0 {text-indent: 0;}
-.footnote p.fn1 {text-indent: -.7em;}
-.footnote p.fn2 {text-indent: -1.1em;}
-.footnote p.fn3 {text-indent: -1.5em;}
-
-.fnanchor {
- vertical-align: 80%;
- line-height: .7;
- font-size: .75em;
- text-decoration: none;
-}
-.footnote .fnanchor {font-size: .8em;}
-
-a.ref {text-decoration: none;}
-
-.index {margin-left: 2em;}
-ul.index {padding-left: 0;}
-li.indx, li.ifrst {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em; padding-top: .2em;}
-li.isub1 {padding-left: 4em;}
-li.ifrst {padding-top: 1em;}
-
-blockquote {
- margin-left: 5%;
- margin-right: 5%;
- font-size: 95%;
-}
-
-blockquote.inhead p {padding-left: 1.5em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
-blockquote.inhead.center p {padding-left: 0; text-indent: 0; text-align: center;}
-
-.poem-container {
- text-align: center;
- font-size: 98%;
-}
-
-.poem {
- display: inline-block;
- text-align: left;
- margin-left: 0;
-}
-
-.poem br {display: none;}
-
-.poem .stanza{padding: 0.5em 0;}
-
-.poem .tb {margin: .3em 0 0 0;}
-
-.poem span.i0 {display: block; margin-left: 0em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
-.poem span.i2 {display: block; margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
-.poem span.i4 {display: block; margin-left: 2em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
-.poem span.i16 {display: block; margin-left: 6em; padding-left: 3em; text-indent: -3em;}
-
-.transnote {
- background-color: #EEE;
- border: thin dotted;
- font-family: sans-serif, serif;
- color: #000;
- margin-left: 5%;
- margin-right: 5%;
- margin-top: 4em;
- margin-bottom: 2em;
- padding: 1em;
-}
-.covernote {visibility: hidden; display: none;}
-
-.sigright {
- margin-right: 2em;
- text-align: right;}
-
-.wspace {word-spacing: .3em;}
-
-.hidev {visibility: hidden;}
-
-@media print, handheld
-{
- h1, .chapter {page-break-before: always;}
- h1.nobreak, h2.nobreak, .nobreak {page-break-before: avoid; padding-top: 0;}
-
- p {
- margin-top: .5em;
- text-align: justify;
- margin-bottom: .25em;
- }
-
- table {width: 100%; max-width: 100%;}
-
- .tdl {
- padding-left: .5em;
- text-indent: -.5em;
- padding-right: 0;
- }
-
- p.drop-cap {text-indent: 1.75em; margin-bottom: .24em;}
- p.drop-cap:first-letter {
- float: none;
- font-size: 100%;
- margin-left: 0;
- margin-right: 0;
- text-indent: 1.75em;
- }
-
- p.drop-cap.i .smcap1, p.drop-cap.a .smcap1, p.drop-cap .smcap1,
- p.drop-cap.b .smcap1, p.drop-cap.al .smcap1 {margin-left: 0;}
- p .smcap1 {font-size: 100%;}
- .smcap1 {font-variant: normal;}
-
- .up1 {margin-top: .01em;}
-
-}
-
-@media handheld
-{
- body {margin: 0;}
-
- hr {
- margin-top: .1em;
- margin-bottom: .1em;
- visibility: hidden;
- color: white;
- width: .01em;
- display: none;
- }
-
- ul {margin-left: 1em; padding-left: 0;}
- li {list-style-type: none; padding-left: 1em; text-indent: -1.5em;}
-
- blockquote {margin: 1.5em 3% 1.5em 3%;}
-
- .poem-container {text-align: left; margin-left: 5%;}
- .poem {display: block;}
- .poem .tb {text-align: left; padding-left: 2em;}
- .poem .stanza {page-break-inside: avoid;}
-
- .transnote {
- page-break-inside: avoid;
- margin-left: 2%;
- margin-right: 2%;
- margin-top: 1em;
- margin-bottom: 1em;
- padding: .5em;
- }
- .covernote {visibility: visible; display: block; text-align: center;}
-}
- </style>
- </head>
-
-<body>
-
-
-<pre>
-
-Project Gutenberg's Lady Jane Grey and Her Times, by Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most
-other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
-whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of
-the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
-www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have
-to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook.
-
-Title: Lady Jane Grey and Her Times
-
-Author: Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-Release Date: January 27, 2016 [EBook #51057]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY JANE GREY AND HER TIMES ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by MWS, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-
-<div class="transnote covernote">
-<p class="center">Transcriber’s Note<br />
-Cover created by Transcriber and placed in the Public Domain.</p>
-</div>
-
-<div id="i_frontis" class="figcenter" style="width: 597px;">
- <img src="images/i_001.jpg" width="597" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p><i>Lady Jane Grey</i></p></div>
- <p class="smaller"><i>From a photo by Emery Walker after the picture by Lucas de Heere in the National portrait Gallery</i></p></div>
-
-<h1 class="vspace">LADY JANE GREY<br />
-<span class="subhead"><i>AND HER TIMES</i></span></h1>
-
-<p class="p2 center large wspace">
-By I. A. TAYLOR</p>
-
-<p class="p1 center smaller vspace"><i>Author of “Queen Hortense and her Friends”<br />
-“Queen Henrietta Maria,” etc.</i></p>
-
-<p class="p2 center">WITH SEVENTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS</p>
-
-<div id="if_i_002" class="figcenter" style="width: 31px;">
- <img src="images/i_002.jpg" width="31" height="32" alt="decoration" /></div>
-
-<p class="p2 center vspace wspace larger">London: HUTCHINSON &amp; CO.<br />
-Paternoster Row   <img src="images/i_002a.jpg" width="95" height="12" alt="decoration" class="nopad" />   1908
-</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iii">iii</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CONTENTS"></a>CONTENTS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="toc" summary="Contents">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I</a></td></tr>
- <tr class="small">
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The condition of Europe and England&mdash;Retrospect&mdash;Religious Affairs&mdash;A reign of terror&mdash;Cranmer in danger&mdash;Katherine Howard</td>
- <td class="tdr">1</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1546</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Katherine Parr&mdash;Relations with Thomas Seymour&mdash;Married to Henry VIII.&mdash;Parties in court and country&mdash;Katherine’s position&mdash;Prince Edward</td>
- <td class="tdr">13</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1546</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Marquis of Dorset and his family&mdash;Bradgate Park&mdash;Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Her relations with her cousins&mdash;Mary Tudor&mdash;Protestantism at Whitehall&mdash;Religious persecution</td>
- <td class="tdr">24</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1546</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Anne Askew&mdash;Her trial and execution&mdash;Katherine Parr’s danger&mdash;Plot against her&mdash;Her escape</td>
- <td class="tdr">36</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1546</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The King dying&mdash;The Earl of Surrey&mdash;His career and his fate&mdash;The Duke of Norfolk’s escape&mdash;Death of the King</td>
- <td class="tdr">48</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1547</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Triumph of the new men&mdash;Somerset made Protector&mdash;Coronation of Edward VI.&mdash;Measures of ecclesiastical reform&mdash;The Seymour brothers&mdash;Lady Jane Grey entrusted to the Admiral&mdash;The Admiral and Elizabeth&mdash;His marriage to <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_iv">iv</a></span>Katherine</td>
- <td class="tdr">60</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1547-1548</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Katherine Parr’s unhappy married life&mdash;Dissensions between the Seymour brothers&mdash;The King and his uncles&mdash;The Admiral and Princess Elizabeth&mdash;Birth of Katherine’s child, and her death</td>
- <td class="tdr">80</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1548</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lady Jane’s temporary return to her father&mdash;He surrenders her again to the Admiral&mdash;The terms of the bargain</td>
- <td class="tdr">100</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1548-1549</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Seymour and the Princess Elizabeth&mdash;His courtship&mdash;He is sent to the Tower&mdash;Elizabeth’s examinations and admissions&mdash;The execution of the Lord Admiral</td>
- <td class="tdr">108</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1549-1550</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The Protector’s position&mdash;Disaffection in the country&mdash;Its causes&mdash;The Duke’s arrogance&mdash;Warwick his rival&mdash;The success of his opponents&mdash;Placed in the Tower, but released&mdash;St. George’s Day at Court</td>
- <td class="tdr">126</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1549-1551</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lady Jane Grey at home&mdash;Visit from Roger Ascham&mdash;The German divines&mdash;Position of Lady Jane in the theological world</td>
- <td class="tdr">139</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1551-1552</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">An anxious tutor&mdash;Somerset’s final fall&mdash;The charges against him&mdash;His guilt or innocence&mdash;His trial and condemnation&mdash;The King’s indifference&mdash;Christmas at Greenwich&mdash;The Duke’s execution</td>
- <td class="tdr">154</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1552</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Northumberland and the King&mdash;Edward’s illness&mdash;Lady Jane and Mary&mdash;Mary refused permission to practise her religion&mdash;The <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_v">v</a></span>Emperor intervenes</td>
- <td class="tdr">169</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1552</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lady Jane’s correspondence with Bullinger&mdash;Illness of the Duchess of Suffolk&mdash;Haddon’s difficulties&mdash;Ridley’s visit to Princess Mary&mdash;The English Reformers&mdash;Edward fatally ill&mdash;Lady Jane’s character and position</td>
- <td class="tdr">178</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">The King dying&mdash;Noailles in England&mdash;Lady Jane married to Guilford Dudley&mdash;Edward’s will&mdash;Opposition of the law officers&mdash;They yield&mdash;The King’s death</td>
- <td class="tdr">193</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">After King Edward’s death&mdash;Results to Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Northumberland’s schemes&mdash;Mary’s escape&mdash;Scene at Sion House&mdash;Lady Jane brought to the Tower&mdash;Quarrel with her husband&mdash;Her proclamation as Queen</td>
- <td class="tdr">210</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lady Jane as Queen&mdash;Mary asserts her claims&mdash;The English envoys at Brussels&mdash;Mary’s popularity&mdash;Northumberland leaves London&mdash;His farewells</td>
- <td class="tdr">225</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">CHAPTER XVIII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Turn of the tide&mdash;Reaction in Mary’s favour in the Council&mdash;Suffolk yields&mdash;Mary proclaimed in London&mdash;Lady Jane’s deposition&mdash;She returns to Sion House</td>
- <td class="tdr">237</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">CHAPTER XIX</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Northumberland at bay&mdash;His capitulation&mdash;Meeting with Arundel, and arrest&mdash;Lady Jane a prisoner&mdash;Mary and Elizabeth&mdash;Mary’s visit to the Tower&mdash;London&mdash;Mary’s policy</td>
- <td class="tdr">247</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XX">CHAPTER XX</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Trial and condemnation of Northumberland&mdash;His recantation&mdash;Final scenes&mdash;Lady Jane’s fate in the balances&mdash;A <span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vi">vi</a></span>conversation with her</td>
- <td class="tdr">259</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXI">CHAPTER XXI</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Mary’s marriage in question&mdash;Pole and Courtenay&mdash;Foreign suitors&mdash;The Prince of Spain proposed to her&mdash;Elizabeth’s attitude&mdash;Lady Jane’s letter to Hardinge&mdash;The coronation&mdash;Cranmer in the Tower&mdash;Lady Jane attainted&mdash;Letter to her father&mdash;Sentence of death&mdash;The Spanish match</td>
- <td class="tdr">275</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXII">CHAPTER XXII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1553-1554</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Discontent at the Spanish match&mdash;Insurrections in the country&mdash;Courtenay and Elizabeth&mdash;Suffolk a rebel&mdash;General failure of the insurgents&mdash;Wyatt’s success&mdash;Marches to London&mdash;Mary’s conduct&mdash;Apprehensions in London, and at the palace&mdash;The fight&mdash;Wyatt a prisoner&mdash;Taken to the Tower</td>
- <td class="tdr">289</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chap" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XXIII">CHAPTER XXIII</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdc chapsub" colspan="2">1554</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">Lady Jane and her husband doomed&mdash;Her dispute with Feckenham&mdash;Gardiner’s sermon&mdash;Farewell messages&mdash;Last hours&mdash;Guilford Dudley’s execution&mdash;Lady Jane’s death</td>
- <td class="tdr">311</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl tpad"><span class="smcap"><a href="#INDEX">Index</a></span></td>
- <td class="tdr tpad">327</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_vii">vii</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="LIST_OF_ILLUSTRATIONS"></a>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h2>
-</div>
-
-<table id="loi" summary="List of Illustrations">
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">LADY JANE GREY (Photogravure)&mdash;<a href="#i_frontis"><i>Frontispiece</i></a>.</td></tr>
- <tr class="small">
- <td> </td>
- <td class="tdr">FACING PAGE</td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">HENRY VIII.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_6">6</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">KATHERINE HOWARD</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_12">12</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">HENRY VIII. AND HIS THREE CHILDREN</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_20">20</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">PRINCE EDWARD, AFTERWARDS EDWARD VI.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_32">32</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_54">54</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">KATHERINE PARR</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_82">82</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">WILLIAM, LORD PAGET, K.G.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_132">132</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">EDWARD VI.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_136">136</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">LADY JANE GREY</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_142">142</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">ARCHBISHOP CRANMER</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_152">152</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, K.G.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_168">168</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">PRINCESS MARY, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-EIGHT</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_184">184</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">LADY JANE GREY</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_200">200</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">QUEEN ELIZABETH</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_254">254</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">THE TOWER OF LONDON</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_284">284</a></td></tr>
- <tr>
- <td class="tdl">HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, K.G.</td>
- <td class="tdr"><a href="#ip_294">294</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_1">1</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><span class="larger">LADY JANE GREY AND<br />
-HER TIMES</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<hr />
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I<br />
-
-<span class="subhead"> </span>
-<span class="subhead">The condition of Europe and England&mdash;Retrospect&mdash;Religious
-Affairs&mdash;A reign of terror&mdash;Cranmer in danger&mdash;Katherine
-Howard.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">In</span> 1546 it must have been evident to most
-observers that the life of the man who had for
-thirty-five years been England’s ruler and tyrant&mdash;of
-whom Raleigh affirmed that if all the patterns
-of a merciless Prince had been lost in the world they
-might have been found in this one King&mdash;was not
-likely to be prolonged; and though it had been
-made penal to foretell the death of the sovereign,
-men must have been secretly looking on to the
-future with anxious eyes.</p>
-
-<p>Of all the descendants of Henry VII. only one
-was male, the little Prince Edward, and in case
-of his death the succession would lie between his
-two sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, branded by successive
-Acts of Parliament with illegitimacy, the infant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_2">2</a></span>
-Queen of Scotland, whose claims were consistently
-ignored, and the daughters and grand-daughters of
-Henry VII.’s younger daughter, Mary Tudor.</p>
-
-<p>The royal blood was to prove, to more than one
-of these, a fatal heritage. To Mary Stuart it was
-to bring captivity and death, and by reason of it
-Lady Jane Grey was to be forced to play the part
-of heroine in one of the most tragic episodes of the
-sixteenth century.</p>
-
-<p>The latter part of Henry VIII.’s reign had been
-eventful at home and abroad. In Europe the three-cornered
-struggle between the Emperor Charles V.,
-Francis of France, and Henry had been passing
-through various phases and vicissitudes, each of the
-wrestlers bidding for the support of a second of the
-trio, to the detriment of the third. New combinations
-were constantly formed as the kaleidoscope was
-turned; promises were lavishly made, to be broken
-without a scruple whensoever their breach might
-prove conducive to personal advantage. Religion,
-dragged into the political arena, was used as a party
-war-cry, and employed as a weapon for the destruction
-of public and private foes.</p>
-
-<p>At home, England lay at the mercy of a King who
-was a law to himself and supreme arbiter of the destinies
-of his subjects. Only obscurity, and not always
-that, could ensure a man’s safety, or prevent him
-from falling a prey to the jealousy or hate of those
-amongst his enemies who had for the moment the ear<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_3">3</a></span>
-of the sovereign. Pre-eminence in rank, or power,
-or intellect, was enough to give the possessor of the
-distinction an uneasy sense that he was marked out
-for destruction, that envy and malice were lying
-in wait to seize an opportunity to denounce him to
-the weak despot upon whose vanity and cowardice
-the adroit could play at will. Every year added
-its tale to the long list of victims who had met their
-end upon the scaffold.</p>
-
-<p>For fifteen years, moreover, the country had been
-delivered over to the struggle carried on in the
-name of religion. In 1531 the King had responded
-to the refusal of the Pope to sanction his divorce
-from Katherine of Aragon by repudiating the
-authority of the Holy See and the assertion of his
-own supremacy in matters spiritual as well as
-temporal. Three years later Parliament, servile and
-subservient as Parliaments were wont to be under
-the Tudor Kings, had formally endorsed and confirmed
-the revolt.</p>
-
-<p>“The third day of November,” recorded the
-chronicler, “the King’s Highness held the high
-Court of Parliament, in the which was concluded
-and made many and sundry good, wholesome, and
-godly statutes, but among all one special statute
-which authorised the King’s Highness to be supreme
-head of the Church of England, by which the
-Pope ... was utterly abolished out of this realm.”<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">1</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_4">4</a></span>
-Since then another punishable crime was added
-to those, already none too few, for which a man
-was liable to lose his head, and the following year
-saw the death upon the scaffold of Fisher and
-of More. The execution of Anne Boleyn, by
-whom the match had, in some sort, been set to the
-mine, came next, but the step taken by the King
-was not to be retraced with the absence of the
-motive which had prompted it; and Catholics and
-Protestants alike had continued to suffer at the
-hands of an autocrat who chastised at will those who
-wandered from the path he pointed out, and refused
-to model their creed upon the prescribed pattern.</p>
-
-<p>In 1546 the “Act to abolish Diversity of
-Opinion”&mdash;called more familiarly the Bloody Statute,
-and designed to conform the faith of the nation
-to that of the King&mdash;had been in force for seven
-years, a standing menace to those persons, in high
-or low place, who, encouraged by the King’s defiance
-of Rome, had been emboldened to adopt the tenets
-of the German Protestants. Henry had opened
-the floodgates; he desired to keep out the flood.
-The Six Articles of the Statute categorically reaffirmed
-the principal doctrines of the Catholic
-Church, and made their denial a legal offence. On
-the other hand the refusal to admit the royal
-supremacy in matters spiritual was no less penal.
-A reign of terror was the result.</p>
-
-<p>“Is thy servant a dog?” The time-honoured<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_5">5</a></span>
-question might have risen to the King’s lips in the
-days, not devoid of a brighter promise, of his youth,
-had the veil covering the future been withdrawn.
-“We mark curiously,” says a recent writer, “the
-regular deterioration of Henry’s character as the
-only checks upon his action were removed, and
-he progressively defied traditional authority and
-established standards of conduct without disaster to
-himself.” The Church had proved powerless to
-punish a defiance dictated by passion and perpetuated
-by vanity and cupidity; Parliaments had cringed to
-him in matters religious or political, courtiers and
-sycophants had flattered, until “there was no power
-on earth to hold in check the devil in the breast
-of Henry Tudor.”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">2</a></p>
-
-<p>Such was the condition of England. Old barriers
-had been thrown down; new had not acquired
-strength; in the struggle for freedom men had
-cast aside moral restraint. Life was so lightly
-esteemed, and death invested with so little tragic
-importance, that a man of the position and standing
-of Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, when appointed
-to preach on the occasion of the burning of a
-priest, could treat the matter with a flippant levity
-scarcely credible at a later day.</p>
-
-<p>“If it be your pleasure, as it is,” he wrote to
-Cromwell, “that I shall play the fool after my
-customary manner when Forest shall suffer, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_6">6</a></span>
-would that my stage stood near unto Forest” (so
-that the victim might benefit by his arguments)....
-“If he would yet with heart return to his abjuration,
-I would wish his pardon, such is my foolishness.”<a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">3</a></p>
-
-<p>Yet there was another side to the picture;
-here and there, amidst the din of battle and the
-confusion of tongues, the voice of genuine conviction
-was heard; and men and women were ready,
-at the bidding of conscience, to give up their lives
-in passionate loyalty to an ancient faith or to a
-new ideal. “And the thirtieth day of the same
-month,” June 1540, runs an entry in a contemporary
-chronicle, “was Dr. Barnes, Jerome, and Garrard,
-drawn from the Tower to Smithfield, and there
-burned for their heresies. And that same day also
-was drawn from the Tower with them Doctor
-Powell, with two other priests, and there was a
-gallows set up at St. Bartholomew’s Gate, and
-there were hanged, headed, and quartered that same
-day”&mdash;the offence of these last being the denial
-of the King’s supremacy, as that of the first had
-been adherence to Protestant doctrines.<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">4</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_6" class="figcenter" style="width: 483px;">
- <img src="images/i_006.jpg" width="483" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by W. Mansell &amp; Co. after a painting by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>HENRY VIII.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>No one was safe. The year 1540 had seen the
-fall of Cromwell, the Minister of State. “Cranmer
-and Cromwell,” wrote the French ambassador, “do
-not know where they are.”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Cromwell at least was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_7">7</a></span>
-not to wait long for the certainty. For years all-powerful
-in the Council, he was now to fall a victim
-to jealous hate and the credulity of the master he
-had served. At his imprisonment “many lamented,
-but more rejoiced, ... for they banquetted and
-triumphed together that night, many wishing that
-day had been seven years before; and some, fearing
-that he should escape although he were imprisoned,
-could not be merry.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> They need not have feared
-the King’s clemency. The minister had been
-arrested on June 10. On July 28 he was executed
-on Tower Hill.</p>
-
-<p>If Cromwell, in spite of his services to the Crown,
-in spite of the need Henry had of men of his
-ability, was not secure, who could call themselves
-safe? Even Cranmer, the King’s special friend
-though he was, must have felt misgivings. A
-married man, with children, he was implicitly condemned
-by one of the Six Articles of the Bloody
-Statute, enjoining celibacy on the clergy, and was
-besides well known to hold Protestant views. His
-embittered enemy, Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester,
-vehement in his Catholicism though pandering to
-the King on the subject of the royal supremacy,
-was minister; and his fickle master might throw
-the Archbishop at any moment to the wolves.</p>
-
-<p>One narrow escape he had already had, when
-in 1544 a determined attempt had been hazarded<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_8">8</a></span>
-to oust him from his position of trust and to convict
-him of his errors, and the party adverse to him in
-the Council had accused the Primate “most
-grievously” to the King of heresy. It was a bold
-stroke, for it was known that Henry loved him,
-and the triumph of his foes was the greater when
-they received the royal permission to commit the
-Lord Archbishop to the Tower on the following
-day, and to cause him to undergo an examination on
-matters of doctrine and faith. So far all had gone
-according to their hopes, and his enemies augured
-well of the result. But that night, at eleven
-o’clock, when Cranmer, in ignorance of the plot
-against him, was in bed, he received a summons to
-attend the King, whom he found in the gallery at
-Whitehall, and who made him acquainted with the
-action of the Council, together with his own consent
-that an examination should take place.</p>
-
-<p>“Whether I have done well or no, what say you,
-my lord?” asked Henry in conclusion.</p>
-
-<p>Cranmer answered warily. Knowing his master,
-and his jealousy of being supposed to connive at
-heresy, save on the one question of the Pope’s authority,
-he cannot have failed to recognise the gravity of
-the situation. He put, however, a good face upon
-it. The King, he said, would see that he had a fair
-trial&mdash;“was indifferently heard.” His bearing was
-that of a man secure that justice would be done him.
-Both he, in his heart, and the King, knew better.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_9">9</a></span>
-“Oh, Lord God,” sighed Henry, “what fond
-simplicity have you, so to permit yourself to be
-imprisoned!” False witnesses would be produced,
-and he would be condemned.</p>
-
-<p>Taking his precautions, therefore, Henry gave
-the Archbishop his ring&mdash;the recognised sign that
-the matter at issue was taken out of the hands of
-the Council and reserved for his personal investigation.
-After which sovereign and prelate parted.</p>
-
-<p>When, at eight o’clock the next morning, Cranmer,
-in obedience to the summons he had received, arrived
-at the Council Chamber, his foes, insolent in their
-premature triumph, kept him at the door, awaiting
-their convenience, close upon an hour. My lord
-of Canterbury was become a lacquey, some one
-reported to the King, since he was standing among
-the footmen and servants. The King, comprehending
-what was implied, was wroth.</p>
-
-<p>“Have they served my lord so?” he asked.
-“It is well enough; I shall talk with them by and
-by.”</p>
-
-<p>Accordingly when Cranmer, called at length and
-arraigned before the Council, produced the ring&mdash;the
-symbol of his enemies’ discomfiture&mdash;and
-was brought to the royal presence that his cause
-might be tried by the King in person, the positions
-of accused and accusers were reversed. Acting, not
-without passion, rather as the advocate of the menaced
-man than as his judge, Henry received the Council<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_10">10</a></span>
-with taunts, and in reply to their asseverations that
-the trial had been merely intended to conduce to the
-Archbishop’s greater glory, warned them against
-treating his friends in that fashion for the future.
-Cranmer, for the present, was safe.<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">7</a></p>
-
-<p>Protestant England rejoiced with the Protestant
-Archbishop. But it rejoiced in trembling. The
-Archbishop’s escape did not imply immunity to lesser
-offenders, and the severity used in administering the
-law is shown by the fact that a boy of fifteen was
-burnt for heresy&mdash;no willing martyr, but ignorant,
-and eager to catch at any chances of life, by casting
-the blame of his heresy on others. “The poor boy,”
-says Hall, “would have gladly said that the twelve
-Apostles taught it him ... such was his childish
-innocency and fear.”<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> And England, with the
-strange patience of the age, looked on.</p>
-
-<p>Side by side with religious persecution ran
-the story of the King’s domestic crimes. To go
-back no further, in the year 1542 Katherine
-Howard, Henry’s fifth wife, had met her fate,
-and the country had silently witnessed the pitiful and
-shameful spectacle. As fact after fact came to light,
-the tale will have been told of the beautiful, neglected
-child, left to her own devices and to the companionship
-of maid-servants in the disorderly household
-of her grandmother, the Duchess of Norfolk, with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_11">11</a></span>
-the results that might have been anticipated; of how
-she had suddenly become of importance when it had
-been perceived that the King had singled her out for
-favour; and of how, still “a very little girl,” as
-some one described her, she had been used as a pawn
-in the political game played by the Howard clan,
-and married to Henry. Only a few months after
-she had been promoted to her perilous dignity her
-doom had overtaken her; the enemies of the party
-to which by birth she belonged had not only made
-known to her husband misdeeds committed before
-her marriage and almost ranking as the delinquencies
-of a misguided child, but had hinted at
-more unpardonable misdemeanours of which the
-King’s wife had been guilty. The story of Katherine’s
-arraignment and condemnation will have spread
-through the land, with her protestations that, though
-not excusing the sins and follies of her youth&mdash;she
-was seventeen when she was done to death&mdash;she
-was guiltless of the action she was specially to expiate
-at the block; whilst men may have whispered the
-tale of her love for Thomas Culpeper, her cousin
-and playmate, whom she would have wedded had
-not the King stepped in between, and who had
-paid for her affection with his blood. “I die a
-Queen,” she is reported to have exclaimed upon the
-scaffold, “but I would rather have died the wife of
-Culpeper.”<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> And it may have been rumoured that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_12">12</a></span>
-her head had fallen, not so much to vindicate the
-honour of the King as to set him free to form
-fresh ties.</p>
-
-<p>However that might be, Katherine Howard had
-been sent to answer for her offences, or prove her
-innocence, at another bar, and her namesake, Katherine
-Parr, reigned in her stead.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_12" class="figcenter" style="width: 413px;">
- <img src="images/i_012.jpg" width="413" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by W. Mansell &amp; Co. after a painting of the School of Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>KATHERINE HOWARD.</p></div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_13">13</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1546</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Katherine Parr&mdash;Relations with Thomas Seymour&mdash;Married to
-Henry VIII.&mdash;Parties in court and country&mdash;Katherine’s
-position&mdash;Prince Edward.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">It</span> was now three years since Katherine Parr had
-replaced the unhappy child who had been her
-immediate predecessor. For three perilous years
-she had occupied&mdash;with how many fears, how many
-misgivings, who can tell?&mdash;the position of the King’s
-sixth wife. On a July day in 1543 Lady Latimer,
-already at thirty twice a widow, had been raised
-to the rank of Queen. If the ceremony was
-attended with no special pomp, neither had it been
-celebrated with the careful privacy observed with
-respect to some of the King’s marriages. His two
-daughters, Mary&mdash;approximately the same age as the
-bride, and who was her friend&mdash;and Elizabeth, had
-been present, as well as Henry’s brother-in-law,
-Edward Seymour, Earl of Hertford, and other officers
-of State. Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, afterwards
-her dangerous foe, performed the rite, in the
-Queen’s Closet at Hampton Court.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Thomas Seymour, Hertford’s brother and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_14">14</a></span>
-Lord Admiral of England, was not at Hampton
-Court on the occasion, having been despatched
-on some foreign mission. More than one reason
-may have contributed to render his absence advisable.
-A wealthy and childless widow, of unblemished
-reputation, and belonging by birth to a race connected
-with the royal house, was not likely to remain
-long without suitors, and Lord Latimer can scarcely
-have been more than a month in his grave before
-Thomas Seymour had testified his desire to replace
-him and to become Katherine’s third husband. Nor
-does she appear to have been backward in responding
-to his advances.</p>
-
-<p>Twice married to elderly men whose lives lay
-behind them, twice set free by death from her
-bonds, she may fairly have conceived that the time
-was come when she was justified in wedding, not
-for family or substantial reasons, not wholly perhaps,
-as before, in wisdom’s way, but a man she loved.</p>
-
-<p>Seymour was not without attractions calculated
-to commend him to a woman hitherto bestowed
-upon husbands selected for her by others. Young
-and handsome, “fierce in courage, courtly in fashion,
-in personage stately, in voice magnificent, but
-somewhat empty in matter,”<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> the gay sailor appears
-to have had little difficulty in winning the heart of
-a woman who, in spite of the learning, the prudence,
-and the piety for which she was noted, may have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_15">15</a></span>
-felt, as she watched her youth slip by, that she had
-had little good of it; and it is clear, from a letter
-she addressed to Seymour himself when, after
-Henry’s death, his suit had been successfully renewed,
-that she had looked forward at this earlier date to
-becoming his wife.</p>
-
-<p>“As truly as God is God,” she then wrote, “my
-mind was fully bent, the other time I was at liberty,
-to marry you before any man I know. Howbeit
-God withstood my will therein most vehemently
-for a time, and through His grace and goodness
-made that possible which seemed to me most
-impossible; that was, made me renounce utterly
-mine own will and follow His most willingly. It
-were long to write all the processes of this matter.
-If I live, I shall declare it to you myself. I can
-say nothing, but as my Lady of Suffolk saith, ‘God
-is a marvellous man.’”<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">11</a></p>
-
-<p>Strange burdens of responsibility have ever been
-laid upon the duty of obedience to the will of
-Providence, nor does it appear clear to the casual
-reader why the consent of Katherine to become a
-Queen should have been viewed by her in the
-light of a sacrifice to principle. Whether her point
-of view was shared by her lover does not appear.
-It is at all events clear that both were wise enough
-in the world’s lore not to brave the wrath of the
-despot by crossing his caprice. Seymour retired<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_16">16</a></span>
-from the field, and Katherine, perhaps sustained
-by the inward approval of conscience, perhaps
-partially comforted by a crown, accepted the
-dangerous distinction she was offered.</p>
-
-<p>To her brother, Lord Parr, when writing to
-inform him of her advancement, she expressed no
-regret. It had pleased God, she told him, to
-incline the King to take her as his wife, the greatest
-joy and comfort that could happen to her. She
-desired to communicate the great news to Parr,
-as being the person with most cause to rejoice
-thereat, and added, with a suspicion of condescension,
-her hope that he would let her hear of his health
-as friendly as if she had not been called to this
-honour.<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">12</a></p>
-
-<p>Although the actual marriage had not taken place
-until some six months after Lord Latimer’s death,
-no time can have been lost in arranging it, since
-before her husband had been two months in the
-grave Henry was causing a bill for her dresses to
-be paid out of the Exchequer.</p>
-
-<p>It was generally considered that the King had
-chosen well. Wriothesley, the Chancellor, was sure
-His Majesty had never a wife more agreeable to his
-heart. Gardiner had not only performed the marriage
-ceremony but had given away the bride.
-According to an old chronicle the new Queen was
-a woman “compleat with singular humility.”<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> She<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_17">17</a></span>
-had, at any rate, the adroitness, in her relations with
-the King, to assume the appearance of it, and was a
-well-educated, sensible, and kindly woman, “quieter
-than any of the young wives the King had had,
-and, as she knew more of the world, she always got
-on pleasantly with the King, and had no caprices.”<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">14</a></p>
-
-<p>The story of the marriage was an old one in 1546.
-Seymour had returned from his mission and resumed
-his former position at Court as the King’s brother-in-law
-and the uncle of his heir, and not even the Queen’s
-enemies&mdash;and she had enough of them and to spare&mdash;had
-found an excuse for calling to mind the relations
-once existing between the Admiral and the King’s
-wife. Nevertheless, and in spite of the blamelessness
-of her conduct, the satisfaction which had greeted the
-marriage was on the wane. A hard task would have
-awaited Queen or courtier who should have attempted
-to minister to the contentment of all the rival
-parties striving for predominance in the State and at
-Court, and to be adjudged the friend of the one was
-practically equivalent to a pledge of distrust from
-the other. Whitehall, like the country at large, was
-divided against itself by theological strife; and
-whilst the men faithful to the ancient creed in its
-entirety were inevitably in bitter opposition to the
-adherents of the new teachers whose headquarters
-were in Germany, a third party, more unscrupulous
-than either, was made up of the middle men who<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_18">18</a></span>
-moulded&mdash;outwardly or inwardly&mdash;their faith upon
-the King’s, and would, if they could, have created a
-Papacy without a Pope, a Catholic Church without
-its corner-stone.</p>
-
-<p>At Court, as elsewhere, each of these three
-parties were standing on their guard, ready to
-parry or to strike a blow when occasion arose,
-jealous of every success scored by their opponents.
-The fall of Cromwell had inspired the Catholics
-with hope, and, with Gardiner as Minister and
-Wriothesley as Chancellor, they had been in a more
-favourable position than for some time past at the
-date of the King’s last marriage. It had then been
-assumed that the new Queen’s influence would be
-employed upon their side&mdash;an expectation confirmed
-by her friendship with the Princess Mary. The
-discovery that the widow of Lord Latimer&mdash;so
-fervent a Catholic that he had joined in the north-country
-insurrection known as the Pilgrimage of
-Grace&mdash;had broken with her past, openly displayed
-her sympathy with Protestant doctrine, and, in
-common with the King’s nieces, was addicted to
-what was called the “new learning,” quickly disabused
-them of their hopes, rendered the Catholic
-party at Court her embittered enemies, and lent
-additional danger to what was already a perilous
-position by affording those at present in power a
-motive for removing from the King’s side a woman
-regarded as the advocate of innovation.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_19">19</a></span>
-So far their efforts had been fruitless. Katherine
-still held her own. During Henry’s absence in
-France, whither he had gone to conduct the campaign
-in person, she had administered the Government,
-as Queen-Regent, with tact and discretion;
-the King loved her&mdash;as he understood love&mdash;and,
-what was perhaps a more important matter, she
-had contrived to render herself necessary to him.
-Wary, prudent, and pious, and notwithstanding the
-possession of qualities marking her out in some sort
-as the superior woman of her day, she was not above
-pandering to his love of flattery. Into her book
-entitled <cite>The Lamentations of a Sinner</cite>, she introduced
-a fulsome panegyric of the godly and learned King
-who had removed from his realm the veils and mists
-of error, and in the guise of a modern Moses had
-been victorious over the Roman Pharaoh. What she
-publicly printed she doubtless reiterated in private;
-and the King found the domestic incense soothing to
-an irritable temper, still further acerbated by disease.</p>
-
-<p>By other methods she had commended herself to
-those who were about him open to conciliation. She
-had served a long apprenticeship in the art of the step-mother,
-both Lord Borough, her first husband, and
-Lord Latimer having possessed children when she
-married them; and her skill in dealing with the little
-heir to the throne and his sisters proved that she
-had turned her experience to good account. Her
-genuine kindness, not only to Mary, who had been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_20">20</a></span>
-her friend from the first, but to Elizabeth, ten years
-old at the time of the marriage, was calculated to
-propitiate the adherents of each; and to her good
-offices it was in especial due that Anne Boleyn’s
-daughter, hitherto kept chiefly at a distance from
-Court, was brought to Whitehall. The child, young
-as she was, was old enough to appreciate the importance
-of possessing a friend in her father’s wife,
-and the letter she addressed to her step-mother on
-the occasion overflowed with expressions of devotion
-and gratitude. To the place the Queen won in the
-affections of the all-important heir, the boy’s letters
-bear witness.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_20" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_020.jpg" width="600" height="384" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From an engraving by F. Bartolozzi after a picture by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>HENRY VIII. AND HIS THREE CHILDREN.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>There is no need to assume that Katherine’s
-course of action was wholly dictated by interested
-motives. Yet in this case principle and prudence
-went hand in hand. Henry was becoming increasingly
-sick and suffering, and, with the shadow
-of death deepening above him, the gifts he asked
-of life were insensibly changing their character.
-His autocratic and violent temper remained the
-same, but peace and quiet, a soothing atmosphere
-of submissive affection, the absence of domestic
-friction, if not sufficient to ensure his wife immunity
-from peril, constituted her best chance of
-escaping the doom of her predecessors. To a
-selfish man the appeal must be to self-interest.
-This appeal Katherine consistently made and it had
-so far proved successful. For the rest, whether<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_21">21</a></span>
-she suffered from terror of possible disaster
-or resolutely shut her eyes to what might have
-unnerved and rendered her unfit for the part she
-had to play, none can tell, any more than it can
-be determined whether, as she looked from the man
-she had married to the man she had loved, she
-indulged in vain regrets for the happiness of which
-she had caught a glimpse in those brief days when
-she had dreamed of a future to be shared with
-Thomas Seymour.</p>
-
-<p>In spite, however, of her caution, in spite of the
-perfection with which she performed the duties of
-wife and nurse, by 1546 disquieting reports were
-afloat.</p>
-
-<p>“I am confused and apprehensive,” wrote
-Charles V.’s ambassador from London in the
-February of that year, “to have to inform Your
-Majesty that there are rumours here of a new
-Queen, although I do not know how true they
-be.... The King shows no alteration in his
-behaviour towards the Queen, though I am informed
-that she is annoyed by the rumours.”<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">15</a></p>
-
-<p>With the history of the past to quicken her
-apprehensions, she may well have been more than
-“annoyed” by them. But, true or false, she
-could but pursue the line of conduct she had
-adopted, and must have turned with relief from
-domestic anxieties to any other matters that could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_22">22</a></span>
-serve to distract her mind from her precarious
-future. Amongst the learned ladies of a day when
-scholarship was becoming a fashion she occupied
-a foremost place, and was actively engaged in promoting
-educational interests. Stimulated by her
-step-mother’s approval, the Princess Mary had been
-encouraged to undertake part of the translation of
-Erasmus’s paraphrases of the Gospels; and Elizabeth
-is found sending the Queen, as a fitting offering, a
-translation from the Italian inscribed on vellum and
-entitled the <cite>Glasse of the Synneful Soule</cite>, accompanying
-it by the expression of a hope that, having
-passed through hands so learned as the Queen’s,
-it would come forth from them in a new form.
-The education of the little Prince Edward too
-was pushed rapidly forward, and at six years old,
-the year of his father’s marriage, he had been
-taken out of the hands of women and committed
-to the tuition of John Cheke and Dr. Richard Cox.
-These two, explains Heylyn, being equal in
-authority, employed themselves to his advantage
-in their several kinds&mdash;Dr. Cox for knowledge of
-divinity, philosophy, and gravity of manners, Mr.
-Cheke for eloquence in the Greek and Latin tongues;
-whilst other masters instructed the poor child in modern
-languages, so that in a short time he spoke French
-perfectly, and was able to express himself “magnificently
-enough” in Italian, Greek, and Spanish.<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">16</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_23">23</a></span>
-His companion and playfellow was one Barnaby
-Fitzpatrick, to whom he clung throughout his short
-life with constant affection. It was Barnaby’s office
-to bear whatever punishment the Prince had merited&mdash;a
-method more successful in the case of the Prince
-than it might have proved with a less soft-hearted
-offender, since it is said that “it was not easy to
-affirm whether Fitzpatrick smarted more for the
-default of the Prince, or the Prince conceived more
-grief for the smart of Fitzpatrick.”<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">17</a></p>
-
-<p>Katherine Parr is not likely to have regretted
-the pressure put upon her stepson; and the boy,
-apologising for his simple and rude letters, adds his
-acknowledgments for those addressed to him by
-the Queen, “which do give me much comfort and
-encouragement to go forward in such things wherein
-your Grace beareth me on hand.”</p>
-
-<p>The King’s latest wife was, in fact, a teacher by
-nature and choice, and admirably fitted to direct the
-studies of his son and daughters, as well as of any
-other children who might be brought within the
-sphere of her influence. That influence, it may be,
-had something to do with moulding the character
-and the destiny of a child fated to be unhappily
-prominent in the near future. This was Lady Jane
-Grey.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_24">24</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1546</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">The Marquis of Dorset and his family&mdash;Bradgate Park&mdash;Lady Jane
-Grey&mdash;Her relations with her cousins&mdash;Mary Tudor&mdash;Protestantism
-at Whitehall&mdash;Religious persecution.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">Amongst</span> the households where both affairs at
-Court and the religious struggle distracting
-the country were watched with the deepest interest
-was that of the Marquis of Dorset, the husband
-of the King’s niece and father of Lady Jane Grey.</p>
-
-<p>Married at eighteen to the infirm and aged Louis
-XII. of France, Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII.
-and friend of the luckless Katherine of Aragon, had
-been released by his death after less than three
-months of wedded life, and had lost no time in
-choosing a more congenial bridegroom. At Calais,
-on her way home, she had bestowed her hand upon
-“that martial and pompous gentleman,” Charles
-Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, who, sent by her brother
-to conduct her back to England, thought it well to
-secure his bride and to wait until the union was
-accomplished before obtaining the King’s consent.
-Of this hurried marriage the eldest child was the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_25">25</a></span>
-mother of Jane Grey, who thus derived her disastrous
-heritage of royal blood.</p>
-
-<p>It was at the country home of the Dorset family,
-Bradgate Park, that Lady Jane had been born, in
-1537. Six miles distant from the town of Leicester,
-and forming the south-east end of Charnwood
-Forest, it was a pleasant and quiet place. Over the
-wide park itself, seven miles in circumference,
-bracken grew freely; here and there bare rocks rose
-amidst the masses of green undergrowth, broken
-now and then by a solitary oak, and the unwooded
-expanse was covered with “wild verdure.”<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">18</a></p>
-
-<p>The house itself had not long been built, nor is
-there much remaining at the present day to show
-what had been its aspect at the time when Lady Jane
-was its inmate. Early in the eighteenth century it
-was destroyed by fire, tradition ascribing the catastrophe
-to a Lady Suffolk who, brought to her
-husband’s home as a bride, complained that the
-country was a forest and the inhabitants were
-brutes, and, at the suggestion of her sister, took
-the most certain means of ensuring a change of
-residence.</p>
-
-<p>But if little outward trace is left of the place
-where the victim of state-craft and ambition was born
-and passed her early years, it is not a difficult matter
-to hazard a guess at the religious and political atmosphere
-of her home. Echoes of the fight carried on,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_26">26</a></span>
-openly or covertly, between the parties striving for
-predominance in the realm must have almost daily
-reached Bradgate, the accounts of the incidents
-marking the combat taking their colour from the
-sympathies of the master and mistress of the house,
-strongly enlisted upon the side of Protestantism. At
-Lord Dorset’s house, though with closed doors,
-the condition of religious affairs must have supplied
-constant matter for discussion; and Jane will have
-listened to the conversation with the eager attention
-of an intelligent child, piecing together the fragments
-she gathered up, and gradually realising, with a thrill
-of excitement, as she became old enough to grasp the
-significance of what she heard, that men and women
-were suffering and dying in torment for the sake
-of doctrines she had herself been taught as a matter
-of course. Serious and precocious, and already beginning
-an education said to have included in later
-years Greek, Latin, Hebrew, Chaldaic, Arabic, French,
-and Italian, the stories reaching her father’s house of
-the events taking place in London and at Court must
-have imprinted themselves upon her imagination at
-an age specially open to such impressions, and it is
-not unnatural that she should have grown up nurtured
-in the principles of polemics and apt at controversy.</p>
-
-<p>Nor were edifying tales of martyrdom or of
-suffering for conscience’ sake the only ones to penetrate
-to the green and quiet precincts of Bradgate.
-At his niece’s house the King’s domestic affairs&mdash;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_27">27</a></span>a
-scandal and a by-word in Europe&mdash;must have
-been regarded with the added interest, perhaps the
-sharper criticism, due to kinship. Henry was not
-only Lady Dorset’s sovereign, but her uncle, and she
-had a more personal interest than others in what
-Messer Barbaro, in his report to the Venetian
-senate, described as “this confusion of wives.”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> To
-keep a child ignorant was no part of the training
-of the day, and Jane, herself destined for a court
-life, no doubt had heard, as she grew older,
-many of the stories of terror and pity circulating
-throughout the country, and investing, in the eyes of
-those afar off, the distant city&mdash;the stage whereon
-most of them had been enacted&mdash;with the atmosphere
-of mystery and fear and excitement belonging to a
-place where martyrs were shedding their blood, or
-heretics atoning for their guilt, according as the
-narrators inclined to the ancient or the novel faith;
-where tragedies of love and hatred and revenge
-were being played, and men went in hourly peril
-of their lives.</p>
-
-<p>Of this place, invested with the attraction and
-glamour belonging to a land of glitter and romance,
-Lady Jane had glimpses on the occasions when,
-as a near relation of the King’s, she accompanied
-her mother to Court, becoming for a while a
-sharer in the life of palaces and an actor, by
-reason of her strain of royal blood, in the pageant<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_28">28</a></span>
-ever going forward at St. James’s or Whitehall;<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">20</a>
-and though it does not appear that she was finally
-transferred from the guardianship of her parents to
-that of the Queen until after the death of Henry
-in the beginning of the year 1547, it is not unlikely
-that the book-loving child of nine may have attracted
-the attention of the scholarly Queen during her
-visits to Court and that Katherine’s belligerent
-Protestantism had its share in the development of
-the convictions which afterwards proved so strong
-both in life and in death.</p>
-
-<p>There is at this date little trace of any connection
-between Jane and her cousins, the King’s
-children. A strong affection on the part of Edward
-is said to have existed, and to it has been attributed
-his consent to set his sisters aside in Lady Jane’s
-favour. “She charmed all who knew her,” says
-Burnet, “in particular the young King, about
-whom she was bred, and who had always lived
-with her in the familiarity of a brother.” For
-this statement there is no contemporary authority,
-and, so far as can be ascertained, intercourse between<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_29">29</a></span>
-the two can have been but slight. Between
-Edward and his younger sister, on the other hand,
-the bond of affection was strong, their education
-being carried on at this time much together
-at Hatfield; and “a concurrence and sympathy
-of their natures and affections, together with the
-celestial bond, conformity in religion,”<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> made it
-the more remarkable that the Prince should have
-afterwards agreed to set aside, in favour of his
-cousin, Elizabeth’s claim to the succession. It is
-true that in their occasional meetings the studious
-boy and the serious-minded little girl may have
-discovered that they had tastes in common, but such
-casual acquaintanceship can scarcely have availed to
-counterbalance the affection produced by close companionship
-and the tie of blood; and grounds
-for the Prince’s subsequent conduct, other than the
-influence and arguments of those about him, can
-only be matter of conjecture.</p>
-
-<p>Of the relations existing between Jane and the
-Prince’s sisters there is little more mention; but
-the entry by Mary Tudor in a note-book of the
-gift of a gold necklace set with pearls, made “to
-my cousin, Jane Gray,” shows that the two had
-met in the course of this summer, and would seem
-to indicate a kindly feeling on the part of the older
-woman towards the unfortunate child whom, not
-eight years later, she was to send to the scaffold.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_30">30</a></span>
-Could the future have been laid bare it would
-perhaps not have been the victim who would have
-recoiled from the revelation with the greatest
-horror.</p>
-
-<p>Although what was to follow lends a tragic significance
-to the juxtaposition of the names of the two
-cousins, there was nothing sinister about the King’s
-elder daughter as she filled the place at Court in
-which she had been reinstated at the instance of her
-step-mother. A gentle, brown-eyed woman, past
-her first youth, and bearing on her countenance
-the traces of sickness and sorrow and suffering,
-she enjoyed at this date so great a popularity as
-almost, according to a foreign observer, to be an
-object of adoration to her father’s subjects, obstinately
-faithful to her injured and repudiated
-mother. But, ameliorated as was the Princess’s
-condition, she had been too well acquainted, from
-childhood upwards, with the reverses of fortune to
-count over-securely upon a future depending upon
-her father’s caprice.</p>
-
-<p>Her health was always delicate, and during the early
-part of the year she had been ill. By the spring,
-however, she had resumed her attendance at Court,
-and&mdash;to judge by a letter from her little wise brother,
-contemplating from a safe distance the dangerous
-pastimes of Whitehall&mdash;was taking a conspicuous
-part in the entertainments in fashion. Writing in
-Latin to his step-mother, Prince Edward besought<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_31">31</a></span>
-her “to preserve his dear sister Mary from the
-enchantments of the Evil One, by beseeching her
-no longer to attend to foreign dances and merriments,
-unbecoming in a most Christian Princess”&mdash;and
-least of all in one for whom he expressed the
-wish, in the course of the same summer, that the
-wisdom of Esther might be hers.</p>
-
-<p>It does not appear whether or not Mary took
-the admonitions of her nine-year-old Mentor to
-heart. The pleasures of court life are not likely
-to have exercised a perilous fascination over the
-Princess, her spirits clouded by the memory of her
-melancholy past and the uncertainty of her future,
-and probably represented to her a more or less
-wearisome part of the necessary routine of existence.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst the entertainments the Prince deplored
-went forward at Whitehall, they were accompanied
-by other practices he would have wholly approved.
-Not only was his step-mother addicted to personal
-study of the Scriptures, but she had secured the
-services of learned men to instruct her further in
-them; holding private conferences with these
-teachers; and, especially during Lent, causing a
-sermon to be delivered each afternoon for her own
-benefit and that of any of her ladies disposed to
-profit by it, when the discourse frequently turned or
-touched upon abuses in the Church.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">22</a></p>
-
-<p>It was a bold stroke, Henry’s claims to the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_32">32</a></span>
-position of sole arbiter on questions of doctrine
-considered. Nevertheless the Queen acted openly,
-and so far her husband had testified no dissatisfaction.
-Yet the practice must have served to accentuate
-the dividing line of theological opinion, already
-sufficiently marked at Court; some members of
-the royal household, like Princess Mary, holding
-aloof; others eagerly welcoming the step; the
-Seymours, Cranmer, and their friends looking on
-with approval, whilst the Howard connection, with
-Gardiner and Wriothesley, took note of the Queen’s
-imprudence, and waited and watched their opportunity
-to turn it to their advantage and to her
-destruction.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_32" class="figcenter" style="width: 448px;">
- <img src="images/i_032.jpg" width="448" height="600" alt="" />
- <div class="caption"><p class="p0">Edward Prince</p></div>
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From an engraving by R. Dalton after a drawing by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>PRINCE EDWARD, AFTERWARDS EDWARD VI.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Such was the internal condition of the Court.
-The spring had meanwhile been marked by rejoicings
-for the peace with foreign powers, at last concluded.
-On Whit-Sunday a great procession proceeded from
-St. Paul’s to St. Peter’s, Cornhill, accompanied by a
-banner, and by crosses from every parish church,
-the children of St. Paul’s School joining in the show.
-It was composed of a motley company. Bishop
-Bonner&mdash;as vehement in his Catholicism as Gardiner,
-and so much less wary in the display of his opinions
-that his brother of Winchester was wont at times to
-term him “asse”&mdash;carried the Blessed Sacrament
-under a canopy, with “clerks and priests and vicars
-and parsons”; the Lord Mayor was there in crimson
-velvet, the aldermen were in scarlet, and all the crafts<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_33">33</a></span>
-in their best apparel. The occasion was worthy of
-the pomp displayed in honour of it, for it was&mdash;the
-words sound like a jest&mdash;the festival of a “Universal
-Peace for ever,” announced by the Mayor, standing
-between standard and cross, and including in the
-proclamation of general amity the names of the
-Emperor, the King of England, the French King,
-and all Christian Kings.<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">23</a></p>
-
-<p>If soldiers had for the moment consented to
-proclaim a truce and to name it, merrily, eternal,
-theologians had agreed to no like suspension of
-hostilities, and the perennial religious strife showed
-no signs of intermission.</p>
-
-<p>“Sire,” wrote Admiral d’Annebaut, sent by
-Francis to London to ratify the peace, “I know
-not what to tell your Majesty as to the order given
-me to inform myself of the condition of religious
-affairs in England; except that Henry has declared
-himself head of the Anglican Church, and woe
-to whomsoever refuses to recognise him in that
-capacity. He has also usurped all ecclesiastical
-property, and destroyed all the convents. He
-attends Mass nevertheless daily, and permits the
-papal nuncio to live in London. What is strangest
-of all is that Catholics are there burnt as well as
-Lutherans and other heretics. Was anything like
-it ever seen?”<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">24</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_34">34</a></span>
-Punishment was indeed dealt out with singular
-impartiality. During the spring Dr. Crome had
-been examined touching a sermon he had delivered
-against Catholic doctrine. Two or three weeks
-later, preaching once more at Paul’s Cross, he had
-boldly declared he was not there for the purpose
-of denying his former assertions; but a second
-“examination” had proved more effective, and on
-the Sunday following the feast of Corpus Christi he
-eschewed his heresies.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> “Our news here,” wrote a
-merchant of London to his brother on July 2, “of
-Dr. Crome’s canting, recanting, decanting, or rather
-double-canting, be this.”<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> The transaction was
-representative of many others, which, with their
-undercurrent of terror, struggle, intimidation,
-menace, and remorse, formed a melancholy and
-recurrent feature of the day, the victory remaining
-sometimes with a man’s conscience&mdash;whatever it
-dictates might be&mdash;sometimes with his fears.</p>
-
-<p>The King was, in fact, still endeavouring to stem
-the torrent he had set loose. In his speech to
-Parliament on Christmas Eve, 1545, after commending
-and thanking Lords and Commons for
-their loyalty and affection towards himself, he had
-spoken with severity of the discord and dissension
-prevalent in the realm; the clergy, by their sermons
-against each other, sowing debate and discord<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_35">35</a></span>
-amongst the people.... “I am very sorry to know
-and hear how unreverently that most precious jewel,
-the Word of God, is disputed, rimed, sung and
-jangled in every ale-house and tavern ... and
-yet I am even as much sorry that the readers of the
-same follow it in doing so faintly and so coldly.
-For of this I am sure, that charity was never so
-faint amongst you, and virtuous and godly living
-was never less used, nor God Himself amongst
-Christians was never less reverenced, honoured, and
-served.”<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">27</a></p>
-
-<p>Delivered scarcely more than a year before his
-death, Henry’s speech was a singular commentary
-upon the condition of the realm, consequent upon
-his own policy, during the concluding years of his
-reign.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_36">36</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1546</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Anne Askew&mdash;Her trial and execution&mdash;Katherine Parr’s
-danger&mdash;Plot against her&mdash;Her escape.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">As</span> the months of 1546 went by the measures
-taken by the King and his advisers to enforce
-unanimity of practice and opinion in matters of
-religion did not become less drastic. A great
-burning of books disapproved by Henry took place
-during the autumn, preceded in July by the
-condemnation and execution of a victim whose
-fate attracted an unusual amount of attention, the
-effect at Court being enhanced by the fact that the
-heroine of the story was personally known to the
-Queen and her ladies. It was indeed reported that
-one of the King’s special causes of displeasure was
-that she had been the means of imbuing his nieces&mdash;among
-whom was Lady Dorset, Jane Grey’s mother&mdash;as
-well as his wife, with heretical doctrines.</p>
-
-<p>Added to the species of glamour commonly
-surrounding a spiritual leader, more particularly in
-times of persecution, Anne Askew was beautiful
-and young&mdash;not more than twenty-five at the time<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_37">37</a></span>
-of her death&mdash;and the thought of her racked
-frame, her undaunted courage, and her final agony
-at the stake, may well have haunted with the
-horror of a night-mare those who had been her
-disciples, and who looked on from a distance, and
-with sympathy they dared not display.</p>
-
-<p>There were other circumstances increasing the
-interest with which the melancholy drama was
-watched. Well born and educated, Anne had been
-the wife of a Lincolnshire gentleman of the name
-of Kyme. Their life together had been of short
-duration. In a period of bitter party feeling and
-recrimination, it is difficult to ascertain with certainty
-the truth on any given point; and whilst a hostile
-chronicler asserts that Anne left her husband in
-order “to gad up and down a-gospelling and
-gossipping where she might and ought not, but
-especially in London and near the Court,”<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> another
-authority explains that Kyme had turned her out
-of his house upon her conversion to Protestant
-doctrines. Whatever might have been the origin
-of her mode of life, it is certain that she resumed
-her maiden name, and proceeded to “execute the
-office of an apostle.”<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">29</a></p>
-
-<p>Her success in her new profession made her
-unfortunately conspicuous, and in 1545 she was
-committed to Newgate, “for that she was very<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_38">38</a></span>
-obstinate and heady in reasoning on matters of
-religion.” The charge, it must be confessed, is
-corroborated by her demeanour under examination,
-when the qualities of meekness and humility were
-markedly absent, and her replies to the interrogatories
-addressed to her were rather calculated to
-irritate than to prove conciliatory. On this first
-occasion, for example, asked to interpret certain
-passages in the Scriptures, she declined to comply
-with the request on the score that she would not
-cast pearls among swine&mdash;acorns were good enough;
-and, urged by Bonner to open her wound, she
-again refused. Her conscience was clear, she said;
-to lay a plaster on a whole skin might seem much
-folly, and the similitude of a wound appeared to her
-unsavoury.<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">30</a></p>
-
-<p>For the time she escaped; but in the course of
-the following year her case was again brought
-forward, and on this occasion she found no mercy.
-Her examinations, mostly reported by herself, show
-her as alike keen-witted and sharp-tongued, rarely
-at a loss for an answer, and profoundly convinced
-of the justice of her cause. If she was not without
-the genuine enjoyment of the born controversialist
-in the opportunity of argument and discussion, she
-possessed, underlying the self-assertion and confidence
-natural in a woman holding the position of a
-religious leader, a fund of indomitable heroism.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_39">39</a></span>
-For she must have been fully conscious of her
-danger. It is possible that, had she not been
-brought into prominence by her association with
-those in high places, she might again have escaped;
-but, apart from the grudge owed her for her
-influence over the King’s own kin, her attitude
-was almost such as to court her fate. Refusing “to
-sing a new song of the Lord in a strange land,”
-she replied to the Bishop of Winchester, when he
-complained that she spoke in parables, that it was
-best for him that she should do so. Had she
-shown him the open truth, he would not accept it.</p>
-
-<p>“Then the Bishop said he would speak with me
-familiarly. I said, ‘So did Judas when he unfriendlily
-betrayed Christ....’ In conclusion,” she ended, in
-her account of the interview, “we could not agree.”</p>
-
-<p>Spirited as was her bearing, and thrilling as the
-prisoner plainly was with all the excitement of a battle
-of words, it was not strange that the strain should
-tell upon her.</p>
-
-<p>“On the Sunday,” she proceeds&mdash;and there is a
-pathetic contrast between the physical weakness to
-which she confesses and her undaunted boldness in
-confronting the men bent upon her destruction&mdash;“I
-was sore sick, thinking no less than to die....
-Then was I sent to Newgate in my extremity of
-sickness, for in all my life I was never in such pain.
-Thus the Lord strengthen us in His truth. Pray,
-pray, pray.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_40">40</a></span>
-Her condemnation was a foregone conclusion. It
-followed quickly, with a subsequent visit from one
-Nicholas Shaxton, who, having, for his own part,
-made his recantation, counselled her to do the same.
-He spoke in vain. It were, she told him, good for
-him never to have been born, “with many like
-words.” More was to follow. If her assertion is to
-be believed&mdash;and there seems no valid reason to doubt
-it&mdash;the rack was applied “till I was nigh dead....
-After that I sat two long hours reasoning with my
-Lord Chancellor upon the bare floor. Then was I
-brought into a house and laid in a bed with as weary
-and painful bones as ever had patient Job. I thank
-my God therefore.”</p>
-
-<p>A scarcely credible addition is made to the story,
-to the effect that when the Lieutenant of the Tower
-had refused to put the victim to the torture a second
-time, the Lord Chancellor, Wriothesley, less merciful,
-took the office upon himself, and applied the rack
-with his own hands, the Lieutenant departing to
-report the matter to the King, “who seemed not very
-well to like such handling of a woman.”<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> What is
-certain is the final scene at Smithfield, where Shaxton
-delivered a sermon, Anne listening, endorsing his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_41">41</a></span>
-words when she approved of them and correcting
-them “when he said amiss.”</p>
-
-<p>So the shameful episode was brought to an end.
-The tale, penetrating even the thick walls of a
-palace, must have caused a thrill of horror at
-Whitehall, accentuated by reason of certain events
-going forward there about the same time.</p>
-
-<p>The King’s disease was gaining upon him apace.
-He had become so unwieldy in bulk that the use
-of machinery was necessary to move him, and with
-the progress of his disorder his temper was becoming
-more and more irritable. In view of his approaching
-death the question of the guardianship and custody
-of the heir to the throne was increasing in importance
-and the jealousy of the rival parties was becoming
-more embittered. In the course of the summer the
-Catholics about the Court ventured on a bold stroke,
-directed against no less a person than the Queen.</p>
-
-<p>Emboldened by the tolerance displayed by the
-King towards her religious practices and the preachers
-and teachers she gathered around her, Katherine had
-grown so daring as to make matters of doctrine a
-constant subject of conversation with Henry, urging
-him to complete the work he had begun, and to free
-the Church of England from superstition.<a id="FNanchor_32" href="#Footnote_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> Henry
-appears at first&mdash;though he was a man ill to argue
-with&mdash;to have shown singular patience under his
-wife’s admonitions. But daily controversy is not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_42">42</a></span>
-soothing to a sick man’s nerves and temper, and
-Katherine’s enemies, watching their opportunity,
-conceived that it was at hand.</p>
-
-<p>Henry’s habits had been altered by illness, and it
-had become the Queen’s custom to wait for a
-summons before visiting his apartments; although
-on some occasions, after dinner or supper, or when
-she had reason to imagine she would be welcome,
-she repaired thither on her own initiative. But
-perhaps the more as she perceived that time was
-short, she continued her imprudent exhortations.
-And still her enemies, wary and silent, watched.</p>
-
-<p>Henry appears&mdash;and it says much for his affection
-for her&mdash;to have for a time maintained the attitude
-of a not uncomplacent listener. On a certain day,
-however, when Katherine was, as usual, descanting
-upon questions of theology, he changed the subject
-abruptly, “which somewhat amazed the Queen.”
-Reassured by perceiving no further signs of displeasure,
-she talked upon other topics until the
-time came for the King to bid her farewell, which
-he did with his customary affection.</p>
-
-<p>The account of what followed&mdash;Foxe being, as
-before, the narrator&mdash;must be accepted with reservation.
-Gardiner, chancing to be present, was made
-the recipient of his master’s irritation. It was a good
-hearing, the King said ironically, when women were
-become clerks, and a thing much to his comfort, to
-come in his old days to be taught by his wife.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_43">43</a></span>
-Gardiner made prompt use of the opening afforded
-him; he had waited long for it, and it was not
-wasted. The Queen, he said, had forgotten herself,
-in arguing with a King whose virtues and whose
-learnedness in matters of religion were not only
-greater than were possessed by other princes, but
-exceeded those of doctors in divinity. For the
-Bishop and his friends it was a grievous thing to
-hear. Proceeding to enlarge upon the subject at
-length, he concluded by saying that, though he
-dared not declare what he knew without special
-warranty from the King, he and others were aware
-of treason cloaked in heresy. Henry, he warned
-him, was cherishing a serpent in his bosom.</p>
-
-<p>It was risking much, but the Bishop knew to
-whom he spoke, and, working adroitly upon
-Henry’s fears and wrath, succeeded in obtaining
-permission to consult with his colleagues and to draw
-up articles by which the Queen’s life might be
-touched. “They thought it best to begin with such
-ladies as she most esteemed and were privy to all her
-doings&mdash;as the Lady Herbert, her sister, the Lady
-Lane, who was her first cousin, and the Lady
-Tyrwhitt, all of her privy chamber.” The plan
-was to accuse these ladies of the breach of the Six
-Articles, to search their coffers for documents or
-books compromising to the Queen, and, in case anything
-of that nature were found, to carry Katherine
-by night to the Tower. The King, acquainted with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_44">44</a></span>
-the design, appears to have given his consent, and
-all went on as before, Henry still encouraging,
-or at least not discouraging, his wife’s discourse on
-spiritual matters.</p>
-
-<p>Time was passing; the bill of articles against the
-Queen had been prepared, and Henry had affixed his
-signature to it, whether with a deliberate intention
-of giving her over to her enemies, or, as some said,
-meaning to deter her from the study of prohibited
-literature&mdash;in which case, as Lord Herbert of
-Cherbury observes, it was “a terrible jest.”<a id="FNanchor_33" href="#Footnote_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> That
-Katherine herself did not regard the affair, as soon
-as she came to be cognisant of it, in the light of a
-kindly warning, is plain; for when, by a singular
-accident, the document containing the charges against
-her was dropped by one of the council and brought
-for her perusal, the effect upon her was such that the
-King’s physicians were summoned to attend her, and
-Henry himself, ignorant of the cause of her illness,
-and possibly softened by it, paid her a visit, and,
-hearing that she entertained fears that she had
-incurred his displeasure, reassured her with sweet
-and comfortable words, remained with her an hour,
-and departed.</p>
-
-<p>Though Katherine had played her part well, she
-must have been aware that she stood on the brink of
-a precipice, and the ghosts of Anne Boleyn and
-Katherine Howard warned her how little reliance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_45">45</a></span>
-could be placed upon the King’s fitful affection.
-Deciding upon a bold step, she sought his bed-chamber
-uninvited after supper on the following
-evening, attended only by her sister, Lady Herbert,
-and with Lady Lane,<a id="FNanchor_34" href="#Footnote_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> her cousin, to carry the candle
-before her. Henry, found in conversation with
-his attendant gentlemen, gave his wife a courteous
-welcome, entering at once&mdash;contrary to his custom&mdash;upon
-the subject of religion, as if moved by a desire
-of gaining instruction from her replies. Read in the
-light of what Katherine already knew, this new
-departure may well have been viewed by her with
-misgiving; and she hastened to disclaim the position
-the King appeared anxious to assign her. The
-inferiority of women being what it was, she said, it
-was for man to supply from his wisdom what they
-lacked. She being a silly poor woman, and his
-Majesty so wise, how could her judgment be of
-use to him, in all things her only anchor, and, next
-to God, her supreme head and governor on earth?</p>
-
-<p>The King demurred. The attitude of submission
-may have struck him as unfamiliar.</p>
-
-<p>“Not so, by St. Mary,” he said. “You are
-become a doctor, Kate, to instruct us, as we take
-it, and not to be instructed or directed by us.”</p>
-
-<p>The plain charge elicited, it was more easy
-to reply to it. The King had much mistaken her,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_46">46</a></span>
-Katherine humbly declared. It had ever been her
-opinion that it was unseemly for the woman to
-instruct and teach her lord and husband; her place
-was rather to learn of him. If she had been bold
-to maintain opinions differing from the King’s, it
-had been to “minister talk”&mdash;to make conversation,
-in modern language&mdash;to distract him from the
-thought of his infirmities, as also in the hope of profiting
-by his learned discourse&mdash;with more of the
-same nature.</p>
-
-<p>Henry, perhaps not sorry to be convinced, yielded
-to the skilful flattery thus administered.</p>
-
-<p>“Is it even so, sweetheart?” he said, “and tend
-your arguments to no worse end? Then perfect
-friends we are now again,” adding, as he took her
-in his arms and kissed her, that her words had done
-him more good than news of a hundred thousand
-pounds.</p>
-
-<p>The next day had been fixed for the Queen’s
-arrest. As the appointed hour approached the
-King sought the garden, sending for Katherine to
-attend him there. Accompanied by the same ladies
-as on the night before, the Queen obeyed the
-summons, and there, under the July sun, the closing
-scene of the serio-comic drama was played. Amused,
-it may be, by the anticipation of his counsellors’
-discomfiture, Henry was in good spirits and “as
-pleasant as ever he was in his life before,” when
-the Chancellor, with forty of the royal guard,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_47">47</a></span>
-appeared, ready to take possession of the culprit.
-What passed between Wriothesley and his master,
-at a little distance from the rest of the party, could
-only be matter of conjecture. The Chancellor’s
-words, as he knelt before the angry King, were not
-audible to the curious bystanders, but the King’s
-rejoinder, “vehemently whispered,” was heard.
-“Knave, arrant knave, beast and fool,” were the
-epithets applied to the crestfallen official. After
-which, he was promptly dismissed.</p>
-
-<p>Katherine, whether or not she divined the truth,
-set herself to plead Wriothesley’s cause. Ignorance,
-not will, was in her opinion the probable origin of
-what had so manifestly moved Henry to wrath.
-The advocacy of the intended victim softened the
-King’s heart even more towards her.</p>
-
-<p>“Ah, poor soul,” he said, “thou little knowest
-how ill he deserves this grace at thy hands. On
-my word, sweetheart, he hath been towards thee an
-arrant knave, and so let him go.”<a id="FNanchor_35" href="#Footnote_35" class="fnanchor">35</a></p>
-
-<p>For the moment, at least, the danger was averted,
-and before it recurred the despot was in his grave,
-and Katherine was safe. It is curious to observe
-that in the list of contents to the <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>
-the danger of the Queen is pointed out, “and how
-gloriously she was preserved by her kind and loving
-Husband the King.”</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_48">48</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1546</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">The King dying&mdash;The Earl of Surrey&mdash;His career and his fate&mdash;The
-Duke of Norfolk’s escape&mdash;Death of the King.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> King was dying. So much must have
-been apparent to all who were in a position to
-judge. None, however, dared utter their thought,
-since it had been made an indictable offence&mdash;the
-act being directed against soothsayers and prophets&mdash;to
-foretell his death. Those who wished him well
-or ill, those who would if they could have cared
-for his soul and invited him to make his peace with
-God before taking his way hence, were alike constrained
-to be mute. Before he went to present
-himself at a court of justice where king and crossing-sweeper
-stand side by side, another judicial murder
-was to be accomplished, and one more victim added
-to the number of the accusers awaiting him there.
-This was the poet Earl of Surrey, heir to the
-Dukedom of Norfolk.</p>
-
-<p>Surrey was not more than thirty. But much had
-been crowded, according to the fashion of the time,
-into his short and brilliant life. Brought up during
-his childhood at Windsor as the companion of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_49">49</a></span>
-King’s illegitimate son, the Duke of Richmond&mdash;who
-subsequently married Mary Howard, his
-friend’s sister&mdash;Surrey had suffered many vicissitudes
-of fortune; had been in confinement on
-a suspicion of sympathy with the Pilgrimage of
-Grace; and in 1543 had again fallen into disgrace,
-charged with breaking windows in London by
-shooting pebbles at them. To this accusation he
-pleaded guilty, explaining, in a satire directed against
-the citizens of London, that his object had been
-to prepare them for the divine retribution due for
-their irreligion and wickedness:</p>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">This made me with a reckless brest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">To wake thy sluggards with my bowe;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A figure of the Lord’s behest,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Whose scourge for synne the Scriptures shew.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>He can scarcely have expected that the plea
-would have availed, and he expiated his offence by
-a short imprisonment, chiefly of importance as accentuating
-his hatred towards the Seymours, who were
-held responsible for it.<a id="FNanchor_36" href="#Footnote_36" class="fnanchor">36</a></p>
-
-<p>In the course of the same year he was more
-worthily employed in fighting the battles of England
-abroad, where his conduct elicited a cordial tribute
-of praise from Charles V. “Our cousin, the Earl
-of Surrey,” wrote the Emperor to Henry, on
-Surrey’s return to England, would supply him with
-an account of all that had taken place. “We will<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_50">50</a></span>
-therefore only add that he has given good proof
-in the army of whom he is the son; and that he
-will not fail to follow in the steps of his father and
-forefathers, with <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">si gentil cœur</i> and so much dexterity
-that there is no need to instruct him in aught, and
-you will give him no command that he does not
-know how to execute.”<a id="FNanchor_37" href="#Footnote_37" class="fnanchor">37</a></p>
-
-<p>Two years later Surrey was in command of the
-English forces at Boulogne, there suffered defeat,
-and was, though not as an ostensible result of his
-failure, superseded by his rival and enemy, the Earl
-of Hertford, brother of the Admiral and head of
-the Seymour clan.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the record of the man who was
-to fall a prey to the malice and jealousy of the
-opposite party in the State. His noble birth, his
-long descent, and his brilliant gifts, were so many
-causes tending to make him hated and feared;
-besides which, even amongst men in whom humility
-was a rare virtue, he was noted for his pride&mdash;“the
-most foolish, proud boy,” as he was once described,
-“that is in England.” When he came to be tried
-for his life those of his own house came forward
-to bear witness to the contempt he had displayed
-towards inferiors in rank, if not in power. “These
-new men,” he had said scornfully&mdash;it was his sister
-who played the part of his accuser&mdash;“these new men
-loved no nobility, and if God called away the King<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_51">51</a></span>
-they should smart for it.”<a id="FNanchor_38" href="#Footnote_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> None of the King’s
-Council, he was reported to have declared, loved
-him, because they were not of noble birth, and also
-because he believed in the Sacrament of the Altar.<a id="FNanchor_39" href="#Footnote_39" class="fnanchor">39</a></p>
-
-<p>In verse he had likewise made his sentiments
-clear, comparing himself, much to his advantage,
-with the men he hated.</p>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i16">Behold our kyndes how that we differ farre;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I seke my foes, and you your frendes do threten still with warre.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I fawne where I am fled; you slay that sekes to you;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I can devour no yelding pray; you kill where you subdue.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">My kinde is to desire the honoure of the field,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And you with bloode to slake your thirst on such as to you yeld.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p>It was a natural and inevitable consequence of his
-attitude towards them that the “new men” hated
-and sought the ruin of the poet who held them up
-publicly to scorn; and if his great popularity in the
-country was in some sort a shield, it was also calculated
-to prove perilous, by giving rise to suspicion
-and distrust on the part of a sovereign prone to
-indulge in these sentiments, and thereby to render
-the success of his foes more easy.</p>
-
-<p>The Seymours were aware that their time was short.
-With the King’s approaching death the question of
-the guardianship of the successor to the throne was
-becoming daily more momentous; and when pride
-and vanity on the part of the Earl, together with
-treachery on that of friends and kin, placed a dangerous<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_52">52</a></span>
-weapon in the hands of his opponents, they were
-prompt to use it.</p>
-
-<p>During the summer there was nothing to serve as
-a presage of his fate; and so late as August he took
-part in the magnificent reception accorded to the French
-ambassadors, successfully vindicating on that occasion
-his right to precedence over the Earl of Hertford,
-with whom he was as usual at open enmity.</p>
-
-<p>A new cause of quarrel had been added to the old.
-The Duke of Norfolk, developing, as age crept upon
-him, an unwonted desire for peace and amity, had
-lately devised a method of terminating the feud
-between his heir and the Seymour brothers, so
-powerful, by reason of their kinship to Prince
-Edward, in the State. Not only had he revived a
-project for uniting his widowed daughter, the Duchess
-of Richmond, to Thomas Seymour, Lord Admiral,
-Katherine Parr’s former lover, but had made a further
-proposal to cement the alliance between the rival
-houses by marrying three of his grandchildren to
-Hertford’s children.</p>
-
-<p>The old man’s scheme was not destined to succeed.
-Whether or not the Seymours would have consented
-to forget ancient grudges, Surrey remained
-irreconcilable, flatly refusing his consent to his father’s
-plan. So long as he lived, he declared, no son of
-his should ever wed Lord Hertford’s daughter; and
-when his sister&mdash;perhaps not insensible to Thomas
-Seymour’s attractions&mdash;showed an inclination to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_53">53</a></span>
-yield to the Duke’s wishes, he addressed bitter taunts
-to her. Since Seymour was in favour with the
-King, he told her ironically, let her conclude the
-farce of a marriage, and play in England the part
-which had, in France, belonged to the Duchesse
-d’Étampes, Francis I.’s mistress.</p>
-
-<p>Mary Howard did not marry the Admiral, but,
-possibly sharing her brother’s pride, she never forgot
-or forgave the insult he had offered her; and,
-repeating the sarcasm as if it had been advice
-tendered in all seriousness, did her best to damn
-the Earl in his day of extremity. In a contemporary
-Spanish chronicle further particulars, true
-or false, of the quarrel are added. It is there
-related that, grieved at the tales that had reached
-him of his sister’s lightness of conduct, Surrey had
-taken upon himself to administer a brotherly rebuke.</p>
-
-<p>“Sister,” he said, “I am very sorry to hear what
-I do about you; and if it be true, I will never speak
-to you again, but will be your mortal enemy.”<a id="FNanchor_40" href="#Footnote_40" class="fnanchor">40</a></p>
-
-<p>The Duchess was not a woman to accept the
-admonition meekly, and it was she who was to prove,
-in the sequel, the more dangerous foe of the two.</p>
-
-<p>The offence for which Surrey nominally suffered
-the capital penalty seems trivial enough. According
-to the story told by contemporary authorities&mdash;and
-it suits well with his overweening pride in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_54">54</a></span>
-his ancient blood and royal descent&mdash;he caused a
-painting to be executed wherein the Norfolk arms
-were joined to those of the royal house, the motto
-<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">Honi soit qui mal y pense</i> being replaced by the enigmatical
-device <em>Till then thus</em>, and the whole concealed
-by a canvas placed above it.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_54" class="figcenter" style="width: 447px;">
- <img src="images/i_054.jpg" width="447" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From an engraving by Scriven after a painting by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>HENRY HOWARD, EARL OF SURREY.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The very fact of the secrecy observed betrays the
-Earl’s consciousness that he had committed an imprudence.
-He was guilty of a worse when, notwithstanding
-the terms upon which he stood with
-his sister, he made her his confidant in the matter.
-The Duchess, in her turn, informed her father of
-what had been done, but to the Duke’s remonstrances
-Surrey turned a deaf ear. His ancestors, he replied,
-had borne these arms, and he was much better than
-they. Powerless to move him, his father, reiterating
-his fears that it might furnish occasion for a charge
-of treason, begged that the affair might be kept
-strictly private, to which Surrey readily agreed.
-Both men, however, had reckoned without the
-woman who was daughter to the one, sister to the
-other. Whether, as some aver,<a id="FNanchor_41" href="#Footnote_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> the Duchess took
-the step of betraying her brother directly to the King,
-or merely corroborated the accusations preferred
-against him by others&mdash;Sir Richard Southwell, a
-friend of Surrey’s childhood, being the first to denounce
-him<a id="FNanchor_42" href="#Footnote_42" class="fnanchor">42</a>&mdash;the matter soon became known, the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_55">55</a></span>
-Earl was examined at length, and by the middle of
-December was, with his father, lodged in the Tower
-on the charge of treason, the assumption of the
-royal arms being viewed as an implied claim to the
-succession to the throne, and as a menace to the little
-heir. Hertford and his brother were at hand to
-exaggerate the peril to be feared from his ambition;
-and the affection of the populace, who, as he was
-taken through the city to his place of captivity, made
-great lamentation,<a id="FNanchor_43" href="#Footnote_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> was not fitted to allay apprehension.
-A month later the Earl’s trial took place
-at the Guildhall, crowds filling the streets as he
-went by. Brought before his judges, he made so
-spirited a defence that Holinshed admits that “if
-he had tempered his answers with such modesty as
-he showed token of a right perfect and ready wit,
-his praise had been the greater”; and though neither
-wit nor modesty was likely to avail to save him,
-it was not without long deliberation that the jury
-agreed to declare him guilty.</p>
-
-<p>Their verdict was pronounced by his implacable
-enemy, Hertford; being greeted by the people with
-“a great tumult, and it was a long while before they
-could be silenced, although they cried out to them
-to be quiet.”<a id="FNanchor_44" href="#Footnote_44" class="fnanchor">44</a></p>
-
-<p>The prisoner received what was practically
-sentence of death in characteristic fashion. His<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_56">56</a></span>
-enemies might have vanquished him, but he could
-still despise them, still assert his inborn superiority
-to his victors.</p>
-
-<p>“Of what have you found me guilty?” he
-demanded. “Surely you will find no law that
-justifies you; but I know that the King wants to
-get rid of the noble blood around him, and to
-employ none but low people.”<a id="FNanchor_45" href="#Footnote_45" class="fnanchor">45</a></p>
-
-<p>On January 19, not a week after his trial, the poet,
-King Henry VIII.’s latest victim, was beheaded on
-Tower Hill. It was not the fault of Henry’s advisers
-that his aged father did not follow him to the grave.
-To have cleared Surrey out of their path was much;
-but it was not enough. The Duke’s heir gone,
-there were many eager to share amongst themselves
-the Norfolk spoils; Henry was ready to send his
-old servant to join his son; and only the King’s
-death, on the very night before the day appointed
-for the Duke’s execution, saved him from sharing
-Surrey’s fate. On January 28, 1547, nine days after
-the Earl had been slain, Henry was dead.</p>
-
-<p>The end can have taken few people by surprise.
-Whether it was unexpected by the King none can
-tell. His will was made&mdash;a will paving the way
-for the misfortunes of one of his kin, and preparing
-the scaffold upon which Lady Jane Grey was
-to die; since, tacitly setting aside the claims of his
-elder sister, Margaret of Scotland, and her heirs, he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_57">57</a></span>
-provided that, after his own children, Edward, Mary,
-and Elizabeth, the descendants of Mary Tudor, of
-whom Jane was, in the younger generation, the representative,
-should stand next in the order of succession
-to the throne. It was the first occasion upon which
-Lady Jane’s position had been explicitly defined,
-and was the prelude of the tragedy that was to
-follow. Should the unrepealed statutes declaring
-the King’s daughters illegitimate be permitted in the
-future to weigh against his present provisions in
-their favour, his great niece or her mother would,
-in the event of Prince Edward’s death, become heirs
-to the crown.</p>
-
-<p>For Henry the opportunity of cancelling, had it
-been possible, the injustices of a lifetime was over.
-“Soon after the death of the Earl of Surrey,”
-writes the Spanish chronicler, “the King felt unwell;
-and, as he was a wise man, he called his
-council together, and said to them, ‘Gentlemen, I am
-unwell, and cannot tell when God may call me, so
-I wish to put my soul in order, and to reward my
-servants for what they have done.’”</p>
-
-<p>The writer was probably drawing upon his imagination,
-and presenting rather a picture of what, in
-his opinion, ought to have taken place than of what
-truly happened. It quickly became patent to all
-that the end was at hand; but, though the physicians
-represented to those about the dying man that it
-was fitting that he should be warned of his condition,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_58">58</a></span>
-most of them shrank from the task. At length Sir
-Anthony Denny took the performance of the duty
-upon himself, exhorting his master boldly to prepare
-for death, “calling himself to remembrance of
-his former life, and to call upon God in Christ
-betimes for grace and mercy.”<a id="FNanchor_46" href="#Footnote_46" class="fnanchor">46</a></p>
-
-<p>What followed must again be largely matter of
-conjecture, the various accounts being coloured
-according to the theological views of the narrator.
-It is possible that, feeling the end near, and calling
-to mind, as Denny bade him, the life he had led,
-Henry may have been visited by one of those deathbed
-repentances so mercilessly described by Raleigh:
-“For what do they do otherwise that die this kind
-of well-dying, but say to God as followeth: We
-beseech Thee, O God, that all the falsehoods, forswearings,
-and treacheries of our lives past may be
-pleasing unto Thee; that Thou wilt, for our sakes
-(that have had no leisure to do anything for Thine)
-change Thy nature (though impossible) and forget
-to be a just God; that Thou wilt love injuries and
-oppressions, call ambition wisdom, and charity foolishness.”<a id="FNanchor_47" href="#Footnote_47" class="fnanchor">47</a>
-Into the secrets of the deathbed none can
-penetrate. Some say the King’s remorse, for the
-execution of Anne Boleyn in particular, was genuine;
-others that he was haunted by visionary fears and
-terrors. In the Spanish chronicle quoted above, it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_59">59</a></span>
-is asserted that, sending for “Madam Mary,” his
-injured daughter, he confessed that fortune&mdash;he
-might have said himself&mdash;had been hard against
-her, that he grieved not to have married her as he
-wished, and prayed her further to be a mother to
-the Prince, “for look, he is very little yet.”</p>
-
-<p>The same authority has also drawn what one
-must believe to be an imaginary picture of a final
-and affecting interview between Katherine and her
-husband, “when the good Queen could not answer
-for weeping.”<a id="FNanchor_48" href="#Footnote_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> His account is uncorroborated by
-other evidence, and it is impossible to believe that
-she can have felt genuine sorrow for the death of a
-man whose life was a perpetual menace to her own.</p>
-
-<p>According to Foxe, when Denny, the courageous
-servant who had warned him of his danger, asked
-whether he would see no learned divine, the King
-replied that, were any such to be called, it should
-be Cranmer, but him not yet. He would first sleep,
-and then, according as he felt, would advise upon
-the matter. When, an hour or two later, finding
-his weakness increasing, he sent for the Archbishop,
-it was too late for speech. “Notwithstanding ...
-he, reaching his hand to Dr. Cranmer, did hold him
-fast,” and, desired by the latter to give some token
-of trust in God, he “did wring his hand in his as
-hard as he could, and so, shortly after, departed.”<a id="FNanchor_49" href="#Footnote_49" class="fnanchor">49</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_60">60</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1547</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Triumph of the new men&mdash;Somerset made Protector&mdash;Coronation of
-Edward VI.&mdash;Measures of ecclesiastical reform&mdash;The Seymour
-brothers&mdash;Lady Jane Grey entrusted to the Admiral&mdash;The
-Admiral and Elizabeth&mdash;His marriage to Katherine.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">With</span> the death of the King a change, complete
-and sudden, passed over the face of
-affairs. So long as Henry drew breath all was
-uncertain; security there was none. The men who
-were in favour to-day might be disgraced to-morrow,
-and with regard to the government of the country
-and the guardianship of the new sovereign all
-depended upon the state of mind in which death
-might find him. Happening when it actually did,
-it left the “new men,” the objects of Surrey’s
-contempt, triumphant. Norfolk was in prison on
-a capital charge; his son was dead. Gardiner had
-fallen into disgrace at the same time as the Howards,
-and, though averting a worse fate by a timely show
-of submission, had never regained his power, his
-name being omitted by Henry from the list of his
-executors, all, with the exception of Wriothesley
-the Chancellor, adherents of the Seymours and for the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_61">61</a></span>
-most part pledged to the support of the Protestant
-interest. Henry had acted deliberately.</p>
-
-<p>“My Lord of Winchester&mdash;I think by negligence&mdash;is
-left out of Your Majesty’s will,” said Sir
-Anthony Browne, kneeling by the King’s side, and
-recalling to the dying man the Bishop’s long service
-and great abilities. But Henry refused to reconsider
-the question.</p>
-
-<p>“Hold your peace,” he returned. “I remembered
-him well enough, and of good purpose have left him
-out; for surely, if he were in my testament, and one
-of you, he would cumber you all, and you should
-never rule him, he is of so troublesome a nature.”<a id="FNanchor_50" href="#Footnote_50" class="fnanchor">50</a></p>
-
-<p>Gardiner removed, there was no one left of
-sufficient influence to combat the Seymours. Their
-day was come.</p>
-
-<p>The King’s death had taken place on Friday,
-January 28. The Council, for reasons of their own,
-kept the news secret until the following Monday,
-when, amidst a scene of strong emotion, real or
-simulated, the fact was made known to Lords and
-Commons, Parliament was dissolved, and the Commons
-dismissed, the peers staying in London to
-welcome their new sovereign. On February 1 a fresh
-and crowning success was scored by the dominant
-party, and Hertford&mdash;Wriothesley’s being the sole
-dissentient voice in the governing body&mdash;was made
-Protector and guardian of the King. That afternoon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_62">62</a></span>
-Edward received the homage of the Lords spiritual
-and temporal, and the new reign was inaugurated.</p>
-
-<p>On the 20th of the same month the coronation
-took place with all magnificence. On the previous
-day the nine-year-old King had been brought
-“through his city of London in most royal and
-goodly wise” to Westminster, the crafts standing
-on one side of the streets to see him pass, priests
-and clerks on the other, with crosses and censers,
-waiting to cense the new sovereign as he went by.
-The sword of state was borne by Dorset, as
-Constable of England, and his daughter, the same
-age as the King, was probably a witness of the
-splendid pageant and watched her cousin as, in his
-gown of cloth of silver embroidered in gold and with
-his white velvet jerkin and cape, he rode through the
-city.<a id="FNanchor_51" href="#Footnote_51" class="fnanchor">51</a></p>
-
-<p>At the coronation on the following day Dorset
-again occupied a prominent place, standing by the
-King and carrying the sceptre, Somerset bearing the
-crown. Cranmer, with no longer anything to fear
-from his enemies, performed the ceremony and delivered
-an address that can have left no doubt in the
-minds of any of his hearers, if such there were, who
-had clung to the hope that a moderate policy would
-be pursued in ecclesiastical matters, of what was to
-be expected from the men who had in their hands
-the little head of Church and State. As God’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_63">63</a></span>
-Vice-regent and Christ’s Vicar, Edward Tudor was
-exhorted to see that God was worshipped, idolatry
-destroyed, the tyranny of the Bishop of Rome
-banished, and images removed, the hybrid ceremony
-being concluded by a solemn high mass, Cranmer
-acting as celebrant.</p>
-
-<p>Signal success had attended the inauguration of
-the new régime. Dissentients were almost nonexistent.
-Wriothesley, now Earl of Southampton,
-remained the solitary genuine adherent of the old
-faith belonging to the Council. His lack of caution
-in putting the great seal into commission without the
-authority of his colleagues afforded them an excuse
-for ousting him from his post of Chancellor; he was
-compelled to resign his office, and received orders to
-confine himself to his house, whilst Hertford, become
-Duke of Somerset, took advantage of his absence
-to obtain letters patent by which he became virtually
-omnipotent in the State.</p>
-
-<p>The earlier months of his government were
-chiefly devoted to carrying through drastic measures
-of ecclesiastical reform, in which he was aided by
-conviction in some, and cupidity in others, of his
-colleagues, eager to benefit by the spoliation of the
-Church. With the education of the King in the
-hands of the Protector, they could count upon
-immunity when he should come to an age to execute
-justice on his own account, and the work went
-swiftly forward. Gardiner, it was true, offered a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_64">64</a></span>
-determined opposition. If he had pandered to his
-old master, he vindicated his character for courage
-by braving the resentment of the men now in power,
-and paid for his boldness by imprisonment.</p>
-
-<p>By September the internal affairs of the kingdom
-were on a sufficiently settled footing to allow the
-Protector to turn his attention to Scotland. Crossing
-the border with an army of twenty thousand men, he
-conducted in person a short campaign ending with
-the victory of Pinkie, after which, to the surprise of
-those who expected to see him follow up his success,
-he hurried home.</p>
-
-<p>His hasty retreat was ascribed to different causes.
-Some supposed him eager to be again at his post,
-with the prestige of his victory still fresh. By
-others it was imagined that he feared the intrigues
-of his enemies, and in especial of his brother the
-Admiral. Nor would such uneasiness have been without
-justification. So long as their combined strength
-was necessary to enable them to stand against
-their enemies, the two had made common cause.
-Somerset was popular in the country; the nobles
-preferred the Admiral. For both a certain distrust
-was entertained by those who felt that “their new
-lustre did dim the light of men honoured with ancient
-nobility.<a id="FNanchor_52" href="#Footnote_52" class="fnanchor">52</a>” The consciousness of insecurity kept
-them at one with each other. Become all-powerful
-in the State, jealousy and passion sundered them.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_65">65</a></span>
-Ambitious, proud, and resentful of the Duke’s
-assumption of undivided authority, Seymour had
-quickly shown an intention of undermining his
-brother’s position in the country, with his hold
-upon the King, and the Protector may reasonably
-have felt that it was neither safe nor politic, so far
-as his personal interest was concerned, to remain too
-long at a distance from the centre of government.</p>
-
-<p>To the jealousies natural to ambitious men
-other causes of dissension had been added. These
-were due to the position achieved by Seymour some
-months previous to the Scotch campaign by his
-marriage with the King’s widow.</p>
-
-<p>The conduct of Katherine at this juncture is
-allowed by her warmest partisans to furnish matter
-for regret. Little information is forthcoming concerning
-her movements at the time of the King’s
-death; nor does any blame attach to her if she
-regarded that event in the light of a timely release,
-an emancipation from a condition of perpetual unrest
-and anxiety. In any case the age was not one
-when overmuch time was squandered in mourning,
-real or conventional, for the dead; and, judging
-by the sequel, it is possible that, even before the
-final close was put to her married life, she may
-have been contemplating the recovery of her lost
-lover. It is said that when the Lord Admiral paid
-her his formal visit of condolence she not only
-received him in private, but candidly confessed how<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_66">66</a></span>
-slight was her reason to regret a man who had
-done her the wrong of appropriating her youth.<a id="FNanchor_53" href="#Footnote_53" class="fnanchor">53</a></p>
-
-<p>If the conversation is correctly reported, Seymour
-would augur well of the Queen’s willingness, so far as
-was possible, to make up for lost time. But he was
-not himself inclined to be hurried. Intent upon
-securing every means within his power to assist him
-in the coming struggle for pre-eminence, he did
-not at once convince himself that it was his best
-policy to become the husband of the King’s step-mother,
-and that a more advantageous alliance was
-not within his grasp.</p>
-
-<p>Other matters were also occupying his attention;
-and it was now that Lady Jane Grey, unfortunately
-a factor of importance in the political world, was
-brought prominently forward and that her small
-figure comes first into view in connection with the
-competition for power and influence.</p>
-
-<p>Although allied with the royal house, and in a
-position to share in some sort Surrey’s contempt
-for the parvenu nobility of whom the Seymours were
-representative, Dorset and the King’s uncles, agreed
-upon the crucial matter of religion, were on good
-terms; and Henry was no sooner dead than it
-occurred to the Admiral that he might steal a march
-upon his brother and secure to himself a point of
-vantage in the contest between them, by obtaining
-the custody for the present, and the disposal in the
-future, of the marquis’s eldest daughter.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_67">67</a></span>
-He lost no time in attempting to compass his
-purpose. Immediately after the late King’s death&mdash;according
-to statements made when, at a later
-date, Seymour had fallen upon evil times&mdash;Lord
-Dorset received a visit from a dependant of the
-Admiral’s, named Harrington, and the negotiations
-ending in the transference of the practical guardianship
-of the child to Seymour were set on foot.</p>
-
-<p>Harrington was, it would seem, the bearer of a
-letter from his master, containing the proposal that
-Lady Jane should be committed to his care; and
-found the Marquis, on this first occasion, “somewhat
-cold” in the matter. The messenger, however,
-proceeded to urge the wishes of his principal,
-supporting them by arguments well calculated to
-appeal to an ambitious man. He reported that he
-had heard Seymour say “that Lady Jane was as
-handsome as any lady in England, and that, if
-the King’s Majesty, when he came of age, would
-marry within the realm, it was as likely he would
-be there as in any other place, and that he [the
-Admiral] would wish it.”<a id="FNanchor_54" href="#Footnote_54" class="fnanchor">54</a></p>
-
-<p>Such was Harrington’s deposition. Dorset’s
-account of the interview is to much the same
-effect. Visiting him at his house at Westminster
-“immediately after the King’s death,” he stated
-that Seymour’s envoy had advised him to be<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_68">68</a></span>
-content that his daughter should be with the
-Admiral, assuring him that he would find means
-to place her in marriage much to his comfort.</p>
-
-<p>“With whom?” demanded Dorset, plainly anxious
-to obtain an explicit pledge.</p>
-
-<p>“Marry,” answered Harrington, “I doubt not
-you shall see him marry her to the King.”</p>
-
-<p>As a consequence of this conversation Dorset
-called upon the Admiral at Seymour House a week
-later, and as the two walked in the garden an
-agreement was arrived at, and her father was won
-over to send for the child, who thereafter remained
-in the Admiral’s house “continually” until the
-death of the Queen.<a id="FNanchor_55" href="#Footnote_55" class="fnanchor">55</a></p>
-
-<p>It was a strange arrangement; the more so that
-it was evidently concluded before the marriage of
-the late King’s widow to Seymour, a man one would
-imagine to have been in no wise fit to be entrusted
-with the sole guardianship of the little girl. But
-Dorset was ambitious; the favour of the King’s
-uncle, with the possibility of securing the King
-himself as a son-in-law, was not lightly to be forgone;
-and the sacrifice of Jane was made, not for the last
-time, to her father’s interest.</p>
-
-<p>To the child herself the change from the Bradgate
-fields and parks to the London home of her new
-guardian must have been abrupt. Yet, though she
-may have felt bewildered and desolate in her new<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_69">69</a></span>
-surroundings and separated from her two little
-sisters, her training at home had not been of a
-description to cause her overmuch regret at a parting
-from those responsible for it. It has been said that
-every child should dwell for a time within an Eden
-of its own, and with many men and women the
-recollection of the unclouded irrational joy belonging
-to a childhood surrounded by love and tenderness
-may have constituted in after years a pledge and
-a guarantee that happiness is possible, and that, in
-spite of sin and sorrow and suffering, the world is
-still, as God saw it at creation, very good. The
-garden in which little Jane’s childhood was passed
-was one of a different nature. “No lady,” says
-Fuller pitifully, “which led so many pious, lived so
-few pleasant days, whose soul was never out of the
-nonage of affliction till Death made her of full years
-to inherit happiness, so severe her education.” Her
-father’s house was to her a house of correction.<a id="FNanchor_56" href="#Footnote_56" class="fnanchor">56</a></p>
-
-<p>Such being the case, the less regret can have
-mingled with the natural excitement of a child
-brought into wholly new conditions of life, and
-treated perhaps for the first time as a person of
-importance. Nor was it long before circumstances
-provided her with a home to which no exception
-could be taken. By June Seymour’s marriage
-with the Queen-Dowager had been made public.</p>
-
-<p>In the interval, short though it was, that elapsed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_70">70</a></span>
-between the King’s death and the union of his
-widow and the Admiral, Seymour had had time,
-before committing himself to a renewal of his suit to
-Katherine, to attempt a more brilliant match. Henry
-had been scarcely a month dead before he addressed
-a letter, couched in the correct terms of conventional
-love-making, to the Princess Elizabeth, now fourteen.
-He wished, he wrote, that it were possible to
-communicate to the missive the virtue of rousing in
-her heart as much favour towards him as his was full
-of love for her, proceeding to pay the customary
-tribute to the beauty and charm, together with
-“a certain fascination I cannot resist,” by which he
-had been subjugated.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, at fourteen, was keen-witted enough
-to estimate aright the advantages offered by a
-marriage with the uncle of the reigning sovereign.
-Nor was she, perhaps, judging by what followed,
-indifferent to the personal attractions of this, her
-first suitor. Though a certain impression of
-vulgarity is conveyed, in spite of his magnificent
-voice and splendid appearance, by the Lord Admiral,
-a child twenty years younger than himself was not
-likely to detect, in the recognised Adonis of the
-Court, the presence of this somewhat indefinable
-attribute. In her eyes he was doubtless a dazzling
-figure; and though she replied by a polite refusal to
-entertain his addresses, it is said that she afterwards
-owed her step-mother a grudge for having discouraged<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_71">71</a></span>
-her from accepting them. Her answer was, however,
-a model of maidenly modesty. She had, she
-stated, neither age nor inclination to think of
-marriage, and would never have believed that the
-subject would have been broached so soon after her
-father’s death. Two years at least must be passed
-in mourning, nor could she decide to become a wife
-before she had reached years of discretion.<a id="FNanchor_57" href="#Footnote_57" class="fnanchor">57</a></p>
-
-<p>That problematical date would not be patiently
-awaited by a man intent upon building up without
-delay the fabric of his fortunes; and, denied
-the late King’s daughter, Seymour promptly fell
-back upon his wife. A graphic account of the
-beginning of his courtship is supplied by the Spanish
-chronicle, and, if not reliable for accuracy, the
-narrative no doubt represents what was believed in
-London, where the writer was resident. The
-question of the marriage had been, according to
-him, first mooted to the Council by the Protector,
-and though other authorities assert that the Duke
-was opposed to the match, both facts may be true.
-It is not inconceivable that, whilst he would have
-preferred that his brother should have looked less
-high for a wife, the possibility that Seymour might
-have obtained the hand of the King’s sister may
-have caused the Protector to regard with favour an
-arrangement putting a marriage with the Princess
-out of the question.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_72">72</a></span>
-At the Council Board it is said that the proposal
-received the approbation of the Chancellor. Cranmer,
-though characterising it as an act of disrespect to the
-memory of the late King, promised to interpose no
-obstacle. Paget, the Secretary, went further, engaging
-that his wife, in attendance on the Queen, should
-push the matter to the best of her ability.</p>
-
-<p>After dinner one day, accordingly&mdash;to continue
-the narrative of the Spaniard&mdash;when the Queen, with
-all her ladies, was in the great hall of the palace, and
-the Lord Admiral entered, “looking so handsome
-that every one had something to say about him,”
-Lady Paget, taking her opportunity, made a whispered
-inquiry to the Queen as to her opinion
-of Seymour’s appearance. To which the Queen
-answered that she liked it very much&mdash;“oh, how
-changeable,” sighs the chronicler, “are women in that
-country!” Encouraged by Katherine’s reply, Lady
-Paget ventured to go further, and to hint at a
-marriage; answering, when the Queen replied by
-demurring on the score of her superior rank as
-Queen-Dowager, that to win so pretty a man you
-might well stoop. Katherine would, she added,
-continue to retain her royal title.<a id="FNanchor_58" href="#Footnote_58" class="fnanchor">58</a></p>
-
-<p>The Queen did not prove difficult to persuade.
-If it is true that she had been cognisant of Seymour’s
-attempt to obtain the hand of her step-daughter, the
-fact might have warned her of the nature of the love<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_73">73</a></span>
-he was offering to herself. But a woman in her
-state of mind is not accessible to reason. A little
-more than a month after Henry’s death the betrothal
-took place, the marriage following upon it in May,
-and the haste displayed giving singular proof of how
-far the Queen’s old passion had mastered prudence
-and discretion. The world was scandalised, and the
-King’s daughters in particular were strong in their
-disapproval; Mary, the more energetic of the two
-on this occasion, summoning her sister to visit her,
-that together they might devise means of preventing
-the impending insult to their father’s memory,
-or concert a method of making their attitude
-clear.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, though her objections to the match
-were probably, on personal grounds, stronger than
-those of her sister, was more cautious than Mary.
-The girl, or her advisers, may have been aware of
-the fact that opposition to the King’s uncle would
-be a dangerous course to be pursued by any one
-whose future was as ill assured as her own; and,
-in answer to her sister, she pointed out, though
-expressing her grief at the affair, that their sole consolation
-would lie in submission to the will of
-Providence, since neither was able to offer practical
-resistance to the project. Dissimulation, under these
-circumstances, would be their best policy. Mary
-might decline to visit the Queen, but in Elizabeth’s
-subordinate position she would herself be compelled<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_74">74</a></span>
-to do so, her step-mother having shown her so
-much kindness.<a id="FNanchor_59" href="#Footnote_59" class="fnanchor">59</a></p>
-
-<p>Despite public censure, despite the blame and
-disapproval of critics whose disapproval would carry
-more weight, Katherine may not at this time have
-regretted her defiance of conventional propriety;
-and those spring weeks, passed at her jointure palace
-in Chelsea, were probably the happiest of her
-life. The nightmare sense of insecurity, which can
-never have been wholly laid to rest so long as Henry
-lived, was removed; the price exacted for her royal
-dignity had been paid, to the uttermost farthing;
-and she was a free woman. Her old love for
-Seymour had re-awakened in full force, and she
-believed it was returned. Pious and prudent,
-Katherine had forgotten to be wise. Disillusionment
-might come later, but at present the future smiled
-upon her; and she may fairly have counted upon
-it to pay, at long last, the debts of the past.</p>
-
-<p>Her letters, light and tender, grave and gay,
-indicate her mood as she awaited the day when she
-would take her place before the world as Seymour’s
-wife. Whether a marriage had already taken place,
-though kept private as a concession to public opinion,
-or whether it was still to come, there were secret
-meetings in the early spring mornings by the river,
-when the town was scarcely awake, the more welcome,
-it may be, because of the sense that they were stolen.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_75">75</a></span>
-“When it shall be your pleasure to repair hither,”
-wrote Kateryn the Quene&mdash;her invariable signature&mdash;to
-her lover, “ye must take some pains to come
-early in the morning, that ye may be gone again
-by seven o’clock; and so I suppose ye may come
-hither without suspect. I pray you let me have
-knowledge over-night at what hour ye will come,
-that your portress [herself] may wait at the gate of
-the fields for you.... By her that is, and shall
-be, your humble, true, and loving wife during her
-life.”</p>
-
-<p>Poor, learned Katherine had fallen an unresisting
-victim, like any other common woman, to the gifts
-and attractions of the man who was to prove so
-unsatisfactory a husband!</p>
-
-<p>By May 17, if not before, it is clear that the
-marriage had taken place, though the secret had
-been so closely kept that it was a surprise to the
-bridegroom to discover that it was known to the
-Queen’s own sister, Lady Herbert. On visiting
-the latter, he told Katherine in a letter of this date,
-she had charged him “touching my lodging with
-your Highness at Chelsea,” the Admiral stoutly
-maintaining that he had done no more than pass by
-the garden on his way to the house of the Bishop
-of London; “till at last she told me further tokens,
-which made me change colour,” and he had arrived
-at the conclusion that Lady Herbert had been taken
-into her sister’s confidence.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_76">76</a></span>
-Meantime the inconvenience of the present condition
-of things was evident; and to Mary&mdash;curiously
-enough, since her disapproval of the projected marriage
-had been so pronounced&mdash;Seymour applied
-for help which should enable him to put an end
-to it. Although he preserved the attitude of a
-mere suitor for the Queen’s hand, it may be that
-the Princess suspected that she was being consulted
-after the event. Her answer was not encouraging.
-Had the matter concerned her nearest kinsman and
-dearest friend it would, she told the Admiral, stand
-least with her poor honour than with any other
-creature to meddle in the affair, considering whose
-wife the Queen had lately been.</p>
-
-<p>“If the remembrance of the King’s Majesty my
-father ... will not suffer her to grant your suit,
-I am nothing able to persuade her to forget the
-loss of him who is, as yet, very rife in mine own
-remembrance.” If, however, the Princess refused
-the assistance he begged, she assured him that,
-“wooing matters apart, wherein, being a maid, I
-am nothing cunning,” she would be ready in other
-things to serve him.</p>
-
-<p>The young King, to whom recourse was next
-had, was found more accommodating; and indeed
-appears to have been skilfully convinced that it
-was by his persuasions that his step-mother had
-been induced to bestow her hand upon his uncle,
-writing to thank the Queen for her gentle acceptation<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_77">77</a></span>
-of his suit. The boy, after Katherine’s death
-and her husband’s disgrace, gave an account of the
-methods used to obtain his intervention:</p>
-
-<p>“The Lord Admiral came to me ... and desired
-me to write a thing for him. I asked him what.
-He said it was none ill thing; it is for the Queen’s
-Majesty. I said if it were good the Lords would
-allow it; if it were ill I would not write on it.
-Then he said they would take it in better part if
-I would write. I desired him to let me alone in
-that matter. Cheke said afterwards to me, ‘Ye
-were best not to write.’”<a id="FNanchor_60" href="#Footnote_60" class="fnanchor">60</a></p>
-
-<p>The boy’s letter to the Queen proves that he had
-subsequently yielded to his uncle’s request; and in
-June the fact of the marriage became public property.</p>
-
-<p>The progress of the love-affair will have been
-watched with interest by the curious and jealous
-eyes of Elizabeth, the half-grown girl, who, placed
-by the Council under her step-mother’s care at
-Chelsea, had ample opportunities of forming her
-conclusions. Lady Jane Grey may, not improbably,
-have been likewise a spectator of what was going
-forward. There is no evidence to show whether it
-was before or after the public avowal of the marriage
-that she took up her residence under the Queen’s
-roof. But, having obtained his point and gained
-her custody, it is not unreasonable to imagine that
-the Admiral may have found a child of ten an encumbrance<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_78">78</a></span>
-in his household, and have taken the
-earliest opportunity of consigning her to Katherine’s
-care.</p>
-
-<p>A passive asset as she was in the political reckoning,
-the debates concerning her guardianship must
-have done something to bring home to her mind
-the consciousness of her importance; and she
-had doubtless been made well aware of her title
-to consideration by the time that she became an
-honoured inmate of the Lord Admiral’s house.
-But concerning the details of her existence at this
-date history is dumb, and we can but guess at
-her attitude as, fresh from her country home, she
-watched, under the roof of her new guardian in
-Seymour Place, the life of the great city around;
-or within the more tranquil precincts of Chelsea
-Palace, with the broad river flowing past, shared
-in the studies and pursuits of her cousin Elizabeth,
-ready-witted, full of vitality, and already displaying
-some of the traits marking the Queen of future
-years.</p>
-
-<p>Did the shadow of predestined and early death
-single little Jane out from her companions? Like
-the comrades of whom Maeterlinck tells, “children
-of precocious death,” possessing no friends amongst
-the playmates who were not about to die, did she
-stand in some sort apart and separate, regarding
-those around her with a grave smile? We build
-up the unrecorded days of childhood from the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_79">79</a></span>
-few short years that followed; and reading backwards,
-and fitting the fragments of a life into its
-place, we find it difficult to believe that Jane
-Grey’s laughter rang like that of other undoomed
-children through the pleasant Chelsea gardens,
-that she shared with a whole heart in the games
-of her playfellows, or that the strange seriousness
-of her youth did not envelope the small,
-sedate figure of the child.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_80">80</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1547-1548</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Katherine Parr’s unhappy married life&mdash;Dissensions between the
-Seymour brothers&mdash;The King and his uncles&mdash;The Admiral
-and Princess Elizabeth&mdash;Birth of Katherine’s child, and her
-death.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> belated idyll of love and happiness enjoyed
-by “Kateryn the Quene” was of pitifully short
-duration. During the first days of September 1548,
-some fifteen months after the stolen marriage at
-Chelsea, a funeral procession left Sudeley Castle,
-and the body of the wife of the Lord Admiral
-was carried forth to burial, Lady Jane Grey, his
-ward, then in her twelfth year, acting as chief
-mourner.<a id="FNanchor_61" href="#Footnote_61" class="fnanchor">61</a></p>
-
-<p>Jane had good cause to mourn, in other than
-an official capacity. It is hard to believe that, had
-Katherine Parr been living, the child she had cared
-for and who had made her home under her roof,
-would not have been saved from the doom destined
-to overtake her not six years later.</p>
-
-<p>Katherine’s dream had died before she did, and
-the period of her marriage, short though it was,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_81">81</a></span>
-must have been a time of rapid disillusionment.
-It could scarcely, taking the circumstances into
-account, have been otherwise. Seymour was not
-the man to make the happiness of a wife touching
-upon middle age, studious, learned, and devout,
-“avoiding all occasions of idleness, and contemning
-vain pastimes.”<a id="FNanchor_62" href="#Footnote_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> His love, if indeed it had been ever
-other than disguised ambition, was short-lived, and
-Katherine’s awakening must have come all too swiftly.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was the revelation of her husband’s true
-character her only cause of trouble. Minor vexations
-had, from the first, attended her new condition
-of life, and she had been made to feel that the wife
-of the Protector’s younger brother could not expect
-to enjoy the deference due to a Dowager-Queen.
-To Katherine, who clung to her former dignity, the
-loss of it was no light matter, and her sister-in-law,
-the Duchess of Somerset, and she were at open war.</p>
-
-<p>Contemporary and early writers are agreed as
-to the nature of the woman with whom she had
-to deal. “The Protector,” explains the Spanish
-chronicler, giving the popular version of the affair,
-“had a wife who was prouder than he was, and she
-ruled the Protector so completely that he did whatever
-she wished, and she, finding herself in such
-great state, became more presumptuous than
-Lucifer.”<a id="FNanchor_63" href="#Footnote_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> Hayward attributes the subsequent
-disunion between the brothers, in the first place,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_82">82</a></span>
-to “the unquiet vanity of a mannish, or rather a
-devilish woman ... for many imperfections
-intolerable, but for pride monstrous”;<a id="FNanchor_64" href="#Footnote_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> whilst
-Heylyn represents the Duchess as observing that, if
-Mr. Admiral should teach his wife no better manners,
-“I am she that will.”<a id="FNanchor_65" href="#Footnote_65" class="fnanchor">65</a></p>
-
-<p>The struggle for precedence carried on between
-the wives could scarcely fail to have a bad effect
-upon the relationship of the husbands, already at
-issue upon graver questions; and Warwick,
-Somerset’s future rival, was at hand to foment
-the strife between Protector and Admiral, and,
-“secretly playing with both hands,” paved the
-way for the fall of the younger brother and the
-consequent weakening of the forces which barred
-the way to the attainment of his personal ambitions.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_82" class="figcenter" style="width: 463px;">
- <img src="images/i_082.jpg" width="463" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by W. Mansell &amp; Co. after an engraving.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>KATHERINE PARR.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Nor can there be any doubt that, apart from
-the ill offices of those who desired to separate the
-interests of the brothers, the Protector had good
-reason to stand upon his guard. When Seymour
-was tried for his life during the winter of 1548-9,
-dependants and equals alike came forward to bear
-witness to his intriguing propensities, their evidence
-going far to prove that, whatever may be thought
-of Somerset’s conduct as a brother in sending him to
-the scaffold, as head of the State and responsible for
-the government of the realm, he was not without<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_83">83</a></span>
-justification. It is clear that from the first the
-Admiral, jealous of the position accorded to the
-Duke by the Council, had been sedulously engaged
-in attempting to undermine his power, and had
-not disguised his resentment at his appropriation
-of undivided authority. Never had it been seen
-in a minority&mdash;so he informed a confidant<a id="FNanchor_66" href="#Footnote_66" class="fnanchor">66</a>&mdash;that
-the one brother should bear all rule, the other
-none. One being Protector, the other should
-have filled the post of Governor to the King, so
-he averred; although, on another occasion, contradicting
-himself, he declared he would wish the
-earth to open and swallow him rather than accept
-either post. There was abundant proof that he
-had done his utmost, whenever opportunity was
-afforded him, to rouse the King to discontent.
-It was a disagreeable feature of the day that men
-were in no wise slack in accusing their friends in
-times of disgrace, thereby seeking to safeguard their
-reputations; and Dorset came forward later to
-testify that Seymour had told him that his nephew
-had divers times made his moan, saying that “My
-uncle of Somerset dealeth very hardly with me, and
-keepeth me so straight that I cannot have money at
-my will.” The Lord Admiral, added the boy, both
-sent him money and gave it to him.<a id="FNanchor_67" href="#Footnote_67" class="fnanchor">67</a></p>
-
-<p>Perhaps the most significant testimony brought
-against the Admiral was that of the little King<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_84">84</a></span>
-himself, who asserted that Seymour had charged
-him with being “bashful” in his own affairs, asking
-why he did not speak to bear rule as did other Kings.
-“I said I needed not, for I was well enough,” the
-boy replied on this occasion. At another time,
-according to his confession, a conversation took
-place the more grim from the simplicity of the
-language in which it is recorded.</p>
-
-<p>“Within these two years at least,” said Edward,
-now eleven years old, “he said, ‘Ye must take upon
-yourself to rule, and then ye may give your men
-somewhat; for your uncle is old, and I trust he will
-not live long.’ I answered it were better that he
-should die.”<a id="FNanchor_68" href="#Footnote_68" class="fnanchor">68</a></p>
-
-<p>It was scarcely possible that the Protector should
-not have been cognisant of a part at least of his
-brother’s machinations; and he naturally, so far as
-was possible, kept his charge from falling further
-under the influence of his enemies. The young
-King’s affection for his step-mother had been a
-cause of disquiet to her brother-in-law and his
-wife, care being taken to separate him from her
-as much as was possible. So long as Katherine
-remained in London it had been Edward’s habit to
-visit her apartments unattended, and by a private
-entrance. Familiar intercourse of this kind terminated
-when she removed to a distance; and, so
-far as the Lord Protector could ensure obedience,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_85">85</a></span>
-little communication was permitted between the
-two during the short time the Queen had to live.
-The boy, however, was constant to old affection, and
-used what opportunities he could to express it.</p>
-
-<p>“If his Grace could get any spare time,” wrote
-one John Fowler, a servant of the royal household,
-to the Admiral, “his Grace would write
-a letter to the Queen’s Grace, and to you. His
-Highness desires your lordship to pardon him, for
-his Grace is not half a quarter of an hour alone.
-But in such leisure as his Grace has, his Majesty
-hath written (here enclosed) his commendations to
-the Queen’s Grace and to your lordship, that he is
-so much bound to you that he must remember you
-always, and, as his Grace may have time, you shall
-well perceive by such small lines of recommendations
-with his own hand.”<a id="FNanchor_69" href="#Footnote_69" class="fnanchor">69</a></p>
-
-<p>The scribbled notes, on scraps of paper, written
-by stealth and as he could find opportunity, by the
-King, testify to the closeness of the watch kept
-upon him; their contents show the means by which
-the Admiral strove to maintain his hold upon his
-nephew.</p>
-
-<p>“My lord,” so runs the first, “send me, per
-Latimer, as much as ye think good, and deliver it
-to Fowler.” The second note is one of thanks.</p>
-
-<p>An attempt was made by the Admiral to obtain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_86">86</a></span>
-a letter from the King which, complaining of the
-Protector’s system of restraint, should be laid before
-Parliament; but the intrigue was discovered, the
-Admiral summoned to appear before the Council,
-and, though he was at first inclined to bluster, and
-replied by a defiance, a hint of imprisonment brought
-him to reason, and some sort of hollow reconciliation
-between the brothers followed.</p>
-
-<p>The King, the unfortunate subject of dispute, was
-probably lonely enough. For his tutor, Sir John
-Cheke, and for his school-mate, Barnaby Fitzpatrick,
-he appears to have entertained a real affection; but
-for his elder uncle and guardian he had little liking,
-nor was the Duchess of Somerset a woman to win
-the heart of her husband’s ward. From his step-mother
-and the Admiral he was practically cut off;
-and his sisters, for whom his attachment was genuine,
-were at a distance, and paid only occasional visits to
-Court. Mary’s influence, as a Catholic, would
-naturally have been feared; and Elizabeth, living
-for the time under the Admiral’s roof, would be
-regarded likewise with suspicion. But the happiness
-of the nominal head of the State was not a
-principal consideration with those around him, mostly
-engaged in a struggle not only to secure present
-personal advantages, but to ensure their continuance
-at such time as Edward should have attained his
-majority.</p>
-
-<p>The relations between the Seymour brothers being<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_87">87</a></span>
-that of a scarcely disguised hostility, the Admiral had
-the more reason to congratulate himself upon having
-obtained the possession and disposal of the person
-of Lady Jane Grey&mdash;third, save for her mother,
-in the line of succession to the throne. Should her
-guardian succeed in effecting her marriage with the
-King the arrangement might prove of vital importance.
-On the other hand, Somerset’s matrimonial
-schemes for the younger members of the
-royal house were of an altogether different nature.
-He would have liked to marry the King to a daughter
-of his own, another Lady Jane, and to have obtained
-the hand of Lady Jane Grey for his son, young
-Lord Hertford.</p>
-
-<p>Such projects, however, belonged to the future.
-Nothing could be done for the present, nor does it
-appear that, when Somerset’s scheme afterwards
-became known to the King, it met with any favour
-in his eyes; since, noting it in his journal, he added
-his private intention of wedding “a foreign princess,
-well stuffed and jewelled.”</p>
-
-<p>So far as Katherine was concerned, her domestic
-affairs were probably causing her too much anxiety
-to leave attention to spare for those of King or
-kingdom, except as they were gratifying, or the
-reverse, to her husband. Since the May day when
-she had given herself, rashly and eagerly, into
-the keeping of the Lord Admiral, she had been
-sorrowfully enlightened as to the nature of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_88">88</a></span>
-man and of his affection; and, if she still loved
-him, her heart must often have been heavy. The
-presence of the Princess Elizabeth under her roof
-had been disastrous in its consequences; and,
-though it was at first the interest of all to keep
-the matter secret, the inquisition made at the time
-of the Admiral’s disgrace into the circumstances
-of his married life affords an insight into his wife’s
-wrongs.</p>
-
-<p>In a conversation held between Mrs. Ashley,
-Elizabeth’s governess, and her cofferer, Parry, after
-the Queen’s death, the possibility of a marriage
-between the widower and the Princess was discussed,
-Parry raising objections to the scheme, on the score
-that he had heard evil of Seymour as being covetous
-and oppressive, and also “how cruelly, dishonourably,
-and jealously he had used the Queen.”</p>
-
-<p>Ashley, from first to last eager to forward the
-Admiral’s interests, brushed the protest aside.</p>
-
-<p>“Tush, tush,” she replied, “that is no matter.
-I know him better than ye do, or those that do so
-report him. I know he will make but too much of
-her, and that she knows well enough.”<a id="FNanchor_70" href="#Footnote_70" class="fnanchor">70</a></p>
-
-<p>The same witness confessed at this later date that
-she feared the Admiral had loved the Princess too
-well, and the Queen had been jealous of both&mdash;an
-avowal corroborated by Elizabeth’s admissions,
-when she too underwent examination concerning the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_89">89</a></span>
-relations which had existed between herself and her
-step-mother’s husband.</p>
-
-<p>“Kat Ashley told me,” she deposed, “after the
-Lord Admiral was married to the Queen, that if my
-lord might have had his own will, he would have
-had me, afore the Queen. Then I asked her how
-she knew that. Then she said she knew it well
-enough, both from himself and from others.”<a id="FNanchor_71" href="#Footnote_71" class="fnanchor">71</a></p>
-
-<p>If the correspondence quoted in a previous page is
-genuine,<a id="FNanchor_72" href="#Footnote_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> Elizabeth, though she may have had reason
-to keep her knowledge to herself, can have been in
-no doubt as to the Admiral’s sentiments at the time
-of her father’s death. With a governess of Mrs.
-Ashley’s type, a girl of fifteen such as Elizabeth
-was shown to be by her subsequent career, and a
-man like Seymour, it would not have been difficult
-to prophesy trouble. That the Admiral was in
-love with his wife’s charge may be doubted; in
-the same way that ambition, rather than any other
-sentiment, may be credited with his desire to obtain
-her hand a few months earlier. What was certain
-was that he amused himself, after his boisterous
-fashion, with the sharp-witted girl to an extent calculated
-to cause both uneasiness and anger to the
-Queen. That no actual harm was intended may be
-true&mdash;he could scarcely have been blind to the consequences
-had he dared to deal otherwise with the
-daughter and sister of Kings; and the whole story,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_90">90</a></span>
-when it subsequently came to light, reads like an
-instance of coarse and vulgar flirtation, in harmony
-with the nature of the man and the habits of the
-times. What is less easy to account for is Katherine’s
-partial connivance, in its earlier stages, at the rough
-horse-play, if nothing worse, carried on by her
-husband and her step-daughter. A scene, for
-example, is described as taking place at Hanworth,
-where the Admiral, in the garden with his wife and
-the Princess, cut the girl’s gown, “being black cloth,”
-into a hundred pieces; Elizabeth replying to Mrs.
-Ashley’s protests by saying that “she could not
-strive with all, for the Queen held her while the
-Lord Admiral cut the dress.” Nor was this the
-only occasion upon which Katherine appears to have
-looked on without disapproval whilst her husband
-treated her charge in a fashion befitting her character
-neither as Princess nor guest.</p>
-
-<p>The explanation may lie in the fact that the unfortunate
-Queen was attempting to adapt her taste
-and her manners to those of the man she had married.
-But the condition of the household could not last.
-A crisis was reached when one day Katherine, coming
-unexpectedly upon the two, found Seymour with the
-Princess in his arms, and decided, none too soon,
-that an end must be put to the situation. It was
-not long after that the households of Queen and
-Princess were parted, “and as I remember,” explained
-Parry the cofferer, “this was the cause why she was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_91">91</a></span>
-sent from the Queen, or else that her Grace parted
-from the Queen. I do not perfectly remember
-whether of both she [Ashley] said she went of herself
-or was sent away.”<a id="FNanchor_73" href="#Footnote_73" class="fnanchor">73</a></p>
-
-<p>There can be little doubt, one would imagine, that
-it was Katherine who determined to disembarrass
-herself of her visitor. A letter from Elizabeth, evidently
-written after their separation, appears to show
-that farewell had been taken in outwardly friendly
-fashion, although the promise she quotes Katherine
-as making has an ambiguous sound about it. The
-Princess wrote to say that she had been replete in
-sorrow at leaving the Queen, “and albeit I answered
-little, I weighed it more deeply when you said you
-would warn me of all evils that you should hear of
-me; for if your Grace had not a good opinion of
-me, you would not have offered friendship to me
-that way, that all men judge the contrary.”<a id="FNanchor_74" href="#Footnote_74" class="fnanchor">74</a></p>
-
-<p>It is not difficult to detect the sore feeling underlying
-Elizabeth’s acknowledgments of a promise of
-open criticism. Katherine must have breathed more
-freely when the Princess and her governess had
-quitted the house.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, in spite of disappointment and anger
-and care, the winter was to bring the Queen one
-genuine cause of rejoicing. Thrice married without
-children, she was hoping to give Seymour an heir,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_92">92</a></span>
-and the prospect was hailed with delight by husband
-and wife alike. In her gladness, and the chief cause
-of dissension removed, her just grounds of complaint
-were forgotten; her letters continued to be couched
-in terms as loving as if no domestic friction had
-interrupted her wedded happiness, and she ranged
-herself upon Seymour’s side in his recurrent disputes
-with his brother with a passionate vehemence
-out of keeping with her character.</p>
-
-<p>“This shall be to advertise you,” she wrote some
-time in 1548, “that my lord your brother hath
-this afternoon made me a little warm. It was
-fortunate we were so much distant, for I suppose
-else I should have bitten him. What cause have
-they to fear having such a wife! It is requisite for
-them continually to pray for a dispatch of that hell.
-To-morrow, or else upon Saturday ... I will see
-the King, where I intend to utter all my choler to
-my lord your brother, if you shall not give me
-advice to the contrary.”<a id="FNanchor_75" href="#Footnote_75" class="fnanchor">75</a></p>
-
-<p>Another letter, also indicating the strained relations
-existing between the brothers, is again full of affection
-for the man who deserved it so ill.</p>
-
-<p>“I gave your little knave your blessing,” she tells
-the Admiral, alluding to the unborn child neither
-parent was to see grow up, “... bidding my
-sweetheart and loving husband better to fare than
-myself.”<a id="FNanchor_76" href="#Footnote_76" class="fnanchor">76</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_93">93</a></span>
-A few months more, and hope and fear and love
-and disappointment were alike to find an end.
-Sudeley Castle, where the final scene took place,
-was a property granted to the Admiral on the death
-of the late King, from which he took his title as Lord
-Seymour of Sudeley. It was a question whether
-those responsible for the government had the right
-of alienating possessions of the Crown during the
-minority of a sovereign, and the tenure upon which
-the place was held was therefore insecure, Katherine
-asserting on one occasion that it was her husband’s
-intention to restore it to his nephew when he should
-come of age. In awaiting that event Seymour and
-his wife had the enjoyment of the beauty for which
-the old building had long been noted.</p>
-
-<p>“Ah, Sudeley Castle, thou art the traitor, not
-I!” said one of its former lords as, arrested by the
-orders of Henry IV. for treason, and taken away to
-abide his trial, he cast a last look back at his home&mdash;a
-possession worthy of being coveted by a King,
-and by the attainder of its owner forfeited to the
-Crown.</p>
-
-<p>Here, during the summer of 1548&mdash;the last
-Katherine was to see&mdash;a motley company gathered
-round the Queen. Jane Grey, “the young and
-early wise,” was still a member of her household,
-and the repudiated wife of Katherine’s brother, the
-Earl of Northampton&mdash;placed, it would seem, under
-some species of restraint&mdash;was in the keeping of her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_94">94</a></span>
-sister-in-law. Her true and tried friend, Lady
-Tyrwhitt, described by her husband as half a Scripture
-woman, kept her company, as she had done in her
-perilous days of royal state. Learned divines, living
-with her in the capacity of chaplains, were inmates
-of the castle, charged with the duty of performing
-service twice each day&mdash;exercises little to the taste
-of the master of the house, who made no secret of
-his aversion for them.</p>
-
-<p>“I have heard say,” affirmed Latimer, in the
-course of one of the sermons, preached after
-Seymour’s execution, in which the Bishop took
-occasion again and again to revile the dead man,
-“I have heard say that when the good Queen that
-is gone had ordained daily prayer in her house,
-both before noon and after noon, the Admiral
-getteth him out of the way, like a mole digging in
-the earth. He shall be Lot’s wife to me as long as
-I live.”<a id="FNanchor_77" href="#Footnote_77" class="fnanchor">77</a></p>
-
-<p>To Sudeley also had repaired, in the course of
-the summer, Lord Dorset, possibly desirous of
-assuring himself that all was well with his little
-daughter. He may have had other objects in view.
-According to his subsequent confession, Seymour
-had discussed with him the methods to be pursued
-in order to gain popularity in the country, making
-significant inquiries as to the formation of the
-marquis’s household.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_95">95</a></span>
-Learning that Dorset had divers gentlemen who
-were his servants, the Admiral admitted that it was
-well. “Yet,” he added shrewdly, “trust not too
-much to the gentlemen, for they have something
-to lose”; proceeding to urge his ally to make much
-of the chief yeomen and men of their class, who
-were able to persuade the multitude; to visit them
-in their houses, bringing venison and wine; to use
-familiarity with them, and thus to gain their love.
-Such, he added, was his own intention.<a id="FNanchor_78" href="#Footnote_78" class="fnanchor">78</a></p>
-
-<p>Another inmate had been received at Sudeley
-not more than a few weeks before Katherine’s confinement.
-This was the Princess Elizabeth, who
-appears, by a letter she addressed to the Queen when
-the visit had been concluded, to have been at this
-time again on terms of friendship and affection
-with her step-mother, since writing to Katherine
-with very little leisure on the last day of July, she
-returned humble thanks for the Queen’s wish that
-she should have remained with her “till she were
-weary of that country.” Yet in spite of the
-hospitable desire, she can scarcely have been a
-welcome guest, and it must have been with little
-regret that her step-mother saw her depart.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, the birth of the Queen’s child was
-anxiously expected. Seymour characteristically desired
-a son who “should God give him life to live
-as long as his father, will avenge his wrongs”&mdash;the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_96">96</a></span>
-problematical wrongs of a man who had risen to
-his heights. Elizabeth, who had done her best to
-wreck the Queen’s happiness and peace, was “praying
-the Almighty God to send her a most lucky deliverance”;
-and Mary, more sincere in her friendship,
-wrote a letter full of affection to her step-mother.
-The preparations made by Katherine for the new-comer
-equalled in magnificence those that might
-have befitted a Prince of Wales; and though the
-birth of a girl, on August 30, must have been in
-some degree a disappointment, she received a
-welcome scarcely less warm than might have been
-accorded to the desired son. A general reconciliation
-appears to have taken place on the occasion, and
-the Protector responded to the announcement of
-the event in terms of cordial congratulation, regarding
-the advent of so pretty a daughter in the
-light of a “prophesy and good hansell to a great
-sort of happy sons.”</p>
-
-<p>Eight days after the rejoicings at the birth Katherine
-was dead.</p>
-
-<p>Into the circumstances attending her illness and
-death close inquisition was made at a time when
-it had become an object to throw discredit upon the
-Admiral, and foul play&mdash;the use of poison&mdash;was
-suggested. The charge was probably without
-foundation; the facts elicited nevertheless afford
-additional proof of the unsatisfactory relations existing
-between husband and wife, and throw a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_97">97</a></span>
-melancholy light upon the closing scene of the
-union from which so much had been hoped.</p>
-
-<p>It was deposed by Lady Tyrwhitt, one of the
-principal witnesses, that, upon her visiting the
-chamber of the sick woman one morning, two days
-before her death, Katherine had asked where she
-had been so long, adding that “she did fear such
-things in herself that she was sure she could not
-live.” When her friend attempted to soothe her by
-reassuring words, the Queen went on to say&mdash;holding
-her husband’s hand and being, as Lady
-Tyrwhitt thought, partly delirious&mdash;“I am not well
-handled; for those that be about me care not for
-me, but stand laughing at my grief, and the more
-good I will to them the less good they will to me.”</p>
-
-<p>The words, to those cognisant of the condition
-of the household, must have been startling. The
-Queen may have been wandering, yet her complaint,
-as such complaints do, pointed to a truth. Others
-besides Lady Tyrwhitt were standing by; and
-Seymour made no attempt to ignore his wife’s
-meaning, or to deny that the charge was directed
-against himself.</p>
-
-<p>“Why, sweet heart,” he said, “I would do you
-no hurt.”</p>
-
-<p>“No, my lord, I think not,” answered
-Katherine aloud, adding, in his ear, “but, my
-lord, you have given me many shrewd taunts.”</p>
-
-<p>“These words,” said Lady Tyrwhitt in her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_98">98</a></span>
-narrative, “I perceived she spake with good memory,
-and very sharply and earnestly, for her mind was
-sore disquieted.”</p>
-
-<p>After consultation it was decided that Seymour
-should lie down by her side and seek to quiet her
-by gentle words; but his efforts were ineffectual, the
-Queen interrupting him by saying, roundly and
-sharply, “that she would have given a thousand
-marks to have had her full talk with the doctor on
-the day of her delivery, but dared not, for fear of
-his displeasure.”</p>
-
-<p>“And I, hearing that,” said the lady-in-waiting,
-“perceived her trouble to be so great, that my heart
-would serve me to hear no more.”<a id="FNanchor_79" href="#Footnote_79" class="fnanchor">79</a></p>
-
-<p>Yet on that same day the dying Queen made
-her will and, “being persuaded and perceiving the
-extremity of death to approach her,” left all she
-possessed to her husband, wishing it a thousand
-times more in value than it was.<a id="FNanchor_80" href="#Footnote_80" class="fnanchor">80</a></p>
-
-<p>Whether pressure was used, or whether, in spite
-of all, her old love awakened and stirred her to
-kindness towards the man she was leaving, there
-is nothing to show. But the names of the witnesses&mdash;Robert
-Huyck, the physician attending her, and
-John Parkhurst, her chaplain, afterwards a Bishop&mdash;would
-seem a guarantee that the document, dictated
-but not signed&mdash;no uncommon case&mdash;was genuine.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_99">99</a></span>
-For the rest, Seymour was coarse and heartless, a
-man of ambition, and intent upon the furtherance
-of his fortunes. It is not unlikely that, when his
-wife lay dying, his thoughts may have turned to
-the girl to whom he had in his own way already
-made love; who, of higher rank than the Queen,
-might serve his interests better, and whom her
-death would leave him free to win as his bride.
-And Katherine, with the memories of the last two
-years to aid her and with the intuitions born of
-love and jealousy, may have divined his thoughts.
-But of murder, or of hastening the end by actual
-unkindness, there is no reason to suspect him. The
-affair was in any case sufficiently tragic, and one
-more mournful recollection to be stored in the
-minds of those who had loved the Queen.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_100">100</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1548</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Lady Jane’s temporary return to her father&mdash;He surrenders her
-again to the Admiral&mdash;The terms of the bargain.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">One</span> of the secondary but immediate effects of
-the Queen’s death was to send Lady Jane
-Grey back to her parents. It was indeed to Seymour,
-and not to his wife, that the care of the child had
-been entrusted; but in his first confusion of mind
-after what he termed his great loss, the Admiral
-appears to have recognised the difficulty of providing
-a home for a girl in her twelfth year in a house
-without a mistress, and to have offered to relinquish
-her to her natural guardians.</p>
-
-<p>Having acted in haste, he was not slow to
-perceive that he had committed a blunder, and
-quickly reawakened to the importance of retaining
-the possession and disposal of the child. On September
-17, not ten days after Katherine’s death,
-he was writing to Lord Dorset to cancel, so far as it
-was possible, his hasty suggestion that she should
-return to her father’s house, and begging that she
-might be permitted to remain in his hands. In his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_101">101</a></span>
-former letter, he explained, he had been partly so
-amazed at the death of the Queen as to have small
-regard either to himself or his doings, partly had
-believed that he would be compelled, in consequence
-of it, to break up his household. Under these circumstances
-he had suggested sending Lady Jane
-to her father, as to him who would be most tender
-of her. Having had time to reconsider the
-question, he found that he would be in a position to
-maintain his establishment much on its old footing.
-“Therefore, putting my whole affiance and trust in
-God,” he had begun to arrange his household as
-before, retaining the services not only of the gentlewomen
-of the late Queen’s privy chamber, but also
-her inferior attendants. “And doubting lest your
-lordship should think any unkindness that I should
-by my said letter take occasion to rid me of your
-daughter so soon after the Queen’s death, for the
-proof both of my hearty affection towards you and
-good will towards her, I mind now to keep her until
-I shall next speak to your lordship ... unless I
-shall be advertised from your lordship of your
-express mind to the contrary.” His mother will,
-he has no doubt, be as dear to Lady Jane as though
-she were her daughter, and for his part he will
-continue her half-father and more.<a id="FNanchor_81" href="#Footnote_81" class="fnanchor">81</a></p>
-
-<p>It was clear that the Admiral would only yield the
-point upon compulsion. Dorset, however, was not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_102">102</a></span>
-disposed to accede to his wishes. Developing a
-sudden parental anxiety concerning the child he had
-been content to leave to the care of others for more
-than eighteen months, he replied, firmly though
-courteously negativing the Admiral’s request.</p>
-
-<p>“Considering,” he said, “the state of my daughter
-and her tender years wherein she shall hardly rule
-herself as yet without a guide, lest she should, for
-lack of a bridle, take too much the head and conceive
-such opinion of herself that all such good behaviour
-as she heretofore have learned by the Queen’s and
-your most wholesome instruction, should either
-altogether be quenched in her, or at the least much
-diminished, I shall in most hearty wise require your
-lordship to commit her to the governance of her
-mother, by whom, for the fear and duty she owes
-her, she shall be most easily ruled and framed towards
-virtue, which I wish above all things to be most
-plentiful in her.” Seymour no doubt would do his
-best; but, being destitute of any one who should
-correct the child as a mistress and monish her as a
-mother, Dorset was sure that the Admiral would
-think, with him, that the eye and oversight of his
-wife was necessary. He reiterated his former
-promise to dispose of her only according to Seymour’s
-advice, intending to use his consent in that matter
-no less than his own. “Only I seek in these her
-young years, wherein she now standeth either to
-make or mar (as the common saying is) the addressing<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_103">103</a></span>
-of her mind to humility, soberness, and
-obedience.”<a id="FNanchor_82" href="#Footnote_82" class="fnanchor">82</a></p>
-
-<p>It was the letter of a model parent, anxious
-concerning the welfare, spiritual and mental, of a
-beloved child, and Dorset, as he sealed and despatched
-it, will have felt that policy and conscience were for
-once in full accord. Lady Dorset likewise wrote,
-endorsing her husband’s views.</p>
-
-<p>“Whereas of a friendly and brotherly good will
-you wish to have Jane, my daughter, continuing still
-in your house, I give you most hearty thanks for
-your gentle offer, trusting, nevertheless, that for the
-good opinion you have in your sister [by courtesy,
-meaning herself] you will be content to charge her
-with her, who promiseth you not only to be ready
-at all times to account for the ordering of your dear
-niece, but also to use your counsel and advice on the
-bestowing of her, whensoever it shall happen. Wherefore,
-my good brother, my request shall be, that I
-may have the oversight of her with your good will,
-and thereby I shall have good occasion to think that
-you do trust me in such wise as is convenient that a
-sister be trusted of so loving a brother.”</p>
-
-<p>The singular humility of the language used by
-a king’s grand-daughter in demanding restitution of
-her child is proof of the position held by the Admiral
-in the eyes of those as well fitted to judge of it
-as Dorset and his wife, only six months before<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_104">104</a></span>
-he was sent to the scaffold. It was none the less
-plain that they were determined to regain possession
-of their daughter, and, though not abandoning the
-hope of moving her parents from their purpose,
-Seymour yielded provisionally to their will and sent
-Lady Jane home. A letter from the small bone
-of contention, dated October 1, thanking him for
-his great goodness and stating that he had ever been
-to her a loving and kind father, proves that her
-removal had taken place by that time. The same
-courier probably conveyed a letter from her mother,
-making her acknowledgments for Seymour’s kindness
-to the child, and his desire to retain her, and
-adding an ambiguous hope that at their next meeting
-both would be satisfied.<a id="FNanchor_83" href="#Footnote_83" class="fnanchor">83</a></p>
-
-<p>The Admiral, at all events, intended to obtain
-satisfaction. Where his interest was concerned
-he was an obstinate man. Notwithstanding his
-apparent acquiescence, he meant to retain the custody
-of Lord Dorset’s daughter, and he did so. Even
-his household understood that the concession made
-in sending her home was but temporary; and, in
-a conversation with another dependant, Harrington&mdash;the
-same who had served his master as go-between
-before&mdash;observed that he thought the maids were
-continuing with the Admiral in the hope of Lady
-Jane’s return.</p>
-
-<p>A visit paid by Seymour to Dorset decided the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_105">105</a></span>
-question. “In the end”&mdash;it is the latter who
-speaks&mdash;“after long debating and much sticking
-of our sides, we did agree that my daughter should
-return.” The Admiral had come to his house, and
-had been so earnest in his persuasions that he could
-not resist him. The old bait had been once again
-held out&mdash;Lady Jane, if Seymour could compass it,
-was to marry the King. Her mother was wrought
-upon till her consent was gained to a second
-parting; and when this was the case, observed
-the marquis, throwing, according to precedent, the
-responsibility upon his wife, it was impossible for
-him to refuse his own. He added a pledge that,
-“except the King,” he would spend life and blood
-for Seymour. Thus the alliance between the two
-was renewed and cemented. A further item in the
-transaction throws an additional and unpleasant light
-upon the means taken to ensure the Lord Marquis’s
-surrender.</p>
-
-<p>The Admiral was a practical man, and knew with
-whom he had to deal. He had not confined himself
-to vague pledges, which Dorset knew as well as he
-did that he might never be in a position to fulfil.
-He had accompanied his promises by a gift of hard
-cash. “Whether, as it were, for an earnest penny
-of the favour that he would show unto him when
-the said Lord Marquis had sent his daughter to the
-said Lord Admiral, he sent the said Lord Marquis
-immediately £500, parcell of £2,000 which he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_106">106</a></span>
-promised to lend unto him and would have asked
-no bond of him at all for it, but only to leave the
-Lord Marquis’s daughter for a gage.”<a id="FNanchor_84" href="#Footnote_84" class="fnanchor">84</a></p>
-
-<p>Five hundred golden arguments, and more to
-follow, were found irresistible by the needy Dorset.
-The pressing necessity that Jane should be under
-her mother’s eye disappeared; the bargain was
-struck, and the guardianship of the child bought
-and sold.</p>
-
-<p>The Admiral was triumphant. It was not only
-the point of vantage implied by the possession of
-the little ward which he had feared to forfeit, but
-that his loss might be the gain of his brother and
-rival. There would be much ado for my Lady
-Jane, he told his brother-in-law, Northampton, and
-my Lord Protector and my Lady Somerset would
-do what they could to obtain her yet for my Lord
-of Hertford, their son. They should not, however,
-prevail therein, for my Lord Marquis had given her
-wholly to him, upon certain covenants between them
-two. “And then I asked him,” said Northampton,
-describing the conversation, “what he would do
-if my Lord Protector, handling my Lord Marquis
-of Dorset gently, should obtain his good will and
-so the matter to lie wholly in his own neck? He
-answered he would never consent thereto.”<a id="FNanchor_85" href="#Footnote_85" class="fnanchor">85</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus Lady Jane was, for the first time, made
-an instrument of obtaining that of which her father<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_107">107</a></span>
-stood in need. On this occasion it was money;
-on the next her life was to be staked upon a more
-desperate hazard. In future she appears and disappears,
-now in sight, now passing behind the scenes,
-against the dark background of intrigue and hatred
-and bloodshed belonging to her times.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_108">108</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1548-1549</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Seymour and the Princess Elizabeth&mdash;His courtship&mdash;He is sent
-to the Tower&mdash;Elizabeth’s examinations and admissions&mdash;The
-execution of the Lord Admiral.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> matter of Jane’s guardianship satisfactorily
-settled, Seymour turned his attention to one
-concerning him yet more intimately. He was a
-free man, and he meant to make use of his freedom.
-As after the death of Henry, so now when fate rendered
-the project once more possible, he determined
-to attempt to obtain the Princess Elizabeth as his
-wife. The history of the autumn, as regarding
-him, is of his continued efforts to increase his
-power and influence in the country and to win
-the hand of the King’s sister. Again the contemporary
-Spanish chronicler supplies a popular
-summary of the affair which, inaccurate as it is, is
-useful in showing how his scheme was regarded by
-the public.</p>
-
-<p>According to this dramatic account of his proceedings,
-the Admiral went boldly before the Council;
-observed that, as uncle to the King, it was fitting
-that he should marry honourably; and that, having<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_109">109</a></span>
-formerly been husband to the Queen, it would not
-be much more were he to be accorded Madam
-Elizabeth, whom he deserved better than any other
-man. Referred by the Lords of the Council to the
-Protector, he is represented as approaching the
-Duke with the modest request that he might be
-granted not only Elizabeth as his bride, but also the
-custody of the King.</p>
-
-<p>“When his brother heard this, he said he would
-see about it.” Calling the Council together, he
-repeated to them the demand made by the Admiral
-that his nephew should be placed in his hands;
-continuing, as the Lords “looked at each other,”
-that the matter must be well considered, since in his
-opinion his brother could have no good intent in
-asking first for the Princess, and then for the custody
-of the King. “The devil is strong,” said the
-Protector. “He might kill the King and Madam
-Mary, and then claim the crown.”<a id="FNanchor_86" href="#Footnote_86" class="fnanchor">86</a></p>
-
-<p>Whilst this was the version of the Admiral’s
-project current in the street, there is no doubt that
-his desire to obtain a royal princess for his wife was
-calculated to accentuate the distrust with which
-he was regarded by the Protector and his friends.
-He was well known to aspire to at least a share
-in the government. As Elizabeth’s husband
-his position would be so much strengthened that it
-might be difficult to deny it to him, or to maintain<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_110">110</a></span>
-the right of Somerset to retain supreme
-power. His proceedings were therefore watched
-with jealous vigilance, his designs upon the King’s
-sister becoming quickly matter of public gossip.
-It was not a day marked by an over-scrupulous
-observance of respect for the dead, and Katherine
-was hardly in her grave before the question of her
-successor was freely canvassed amongst those chiefly
-concerned in it.</p>
-
-<p>“When I asked her [Ashley] what news she
-had from London,” Elizabeth admitted when under
-examination at a later date, “she answered merrily
-‘They say that your Grace shall have my Lord
-Admiral, and that he will shortly come to woo
-you.’”<a id="FNanchor_87" href="#Footnote_87" class="fnanchor">87</a></p>
-
-<p>The woman, an intriguer by nature and keen
-to advance Seymour’s interests, would have further
-persuaded her mistress to write a letter of condolence
-to comfort him in his sorrow, “because,” as
-Elizabeth explained, “he had been my friend in
-the Queen’s lifetime and would think great kindness
-therein. Then I said I would not, for he needs
-it not.”</p>
-
-<p>The blunt sincerity prompting the girl’s refusal
-did her credit. It must have been patent to all
-acquainted with the situation, and most of all to
-Elizabeth, that the new-made widower stood in no
-need of consolation. But, in spite of her refusal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_111">111</a></span>
-to open communications with him, and though
-a visit proposed by Seymour was discouraged “for
-fear of suspicion,” he can have felt little doubt that
-in a struggle with Protector and Council he would
-have the Princess on his side.</p>
-
-<p>In Seymour’s household, naturally concerned in
-his fortunes, the projected marriage was a subject of
-anxious debate; and it was recognised by its members
-that their master was playing a perilous game. In a
-conversation between two of his dependants, Nicholas
-Throckmorton and one Wightman, both shook their
-heads over the risk he would run should he attempt
-to carry his plan into effect.</p>
-
-<p>Beginning with the conventional acknowledgment
-of the Admiral’s great loss, they wisely decided that
-it might after all turn to his advantage, in “making
-him more humble in heart and stomach towards my
-Lord Protector’s Grace.” It was also hoped that,
-Katherine being dead, the Duchess of Somerset
-might forget old grudges and, unless by his own
-fault, be once again favourable towards her husband’s
-brother. The two men nevertheless agreed that the
-world was beginning to speak evil of Seymour, and,
-discussing the chances of his attempt to match with
-one of the Princesses, they determined, as they loved
-him, to do their best to prevent it, Wightman in
-especial engaging to do all he could to “break the
-dance.”<a id="FNanchor_88" href="#Footnote_88" class="fnanchor">88</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_112">112</a></span>
-If Seymour was going to his ruin it was not to be
-for lack of warnings. Sleeping at the house of
-Katherine’s friends, the Tyrwhitts, one night soon
-after her death, the question of a marriage with
-a sister of the King’s was mooted; when, although
-Seymour’s aspirations were not definitely mentioned,
-Sir Robert spoke in a fashion frankly discouraging
-to any scheme of the kind on the part of his guest.</p>
-
-<p>Conversing after supper with his hostess, Seymour
-called to her husband as he passed by, saying jestingly
-that he was talking with my lady his wife in
-divinity&mdash;or divining of the future; that he had
-told her he wished the crown of England might be
-in as good a surety as that of France, where it was
-well known who was heir. So would it be in
-England were the Princesses married.</p>
-
-<p>Tyrwhitt answered drily. Whosoever married
-one of them without the consent of King or Council,
-he said he would not wish to be in his place.</p>
-
-<p>“Why so?” asked the Admiral. If he, for instance,
-had married thus, would it not be surety for
-the King? Was he not made by the King? Had he
-not all he had by the King? Was he not most bound
-to serve him truly?</p>
-
-<p>Tyrwhitt refused to be convinced, reiterating that
-the man who married either Princess had better be
-stronger than the Council, for “if they catch hold of
-him, they will shut him up.”<a id="FNanchor_89" href="#Footnote_89" class="fnanchor">89</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_113">113</a></span>
-Lord Russell, the Lord Privy Seal, spoke no
-less openly to the adventurer of the danger he was
-running. The two were riding together to Parliament
-House in the Protector’s train, when Russell
-opened the subject by observing that certain
-rumours were abroad which he was very sorry to
-hear, and that if the Admiral were seeking to marry
-either of the King’s sisters&mdash;the special one being left
-discreetly uncertain&mdash;“ye seek the means to undo
-yourself and all those who shall come of you.”</p>
-
-<p>Seymour replied carelessly that he had no such
-thought, and the subject dropped. A few days later,
-however, he himself re-introduced it, demanding
-what reason existed to prevent him, or another man,
-wedding one of the late King’s daughters? Again
-Russell reiterated his warning. The marriage, he
-declared, would prove fatal to him who made it,
-proceeding to point out&mdash;knowing that the argument
-would have more weight with the man with whom
-he had to do than recommendations to caution and
-prudence&mdash;that from a pecuniary point of view the
-match would carry with it no great advantage, a
-statement vehemently controverted by the Admiral,
-who throughout neither felt nor feigned any indifference
-to the financial aspect of the affair.</p>
-
-<p>During the ensuing months he was busily engaged
-in the prosecution of his scheme. He may have had
-a genuine liking for the girl to whom his attentions
-had already proved compromising; he could<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_114">114</a></span>
-scarcely doubt that he had won her affections.
-But by a clandestine marriage Elizabeth would, under
-the terms of her father’s will, have forfeited her right
-to the succession, and she was therefore safeguarded
-from any attempt on her suitor’s part to induce her
-to dispense with the consent of the lawful authorities.
-Forced to proceed with circumspection, he made use
-of any opportunity that offered for maintaining a
-hold upon her, aided and abetted by the partisanship
-of her servants. A fortnight before Christmas he
-proffered the loan of his London house as a lodging
-when she should pay her winter visit to the
-capital, adding to her cofferer, through whom the
-suggestion was made, that he would come and see
-her Grace; “which declaration,” reported to her by
-Parry, “she seemed to take very gladly and to accept
-it joyfully.” Observing, moreover, that when the conversation
-turned upon Seymour, and especially when
-he was commended, the Princess “showed such
-countenance that it should appear she was very glad
-to hear of him,” the cofferer was emboldened to
-inquire whether, should the Council approve, she
-would marry him.</p>
-
-<p>“When that time comes to pass,” answered
-Elizabeth, in the language of the day, “I will do as
-God shall put in my mind.”</p>
-
-<p>Notwithstanding her refusal to commit herself, it
-was not difficult for those about her to divine after
-what fashion she would, in that case, be moved to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_115">115</a></span>
-act. Yet she retained her independence of spirit,
-and when told that the Admiral advised her to
-appeal to the Protector through his wife for
-certain grants of land, as well as for a London
-residence, she turned upon those who had played
-the part of his mouthpiece in a manner indicating no
-intention of becoming his passive tool.</p>
-
-<p>“I dare say he did not so,” she replied hotly,
-refusing to credit the suggestion he was reported
-to have made that she, a Tudor, should sue to his
-brother’s wife in order to obtain her rights, “nor
-would so.”</p>
-
-<p>Parry adhered to his statement.</p>
-
-<p>“Yes,” he answered, “by my faith.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, I will not do so,” returned his mistress,
-“and so tell him. I will not come there, nor begin
-to flatter now.”</p>
-
-<p>If the Admiral possessed partisans in the members
-of Elizabeth’s household, it was probably no less
-owing to hostility towards the Somersets than to
-liking for himself; a passage of arms having taken
-place between Mrs. Ashley and the Duchess, who had
-found fault with the governess, on account of the
-Princess having gone on a barge on the Thames by
-night, “and for other light parts,” observing&mdash;in
-which she was undoubtedly right&mdash;that Ashley was
-not worthy to have the charge of the daughter of
-a King. Such home-truths were not unfitted to
-quicken the culprit’s zeal in the cause of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_116">116</a></span>
-Admiral, and Ashley was always at hand to push
-his interests.</p>
-
-<p>It was, nevertheless, necessary that the Princess’s
-dependants should act with caution; and, discussing
-with Lord Seymour the question of a visit he
-desired to pay her, Parry declined to give any
-opinion on the subject, professing himself unacquainted
-with his mistress’s pleasure. The Admiral
-answered with assumed indifference. It was no
-matter, he said, “for there has been a talk of
-late ... they say now I shall marry my Lady
-Jane,” adding, “I tell you this but merrily, I tell
-you this but merrily.”<a id="FNanchor_90" href="#Footnote_90" class="fnanchor">90</a></p>
-
-<p>The gossip may have been repeated in the certainty
-that it would reach Elizabeth’s ears and in the
-hope of rousing her to jealousy. But had it suited
-his plans, there is no reason to doubt that Seymour
-would not have hesitated to gain permanent possession
-of the ward who had been left him “as a gage.”
-Elizabeth was, however, nearer to the throne,
-and was, beside her few additional years, better
-suited to please his taste than the quiet child who
-dwelt under his roof.</p>
-
-<p>As it proved he was destined to further his
-ambitious projects neither by marriage with Jane
-nor her cousin. By the middle of January the
-Protector had struck his blow&mdash;a blow which was
-to end in fratricide. Charged with treason, in conspiring<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_117">117</a></span>
-to change the form of government and to
-carry off the person of the King, Seymour was sent
-on January 16 to the Tower&mdash;in those days so often
-the ante-room to death.</p>
-
-<p>Though he had long been suspected of harbouring
-designs against his brother’s administration, the
-specific grounds of his accusation were based upon
-the confessions of one Sherrington, master of the
-mint at Bristol; who, under examination, and in
-terror for his personal safety, had declared, truly
-or falsely, that he had promised to coin money for
-the Admiral, and had heard him boast of the
-number of his friends, saying that he thought more
-gentlemen loved him than loved the Lord Protector.
-The same witness added that he had heard Seymour
-say that, for her qualities and virtues, Lady Jane
-Grey was a fit match for the King, and he would
-rather he should marry her than the daughter
-of the Protector.</p>
-
-<p>Many of great name and place in England must
-have been disquieted by the news of the arrest of
-the man who stood so near the King, and who, if
-any one, could have counted upon being safeguarded
-by position and rank from the consequences of his
-rashness. His assertion that he was more loved
-than his brother amongst his own class was true,
-and not a few nobles will have trembled lest
-they should be implicated in his fall. Loyalty to
-a disgraced friend was not amongst the customs of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_118">118</a></span>
-a day when the friendship might mean death,
-and most men were anxious, on these occasions, to
-dissociate themselves from a former comrade.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth was not one of those with least to fear,
-and it is the more honourable to her that she showed
-no inclination to follow the example of others, or
-to abandon the cause of her lover. She was in
-an embarrassing, if not a dangerous situation.
-No one knew to what extent she had been compromised,
-morally or politically, and the distrust
-of the Government was proved by the arrest of
-both Ashley and Parry, and by the searching
-examination to which the Princess, as well as her
-servants, was subjected.</p>
-
-<p>Sir Robert Tyrwhitt, placed in charge of the
-delinquent, with directions to obtain from her all
-the information he could, found it no easy task.</p>
-
-<p>“I do assure your Grace,” he wrote to Somerset,
-“she hath a good wit, and nothing is to be got
-from her but by great policy.”</p>
-
-<p>She would own to no “practice” with regard
-to Seymour, either on her part or that of her
-dependants. “And yet I do see in her face,” said
-Sir Robert, “that she is guilty, and yet perceive
-she will abide more storms before she will accuse
-Mrs. Ashley.”</p>
-
-<p>Whatever may be thought of Elizabeth’s former
-conduct, she displayed at this crisis no less staunchness
-and fidelity in the support of those she loved<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_119">119</a></span>
-than a capacity and ability rare in a girl of fifteen,
-practically standing alone, confronted with enemies,
-and without advisers to direct her course. Writing
-to the Protector on January 28, she thanked him
-for the gentleness and good will he had displayed;
-professed her readiness to declare the truth in the
-matter at issue; gave an account of her relations
-with the Admiral, asserting her innocence of any
-intention of marrying him without the sanction of
-the Council; and vindicated her servants from blame.</p>
-
-<p>“These be the things,” she concluded, “which
-I declared to Master Tyrwhitt, and also whereof
-my conscience beareth witness, which I would not
-for all earthly things offend in anything, for I know
-I have a soul to be saved as well as other folks
-have; wherefore I will, above all things, have respect
-unto the same.” One request she made, namely,
-that she might come to Court. Rumours against
-her honour were afloat, accusing her with being with
-child by the Lord Admiral; and upon these grounds,
-that she might show herself as she was, as well as
-upon a desire to see the King, she based her
-demand.</p>
-
-<p>Tyrwhitt shook his head over the composition.
-The singular harmony existing between Elizabeth’s
-story and the depositions extracted from her
-dependants in the Tower struck him as suspicious,
-and as pointing to a preconcerted tale.</p>
-
-<p>“They all sing one song,” he wrote, “and so, I<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_120">120</a></span>
-think, they would not, unless they had set the note
-before”; and he continued to watch his charge
-narrowly, and to report her demeanour at headquarters,
-assisted in his office by his wife, who
-had been sent to replace the untrustworthy Ashley
-as governess to the Princess.</p>
-
-<p>“She beginneth now a little to droop,” he wrote,
-“by reason she heareth that my Lord Admiral’s
-houses be dispersed. And my wife telleth me she
-cannot hear him discommended, but she is ready to
-make answer thereto.”<a id="FNanchor_91" href="#Footnote_91" class="fnanchor">91</a></p>
-
-<p>Put as brave a face as she might upon the matter,
-Elizabeth was in a position of singular loneliness
-and difficulty. Her lover was in prison on a
-capital charge, her friend and confidant removed
-from her, her reputation tarnished. Nor was she
-disposed to accept in a humble spirit the oversight
-of the duenna sent her by the Council. As the
-close friend of the step-mother whose kindness the
-Princess had so ill requited, Lady Tyrwhitt, for
-her part, would not in any case have been prejudiced
-in favour of her charge, or inclined to take an
-indulgent view of her misdemeanours; and the
-reception accorded her when she arrived to assume
-her thankless post was not such as to promote good
-feeling. Mrs. Ashley, the girl told the new-comer,
-was her mistress, and she had not so conducted
-herself that the Council should give her another.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_121">121</a></span>
-Lady Tyrwhitt, no more inclined than she to
-conciliation, retorted that, seeing the Princess had
-allowed Mrs. Ashley to be her mistress, she need
-not be ashamed to have any other honest woman
-in that place, and so the intercourse of governess
-and pupil was inaugurated.</p>
-
-<p>That Lady Tyrwhitt’s taunt was undeniably
-justified did not the more soften the Princess towards
-her, and it was duly reported to the authorities in
-London that she had taken “the matter so heavily
-that she wept all that night and lowered all the
-next day.... The love,” it was added, “she
-yet beareth [Ashley] is to be wondered at.”</p>
-
-<p>Tact and discretion might in time have availed
-to reconcile the Princess to the change in her household;
-but the methods employed by the Tyrwhitts
-do not appear to have been judicious. Sir Robert,
-taking up his wife’s quarrel, told her significantly
-that if she considered her honour she would rather
-ask to have a mistress than to be left without one;
-and, complaining to his superiors that she could
-not digest his advice in any way, added vindictively,
-“If I should say my phantasy, it were more meet
-she should have two than one.”<a id="FNanchor_92" href="#Footnote_92" class="fnanchor">92</a></p>
-
-<p>So the days went by, no doubt uncomfortably
-enough for all concerned. Regarding Tyrwhitt and
-his wife in the capacity of gaolers, charged with
-the duty of eliciting her confessions, it was not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_122">122</a></span>
-with them that Elizabeth would take counsel as
-to the best course open to her. The revelations
-attained by cross-examination from her imprisoned
-servants as to the relations upon which she had
-stood during the Queen’s lifetime with Katherine’s
-husband, were sufficiently damaging to lend additional
-colour to the scandalous reports in circulation, and
-her spirited demand that her fair fame should be
-vindicated by a proclamation forbidding the propagation
-of slanders concerning the King’s sister
-was fully in character with the woman she was to
-become. Though not without delay, her request
-was granted, and the circumstantial fable of a child
-born and destroyed may be supposed to have been
-effectually suppressed.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst this had been Elizabeth’s condition during
-the spring, the man to whom her troubles were
-chiefly due had been undergoing alternations of
-hope and fear. It may have seemed impossible
-that his brother should proceed to extremities.
-But there were times when, in the silence and
-seclusion of the prison-house, his spirits grew
-despondent. On February 16, when his confinement
-had lasted a month, and his fate was still
-undecided, his keeper, Christopher Eyre, reported
-that on the previous Friday the Lord Admiral had
-been very sad.</p>
-
-<p>“I had thought,” he said, upon Eyre remarking
-on his depression, “before I came to this place<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_123">123</a></span>
-that my Lord’s Grace, with all the rest of the
-Council, had been my friends, and that I had as
-many friends as any man within this realm. But
-now I think they have forgotten me,” proceeding
-to declare that never was poor knave more true
-to his Prince than he; nor had he meant evil to
-his brother, though he had thought he might have
-had the custody of the King.<a id="FNanchor_93" href="#Footnote_93" class="fnanchor">93</a></p>
-
-<p>There is something pathetic in the dejection of
-the Admiral, arrogant, proud, vain and ambitious,
-thus deserted by all upon whose friendship he had
-imagined himself able to count. It is impossible
-to avoid the conviction that, in spite of a surface
-boldness, the nobles of his day were apt to turn
-craven where personal danger was in question. On the
-battlefield valour was common enough, and when
-once hope was over men had learnt&mdash;a needful
-lesson&mdash;to meet death on the scaffold with
-dignity and courage. But so long as a chance of
-life remained, it was their constant habit to abase
-themselves in order to escape their doom. We do
-not hear of a single voice raised in Seymour’s
-defence. The common people, when Somerset in
-his turn had fallen a victim to jealousy and hate,
-made no secret of their sorrow and their love; but
-the nobles who had been his brother’s supporters
-were silent and cowed, or went to swell the number
-of his accusers.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_124">124</a></span>
-By March 20 hope and fear were alike at an end.
-A Bill of Attainder had been brought into the
-House of Lords, after an examination of the culprit
-before the Council, when his demand to be confronted
-with his accusers had been refused. The
-evidence against him was reiterated by certain of
-the peers; the bill was passed without a division;
-and, in spite of the opposition of the Commons, who
-supported his claim to be heard in his own defence,
-the Protector cut the matter short by a message
-from the King declaring it unnecessary that the
-demand should be conceded. His doom was sealed.</p>
-
-<p>Was he innocent or guilty? Dr. Lingard, after
-an examination of the facts, believes that he was
-unjustly condemned; that, if he had sought a
-portion of the power vested in the Protector, and
-might have been dangerous to the authority of his
-brother, the charge for which he was condemned&mdash;a
-design to carry off the King and excite a civil
-war&mdash;is unproved.</p>
-
-<p>Innocent or guilty, he was to die. In the words
-of Latimer&mdash;who, in sermons preached after the
-execution, made himself the apologist of the Council
-by abuse levelled at the dead man&mdash;he perished
-“dangerously, irksomely, horribly.... Whether
-he be saved or no, I leave it to God. But surely
-he was a wicked man, and the realm is well rid
-of him.”<a id="FNanchor_94" href="#Footnote_94" class="fnanchor">94</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_125">125</a></span>
-Thus Thomas Seymour was done to death by
-a brother, and cursed by a churchman. Sherrington,
-who had supplied the principal part of the evidence
-against him, received a pardon and was reinstated
-in his office.</p>
-
-<p>Of regret upon the part of friends or kinsfolk
-there is singularly little token. As they had fallen
-from his side in life, so they held apart from him
-in death. If Elizabeth mourned him she was
-already too well versed in the world’s wisdom to
-avow her grief, and is reported to have observed,
-on his execution, that a man had died full of ability
-(<i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">esprit</i>) but of scant judgment.<a id="FNanchor_95" href="#Footnote_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> Whether or not
-the Lord Protector was troubled by remorse, he was
-not likely to make the public his confidant; and
-Katherine, the woman who had loved him so devotedly,
-was dead.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_126">126</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1549-1550</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">The Protector’s position&mdash;Disaffection in the country&mdash;Its causes&mdash;The
-Duke’s arrogance&mdash;Warwick his rival&mdash;The success of
-his opponents&mdash;Placed in the Tower, but released&mdash;St. George’s
-Day at Court.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> Protector’s conduct with regard to his
-brother does much to alienate sympathy from
-him in his approaching fall, in a sense the consequence
-and outcome of the fratricide. He “had
-sealed his doom the day on which he signed the
-warrant for the execution of his brother.”<a id="FNanchor_96" href="#Footnote_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> If
-the Admiral, having crossed his will, was not safe,
-who could believe himself to be so? Yet the fashion
-of the accomplishing of his downfall, the treachery and
-deception practised towards him by men upon whom
-he might fairly have believed himself able to count,
-lend a pathos to the end it might otherwise have
-lacked.</p>
-
-<p>For the present his power and position showed
-no signs of diminution. The Queen, his wife’s
-rival, was dead. The Admiral, who had dared to
-measure his strength against his brother’s, would<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_127">127</a></span>
-trouble him no more, unless as an unquiet ghost,
-an unwelcome visitant confronting him in unexpected
-places. During his Protectorate he had
-added property to property, field to field, and
-was the master of two hundred manors. If
-the public finances were low, Somerset was rich,
-and during this year the building of the house
-destined to bear his name was carried on on a
-scale of splendour proportionate to his pretensions.
-Having thrown away the chief prop of his house,
-says Heylyn, he hoped to repair the ruin by erecting
-a magnificent palace.</p>
-
-<p>The site he had chosen was occupied by three
-episcopal mansions and one parish church; but it
-would have been a bold man who would have disputed
-the will of the all-powerful Lord Protector,
-and the owners submitted meekly to be dispossessed
-in order to make room for his new abode. Materials
-running short, there were rough-and-ready ways
-of providing them conveniently near at hand; and
-certain “superstitious buildings” close to St. Paul’s,
-including one or two chapels and a “fair charnel-house”
-were demolished to supply what was necessary,
-the bones of the displaced dead being left to
-find burial in the adjacent fields, or where they might.
-As the great pile rose, more was required, and
-St. Margaret’s, Westminster, was to have been
-destroyed to furnish it, had not the people, less
-subservient than the Bishops, risen to protect their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_128">128</a></span>
-church, and forcibly driven away the labourers
-charged with the work of destruction. St. Margaret’s
-was saved, but St. John’s of Jerusalem, not
-far from Smithfield, was sacrificed in its stead, being
-blown up with gunpowder in order that its stone-work
-might be turned to account.</p>
-
-<p>The Protector pursued his way unconscious of
-danger. The Earl of Warwick, his future supplanter,
-looked on and bided his time. The condition of
-the country had become such as to facilitate the
-designs of those bent upon a change in the Government.
-Into the course of public affairs, at home
-and abroad, it is impossible to enter at length; a
-brief summary will suffice to show that events
-were tending to create discontent and to strengthen
-the hands of Somerset’s enemies.</p>
-
-<p>The victory of Pinkie Cleugh, though gratifying
-to national pride, had in nowise served the purpose
-of terminating the war with Scotland. Renewed
-with varying success, the Scots, by means of French
-aid, had upon the whole improved their position,
-and the hopes indulged in England of a union
-between the two countries, to be peacefully effected
-by the marriage of the King with the infant Mary
-Stuart, had been disappointed, the little Queen
-having been sent to France and affianced to the
-Dauphin. In the distress prevailing amongst
-the working classes of England, more pressing
-cause for dissatisfaction and agitation was found.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_129">129</a></span>
-Partly the result of the depreciation of the currency
-during the late reign, it was also due to the action
-of the new owners who, enriched by ecclesiastical
-property, had enclosed portions of Church lands
-heretofore left open to be utilised by the labourers
-for their personal profit. Pasturage was increasing
-in favour compared with tillage; less labour was
-required, and wages had in consequence fallen.</p>
-
-<p>To material ills and privations, other grievances
-were added. Associated in the minds of the people
-with their condition of want were the changes lately
-enforced in the sphere of religion. The new ministers
-were often ignorant men, who gave scandal by
-their manner of life, their parishioners frequently
-making complaints of them to the Bishops.</p>
-
-<p>“Our curate is naught,” they would say, “an
-ass-head, a dodipot [?], a lack-latin, and can do
-nothing. Shall I pay him tithe that doth us no
-good, nor none will do?”<a id="FNanchor_97" href="#Footnote_97" class="fnanchor">97</a></p>
-
-<p>In some cases the fault lay with patrons, who
-preferred to select a man unlikely to assert his
-authority. Economy on the part of the Government
-was responsible for other unfit appointments,
-and capable Churchmen being permitted to hold
-secular offices, they were removed from their parishes
-and their flocks were left unshepherded. Against
-this practice Latimer protested in a sermon at St.
-Paul’s, on the occasion of a clergyman having been<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_130">130</a></span>
-made Comptroller of the Mint. Who controlled
-the devil at home in his parish, asked the rough-tongued
-preacher, whilst he controlled the Mint?</p>
-
-<p>The condition of things thus produced was not
-calculated to commend the innovations it accompanied
-to the people, and the introduction of the
-new Prayer-book was in particular bitterly resented
-in country districts. In many parts of England,
-interest and religion joining hands, fierce insurrections
-broke out, and the measures taken by “the
-good Duke” to allay popular irritation, by ordering
-that the lands newly enclosed should be re-opened,
-had the double effect of stirring the people, thus
-far successful, to yet more strenuous action in
-vindication of their rights, and of increasing the dislike
-and distrust with which his irresponsible exercise
-of authority was regarded by the upper classes.</p>
-
-<p>Upon domestic troubles&mdash;Ket’s rebellion in Norfolk,
-one of large dimensions in the west, and
-others&mdash;followed a declaration of war with France,
-certain successes on the part of the enemy serving
-to discredit the Protector and his management of
-affairs still further.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst rich and poor were alike disaffected in
-the country at large, the Duke had become an
-object of jealousy to the members of the Council
-Board who were responsible for having placed
-him in the position he occupied. To a man with
-the sagacity to look ahead and take account of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_131">131</a></span>
-forces at work, it must have been plain that the
-possession of absolute and undivided power on the
-part of a subject was necessarily fraught with danger,
-and that the Duke’s astonishing success in obtaining
-the patent conferring upon him supreme
-and regal authority contained in itself the seed and
-prophecy of ruin. But, besides more serious causes
-of offence, his bearing in the Council-chamber, far
-from being adapted to conciliate opposition, further
-exasperated his colleagues against him. Cranmer
-and Paget were the last to abandon his cause, but
-on May 8&mdash;not two months after his brother’s
-execution&mdash;the latter wrote to give him frank
-warning of the probable consequences of his “great
-cholerick fashions.” It is evident that a stormy
-scene had taken place that afternoon, and that Paget
-must have been strongly convinced of the need
-for interference before he addressed his remonstrance
-to the despotic head of the Government.</p>
-
-<p>“Poor Sir Richard a Lee,” he wrote, “this afternoon,
-after your Grace had very sore, and much
-more than needed, rebuked him, came to my chamber
-weeping, and there complaining, as far as became
-him, of your handling of him, seemed almost out of
-wits and out of heart. Your Grace had put him
-clean out of countenance.” After which he proceeded
-to warn the Duke solemnly, “for the very love he
-bore him,” of the consequences should he not change
-his manner of conduct.<a id="FNanchor_98" href="#Footnote_98" class="fnanchor">98</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_132">132</a></span>
-Paget’s love was quickly to grow cold. During
-the summer the various rebellions in different parts
-of the country were suppressed, the Earl of Warwick
-playing an important part in the operations. On September
-25 the Protector was, to all appearance, still
-in fulness of power and authority. By October 13
-he was in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>The Spanish spectator again supplies an account
-of the view taken by the man in the street of
-the initiation of the quarrel which led to the
-Duke’s disgrace and fall. Returned to London,
-Warwick, accompanied by the captains, English
-and foreign, who had served under him against
-the rebels, is said to have come to Court to
-demand for his soldiers the rewards he considered
-their due. Met by a refusal on the part of the
-Protector of anything over and above their ordinary
-wages, his indignation found vent. If money was
-not to be had, it was because of the sums squandered
-by the Duke in building his own palace. The French
-forts were already lost. If the Protector continued
-in power he would end by losing everything.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_132" class="figcenter" style="width: 456px;">
- <img src="images/i_132.jpg" width="456" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting in the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>WILLIAM, LORD PAGET, K.G.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>Somerset replied with no less heat. He deserved,
-he said, that Warwick should speak as he had spoken,
-by the favour he had shown him. Warwick
-having retorted that it was with himself and his
-colleagues that the fault lay, since they had bestowed
-so much power on the Protector, the two parted.
-Of what followed Holinshed gives a description.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_133">133</a></span>
-“Suddenly, upon what occasion many marvelled
-but few knew, every lord and councillor went
-through the city weaponed, and had their servants
-likewise weaponed ... to the great wondering of
-many; and at the last a great assembly of the said
-Council was made at the Earl of Warwick’s lodging,
-which was then at Ely Place, in Holborn, whither all
-the confederates came privily armed, and finally
-concluded to possess the Tower of London.”<a id="FNanchor_99" href="#Footnote_99" class="fnanchor">99</a></p>
-
-<p>As a counterblast, Somerset issued a proclamation
-in the King’s name, summoning all his subjects to
-Hampton Court for his defence and that of his “most
-entirely beloved uncle.” Open war was declared.</p>
-
-<p>So far the Archbishop and Paget, both resident
-with the Court, together with the two Secretaries,
-had adhered to the Protector. Upon Cranmer, if
-upon any one, Somerset, who had done more than
-any other person to establish religion upon its new
-basis, should have been able to count, if not for
-support, for a loyal opposition. But fear is strong
-and&mdash;again it must be repeated&mdash;fidelity to the
-unfortunate was no feature of the times; and by
-both Archbishop and Paget the cause of the falling
-man was abandoned. Not only did they secretly
-embrace the cause of the party headed by Warwick,
-but private directions were furnished by Paget as to
-the means to be employed in seizing the person of
-the Duke.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_134">134</a></span>
-Meantime, Hampton Court being judged insufficiently
-secure, Somerset, with a guard of five hundred
-men, had removed the King, at dead of night, to
-Windsor, a graphic account of the journey being
-given by the chronicler.</p>
-
-<p>“As he went along the road the King was all
-armed, and carried his little sword drawn, and kept
-saying to the people on the way:</p>
-
-<p>“‘My vassals, will you help me against the people
-who want to kill me?’</p>
-
-<p>“And everybody cried out, ‘Sir, we will all die for
-you.’”<a id="FNanchor_100" href="#Footnote_100" class="fnanchor">100</a></p>
-
-<p>Windsor reached, the defence of the Castle and
-of the sovereign was wisely entrusted, in the first
-instance, to men upon whom the Duke could depend.
-But the Council was successful in lulling any
-apprehensions of violent action to rest. Sir Philip
-Hoby, according to some authorities,<a id="FNanchor_101" href="#Footnote_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> was despatched
-from London with open, as well as secret, letters,
-wherein it was declared that no harm was intended
-to the Duke; order was merely to be taken for
-the Protectorship. Somerset had by this time
-yielded so far to the forces arrayed against him as
-to recognise the necessity of consenting to some
-change in the government; and at the reassuring
-terms of the communication all present gave way to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_135">135</a></span>
-emotion; wept with joy, after the fashion of the
-times; thanked God, and prayed for the Lords;
-Paget, in particular, clasping the Duke about the
-knees, and crying with tears, “O my Lord, ye see
-what my lords be!”</p>
-
-<p>The Protector’s ruin had been assured. Trusting
-to the declarations of the Council, he fell
-an easy prey into their hands. Yielding to the
-representations of Cranmer and Paget, to whose
-“diligent travail” his enemies gratefully ascribed
-their success, he permitted his trusty followers to be
-replaced in the defence of the Castle by the usual
-royal guard; on October 11 he had been seized and
-placed in safe keeping, and it was reported that the
-King had a bad cold, and “much desireth to be hence,
-saying that ‘Methinks I am in prison. Here be no
-galleries nor no gardens to walk in.’”<a id="FNanchor_102" href="#Footnote_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> The young
-sovereign had also, with a merry countenance and a
-loud voice, asked how their Lordships of the Council
-were, and when he would see them, saying that they
-should be welcome whensoever they came.</p>
-
-<p>It was plain that objections to a transference of
-his guardianship were not to be expected from the
-nephew of the Lord Protector, and the Duke was
-removed from Windsor to the Tower, followed by
-three hundred lords and gentlemen, “as if he had
-been a captive carried in triumph.” It would,
-however, have been more difficult to induce the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_136">136</a></span>
-boy to consent to the execution of another of his
-closest kin, and there may have been some fraction
-of truth in the report which gained currency that
-the King had not been made acquainted with the
-fact that his uncle was actually a prisoner until
-he learnt it from the Duchess. He then sent for
-the Archbishop and questioned him on the subject.</p>
-
-<p>“Godfather,” he is made to say, “what has
-become of my uncle, the Duke?” The explanation
-furnished him by Cranmer&mdash;to the effect that,
-had God not helped the Lords, the country would
-have been ruined, and it was feared that the Protector
-might have slain the King himself&mdash;did not
-appear to commend itself to the young sovereign.
-The Duke, he said, had never done him any harm,
-and he did not wish him to be killed.</p>
-
-<p>A King’s wishes, even at thirteen, have weight,
-and Warwick suddenly discovered that good should
-be returned for evil; and that since it was the King’s
-desire, and the first thing he had asked of his
-Council, the Duke must be pardoned.<a id="FNanchor_103" href="#Footnote_103" class="fnanchor">103</a></p>
-
-<div id="ip_136" class="figcenter" style="width: 436px;">
- <img src="images/i_136.jpg" width="436" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by W. Mansell &amp; Co. after a painting by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>EDWARD VI.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>What is more certain is that, on condition of
-an unqualified acknowledgment of his guilt, accompanied
-by forfeiture of offices and property, it
-was decided that Somerset should be set at liberty.
-Self-respect or dignity was not in fashion, and in
-the eyes of some the submission of the late Lord
-Protector assumed the character of an “abjectness.”<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_137">137</a></span>
-For the moment it purchased for him safety, and
-he was gradually permitted to regain a certain
-amount of influence and power. Some portion of
-his wealth was restored to him, and he was at length
-readmitted to the Council and to a limited share
-in the government. To sanguine eyes all seemed
-to have been placed on a satisfactory footing; but
-jealousy, distrust, and hatred take much killing.
-The position of the man who was the King’s
-nearest of kin amongst his nobles, and had lately
-been all-powerful in the State, was a difficult one.
-Warwick was rising, and meant to rise; Somerset
-was not content to remain fallen and discredited.
-What seemed a peace was merely an armistice.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime Warwick and his friends were no
-more successful than his rival in maintaining the
-national honour, and the peace with France concluded
-during the spring was regarded by the nation as
-a disgrace. Boulogne was surrendered to its natural
-owners, and in magniloquent terms war was once
-more stated to be at an end for ever between the
-two countries.</p>
-
-<p>Court and courtiers troubled themselves little
-with such matters, and on St. George’s Day a
-brilliant company of Lords of the Council and
-Knights of the Garter kept the festival at Greenwich;
-when a glimpse of the thirteen-year-old King is
-to be caught, in a more boyish mood than usual.</p>
-
-<p>Coming out from the discourse preached in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_138">138</a></span>
-honour of the day, in high spirits and in the
-argumentative humour fostered by sermons, the
-“godly and virtuous imp” turned to his train.</p>
-
-<p>“My Lords,” he demanded, “I pray you, what
-saint is St. George, that we here so honour him?”</p>
-
-<p>The sudden attack was unexpected, and, the Lords
-of the Council being “astonied” by it, it was the
-Treasurer who made reply.</p>
-
-<p>“If it please Your Majesty,” he said, “I did
-never read in any history of St. George, but only
-in <cite>Legenda Aurea</cite>, where it is thus set down, that
-St. George out with his sword and ran the dragon
-through with his spear.”</p>
-
-<p>The King, when he could not a great while
-speak for laughing, at length said:</p>
-
-<p>“I pray you, my Lord, and what did he do with
-his sword the while?”</p>
-
-<p>“That I cannot tell Your Majesty,” said he.<a id="FNanchor_104" href="#Footnote_104" class="fnanchor">104</a></p>
-
-<p>Poor little King! poor “godly imp”! It is seldom
-that his laughter rings out through the centuries.
-Perhaps some of the grave Councillors or divines
-present may have looked askance, considering that
-it was not with the weapon of ridicule that the
-patron saint of England should be most fitly attacked,
-but with the more legitimate one of theological
-criticism. But to us it is satisfactory to find
-that there were times when even the modern Josiah
-could not speak for laughing.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_139">139</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1549-1551</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Lady Jane Grey at home&mdash;Visit from Roger Ascham&mdash;The German
-divines&mdash;Position of Lady Jane in the theological world.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Whilst</span> these events had been taking place
-Jane Grey had been once more relegated
-to the care of her parents, to whose house she had
-been removed upon the imprisonment of her guardian,
-the Admiral, in January, 1549. To the helpless and
-passive plaything of worldly and political exigencies,
-the change from Seymour Place and Hanworth,
-where she had lived under Seymour’s roof, to the
-quiet of her father’s Leicestershire home, must have
-been great.</p>
-
-<p>Nor was the difference in the moral atmosphere
-less marked. Handsome, unprincipled, gay, magnificent,
-one imagines that the Admiral, in spite of
-the faults to which she was probably not blind, must
-have been an imposing personage in the eyes of
-his little charge; and self-interest&mdash;the interest
-of a man who did not guess that the future held
-nothing for him but a grave&mdash;as well as natural
-kindliness towards a child dependent upon him,
-will have led him to play the part of her “half-<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_140">140</a></span>father”
-in a manner to win her affection. Was she
-not destined, should his schemes prosper, to fill the
-place of Queen Consort? or, failing that, might it
-not be well to turn into earnest the “merry” possibility
-he had mentioned to Parry, and, if Elizabeth
-was denied him, to make her cousin his wife? In
-any case, so long as she lived in his house, Jane
-was a guest of importance, of royal blood, to be
-treated with consideration, cared for, and flattered.</p>
-
-<p>But now the ill-assorted house-mates had parted.
-Seymour had taken his way to the Tower, as a stage
-towards the scaffold; and Jane had returned&mdash;gladly
-or sorrowfully, who can tell?&mdash;to the shelter of the
-parental roof, and to the care of a father and mother
-determined upon neutralising by their conduct any
-ill-effects produced by her two years of emancipation
-from their control. Once more she was an insignificant
-member of her father’s family, the eldest of
-his three children, subjected to the strictest discipline
-and, whatever the future might bring forth,
-of little consequence in the present.</p>
-
-<p>It is possible that Lord Dorset’s fears, expressed
-at the time when he was attempting to regain possession
-of his daughter, had been in part realised;
-and that Jane, “for lack of a bridle,” had “taken
-too much the head,” and conceived an unduly
-high opinion of herself&mdash;it would indeed have been
-a natural outcome of the position she held both
-in her guardian’s house and, as will be seen, in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_141">141</a></span>
-the estimation of divines. If this was the case, her
-mother and he were to do their best to “address
-her mind to humility, soberness, and obedience.”
-The means taken to carry out their intentions
-were harsh.</p>
-
-<p>Of the year following upon Jane’s return to
-Bradgate little is known; but in the summer of
-1550, a picturesque and vivid sketch is afforded
-by Roger Ascham of the child of thirteen<a id="FNanchor_105" href="#Footnote_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> upon
-whom so many hopes centred and so many expectations
-were built. In the description given in his
-<cite>Schoolmaster</cite><a id="FNanchor_106" href="#Footnote_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> of the visit paid by the great scholar
-to Bradgate, light is thrown alike upon the system
-of training pursued by Lord Dorset, upon the
-character of his daughter, and upon the spirit she
-displayed in conforming to the manner of life enforced
-upon her.</p>
-
-<p>Ascham, in his capacity of tutor to her cousin
-Elizabeth, had known Jane intimately at Court&mdash;so
-he states in a letter to Sturm, another of the academic
-brotherhood&mdash;and had already received learned
-letters from her. Before starting on a diplomatic
-mission to Germany in the summer of 1550, he had
-visited some friends in Yorkshire, and on his way
-south turned aside to renew his acquaintance with
-Lady Jane, and to pay his respects to her father,
-who stood high in the estimation of the religious<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_142">142</a></span>
-party to which Ascham belonged. To this visit we
-owe one of the most distinct glimpses of the girl
-that we possess.</p>
-
-<p>By a fortunate chance he found “that most noble
-Lady Jane Grey, to whom I was exceeding much
-beholden,” alone. Lord and Lady Dorset, with all
-their household, were hunting in the park, and Jane,
-in the seclusion of her chamber, was engaged in
-studying the <cite>Phaedo</cite> of Plato, “with as much delight
-as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in
-Boccaccio,” when Ascham presented himself to her.</p>
-
-<p>The conversation between the scholar and the
-student places Lady Jane’s small staid figure in
-clear relief. Notwithstanding Plato’s <cite>Phaedo</cite>, notwithstanding,
-too, the sun outside, the sounds of
-horns, the baying of hounds, and all the other
-allurements she had proved able to resist, there is
-something very human and unsaintly in her fashion
-of unburthening herself to a congenial spirit concerning
-the wrongs sustained at the parental hands.
-To Ascham, with whom she had been so well
-acquainted under different circumstances, she opened
-her mind freely when, “after salutation and duty
-done,” he inquired how it befell that she had left
-the pastimes going forward in the Park.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_142" class="figcenter" style="width: 461px;">
- <img src="images/i_142.jpg" width="461" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">After an engraving.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>LADY JANE GREY.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>“I wis,” she answered smiling&mdash;the smile, surely,
-of conscious and complacent superiority&mdash;“all their
-sport in the Park is but a shadow to the pleasure
-that I find in Plato. Alas, good folk, they never
-felt what true pleasure meant.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_143">143</a></span>
-“And how came you, Madame,” asked Ascham,
-“to this deep knowledge of pleasure, and what did
-chiefly allure you to it, seeing not many women,
-but very few men, have attained thereto?”</p>
-
-<p>Jane, nothing loath to satisfy her guest’s curiosity,
-did so at length.</p>
-
-<p>“I will tell you,” she answered, “and tell you a
-truth, which perchance you will marvel at. One
-of the greatest benefits that ever God gave me is
-that He sent me so sharp and severe parents and
-so gentle a schoolmaster. For when I am in
-presence either of father or mother, whether I speak,
-keep silence, sit, stand, or go, eat, drink, be merry
-or sad, be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing anything
-else, I must do it, as it were, in such weight,
-measure, and number, even so perfectly as God
-made the world, or else I am so sharply taunted,
-so cruelly threatened, yea presently sometimes with
-pinches, nips, and bobs, and other ways, which I
-will not name for the honour I bear them, so without
-measure disordered, that I think myself in hell,
-till time come that I must go to Mr. Elmer, who
-teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with such fair
-allurements to learning, that I think all the time
-nothing whiles I am with him. And when I am
-called away from him I fall on weeping, because,
-whatever I do else but learning is full of grief,
-trouble, fear, and whole misliking unto me. And
-thus my book hath been so much my pleasure, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_144">144</a></span>
-bringeth daily to me more pleasure and more, that
-in respect of it all other pleasures in very deed be
-but trifles and troubles to me.”<a id="FNanchor_107" href="#Footnote_107" class="fnanchor">107</a></p>
-
-<p>Jane’s recital of her wrongs, if correctly reported&mdash;and
-Ascham says he remembers the conversation
-gladly, both because it was so worthy of memory,
-and because it was the last time he ever saw that
-noble and worthy lady&mdash;proves that her command
-of the vernacular was equal to her proficiency in
-the dead languages, and that she cherished a very
-natural resentment for the treatment to which she
-was subjected. There is something irresistibly provocative
-of laughter in the thought of the two
-scholars, old and young, and of the lofty compassion
-displayed by the chidden child towards the frivolous
-tastes and amusements of the parents to whom she
-doubtless outwardly accorded the exaggerated respect
-and reverence demanded by custom. Few would
-grudge the satisfaction derived from a sympathetic
-listener to the girl whose pleasures were to be so
-few and days for enjoying them so short.</p>
-
-<p>When Ascham took leave he had received a
-promise from Jane to write to him in Greek, provided
-that he would challenge her by a letter from
-Germany. And so they parted, to meet no more.</p>
-
-<p>It may be that Lady Jane’s sense of the harshness
-and severity of her treatment at home was accentuated
-by the tone adopted with regard to her by many<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_145">145</a></span>
-of the leading Protestant divines. To these men&mdash;men
-to whom Mary was Jezebel, Gardiner that
-lying and subtle Cerberus,<a id="FNanchor_108" href="#Footnote_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> and by whom persons
-holding theological views at variance with their own
-were freely and unreservedly handed over to the
-devil&mdash;Jane was not only wise, learned, and saintly
-beyond her years, but to her they turned their eyes,
-hoping for a future when, at the King’s side, she
-might prove the efficient protectress and patroness
-of the reformed Church. Her name was a household
-word amongst them, and whilst it can have been
-scarcely possible that she was indifferent to the
-incense offered by those to whom she had been
-instructed to look up, it may have rendered the
-system of repression adopted by her parents more
-unendurable than might otherwise have been the case.</p>
-
-<p>Bradgate was a centre of strong and militant
-Protestantism. In conjunction with Warwick, the
-Marquis of Dorset was regarded by the German
-school of theologians as one of the “two most
-shining lights of the Church;”<a id="FNanchor_109" href="#Footnote_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> and the many letters
-sent from England to Henry Bullinger at Zurich&mdash;some
-of them dated from Bradgate itself&mdash;abound
-in allusions to the family, and throw a useful
-light upon this part of Lady Jane’s life. In these
-epistles her father’s name recurs again and again,
-always in terms of extravagant eulogy, and as that
-of a munificent patron of needy divines. Thus he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_146">146</a></span>
-had bestowed a pension at first sight upon Ulmis,
-a young disciple of Bullinger’s, doubling it some
-months later; and his grateful <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">protégé</i>, striving to
-make what return is possible, impresses upon the
-foreign master the advisability of dedicating one of
-his works to the generous Marquis, anxiously
-sending him, when his request has been granted,
-the full title to be used in so doing. “He told me,
-indeed,” he adds, “that he had the title of Prince,
-but that he would not wish to be so styled by you,
-so you must judge for yourself whether to keep
-it back or not.”<a id="FNanchor_110" href="#Footnote_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> Bullinger is likewise urged to
-present a copy of one of his books to the Marquis’s
-daughter, “and, take my word for it, you will never
-repent having done so.” A most learned and
-courteous letter would thereby be elicited from her.
-She had already translated into Greek a good part
-of Bullinger’s treatise on marriage, put by Ulmis
-himself into Latin, and had given it to her father
-as a New Year’s gift.<a id="FNanchor_111" href="#Footnote_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> In May, 1551, another letter
-records that two days had been very agreeably
-passed at Bradgate with Jane, my Lord’s daughter,
-and those excellent and holy persons Aylmer, her
-tutor, and Haddon, chaplain to the Marquis. “For
-my own part, I do not think there ever lived any
-one more deserving of respect than this young
-lady, if you regard her family; more learned, if<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_147">147</a></span>
-you consider her age; or more happy, if you
-consider both. A report has prevailed, and has
-begun to be talked of by persons of consequence,
-that this most noble virgin is to be betrothed and
-given in marriage to the King’s majesty. Oh, if
-that event should take place, how happy would be
-the union, and how beneficial to the church!”<a id="FNanchor_112" href="#Footnote_112" class="fnanchor">112</a></p>
-
-<p>A letter despatched by Ulmis on the same day to
-another of his brethren in the faith, Conrad Pellican,
-craves his advice on behalf of Lady Jane with regard
-to the best means of acquiring Hebrew, a language
-she was anxious to study. She had written to
-consult Bullinger on the subject, but Bullinger was
-a busy man, and all the world knew how perfect
-was Pellican’s acquaintance with the subject.
-Pellican may argue that he might seem lacking
-in modesty should he address a young lady, the
-daughter of a nobleman, unknown to him personally.
-But he is besought by Ulmis to entertain no
-fears of the kind, and his correspondent will bear all
-the blame if he ever repents of the deed, or if
-Lady Jane does not most willingly acknowledge his
-courtesy. “In truth,” he adds, “I do not think
-that amongst the English nobility for many ages
-past there has arisen a single individual who, to
-the highest excellences of talent and judgment, has
-united so much diligence and assiduity in the
-cultivation of every liberal pursuit.... It is<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_148">148</a></span>
-incredible how far she has advanced already, and
-to what perfection she will advance in a few years;
-for I well know that she will complete what she
-has begun, unless perhaps she be diverted from
-her pursuits by some calamity of the times....
-If you write a letter to her, take care, I pray you,
-that it be first delivered to me.”<a id="FNanchor_113" href="#Footnote_113" class="fnanchor">113</a></p>
-
-<p>The letter is dated from the house of the daughter
-of the Marquis. Her mother, it is true, seems
-to have been at home, though Dorset was in
-Scotland; but it is a curious fact that the grand-daughter
-of Henry VII., through whom Jane’s royal
-blood was transmitted to her, appears to have been
-by common consent tacitly passed over, as a person
-of no consequence in comparison with her daughter.<a id="FNanchor_114" href="#Footnote_114" class="fnanchor">114</a></p>
-
-<p>Quite a budget of letters were entrusted to the
-courier who left Bradgate on May 29, and was the
-bearer of the missives addressed by Ulmis to his
-master and his friend. Both John Aylmer, tutor
-to Lord Dorset’s children and afterwards Bishop of
-London, and Haddon, the Marquis’s chaplain, had
-taken the opportunity of writing to Bullinger, doubtless
-stimulated to the effort by his young disciple.</p>
-
-<p>The preceptor who compared so favourably in<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_149">149</a></span>
-Lady Jane’s eyes with her parents, was a young
-Norfolk man, of about twenty-nine, and singularly
-well learned in the Latin and Greek tongues.<a id="FNanchor_115" href="#Footnote_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> On
-James Haddon, Bishop Hooper, writing from prison
-when, three years later, the friends of the Reformation
-had fallen on evil days, pronounced a eulogy in
-a letter to Bullinger. Master James Haddon, he
-said, was not only a friend and very dear brother in
-Christ, but one he had always esteemed on account of
-his singular erudition and virtue. “I do not think,”
-he added, “that I have ever been acquainted with
-any one in England who is endued either with more
-sincere piety towards God or more removed from
-all desire of those perishing objects desired by foolish
-mortals.”<a id="FNanchor_116" href="#Footnote_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> From Bishop Hooper the panegyric is
-evidence that Haddon belonged to the extreme party
-in theological matters, in which Aylmer was probably
-in full accord with him. On this particular day
-in May both these devoted and conscientious men
-were sending letters to the great director of souls in
-Zurich, that of Haddon being written to a man
-to whom he was personally unknown, and with the
-sole object of opening a correspondence and offering
-a tribute of respect.</p>
-
-<p>Aylmer’s case was a different one. Though also
-a stranger, he wrote at some length, chiefly in the
-character of the preceptor entrusted with Lady<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_150">150</a></span>
-Jane’s education, making due acknowledgments
-for the letters and advice which had been of so
-much use in keeping his patron and his patron’s
-family in the right path, and begging Bullinger to
-continue these good offices towards the pupil,
-just fourteen, concerning whom it is strange to find
-the young man entertaining certain fears and misgivings.</p>
-
-<p>“At that age,” he observes, “as the comic poet
-tells us, all people are inclined to follow their own
-ways, and, by the attractiveness of the objects and
-the corruptions of nature, are more easily carried
-headlong in pleasure ... than induced to follow
-those studies that are attended with the praise of
-virtue.” The time teemed with many disorders;
-discreet physicians must therefore be sought, and
-to tender minds there should not be wanting the
-counsel of the aged nor the authority of grave and
-influential men. Aylmer accordingly entreats that
-Bullinger will minister, by letter and advice, to the
-improvement of his charge.</p>
-
-<p>An epistle from Jane, dated July 1551, shows
-that the German theologian responded at once to
-the appeal, since in it she acknowledges the receipt
-of a most eloquent and weighty letter, and mentioning
-the loss she had sustained in the death of
-Bucer, who appears to have taken his part in her
-theological training, congratulates herself upon the
-possession of a friend so learned as Bullinger, so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_151">151</a></span>
-pious a divine, and so intrepid a champion of true
-religion. Bereaved of the “pious Bucer ... who
-unweariedly did not cease, day and night, and to the
-utmost of his ability, to supply me with all necessary
-instructions and directions for my conduct in life,
-and who by his excellent advice promoted and encouraged
-my progress and advancement in all virtue,
-godliness, and learning,” she proceeds to beg
-Bullinger to fill the vacant place, and to spur her on
-if she should loiter and be disposed to delay. By
-this means she will enjoy the same advantages
-granted to those women to whom St. Jerome imparted
-instruction, or to the elect lady to whom the
-epistle of St. John was addressed, or to the mother
-of Severus, taught by Origen. As Bullinger could
-be deemed inferior to none of these teachers, she
-entreats him to manifest a like kindness.<a id="FNanchor_117" href="#Footnote_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> It is
-plain that Lady Jane, in addressing this “brightest
-ornament and support of the whole Church,” is
-determined not to be outdone in the art of pious
-flattery; and in her correspondence with men who
-both as scholars and divines held a foremost place
-in the estimation of those by whom she was surrounded,
-she indemnified herself for the mortifications
-inflicted upon her at home.</p>
-
-<p>The reformers, for their part, were keeping an
-anxious watch upon the course of events in England;
-and to strengthen and maintain their influence over<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_152">152</a></span>
-one who might have a prominent part to play
-in future years was of the first importance. A letter
-from Ascham, who was still abroad, dated some
-months later, supplies yet another example of the
-incense offered to the child of fourteen, and of
-fulsome adulation by which an older head might
-have been turned. Nothing, he told her, in
-his travels, had raised in him greater admiration
-than had been caused when, on his visit to
-Bradgate, he had found one so young and lovely&mdash;so
-divine a maid&mdash;engaged in the study of Plato whilst
-friends and relations were enjoying field sports. Let
-her proceed thus, to the honour of her country, the
-delight of her parents, her own glory, the praise of
-her preceptor, the comfort of her relations and
-acquaintances, and the admiration of all. O happy
-Aylmer, to have a like scholar!</p>
-
-<div id="ip_152" class="figcenter" style="width: 462px;">
- <img src="images/i_152.jpg" width="462" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by W. Mansell &amp; Co. after a painting by G. Fliccius in the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>ARCHBISHOP CRANMER.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>It would be easy to multiply quotations which
-indicate the place accorded to Lord Dorset’s
-daughter in the estimation of the leaders of the
-extreme party of Protestantism, in whose eyes
-Cranmer was regarded as a possible trimmer.
-Allowing to him “right views,” Hooper, in writing
-to Bullinger, adds: “we desire nothing more for
-him than a firm and manly spirit.”<a id="FNanchor_118" href="#Footnote_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> “Contrary to
-general expectation,” Traheron writes, the Archbishop
-had most openly, firmly, and learnedly maintained
-the opinion of the German divine upon the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_153">153</a></span>
-Eucharist; and Ulmis, alluding to him in terms of
-praise, repeats that he had unexpectedly given a
-correct judgment on this point. Even the youngest
-of the German theologians felt himself competent
-to weigh in the balances the head of Protestant
-England.</p>
-
-<p>Protestant England was itself keeping a wary eye
-upon its Primate. “The Archbishop of Canterbury,”
-wrote Hooper to Bullinger, “to tell the truth,
-neither took much note of your letter nor of your
-learned present. But now, as I hope, Master
-Bullinger and Canterbury entertain the same
-opinion.” “The people ... that many-headed
-monster,” he wrote again, “is still wincing, partly
-through ignorance, and partly persuaded by the inveiglements
-of the Bishops and the malice and
-impiety of the mass-priests.”<a id="FNanchor_119" href="#Footnote_119" class="fnanchor">119</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_154">154</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1551-1552</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">An anxious tutor&mdash;Somerset’s final fall&mdash;The charges against him&mdash;His
-guilt or innocence&mdash;His trial and condemnation&mdash;The King’s
-indifference&mdash;Christmas at Greenwich&mdash;The Duke’s execution.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap al"><span class="smcap1">Aylmer</span> had been so far encouraged by the
-success of his appeal to Henry Bullinger
-on behalf of his pupil that he is found, some seven
-months later, calling the Swiss churchman again into
-council. He was possibly over-anxious, but the tone
-of his communication makes it clear that Lady Jane
-Grey had been once more causing her tutor disquiet.
-Responding, in the first place, to Bullinger’s congratulations
-upon his privilege in acting as teacher
-to so excellent a scholar, and in a family so well
-disposed to learning and religion, he proceeds to
-request that his correspondent will, in his next
-letter, instruct Lady Jane as to the proper degree
-of embellishment and adornment of the person
-becoming in young women professing godliness.
-The tutor is plainly uneasy on this subject, and it is
-to be feared that Jane had been developing an undue
-love of dress. Yet the example of the Princess
-Elizabeth might be fitly adduced, observes Aylmer,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_155">155</a></span>
-furnishing the monitor with arguments of which he
-might, if he pleased, make use. She at least went
-clad in every respect as became a young maiden, and
-yet no one was induced by the example of “a lady
-in so much gospel light to lay aside, much less look
-down upon, gold, jewels, and braidings of the hair.”
-Preachers might declaim, but no one amended her
-life. Moreover, and as a less important matter,
-Aylmer desires Bullinger to prescribe the amount of
-time to be devoted to music. If he would handle
-these points at some length there would probably be
-some accession to the ranks of virtue.</p>
-
-<p>One would imagine that it argued ignorance of
-human nature on the part of Lady Jane’s instructor
-to believe that the admonitions of an old man at
-a distance would have more effect than those of a
-young man close at hand; nor does it appear
-whether or not Bullinger sent the advice for which
-Aylmer asked. But that his pupil’s incipient leaning
-towards worldly vanities was successfully checked
-would appear from her reply, reported by himself,
-when a costly dress had been presented to her by her
-cousin Mary. “It were a shame,” she is said to have
-answered, in rejecting the gift, “to follow my Lady
-Mary, who leaveth God’s Word, and leave my Lady
-Elizabeth, who followeth God’s Word.”</p>
-
-<p>It might have been well for Jane had she practised
-greater courtesy towards a cousin at this time out of
-favour at Court; but no considerations of policy or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_156">156</a></span>
-of good breeding could be expected to influence a
-zealot of fifteen, and Mary, more than double her
-age, may well have listened with a smile.</p>
-
-<p>When Aylmer’s letter was written, the Grey
-family had left Bradgate and were in London. The
-Marquis had, some two months earlier, been advanced
-to the rank of Duke of Suffolk, upon the
-title becoming extinct through the death of his
-wife’s two half-brothers, and the tutor may have
-had just cause for disquietude lest the world should
-make good its claims upon the little soul he was
-so carefully tending. In November 1551 Mary
-of Lorraine, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, had
-applied for leave to pass through England on her
-way north. It had not only been granted, but she
-had been accorded a magnificent reception, Lady
-Jane, with her mother, taking part in the ceremony
-when the royal guest visited the King at
-Whitehall. Two days later she was amongst
-the ladies assembled to do the Queen honour at
-her departure for Scotland. It may be that this
-participation in the pomp and splendour of court
-life had produced a tendency in John Aylmer’s
-charge to bestow overmuch attention upon worldly
-matters, nor can it be doubted that his heart was
-sore at the contrast she had presented to Elizabeth,
-“whose plainness of dress,” he says, still commending
-the Princess, “was especially noticed on the occasion
-of the visit of the Queen-Dowager of Scotland.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_157">157</a></span>
-Perhaps, too, the master looked back with regret to
-the quiet days of uninterrupted study. The Dorset
-household, when not in London itself, were now to
-be chiefly resident at Sheen, within reach of the
-Court. Jane, too, was growing up; Aylmer was
-young; and to the “gentle schoolmaster” the
-training of Lord Dorset’s eldest daughter may have
-had an interest not wholly confined to scholarship
-or to theology. It is nevertheless impossible to put
-back the clock, and the days when his pupil could
-be expected to devote herself exclusively to her
-studies were irrevocably past.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the hollow treaty of amity between the
-two great competitors for supremacy in the realm
-was to end. In the spring of 1551 Somerset and
-Warwick were on terms of outward cordiality, and
-a marriage between the Duke’s daughter and the
-eldest son of his rival, which took place with much
-magnificence in the presence of the King, might have
-been expected to cement their friendship. But
-by October “carry-tales and flatterers,” says one
-chronicler, had rendered harmony&mdash;even the semblance
-of harmony&mdash;impossible; or, as was more
-probable, Warwick, suspicious of the intention on the
-part of the Duke of regaining the direction of
-affairs, had determined to free himself once for all
-from the rivalry of the King’s uncle. Somerset had
-again been lodged in the Tower, to leave it, this
-time, only for the scaffold.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_158">158</a></span>
-On the question of his innocence or guilt there has
-been much discussion amongst historians, nor is it
-possible to enter at length into the question.
-The crimes of which he stood accused were of the
-blackest dye. “The good Duke,” as the people still
-loved to call him, was charged with plotting to gain
-possession of the King’s person, of contriving the
-murder of Warwick, now to be created Duke of
-Northumberland, of Northampton and Herbert, and
-was to be tried for treason and felony.</p>
-
-<p>Many and various are the views taken as to the
-guilt of the late Protector. Mr. Tytler, most conscientious
-of historians, after a careful comparison of
-contemporary evidence, has decided in his favour.
-Others have come to a different conclusion. The
-balance of opinion appears to be on his side. His
-bearing throughout the previous summer had been
-that of an innocent man, who had nothing to fear
-from justice. But justice was hard to come by.
-His enemy was strong and relentless&mdash;“a competent
-lawyer, known soldier, able statesman”&mdash;and in
-each of these capacities he was seeking to bring a
-dangerous competitor to ruin. It was, says Fuller,
-almost like a struggle between a naked and an armed
-man.<a id="FNanchor_120" href="#Footnote_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> Yet, open-hearted and free from distrust as
-he is described, Somerset must have been aware
-of some part of his danger. His friends amongst
-the upper classes had ever been few and cold.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_159">159</a></span>
-The reformers, for whom he had done so much,
-had begun to indulge doubts of his zeal. Become
-possibly weary of persecution, he had tried to
-make a way for Gardiner to leave the prison in
-which he was languishing, and, alone of the Council,
-had been in favour of permitting to Mary the
-exercise of her religion. These facts were sufficient,
-in the eyes of many, to justify the assertion made by
-Burgoyne to Calvin that he had grown lukewarm,
-and had scarcely anything less at heart than religion.</p>
-
-<p>He was naturally the last to hear of the intrigues
-against him, and of the accusations brought in his
-absence from the Council-chamber. An attempt,
-it is true, was made to warn him by Lord Chancellor
-Rich, by means of a letter containing an account of
-the proceedings which had taken place; but, carelessly
-addressed only “To the Duke,” it was delivered, by
-a blunder of the Chancellor’s servant, to Norfolk,
-Somerset’s enemy. Surprised at the speedy return
-of his messenger, Rich inquired where he had found
-“the Duke.”</p>
-
-<p>“In the Charter House,” was the reply, “on
-the same token that he read it at the window and
-smiled thereat.”</p>
-
-<p>“But the Lord Rich,” adds Fuller, in telling
-the story, “smiled not”; resigning his post on the
-following day, on the plea of old age and a desire
-to gain leisure to attend to his devotions, and
-thereby escaping the dismissal which would have<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_160">160</a></span>
-resulted from a betrayal of the secrets of the
-Council.<a id="FNanchor_121" href="#Footnote_121" class="fnanchor">121</a></p>
-
-<p>By October 14 the Duke was cognisant to some
-extent of the mischief that was a-foot, for it is stated
-in the King’s journal that he sent for the Secretary
-Cecil “to tell him that he suspected some ill. Mr.
-Cecil answered that, if he were not guilty, he might
-be of good courage; if he were, he had nothing
-to say but to lament him.” It was not an encouraging
-reply to an appeal for sympathy and
-support, and must have been an earnest of the
-attitude likely to be adopted towards the Duke
-by the rest of his colleagues. Two days later
-Edward’s journal notes his apprehension.</p>
-
-<p>The issue of the struggle was nevertheless uncertain.
-In spite of his unpopularity amongst the
-nobles, and though, to judge by the entries in the
-royal diary, the course of events was followed by his
-nephew with cold indifference, Somerset was not without
-his partisans. Constant to their old affection,
-the attack upon him was watched by the common
-people with breathless interest, accentuated by the
-detestation universally felt for the man who had
-planned his destruction. Hatred for Northumberland
-joined hands with love for Somerset to range
-them on his side. The political atmosphere was
-charged with excitement. Could it be true that the
-“good Duke” had designed the murder of his rival,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_161">161</a></span>
-who, whatever might be thought of him in other
-respects, was one of the chief props of Protestantism?
-Had the King, as some alleged, been in
-danger? The trial would show; and when it
-became known that the prisoner had been acquitted
-of treason, and the axe was therefore, according to
-custom, carried out of court, his cause was considered
-to be won; a cry arose that the innocence of the
-popular favourite had been established, and the
-applause of the crowd testified to their rejoicing.
-It had been premature. Acquitted of the principal
-offence with which he stood charged, he was found
-guilty of felony, and sentenced to death.</p>
-
-<p>The verdict was received with ominous murmurs,
-and, in a letter to Bullinger, Ulmis states that,
-observing the grave and sorrowful aspect of the
-audience, the Duke of Northumberland was wary
-enough to take his cue from it, and to attempt to
-propitiate in his own favour the discontented crowd.</p>
-
-<p>“O Duke of Somerset,” he exclaimed from his
-seat, “you see yourself brought into the utmost
-danger, and that nothing but death awaits you. I
-have once before delivered you from a similar
-hazard of your life; and I will not now desist from
-serving you, how little soever you may expect it.”
-Let Somerset appeal to the royal clemency, and
-Northumberland, forgiving him his offences, would
-do all in his power to save him.<a id="FNanchor_122" href="#Footnote_122" class="fnanchor">122</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_162">162</a></span>
-Northumberland’s tardy magnanimity fails to carry
-conviction. But, besides his victim’s popularity in
-the country, it was reported that the “King took
-it not in good part,” and it was thought well to
-delay the execution, by which means his supplanter
-might gain credit for exercising his generosity by
-an attempt to avert his doom. Christmas was at
-hand, and it was arranged that the Duke should
-remain in prison, under sentence of death, whilst
-the feast was celebrated at Court.</p>
-
-<p>In spite of the assertion that the young King had
-not been unaffected by a tragedy that should have
-touched him closely, there is nothing in his own
-words to indicate any other attitude than that of
-the indifferent spectator&mdash;an attitude recalling unpleasantly
-the callousness shown by his father as
-the women he had loved and the statesmen he had
-trusted and employed were successively sent to the
-block. Though, in justice to Edward, it should
-be remembered that he had never loved his uncle,
-there is something revolting in his casual mention
-of the measures adopted against him.</p>
-
-<p>“Little has been done since you went,” he wrote
-to Barnaby Fitzpatrick, the comrade of his childish
-days, now become his favourite, “but the Duke
-of Somerset’s arraignment for felonious treason and
-the muster of the newly erected gendarmery;”<a id="FNanchor_123" href="#Footnote_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> and
-the journal wherein he traces the progress of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_163">163</a></span>
-trial, varying the narrative by the introduction of
-other topics, such as the visit of the Queen-Dowager
-of Scotland and the festivities in her honour, conveys
-a similar impression of coldness. “And so he was
-adjudged to be hanged,” he records in conclusion,
-noting, with no expression of regret, the result of
-the proceedings.</p>
-
-<p>“It were well that he should die,” Edward had
-told the Duke’s brother in those earlier childish
-days when incited by the Admiral to rebel against
-the strictness of the discipline enforced by the
-Protector. But, under the mask of indifference,
-it may be that misgivings awoke and made themselves
-apparent to those who, watching him closely,
-feared that ties of blood might vindicate their
-strength, and that at their bidding, or through compassion,
-he might interpose to avert the fate of one
-of the only near relations who remained to him.
-It appears to have been determined that the King’s
-mind must be diverted from the subject; and whilst
-the prisoner was awaiting in the Tower the execution
-of his sentence, special merry-makings were arranged
-by the men who had the direction of affairs at Greenwich,
-where the court was to keep Christmas. Thus
-it was hoped to “remove the fond talk out of men’s
-mouths,” and to recreate and refresh the troubled
-spirits of the young sovereign. A Lord of Misrule
-was accordingly appointed, who, dubbed the Master
-of the King’s Pastimes, took order for the general<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_164">164</a></span>
-amusement, though conducting himself more discreetly
-than had been the wont of his predecessors,
-and the festival was gaily observed. By these means,
-says Holinshed, the minds and ears of murmurers
-were well appeased, till it was thought well to
-proceed to the business of executing judgment upon
-the Duke.</p>
-
-<p>In whatever light the ghastly contrast between the
-uncle awaiting a bloody death in the Tower and the
-noisy merry-making intended to drown the sound
-of the passing-bell in the nephew’s ears may strike
-students of a later day, it is likely that there was
-nothing in it to affect painfully those who joined
-in the proceedings. Life was little considered. Men
-were daily accustomed to witness violent reverses
-of fortune. The Duke had aimed over-high; he
-was a danger to rivals whose turn it was to rise;
-he must make way for others. He had moreover
-been too deeply injured to forgive; and, to make
-all safe, he must die. The reign of the Seymours
-was at an end; that of Northumberland was
-beginning. Two more years and their supplanter,
-with Suffolk and his other adherents, would in
-their turn have paid the penalty of a great ambition,
-and, “with the sons of the Duke of Somerset standing
-by,” would have followed the Lord Protector
-to the grave.</p>
-
-<p>There was none to prophesy their fate. Had it
-been otherwise, it is not probable that a warning<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_165">165</a></span>
-would have turned them from their purpose. For
-they were reckless gamblers, and to foretell ruin
-to a man who is staking his all upon a throw of
-the dice is to speak to deaf ears.</p>
-
-<p>So the merry Christmas passed, Jane&mdash;third in
-succession to the throne&mdash;occupying a prominent
-position at Court. And Aylmer, fearful lest the fruits
-of his care should be squandered, looked on helplessly,
-and besought Bullinger, on that 23rd of
-December, to set a limit, for the benefit of a pupil
-in danger, to the attention lawfully to be bestowed
-on the world and its vanities; a letter from Haddon,
-the Duke’s chaplain, following fast and betraying
-his participation in the anxieties of his colleague by
-an entreaty that, from afar, the eminent divine would
-continue to exercise a beneficent influence upon his
-master’s daughter.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the day had arrived when it was
-considered safe to carry matters against the King’s
-uncle to extremities, and on January 23, six weeks
-after his trial, the Duke of Somerset was taken to
-Tower Hill, to suffer death in the presence of a
-vast crowd there assembled.</p>
-
-<p>Till the last moment the throng had persisted in
-hoping against hope that the life of the man they
-loved might even now, at the eleventh hour, be
-spared; and at one moment it seemed that they
-were not to be disappointed. The Duke had
-taken his place upon the scaffold, and had begun<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_166">166</a></span>
-his speech, when an interruption occurred, occasioned,
-as it afterwards proved, by an accidental
-collision between the mass of spectators and a body
-of troops who had received orders to be present
-at the execution, and, finding themselves late, had
-ridden hard and fast to make up for lost time.
-This was the simple explanation of the occurrence;
-but, to the excited mob gathered together, every
-nerve strained and full of pity and fear and horror,
-the sound of the thundering hoofs seemed something
-supernatural and terrible. Was it a sign of
-divine interposition?</p>
-
-<p>“Suddenly,” recounts an eye-witness, “suddenly
-came a wondrous fear upon the people ... by a
-great sound which appeared unto many above in
-the element as it had been the sound of gunpowder
-set on fire in a close house bursting out, and by
-another sound upon the ground as it had been the
-sight of a great number of great horses running
-on the people to overrun them; so great was the
-sound of this that the people fell down one upon
-the other, many with bills; and other ran this way,
-some that way, crying aloud, ‘Jesus, save us! Jesus,
-save us!’ Many of the people crying, ‘This way
-they come, that way they come, away, away.’ And
-I looked where one or other should strike me on
-the head, so I was stonned [stunned?]. The people
-being thus amazed, espies Sir Anthony Brown upon
-a little nag riding towards the scaffold, and therewith<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_167">167</a></span>
-burst out crying in a voice, ‘Pardon, pardon,
-pardon!’ hurling up their caps and cloaks with
-these words, saying, ‘God save the King! God save
-the King!’ The good Duke all the while stayed,
-and, with his cap in his hand, waited for the people
-to come together.”<a id="FNanchor_124" href="#Footnote_124" class="fnanchor">124</a></p>
-
-<p>Whatever had been Sir Anthony’s errand, it had
-not been one of mercy; and when the excitement
-following upon the panic was calmed the doomed
-man and the crowd were alike aware that the people
-had been misled by hope, and that no pardon had
-been brought. It is at such a moment that a man’s
-mettle is shown. With admirable dignity Somerset
-bore the blow. As for a moment he had participated
-in the expectation of the cheering throng the colour
-had flickered over his face; but, recovering himself
-at once, he resumed his interrupted speech.</p>
-
-<p>“Beloved friends,” he said, “there is no such
-matter as you vainly hope and believe.” Let the
-people accept the will of God, be quiet as he was
-quiet, and yield obedience to King and Council.
-A few minutes more and all was over. Somerset,
-in the words of a chronicler, had taken his death
-very patiently&mdash;with the strange patience in which
-the victims of injustice scarcely ever failed; the
-crowd, true to the last to their faith, pressing forward
-to dip their handkerchiefs in his blood, as in
-that of a martyr.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_168">168</a></span>
-The laconic entry in the King’s journal, to the
-effect that the Duke of Somerset had had his head
-cut off on Tower Hill, presents a sharp contrast to
-the popular emotion and grief. The deed was, at
-all events, done; Northumberland had cleared his
-most formidable competitor from his path, and
-had no suspicion that the tragedy of that winter’s
-day was in truth paving the way for his own ultimate
-undoing.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_168" class="figcenter" style="width: 469px;">
- <img src="images/i_168.jpg" width="469" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting in the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>EDWARD SEYMOUR, DUKE OF SOMERSET, K.G.</p></div></div>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_169">169</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1552</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Northumberland and the King&mdash;Edward’s illness&mdash;Lady Jane and
-Mary&mdash;Mary refused permission to practise her religion&mdash;The
-Emperor intervenes.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">For</span> the moment master of the field, Northumberland
-addressed himself sedulously to the
-task of strengthening and consolidating the position
-he had won. In the Council he had achieved
-predominance, but the King’s minority would not
-last for ever, and the necessity of laying the
-foundation of a power that should continue when
-Edward’s nominal sovereignty should have become
-a real one was urgent.</p>
-
-<p>The lad was growing up; nor were there
-wanting moments causing those around him to
-look on with disquietude to the day when the
-nobles ruling in his name might be called upon to
-give an account of their stewardship. A curious
-anecdote tells how, as Northumberland stood one
-day watching the King practising the art of archery,
-the boy put a “sharp jest” upon him, not without
-its significance.</p>
-
-<p>“Well aimed, my liege,” said the Duke merrily,
-as the arrow hit the white.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_170">170</a></span>
-“But you aimed better,” retorted the lad, “when
-you shot off the head of my uncle Somerset.”<a id="FNanchor_125" href="#Footnote_125" class="fnanchor">125</a></p>
-
-<p>It was a grim and ominous pleasantry, and in
-the direct charge it contained of responsibility for
-the death of Edward’s nearest of kin another shaft
-besides the arrow may have been sent home.
-The Tudors were not good at forgiving. Even
-had the King seen the death of the Duke’s rival and
-victim without regret, it was possible that he
-would none the less owe a grudge to the man
-to whom it was due; nor was Northumberland
-without a reason for anticipating with uneasiness
-the day when Edward, remembering
-all, should hold the reins of Government in his
-own hands.</p>
-
-<p>Under these circumstances it was clearly his
-interest to commend himself to the young sovereign,
-and the system he pursued with regard to his
-education and training were carefully adapted to
-that purpose. Whilst the Protector had had the
-arrangement of affairs, his nephew had been kept
-closely to his studies; Northumberland, “a soldier
-at heart and by profession, had him taught to
-ride and handle his weapons,” the boy welcoming
-the change, and, though not neglecting his books,
-taking pleasure in every form of bodily exercise;<a id="FNanchor_126" href="#Footnote_126" class="fnanchor">126</a>
-not without occasional pangs of conscience, when<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_171">171</a></span>
-more time had been spent in pastime than he
-“thought convenient.”</p>
-
-<p>“We forget ourselves,” he would observe,
-finding fault with himself sententiously in royal
-phrase, upon such occasions, “that should not
-lose <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">substantia pro accidente</i>.”<a id="FNanchor_127" href="#Footnote_127" class="fnanchor">127</a></p>
-
-<p>It had been the Protector’s custom to place
-little money at his nephew’s disposal, thus rendering
-him comparatively straitened in the means of exercising
-the liberality befitting his position; and
-part of the boy’s liking for the Admiral had been
-owing to the gifts contrasting with the niggardliness
-of the elder brother. Profiting by his predecessor’s
-mistakes, Northumberland’s was a different policy.
-He supplied Edward freely with gold, encouraged
-him to make presents, and to show himself a
-King; acquainting him besides with public business,
-and flattering him by asking his opinion upon
-such matters.<a id="FNanchor_128" href="#Footnote_128" class="fnanchor">128</a></p>
-
-<p>The Duke might have spared his pains. It
-was not by Edward that he was to be called to
-account. But at that time there were no signs
-to indicate how futile was the toil of those who
-were seeking to build their fortunes upon his
-favour. A well-grown, handsome lad, his health
-had given no special cause for anxiety up to the
-spring of 1552. In the March of that year,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_172">172</a></span>
-however, a sharp and complicated attack of illness
-laid him low and sowed the seeds of future delicacy.</p>
-
-<p>“I fell sick of the smallpox and the measles,”
-recorded the boy in his diary. “April 15th the
-Parliament broke up because I was sick and unable
-to go abroad.”</p>
-
-<p>To us, who read the laconic entry in the light
-thrown upon it by future events, it marks the
-beginning of the end&mdash;not only the end of
-the King’s short life, but the beginning of the
-drama in which many other actors were to be
-involved and were to meet their doom. As yet
-none of the anxious watchers suspected that
-death had set his broad arrow upon the lad; and
-in the summer he had so far recovered as to be
-sending a blithe account to Barnaby Fitzpatrick,
-then in France, of a progress he had made in the
-country, and its attendant enjoyments. Whilst his
-old playfellow had been occupied in killing his enemies,
-and sore skirmishing and divers assaults, the
-King had been killing wild beasts, having pleasant
-journeys and good fare, viewing fair countries, and
-seeking rather to fortify his own than to spoil another
-man’s<a id="FNanchor_129" href="#Footnote_129" class="fnanchor">129</a>&mdash;so he wrote gaily to Fitzpatrick.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime his illness, with the dissolution of
-Parliament consequent upon it, had probably
-emptied London; the Suffolk family, with others,
-returning to their country home. In July Lady<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_173">173</a></span>
-Jane was on a visit to her cousin, the Princess
-Mary, at Newhall; when, once more, an indiscreet
-speech&mdash;a scoff, on this occasion, directed against
-the outward tokens of that Catholic faith to which
-Mary was so vehemently loyal&mdash;may, repeated to
-her hostess, have served to irritate her towards the
-offender against the rules of courtesy and good
-taste. Under other circumstances, it might have
-been passed over by the older woman with a
-smile; but subjected to annoyance and petty persecution
-by reason of her religion and saddened
-and embittered by illness and misfortune, the
-trifling instance of ill-manners on the part of a
-malapert child of fifteen may have had its share
-in accentuating a latent antagonism.</p>
-
-<p>In the course of the previous year a controversy
-had reached its height which had been more or
-less imminent since the statute enjoining the use
-of the new Prayer-book had been passed, a work
-said to have afforded the King&mdash;then eleven
-years of age&mdash;“great comfort and quietness of
-mind.” From that time forward&mdash;the decree had
-become law in 1549&mdash;there had been trouble in
-the royal family, as might be expected when
-opinion on vital points of religion, the burning
-question of the day, was widely and violently
-divergent, and friends and advisers were ever at
-hand to fan the flame of discord in their own
-interest or that of their party.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_174">174</a></span>
-No one could be blind to the fact that the ardent
-Catholicism of the Princess Mary, next in succession
-to the throne, constituted a standing menace to
-the future of religion as recently by law established,
-and to the durability of the work hastily carried
-through in creating a new Church on a new basis.
-Furthermore it was considered that her present
-attitude of open and determined opposition to the
-decree passed by Parliament was a cause of scandal
-in the realm. It was certainly one of annoyance
-to the King and Council.</p>
-
-<p>Cranmer would probably have liked to keep the
-peace. An honest man, but no fanatic and holding
-moderate views, he might have been inclined, having
-got what he personally wanted, to adopt a policy of
-conciliation. Affairs had gone well with him; his
-friends were in power; and, if he failed to inspire
-the foreign divines and their English disciples
-with entire trust, it was admitted in 1550 by John
-Stumpius, of that school, that things had been put
-upon a right footing. “There is,” he added, “the
-greatest hope as to religion, for the Archbishop
-of Canterbury has lately married a wife.”<a id="FNanchor_130" href="#Footnote_130" class="fnanchor">130</a></p>
-
-<p>Matters being thus comfortably arranged, Cranmer,
-if he had had his way, might have preferred to leave
-them alone. But what could one man do in the
-interests of peace, when Churchmen and laity were<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_175">175</a></span>
-alike clamouring for war, when the King’s Council
-were against the concession of any one point at issue,
-and the King himself had composed, before he was
-twelve years old, and “sans l’aide de personne
-vivant,” a treatise directed against the supremacy of
-the Pope? To the honour of the King’s counsellors,
-few victims had suffered the supreme penalty during
-his reign on account of their religious opinions;<a id="FNanchor_131" href="#Footnote_131" class="fnanchor">131</a>
-but Gardiner and Bonner, as well as Bishops Day
-and Heath, were in prison, and if the lives of the
-adherents of the ancient faith were spared, no other
-mitigation of punishment or indulgence was to be
-expected by them.</p>
-
-<p>Under pressure from the Emperor the principal
-offender had been at first granted permission to
-continue the practice of her religion. But when
-peace with France rendered a rupture with Charles
-a less formidable contingency than before, it was
-decided that renewed efforts should be made to
-compel the Princess Mary to bow to the fiat of
-King and Council. Love of God and affection for
-his sister forbade her brother, he declared, to
-tolerate her obstinacy longer, the intimation being
-accompanied by an offer of teachers who should
-instruct her ignorance and refute her errors.</p>
-
-<p>Mary was a match for both King and Council.
-In an interview with the Lords she told them that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_176">176</a></span>
-her soul was God’s, and that neither would she
-change her faith nor dissemble her opinions; the
-Council replying by a chilling intimation that
-her faith was her own affair, but that she must
-obey like a subject, not rule like a sovereign. The
-Princess, however, had a card to play unsuspected by
-her adversaries. The dispute had taken place on
-August 18. On the 19th the Council was unpleasantly
-surprised by a strong measure on the part
-of the imperial ambassador, in the shape of a
-declaration of war in case his master’s cousin was
-not permitted the exercise of her religion.</p>
-
-<p>The Council were in a difficulty. War with the
-Emperor, at that moment, and without space for
-preparation, would have been attended with grave
-inconvenience. On the other hand Edward’s tender
-conscience had outrun that of his ministers, and had
-become so difficult to deal with that all the persuasions
-of the Primate and two other Bishops were
-needed to convince the boy, honest and zealous in
-his intolerance, that “to suffer or wink at [sin] for a
-time might be borne, so all haste possible was
-used.”</p>
-
-<p>A temporising answer was therefore returned
-to the imperial ambassador, “all haste possible”
-being made in removing English stores from
-Flanders, so that, in case of a rupture, they
-might not fall into Charles’s hands. This accomplished,
-fresh and stringent measures were taken<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_177">177</a></span>
-to compel the Princess’s obedience; her chief
-chaplain was committed to the Tower, charged
-with having celebrated Mass in his mistress’s house,
-and three of the principal officers of her household
-were sent to join him there as a punishment for
-declining to use coercion to prevent a recurrence of
-the offence.</p>
-
-<p>An interview followed between Mary and a
-deputation of members of the Council, who visited
-her with the object of enforcing the King’s orders.
-The Princess received her guests with undisguised
-impatience; requested them to be brief; and, having
-listened to what they had to say, answered shortly
-that she would lay her head upon a block&mdash;no idle
-rhetoric in those days&mdash;sooner than use any other
-form of service than that in use at her father’s death;
-when her brother was of full age she was ready
-to obey his commands, but at present&mdash;good,
-sweet King!&mdash;he could not be a judge in such
-matters. Her chaplains, for the rest, could do as
-they pleased in the matter of saying Mass, “but
-none of your new service shall be used in my house,
-or I will not tarry in it.”</p>
-
-<p>Thus the controversy practically ended. The
-Council dared not proceed to extremities against the
-Emperor’s cousin, and tacitly agreed to let her alone,
-having supplied her with one more bitter memory to
-add to the account which was to be lamentably
-settled in the near future.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_178">178</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1552</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Lady Jane’s correspondence with Bullinger&mdash;Illness of the Duchess
-of Suffolk&mdash;Haddon’s difficulties&mdash;Ridley’s visit to Princess
-Mary&mdash;the English Reformers&mdash;Edward fatally ill&mdash;Lady Jane’s
-character and position.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> removal of the two Seymour brothers,
-whilst it had left Northumberland predominant,
-had also increased the importance of the
-Duke of Suffolk. Both by reason of the position
-he personally filled, and owing to his connection,
-through his wife, with the King, he was second to
-none in the State save the man to whom Somerset’s
-fall was due and who had succeeded to his power.
-He shared Northumberland’s prominence, as he was
-afterwards to share his ruin; and, as one of the chief
-props of Protestantism, he and his family continued
-to be objects of special interest to the divines of that
-persuasion, foreign and English.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Jane, as before, was in communication with
-the learned Bullinger, and in the same month&mdash;July
-1552&mdash;that her visit had been paid to the
-Princess Mary she was sending him another letter,
-dated from Bradgate, expressing her gratitude for
-the “great friendship he desired to establish between
-them, and acknowledging his many favours.” After<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_179">179</a></span>
-a second perusal of his latest letter&mdash;since a single
-one had not contented her&mdash;the benefit derived from
-it had surpassed that to be obtained from the best
-authors, and in studying Hebrew she meant to
-pursue the method he recommended.</p>
-
-<p>In August more pressing interests must have
-taken the place of study, for at Richmond in Surrey
-her mother was attacked by a sickness threatening
-at one time to prove fatal.</p>
-
-<p>“This shall be to advertise you,” wrote the
-Duchess’s husband, hastily summoned from London,
-to Cecil, “that my sudden departing from the Court
-was for that I had received letters of the state my wife
-was in, who I assure you is more liker to die than to
-live. I never saw a sicker creature in my life than she
-is. She hath three diseases.... These three being
-enclosed in one body, it is to be feared that death
-must needs follow. By your most assured and loving
-cousin, who, I assure you, is not a little troubled.”</p>
-
-<p>His anxiety was soon relieved. The Duchess
-was not only to outlive, but, in her haste to
-replace him, was to show little respect for his
-memory. She must quickly have got the better of
-her present threefold disorder, for in the course of
-the same month a letter was sent from Richmond
-by James Haddon, the domestic chaplain, to Bullinger,
-making no mention of any cause of uneasiness as to
-the physical condition of his master’s wife. He was
-preoccupied by other matters, disquieted by scruples<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_180">180</a></span>
-of conscience, and glad to unburthen himself to the
-universal referee with regard to certain difficulties
-attending his position in the Duke’s household.</p>
-
-<p>It was true that he might have hesitated to communicate
-the fears and misgivings by which he was
-beset to a guide at so great a distance, had not John
-ab Ulmis&mdash;who, as portrayed by these letters, was
-somewhat of a busybody, eager to bring all his friends
-into personal relations, and above all to magnify the
-authority and importance of his master in spiritual
-things&mdash;just come in and encouraged him to write,
-stating that it would give Bullinger great satisfaction
-to be informed of the condition of religion in
-England, and likewise&mdash;a more mundane curiosity&mdash;of
-that of the Suffolk household. Entering into
-a description of both, therefore, in a missive containing
-some three thousand words, Haddon fully
-detailed the sorrows and perplexities attending the
-exercise of the office of chaplain, even in the most
-orthodox and pious of houses.</p>
-
-<p>After dealing with the first and important subject
-of religion at large, he proceeded to treat of
-the more complicated question&mdash;the condition of the
-ducal household, and especially the duties attaching
-to his own post.</p>
-
-<p>Of the general regulation of the house, Ulmis, he
-said, was more capable than he of giving an account.
-It was rather to be desired that Bullinger should
-point out the method he would recommend. But<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_181">181</a></span>
-upon one point Haddon was anxious to obtain the
-advice of so eminent a counsellor, and he went on
-to explain at length the case of conscience by which
-he had been troubled. This was upon the question
-of the lawfulness or unlawfulness of conniving,
-by silence, at the practice of gambling.</p>
-
-<p>The situation was this. The Duke and Duchess
-had strictly forbidden the members of their household
-to play at cards or dice for money. So far
-they had the entire approval of their chaplain. But&mdash;and
-here came in Haddon’s cause of perplexity&mdash;the
-Duke himself and his most honourable lady,
-with their friends&mdash;perhaps, too, their daughter,
-though there is no mention of her&mdash;not only claimed
-a right to play in their private apartments, but also
-to play for money. The divergence between precept
-and practice&mdash;common in all ages&mdash;was grievous
-to the chaplain, weighted with the responsibility
-for the spiritual and moral welfare of the whole
-establishment, from his “patron” the Duke, down
-to the lowest of the menials. At wearisome and
-painstaking length he recapitulated the arguments
-he was wont to employ in his remonstrances against
-the gambling propensities he deplored, retailing, as
-well, the arguments with which the offenders met
-them. “In this manner and to this effect,” he says,
-“the dispute is often carried on.”</p>
-
-<p>During the past months matters had reached a
-climax. As late as up to the previous Christmas he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_182">182</a></span>
-had confined himself to administering private
-rebukes; but, perceiving that his words had taken
-no effect, he had forewarned the culprits that a public
-reprimand would follow a continued disregard of his
-monitions. Upon this he had been relieved to perceive
-that there had been for a time a cessation of the
-reprehensible form of amusement, and had cherished
-a hope that all would be well. It had been a vain
-one. Christmas had come round&mdash;the season marked
-by mummeries and wickedness of every kind, when
-persons especially served the devil in imitation, as it
-seemed, of the ancient Saturnalia; and though this
-was happily not the case in the Suffolk family, Duke
-and Duchess had joined in the general backsliding
-to the extent of returning to their old evil habit.
-Such being the case, Haddon had felt that he had
-no choice but to carry out his threat.</p>
-
-<p>In his Christmas sermon he had taken occasion to
-administer a reproof as to the general fashion of keeping
-the feast, including in his rebuke, “though in
-common and general terms,” those who played cards
-for money. No one in the household was at a loss
-to fix upon the offenders at whom the shaft was
-directed. The Duke’s servants, if they followed his
-example, took care never to be detected in so doing;
-and, accepting the reprimand as addressed to themselves,
-the Duke and Duchess took it in bad part,
-arguing that Haddon would have performed all that
-duty required of him by a private remonstrance.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_183">183</a></span>
-From that time, offence having been given by his plain
-speech, the chaplain had returned to his old custom
-of administering only private rebukes; thus conniving,
-in a measure, at the practice he condemned,
-lest loss of influence in matters of greater moment
-should follow. “I bear with it,” he sighed, “as a
-man who holds a wolf by the ears.” Conscience
-was, however, uneasy, and he begged Bullinger to
-advise in the matter and to determine how far such
-concessions might be lawfully made.</p>
-
-<p>Looking impartially at the question, it says much
-for the Duke’s good temper and toleration that the
-worthy Haddon continued to fill his post, and that
-when, a few months later, he was promoted to be
-Dean of Exeter, he wrote that the affection between
-himself and his master was so strong that the connection
-would even then not be altogether severed.<a id="FNanchor_132" href="#Footnote_132" class="fnanchor">132</a>
-His attitude is a curious and interesting example of
-the position and status of a chaplain in his day, being
-wholly that of a dependant, and yet carrying with it
-duties and rights strongly asserted on the one side
-and not disallowed upon the other.</p>
-
-<p>The Duchess, having recovered from her illness,
-had taken her three daughters to visit their cousin
-Mary, and when the younger children were sent
-home Jane remained behind at St. John’s, Clerkenwell,
-the London dwelling of the Princess, until her father
-came to fetch wife and daughter away. That the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_184">184</a></span>
-whole family had been thus entertained indicates
-that they were at this time on a friendly footing
-with the Princess. But though the Duke of
-Suffolk was doubtless alive to the necessity of
-maintaining amicable relations, so far as it was
-possible, with his wife’s cousin and the next heir
-to the crown, it must have been no easy matter,
-at a time when party spirit ran so high, for one
-of the chief recognised supporters of Protestantism
-to continue on terms of cordiality with the head and
-hope of the Catholic section of the nation. Mary was
-not becoming more conciliatory in her bearing as time
-went on, and an account of a visit paid her by Ridley,
-now Bishop of London in place of Bonner, deprived
-and in prison, is illustrative of her present
-attitude.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_184" class="figcenter" style="width: 454px;">
- <img src="images/i_184.jpg" width="454" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting by Joannes Corvus in the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>PRINCESS MARY, AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-EIGHT.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>It was to Hunsdon that, in the month of September,
-Ridley came to pay his respects to the King’s sister,
-cherishing, it may be, a secret hope that where King
-and Council had failed, he might succeed; and his
-courteous reception by the officers of her household
-was calculated to encourage his sanguine anticipations.
-Mary too, when, at eleven o’clock, he was admitted
-to her presence, conversed with her guest right
-pleasantly for a quarter of an hour, telling him that
-she remembered the time when he had acted as
-chaplain to her father, and inviting him to stay to
-dinner. It was not until after the meal was ended
-that the Bishop unfolded the true object of his visit.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_185">185</a></span>
-It was not one of simple courtesy; he had come, he
-said, to do his duty by her as her diocesan, and to
-preach before her on the following Sunday.</p>
-
-<p>If Mary prepared for battle, she answered at first
-with quiet dignity. It was observed that she flushed;
-her response, however, was merely to bid him “make
-the answer to that himself.” When, refusing to
-take the hint, the Bishop continued to urge his
-point, she spoke more plainly.</p>
-
-<p>“I pray you, make the answer (as I have said) to
-this matter yourself,” she repeated, “for you know the
-answer well enough. But if there be no remedy but
-I must make you answer, this shall be your answer:
-the door of the parish church adjoining shall be open
-for you if you come, and you may preach if you
-list; but neither I nor any of mine shall hear you.”</p>
-
-<p>To preach to an empty church, or to a handful of
-country yokels, would not have answered the episcopal
-purpose; and Ridley was plainly losing his temper.</p>
-
-<p>He hoped, he said, she would not refuse to hear
-God’s word. The Princess answered with a scoff.
-She did not know what they now called God’s word;
-she was sure it was not the same as in her father’s
-time&mdash;to whom, it will be remembered, the Bishop
-had been chaplain.</p>
-
-<p>The dispute was becoming heated. God’s word,
-Ridley retorted, was the same at all times, but
-had been better understood and practised in some
-ages than in others. To this Mary replied by a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_186">186</a></span>
-personal thrust. He durst not, she told him, for
-his ears, have avowed his present faith in King
-Henry’s time; then&mdash;asking a question to which she
-must have known the answer&mdash;was he of the Council?
-she demanded. The inquiry was probably intended
-as a reminder that his rights did not extend to interference
-with the King’s sister, as well as to elicit, as it
-did, the confession that he held no such post.</p>
-
-<p>“You might well enough, as the Council goeth
-nowadays,” observed Mary carelessly; proceeding,
-at parting, to thank the Bishop for his gentleness in
-coming to see her, “but for your offering to preach
-before me I thank you never a whit.”</p>
-
-<p>In the presence of his hostess the discomfited
-guest appears to have kept his temper under control,
-but, having duly drunk of the stirrup cup presented
-to him by her steward, Sir Thomas Wharton, he gave
-free expression to his sentiments.</p>
-
-<p>“Surely I have done amiss,” he said, looking
-“very sadly,” and explaining, in answer to Wharton’s
-interrogation, that he had erred in having drunk
-under a roof where God’s word was rejected. He
-should rather have shaken the dust off his feet for
-a testimony against the house and departed instantly,
-he told the listeners assembled to speed him on
-his way&mdash;whose hair, says Heylyn, in relating this
-story, stood on end with his denunciations.<a id="FNanchor_133" href="#Footnote_133" class="fnanchor">133</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_187">187</a></span>
-If scenes of this kind were not adapted to promote
-good feeling between belligerents in high places,
-neither was the spirit of the dominant party in the
-country one to conciliate opposition. It is not
-easy, as the figures of the English pioneers of
-Protestantism pass from time to time across the
-stage, in these years of their first triumph, to do
-them full justice. To judge a man by one period of
-his life, whether it is youth or manhood or old age,
-is scarcely fairer than to pronounce upon the colour
-and pattern of an eastern carpet, only one square yard
-of it being visible. The adherents of the new faith
-are here necessarily represented in a single phase,
-that of prosperity. At the top of the wave,
-they are seen at their worst, assertive, triumphant,
-intolerant and self-satisfied, the bull-dogs of the
-Reformation, only withheld by the leash from worrying
-their fallen antagonist. Thus, for the most
-part, they appear in Edward’s reign. And yet these
-men, a year or two later, were many of them
-capable of an undaunted courage, an impassioned belief
-in the common Lord of Protestant and Catholic, and
-a power of endurance, which have graven their
-names upon the national roll-call of heroes.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime, more and more, the King’s precarious
-health was suggestive of disturbing contingencies.
-It may be that, as some assert, his uncle’s death, once
-become irrevocable, had preyed upon his spirits&mdash;that
-he “mourned, and soon missed the life of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_188">188</a></span>
-Protector, thus unexpectedly taken away, who, now
-deprived of both uncles, howsoever the time were
-passed with pastimes, plays and shows, to drive
-away dumps, yet ever the remembrance of them sat
-so near his heart that lastly he fell sick....”<a id="FNanchor_134" href="#Footnote_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> But
-though it is possible that, as his strength declined,
-matters he had taken lightly weighed upon his
-spirits, it is not necessary to seek other than
-natural and constitutional causes for a failure of
-health. That failure must have filled many hearts
-with forebodings.</p>
-
-<p>There had been no attempt hitherto to ignore or
-deny the position occupied by Mary as next heir to
-the throne. When, at the New Year, she visited
-her brother, the honours rendered to her were a
-recognition of her rights, and the Northumberlands
-and Suffolks occupied a foremost place amongst the
-“vast throng” who rode with her through the city
-or met her at the palace gate and brought her to
-the presence-chamber of the King. Before the next
-New Year’s Day came round Edward was to be in
-his grave; Mary would fill his place; and the little
-cousin Jane, now spending a gay Christmas with
-her father’s nephews and wards, the young
-Willoughbys, at Tylsey, would be awaiting her doom
-in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>The shadow was already darkening over the
-King. It is said that the seeds of his malady had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_189">189</a></span>
-been sown by over-heating in his sports, during
-the progress of which he had sent so joyous an
-account to Fitzpatrick.<a id="FNanchor_135" href="#Footnote_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> Soon after his sister’s
-visit he caught a bad cold, and unfavourable symptoms
-appeared. He had, however, youth in his
-favour, and few at first anticipated how speedy
-would be the end. Vague disquiet nevertheless
-quickly passed into definite alarm. In February
-the patient’s condition was such that Northumberland,
-who of all men had most at stake, summoned
-no less than six physicians, desiring them to
-institute an examination and to declare upon their
-oath, first, whether they considered the King’s
-disease mortal, and, if so, how long he was likely to
-live. The reply made by the doctors was that the
-malady was incurable, and that the patient might
-live until the following September.<a id="FNanchor_136" href="#Footnote_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> Northumberland
-had obtained his answer; it was for him to
-take measures accordingly.</p>
-
-<p>In March Edward’s last Parliament met and ended.
-“The King being a little diseased by cold-taking,”
-recorded a contemporary chronicle,<a id="FNanchor_137" href="#Footnote_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> “it was not
-meet for his Grace to ride to Westminster in the
-air,”<a id="FNanchor_138" href="#Footnote_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> and on the 31st&mdash;it was Good Friday&mdash;the
-Upper House waited upon him at Whitehall,
-Edward in his royal robes receiving the Lords<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_190">190</a></span>
-Spiritual and Temporal. At seven that evening
-Parliament was dissolved.</p>
-
-<p>Many hearts, loyal and true and pitiful, will have
-grieved at the signs of their King’s decay. But to
-Northumberland, watching them with the keenness
-lent by personal interest, personal ambition, and
-possibly by a consciousness of personal peril, they
-must have afforded absorbing matter of preoccupation.
-The exact time at which the designs
-by which the Duke trusted to turn the boy’s death
-to his advantage rather than to his ruin took definite
-shape and form must remain to some extent undetermined&mdash;his
-plans were probably decided by the
-verdict given by the doctors in February; it is
-certain that in the course of the spring they were
-elaborated, and that in them Lady Jane Grey,
-ignorant and unsuspicious, was a factor of primary
-importance. She was to be the figure-head of the
-Duke’s adventurous vessel.</p>
-
-<p>The precise date of her birth is not known, but
-she was now in her sixteenth or seventeenth year&mdash;a
-sorrowful one for her and for all she loved. Childhood
-was a thing she had left behind; she was
-touching upon her brief space of womanhood; a
-few months later and that too would be over;
-she would have paid the penalty for the schemes
-and ambitions of others.</p>
-
-<p>The eulogies of her panegyrists have, as a natural
-effect of extravagant praise, done in some sort an<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_191">191</a></span>
-injury to this little white saint of the English
-Reformation. We do not readily believe in miracles;
-nor do infant prodigies either in the sphere of morals
-or attainments attract us. Yet, setting aside the
-tragedy of her end, there is something that appeals
-for pity in the very precocity upon which her contemporaries
-are fond of dwelling, testifying as it does
-to a wasted childhood, to a life robbed of its natural
-early heritage of carelessness and grace. To have had
-so short a time to spend on the green earth, and to
-have squandered so large a portion of it amongst
-dusty folios, and in the acquirement of learning; to
-have pored over parchments while sun and air,
-flowers and birds and beasts&mdash;all that should make
-the delight of a child’s life, the pageant of a child’s
-spring, was passed by as of no account; further, to
-have grown up versed in the technicalities of barren
-theological debate, the simple facts of Christ’s religion
-overlaid and obscured by the bitterness of professional
-controversialists,&mdash;almost every condition of
-her brief existence is an appeal for compassion, and
-Jane, from her blood-stained grave, cries out that
-she had not only been robbed of life by her
-enemies, but of a childhood by her friends.</p>
-
-<p>To a figure defaced by flattery and adulation,
-whose very virtues and gifts were made to minister
-to party ends, it is difficult to restore the original
-brightness and beauty which nevertheless belonged
-to it. But here and there in the pages of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_192">192</a></span>
-Italian evangelist, Michel Angelo Florio, who was
-personally acquainted with her, pictures are to
-be found which, drawn with tender touches, set
-the girl more vividly before us than is done by
-the stilted commendations of English devotees or
-German doctors of theology. Many times, he
-says&mdash;times when it may be hoped she had forgotten
-that there were opponents to be argued with
-or heretics to be convinced or doctrinal subtleties
-to be set forth&mdash;she would speak of the Word of
-God and almost preach it to those who served
-her;<a id="FNanchor_139" href="#Footnote_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> and Florio himself, recounting the indignities
-and insults he had suffered by reason of his
-opinions, had seen her weep with pity, so that he
-well knew how much she had true religion at heart.<a id="FNanchor_140" href="#Footnote_140" class="fnanchor">140</a></p>
-
-<p>Her attendants, too&mdash;in days when her melancholy
-end had caused each trifling incident to be treasured
-like a relic by those to whom she had been dear&mdash;related
-that she did not esteem rank or wealth or
-kingdom worth a straw in comparison with the knowledge
-God had granted to her of His only Son.<a id="FNanchor_141" href="#Footnote_141" class="fnanchor">141</a>
-It must be remembered that in no long time she
-was to give proof, by her fashion of meeting death, that
-these phrases were no repetition of a lesson learned
-by rote, no empty and conventional form of words,
-but the true and sincere confession of a living faith.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_193">193</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">The King dying&mdash;Noailles in England&mdash;Lady Jane married to
-Guilford Dudley&mdash;Edward’s will&mdash;Opposition of the law
-officers&mdash;They yield&mdash;The King’s death.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> King was becoming rapidly worse, and as
-his malady increased upon him, strange suspicions
-were afloat amongst the people, their hatred
-to Northumberland giving its colour to their
-explanation of the situation. He himself, or those
-upon whom he could count, were ever with the sick
-boy, and hints were uttered&mdash;as was sure to be the
-case&mdash;of poison. For this, murmured the populace,
-had the King’s uncles been removed, his faithful
-nobles disgraced; and the condition of public opinion
-caused the Duke, alarmed at its hostility, to publish
-it abroad that Edward was better.<a id="FNanchor_142" href="#Footnote_142" class="fnanchor">142</a></p>
-
-<p>In May a rally appears to have in fact taken place,
-giving rise in some quarters to false hopes of recovery,
-and Mary wrote to offer her congratulations
-to her brother upon the improvement in his health.
-On May 13 the new French ambassador, Noailles,
-whose audience had been deferred from day to day,
-was informed by the Council that their master was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_194">194</a></span>
-so much better that he would doubtless be admitted
-to the royal presence in the course of a few days.
-The doctors told a different story, and Noailles
-believed the doctors. A diplomatist himself, he
-knew the uses of lying perhaps too well to condemn
-it severely. That the King was dying was practically
-certain, and though those whose object it was
-to conceal the fact lest measures should be concerted
-to ensure the succession of the rightful heir, might
-do their best to disguise the fact, the truth must
-become known before long.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the French envoy, in the interest of
-the reformed party in England&mdash;not by reason of
-their religion, but as opposed to Mary, the Emperor’s
-cousin&mdash;was quite willing to play into Northumberland’s
-hands, and to assist him in the work of
-spreading abroad the report that the King’s malady
-was yielding to treatment. He and his colleagues
-were accordingly conducted to an apartment near
-to the presence-chamber, where they were left for a
-certain time alone, in order to convey the impression
-that they had been personally received by the
-sovereign. Some days later it was confessed, but as
-a peril past, that Edward had been seriously ill. He
-was then stated to be out of danger, and the
-ambassadors were admitted to his presence, finding
-him very weak, and coughing much.<a id="FNanchor_143" href="#Footnote_143" class="fnanchor">143</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_195">195</a></span>
-The rally had been of short duration. Hope of
-recovery had, in truth, been abandoned; and those
-it concerned so intimately were forced to face the
-situation to be created by his death. It was a
-situation momentous alike to men whose fortunes
-had been staked upon the young King’s life, and to
-others honestly and sincerely solicitous regarding
-the welfare of the realm and the consequences to
-the new religion should his eldest sister succeed to
-the throne.</p>
-
-<p>Every one of the Lords of the Council and
-officers of the Crown, with almost all the Bishops,
-save those who had suffered captivity and deprivation,
-had personal reasons for apprehension. Scarcely
-a single person of influence or power could count
-upon being otherwise than obnoxious to the heir
-to the crown. That most of them would be displaced
-from their posts was to be expected. Some
-at least must have felt that property and life
-hung in the balance. But it was Northumberland
-who, as he had most to lose, had most to fear.
-The practical head of the State, and wielding
-a power little less than that of Somerset, he had
-amassed riches and offices to an amount bearing witness
-to his rapacity. In matters of religion he had
-been as strong, though less sincere, in his opposition
-to the Church claiming Mary’s allegiance as his
-predecessor. During the preceding autumn the
-iconoclastic work of destruction had been carried on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_196">196</a></span>
-in the metropolitan Cathedral; the choir, where
-the high altar had been accustomed to stand, had
-been broken down and the stone-work destroyed.<a href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a>
-Gardiner and Bonner, who, as prominent sufferers
-for the Catholic cause, would have Mary’s ear, were
-in prison. For all this Northumberland, with the
-King’s Council as aiders and abettors, was responsible.
-Not a single claim could be advanced to the
-liking or toleration of the woman presently to become
-head of the State. If safety was to be ensured
-to the advisers of her brother, steps must be taken
-at once for that purpose. Northumberland and
-Suffolk set themselves to do so.</p>
-
-<p>It was on May 18 that Noailles and his colleagues
-had been at length permitted to pay their respects to
-the sick boy. On Whitsunday, the 23rd&mdash;the date,
-though not altogether certain, is probable&mdash;three
-marriages were celebrated at Durham House, the
-London dwelling-place of the Duke of Northumberland.
-On that day the eldest daughter of the Duke
-of Suffolk became the wife of Lord Guilford
-Dudley, the Duke of Northumberland’s fourth and,
-some say, favourite son; her sister Katherine was
-bestowed upon Lord Herbert, the earl of Pembroke’s
-heir&mdash;to be repudiated by him the following year&mdash;and
-Lady Katherine Dudley, Northumberland’s
-daughter, was married to Lord Hastings.<a id="FNanchor_144" href="#Footnote_144" class="fnanchor">144</a></p>
-
-<p>The object of the threefold ceremony was clear.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_197">197</a></span>
-The main cause of it, and of the haste shown in
-carrying it through, was a dying boy, whose life was
-flickering out a few miles distant at Greenwich. It
-behoved his two most powerful subjects, Northumberland
-and Suffolk, to strengthen their position as
-speedily as might be, and by this means it was hoped
-to accomplish that object.</p>
-
-<p>The place chosen for the celebration of the
-weddings might have served&mdash;perhaps it did&mdash;to
-host and guests as a reminder of the perils of
-those who climbed too high. Durham House,
-appropriated in his days of prosperity by Somerset&mdash;to
-the indignation of Elizabeth, who laid claim
-to the property&mdash;had been forfeited to the Crown
-upon his attainder, and was the dwelling of his
-more fortunate rival; and, as if to drive the lesson
-further home, the very cloth of gold and silver lent
-from the royal coffers to deck the bridal party
-had been likewise drawn from the possessions of the
-ill-starred Duke. The dead furnished forth the festal
-array of the living.</p>
-
-<p>That day, with its splendid ceremonial&mdash;the
-marriages took place with much magnificence in the
-presence of a great assembly, including the principal
-personages of the realm&mdash;presents a grim and striking
-contrast to what was to follow. None were present,
-so far as we know, with the eyes of a seer, to discern
-the thin red ring foretelling the proximate fate of
-the girl who played the most prominent part in it, or<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_198">198</a></span>
-to recognise in death the presiding genius of the
-pageant. Yet the destiny said in old days to dog
-the steps of those doomed to a violent death and
-to be present at their side from the cradle to the
-grave must have stood by many, besides the bride,
-who joined in the proceedings on that Whitsunday.
-Where would Northumberland be that day year?
-or Suffolk? or young Guilford Dudley? or, a little
-later, the Bishop who tied the knots?</p>
-
-<p>How Jane played her part we can only guess, or
-what she had thought of the arrangement, hurriedly
-concluded, by which her future was handed over to
-the keeping of her boy husband. Whether willing
-or unwilling, she had no choice but to obey, to
-accept the bridegroom chosen for her&mdash;a tall, handsome
-lad of seventeen or nineteen, it is not clear
-which&mdash;and to make the best of it. Rosso indeed,
-deriving his information from Michele, Venetian
-ambassador in London, and Bodoaro, Venetian
-ambassador to Charles V., states that after much
-resistance, urged by her mother and beaten by her
-father, she had consented to their wishes. It may
-have been true; and, standing at the altar, her
-thoughts may have wandered from the brilliant scene
-around her to the room at Greenwich, where the
-husband proposed for her in earlier days was dying.
-She might have been Edward’s wife, had he lived.
-She can scarcely have failed to have been aware of
-the hopes and designs of her father, of those of the<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_199">199</a></span>
-dead Admiral, and of others; she had, in a measure,
-been brought up in the expectation of filling a throne.
-But the plan was forgotten now. Edward was to be
-the husband neither of Jane nor of that other
-cousin, not of royal blood, the daughter of his
-sometime Protector, whose father was dead and
-mother in the Tower; nor yet of the foreign bride,
-well stuffed and jewelled, of whom he had himself
-bragged. He was dying, like any other boy of
-no royal race, upon whose life no momentous
-issues hung. From his sick-bed he had taken a keen
-interest in what was going forward, appearing, says
-Heylyn, as forward in the marriages as if he had been
-one of the principals in the plot against him.<a id="FNanchor_145" href="#Footnote_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> He
-might be fond of Jane, but even had he loved her&mdash;which
-there is nothing to show&mdash;he was too far
-within the shadow of the grave to feel any jealousy
-in seeing her handed over to another bridegroom.</p>
-
-<p>At the demeanour of the little victim of the
-Whitsun sacrifice we can but guess. Grave and
-serious we picture her, as it was her wont to be,
-with the steadfast face depicted by the painters of
-the day&mdash;far, in spite of Seymour’s boast, from being
-“as handsome as any lady in England,” but with a
-purity and simplicity, a stillness and repose, restful
-to those who looked into the quiet eyes and marked
-the tranquillity of the countenance. Did she, in
-her inward cogitations, divine that there was danger<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_200">200</a></span>
-ahead? If so we can fancy she was ready to face
-it. Were it God’s will, then let it come. Peril
-was the anteroom, death the portal, of the eternal
-city&mdash;the heavenly Jerusalem in which she believed.</p>
-
-<p>Such was the image printed upon the time by the
-woman-child who was never to know maturity, as it
-lived in the tender and loving remembrance of her
-contemporaries, the delicately sculptured figure of
-a saint in the temples of the iconoclasts.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_200" class="figcenter" style="width: 396px;">
- <img src="images/i_200.jpg" width="396" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From an engraving by George Noble after a painting by Holbein.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>LADY JANE GREY.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>By the country at large the sudden marriages
-were regarded with suspicion. “The noise of these
-marriages bred such amazement in the hearts of the
-common people, apt enough in themselves to speak
-the worst of Northumberland, that there was nothing
-left unsaid which might serve to show their hatred
-against him, or express their pity for the King.”<a id="FNanchor_146" href="#Footnote_146" class="fnanchor">146</a>
-Overbearing and despotic, the merciless “bear of
-Warwick,” as he was nicknamed, was so detested
-that by some the failure of his scheme was afterwards
-ascribed rather to his unpopularity than to
-love for Mary. Yet it was Northumberland who,
-with the blindness born of a sanguine ambition, was
-to trust, six weeks later, to the populace to join
-with him in dispossessing the King’s sister, for
-whom they had always shown affection, and in
-placing his daughter-in-law and her boy-husband
-upon the throne. So glaring a misapprehension of
-the situation demands explanation, and it is partly<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_201">201</a></span>
-supplied by a French appreciation of the Duke’s
-character. According to M. Griffet, he was more
-heedful to conceal his own sentiments than capable
-of discerning those of others; a man of ambition
-who neither knew whom to trust nor whom to
-suspect; who, blinded by presumption, was therefore
-easily deceived, and who nevertheless believed
-himself to possess to the highest degree the gift of
-deceiving all the world.<a id="FNanchor_147" href="#Footnote_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> Such as he was, he had
-deceived himself to his undoing.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime Lady Jane’s marriage had made for
-the moment little change in her manner of life.
-She had answered the purpose for which she was
-required, and was permitted temporarily to retire
-behind the scenes. It is said&mdash;and there is nothing
-unlikely in the assertion&mdash;that, the ceremony over
-and obedience having been rendered to her parents’
-behest, she entreated that she might continue with
-her mother for the present. She and her new
-husband were so young, she pleaded. Her request
-was granted. She was Guilford Dudley’s wife,
-could be the wife of no other man, and that was,
-for the moment, sufficient.</p>
-
-<p>There was much to think of, much to do.
-Measures had to be taken to keep the King’s sisters
-at a distance, lest his old affection, for Elizabeth in
-particular, reawakening might frustrate the designs
-of those bent upon moulding events to their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_202">202</a></span>
-advantage. Above all, there was the pressing
-necessity of inducing the King to exclude them by
-will from their rightful heritage. On June 16
-Noailles had again been conferring with the doctors,
-and had learnt that, in their opinion, Edward could
-not live till August. Ten days later Northumberland
-came from Greenwich to visit the envoy, and
-to prevent his going to Court. He then told the
-Frenchman that, nine days earlier, the King had
-executed his will in favour of the Duke’s daughter-in-law,
-Lady Jane<a id="FNanchor_148" href="#Footnote_148" class="fnanchor">148</a>&mdash;“qui est vertueuse, sage, et
-belle,” reported the envoy to his master some three
-weeks later.<a id="FNanchor_149" href="#Footnote_149" class="fnanchor">149</a></p>
-
-<p>Of the manner in which the will had been obtained
-full information is available. It was not out
-of love for Northumberland that Edward had
-yielded to his representations. The Throckmorton
-MS.<a id="FNanchor_150" href="#Footnote_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> asserts that Edward abhorred the Duke on
-account of his uncle’s death. Sir Nicholas
-Throckmorton, in attendance on the King, should
-be a good authority; on the other hand, he
-was opposed to the Duke’s designs. Whether or
-not the latter was personally distasteful to the boy,
-it was no difficult matter to represent the situation
-in a fashion to lead him to believe the sole alternative
-was the course suggested to him. Conscientious,
-pious, scrupulous to a fault, and worn by disease,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_203">203</a></span>
-the future of religion could be made to hang upon
-his fiat, and the thought of Mary, a devout Catholic,
-or even Elizabeth, who might marry a foreign prince,
-seated upon the throne, filled him with apprehensions
-for the welfare of a people for whom he felt himself
-responsible. Yet he, with little to love, had loved
-both his sisters, and the thought of the sick lad,
-torn between duty and affection, a tool in the hands
-of unprincipled and ambitious men who could play
-on his sensitive conscience and over-strained nerves
-at will, and turn his piety to their advantage, is a
-painful one.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke’s arguments lay ready to his hand.
-Religion was in danger, the Church set up by
-Edward in jeopardy; the work that he had done
-might be destroyed as soon as he was in his grave.
-How could he answer it before God were he, who
-was able to avert it, to permit so great an evil?
-The remedy was clear. Let him pass over his
-sisters, already pronounced severally illegitimate by
-unrepealed statutes of Parliament, and entail the
-crown upon those who, under his father’s will, would
-follow upon Mary and Elizabeth, the descendants of
-Mary Tudor, known to be firm in their attachment
-to the reformed faith.</p>
-
-<p>Edward yielded. Given the circumstances, the
-power exercised by the Duke over him, his
-physical condition, his fears for religion, he could
-scarcely have done less. With his own hand he<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_204">204</a></span>
-drew up the draft of a will which, amended at
-Northumberland’s bidding, left the crown in unmistakable
-terms to Lady Jane and her heirs
-male. It had now to be made law and accepted
-by the Council.</p>
-
-<p>On June 11 Sir Edward Montagu, Chief Justice
-of the Common Pleas, Sir Thomas Bromley,
-another Justice of the same court, Sir Richard Baker,
-Chancellor of the Augmentations, and the Attorney-
-and Solicitor-General were called to Greenwich, and
-were introduced into the King’s apartment, Northampton,
-Gates, and others being present at the
-interview. If what took place on this occasion and
-at the other audiences of the legal officers with the
-King, as recorded by themselves, is naturally, as
-Dr. Lingard has pointed out, represented in such a
-manner as to extenuate their conduct in Mary’s eyes,
-there seems no reason to doubt that Montagu’s
-account is substantially true.<a id="FNanchor_151" href="#Footnote_151" class="fnanchor">151</a></p>
-
-<p>In his sickness, Edward told them, he had considered
-the state of the realm, and of the succession,
-should he die without leaving direct heirs;
-and, proceeding to point out the danger to religion
-and to liberty should his sister Mary succeed to the
-throne, he ordered them to “make a book with
-speed” of his articles.</p>
-
-<p>The lawyers demurred, but the King, feverishly
-eager to put an end to the business, and conscious<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_205">205</a></span>
-perhaps that if the thing were not done quickly
-it might not be done at all, refused to listen to
-the objections they would have urged, dismissing
-them with orders to carry out his pleasure with haste.
-For all his gentleness and piety, Edward was a Tudor,
-and no less peremptory than others of his race.</p>
-
-<p>Two days later&mdash;it was June 14&mdash;having deliberated
-on the question, the men of law acquainted
-the Council with their decision. The thing could
-not be done. To make or execute the “devise”
-according to the King’s instructions would be treason.
-The report was made to Sir William Petre at Ely
-Place; but the Duke of Northumberland was at
-hand, and came thereupon into the Council-chamber,
-“being in a great rage and fury, trembling
-for anger, and, amongst all his ragious talk
-called Sir Edward Montagu traitor, and further said
-he would fight any man in his shirt in that quarrel.”
-It was plain that no technical or legal obstacles were
-to be permitted to turn him from his purpose.</p>
-
-<p>The following day the law-officers were again
-called to Greenwich. Conveyed in the first place to
-a chamber behind the dining-room, they met with a
-chilling reception. “All the lords looked upon them
-with earnest countenances, as though they had not
-known them;” and, brought into the King’s presence,
-Edward demanded, “with sharp words and angry
-countenance,” why his book was not made?</p>
-
-<p>Montagu, as spokesman for his colleagues, explained.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_206">206</a></span>
-Had the King’s device been executed
-it would become void at the King’s death, the
-Statute of Succession passed by Parliament
-being still in force. A statute could be altered
-by statute alone. On Edward’s replying that
-Parliament should then shortly be called together,
-Montagu caught at the solution. The matter
-could be referred to it, and all perils saved. But
-this was not the King’s meaning. The deed, he
-explained, was to be executed at once, and was to
-be afterwards ratified by Parliament. With growing
-excitement, he commanded the officers, “very
-sharply,” to do his bidding; some of the lords,
-standing behind the King, adding that, did they
-refuse, they were traitors.</p>
-
-<p>The epithet was freely bandied about in those
-days, yet it never failed to carry a menace; and
-Montagu, in as “great fear as ever he was in all his
-life before, seeing the King so earnest and sharp,
-and the Duke so angry the day before,” and being
-an “old weak man and without comfort,” began to
-look about for a method of satisfying King and
-Council without endangering his personal safety. In
-the end he gave way, consenting to prepare the
-required papers, on condition that he might first
-be given a commission under the great seal to draw
-up the instrument, and likewise a pardon for having
-done so. Northumberland had won the day.</p>
-
-<p>It was afterwards reported that when the will was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_207">207</a></span>
-signed a great tempest arose, with a whirlwind such
-as had never been seen, the sky dark and fearful,
-lightning and infinite thunder; one of the thunderbolts
-accompanying that terrible storm falling upon
-the miserable church where heresy was first
-begotten.... “This accident was observed by
-many persons of sense and prudence, and was considered
-a great sign of the avenging justice of God.”<a id="FNanchor_152" href="#Footnote_152" class="fnanchor">152</a></p>
-
-<p>The Council, undeterred by the manifestations of
-divine wrath, were not backward in endorsing the
-deed. Overborne by the Duke, probably also influenced
-by the apprehension of a compulsory
-restoration of Church spoils should Mary succeed,
-they unanimously acquiesced in the act of injustice.
-To a second paper, designed by the Duke to commit
-his colleagues further, twenty-four councillors and
-legal advisers set their hands. By June 21 the
-official instrument had received the signatures of
-the Lords of the Council, other peers, judges, and
-officers of the Crown, to the number of 101. The
-Princesses had been set aside, and the fatal heritage,
-so far as it was possible, secured to Lady Jane. The
-King, at the direction of her nearest of kin, had in
-effect affixed his signature to her death-sentence.</p>
-
-<p>When Northumberland was assured of success
-he gave a magnificent musical entertainment, to
-which the French ambassador was bidden. Three
-days earlier it had been reported to Noailles that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_208">208</a></span>
-Edward was at the point of death, and he was
-surprised at the merry-making and the good spirits
-prevalent. The affair, it was explained to him, was
-in honour of the convalescence of the King, who had
-been without fever for two days, and whose recovery
-appeared certain.<a id="FNanchor_153" href="#Footnote_153" class="fnanchor">153</a> The envoy doubtless expressed
-no incredulity, and congratulated the company upon
-the good tidings. He knew that Edward was
-moribund, and understood that the rejoicings were
-in truth to celebrate the approaching elevation to the
-throne of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law.</p>
-
-<p>Was she present? We cannot tell; but it was the
-Duke’s policy to make her a prominent figure, and
-Noailles’ description of her beauty and goodness
-implies a personal acquaintance.</p>
-
-<p>It only remained for Edward to die. All those
-around him, with perhaps some few exceptions
-amongst his personal attendants, were eagerly
-awaiting the end. All had been accomplished that
-was possible whilst he was yet alive, and Northumberland
-and his friends were probably impatient
-to be up and doing. His sisters were at a distance,
-his uncles dead, Barnaby Fitzpatrick was abroad, and
-he was practically alone with the men who had made
-him their tool. The last scene is full of pathos.
-Three hours before the end, lying with his eyes
-shut, he was heard praying for the country which
-had been his charge.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_209">209</a></span>
-“‘O God,’ he entreated, ‘deliver me out of this
-miserable and wretched life, and take me among Thy
-chosen; howbeit not my will, but Thine, be done.
-Lord, I commend my spirit to Thee. O Lord,
-Thou knowest how happy it were for me to be with
-Thee. Yet, for Thy chosen’s sake, send me life and
-health, that I may truly serve Thee. O my Lord
-God, bless Thy people and save Thine inheritance.
-O Lord God, save Thy chosen people of England.
-O Lord God, defend this realm from Papistry and
-maintain Thy true religion, that I and my people may
-praise Thy holy Name, for Jesus Christ His sake.’</p>
-
-<p>“Then turned he his face, and seeing who was
-by him, said to them:</p>
-
-<p>“‘Are ye so nigh? I thought ye had been further
-off.’</p>
-
-<p>“Then Doctor Owen said:</p>
-
-<p>“‘We heard you speak to yourself, but what you
-said we know not.’</p>
-
-<p>“He then (after his fashion, smilingly) said, ‘I
-was praying to God.’”<a id="FNanchor_154" href="#Footnote_154" class="fnanchor">154</a></p>
-
-<p>The end was near.</p>
-
-<p>“I am faint,” he said. “Lord, have mercy upon
-me, and take my spirit”; and so on July 7, towards
-night, he passed away. On the following day
-Noailles communicated to his Court “<span xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">le triste et
-piteux inconvénient de la mort</span>” of Edward VI.,
-last of the Tudor Kings.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_210">210</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">After King Edward’s death&mdash;Results to Lady Jane Grey&mdash;Northumberland’s
-schemes&mdash;Mary’s escape&mdash;Scene at Sion
-House&mdash;Lady Jane brought to the Tower&mdash;Quarrel with her
-husband&mdash;Her proclamation as Queen.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">A boy</span> was dead. A frail little life, long failing,
-had gone out. That was all. Nevertheless
-upon it had hung the destinies of England.</p>
-
-<p>Speculations and forecasts as to the consequences
-had Edward lived are unprofitable. Yet one
-wonders what, grown to manhood, he would have
-become&mdash;whether the gentle lad, pious, studious,
-religious, the modern Josiah, as he was often called,
-would have developed, as he grew to maturity,
-the dangerous characteristics of his Tudor race, the
-fierceness and violence of his father, the melancholy
-and relentless fanaticism of Mary, the absence of
-principle and sensuality of Elizabeth. Or would he
-have fulfilled the many hopes which had found their
-centre in him and have justified the love of his
-subjects, given him upon credit?</p>
-
-<p>It is impossible to say. What was certain was
-that his part was played out, and that others were to
-take his place. Amongst these his little cousin Jane<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_211">211</a></span>
-was at once the most innocent and the most unfortunate.</p>
-
-<p>Hitherto she had looked on as a spectator at life.
-Her skiff moored in a creek of the great river, she
-had watched from a place of comparative calm the
-stream as it rushed by. Here and there a wave
-might make itself felt even in that quiet place;
-a wreck might be carried past, or she might catch
-the drowning cry of a swimmer as he sank. But to
-the young such things are accidents from participation
-in which they tacitly consider themselves
-exempted, regarding them with the fearlessness due
-to inexperience. Suddenly all was to be changed.
-Torn from her anchorage, she was to be violently
-borne along by the torrent towards the inevitable
-catastrophe.</p>
-
-<p>As yet she was ignorant of the destiny prepared
-for her. Under her father’s roof, she had
-pursued her customary occupations, and by some
-authorities her third extant letter to Bullinger&mdash;another
-tribute of admiration and flattery, and containing
-no allusion to current events&mdash;is believed to
-belong to the interval occurring between her marriage
-and the King’s death. The allusion to herself
-as an “untaught virgin,” and the signature “Jane
-Grey,” seem to give it a date earlier in the year.
-The time was fast approaching when leisure for
-literary exercises of the kind would be lacking.</p>
-
-<p>It would have been difficult to trace her movements<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_212">212</a></span>
-precisely at this juncture were it not that she
-has left a record of them in a document&mdash;either
-directly addressed to Mary from her prison or intended
-for her eyes&mdash;in which she demonstrated her
-innocence.<a id="FNanchor_155" href="#Footnote_155" class="fnanchor">155</a> Notwithstanding the promise made by
-the Duchess of Northumberland at her marriage that
-she should be permitted to remain at home, she appears
-to have been by this time living with her husband’s
-parents, and, upon Edward’s death becoming imminent,
-she was informed of the fact by her father-in-law,
-who forbade her to leave his house; adding
-the startling announcement that, when it should
-please God to call the King to His mercy, she would
-at once repair to the Tower, her cousin having
-nominated her heir to the throne.</p>
-
-<p>The news found her totally unprepared; and,
-shocked and partly incredulous, she refused obedience
-to the Duke’s commands, continuing to visit
-her mother daily, in spite of the indignation of the
-Duchess of Northumberland, who “grew wroth
-with me and with her, saying that she was determined
-to keep me in her house; that she would likewise
-keep my husband there, to whom I should go later
-in any case, and that she would be under small
-obligation to me. Therefore it did not seem to me<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_213">213</a></span>
-lawful to disobey her, and for three or four days
-I stayed in her house, until I obtained permission to
-resort to the Duke of Northumberland’s palace
-at Chelsea.” At this place&mdash;the reason of her
-preference for it is not given&mdash;she continued, sick
-and anxious, until a summons reached her to go to
-Sion House, there to receive a message from the
-King. It was Lady Sydney, a married daughter of
-the Duke’s, who brought the order, saying, “with
-more gravity than usual,” that it was necessary
-that her sister-in-law should obey it; and Lady Jane
-did not refuse to do so.</p>
-
-<p>Sion House, where the opening scene of the
-drama took place, was another of the possessions of
-the Duke of Somerset, passed into the hands of
-his rival. A monastery, founded by Henry V. at
-Isleworth, it had been seized, with other Church
-property, in 1539, and had served two years later
-as prison to the unhappy child, Katherine Howard.
-The place had been acquired by Somerset in the
-days of his power, when the building of the great
-house, which was to replace the convent, was begun.
-The gardens were enclosed by high walls, a triangular
-terrace in one of their angles alone allowing the
-inmates to obtain a view of the country beyond.<a id="FNanchor_156" href="#Footnote_156" class="fnanchor">156</a>
-In 1552 it had, with most of the late Protector’s
-goods and chattels, been confiscated, and during the
-following year, the year of the King’s death, had<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_214">214</a></span>
-been granted to Northumberland. It was to this
-place that Lady Jane was taken to receive the
-message said to be awaiting her from the King.</p>
-
-<p>Her destination reached, Sion House was found
-empty; but it was not long before those who
-were pulling the strings arrived. The message from
-the King had been a fiction. Edward’s gentle
-spirit was at rest, and he himself forgotten in the
-rush of events. There was little time for thought
-of the dead. The interests of religion and of the
-State, as some would call it, the ambition of unscrupulous
-and unprincipled men, as it would be
-named by others, demanded the whole attention of
-the steersmen who stood, for the moment, at the helm.</p>
-
-<p>It had been decided to keep the fact of the King’s
-death secret until measures should have been taken
-to ensure the success of the desperate game they
-were playing. To secure possession of the person
-of his natural successor was of the first importance;
-and a letter had been despatched to Mary when her
-brother was manifestly at the point of death which
-it was hoped would avail to bring her to London and
-would enable her enemies to fulfil their purpose.
-Stating that the King was very ill, she was entreated
-to come to him, as he earnestly desired the comfort
-of her presence.</p>
-
-<p>Mary must have been well aware of the risk she
-would run in responding to the appeal; and it says
-much for her courage and her affection that she did<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_215">215</a></span>
-not hesitate to incur it. A fortunate chance, however,
-frustrated the designs against her. Starting from
-Hunsdon, where the tidings had found her, she
-had reached Hoddesden on her way to Greenwich,
-when she was met by intelligence that determined
-her to go no further. The King was dead; nor
-was it difficult to discern in the urgent summons,
-sent too late to accomplish its ostensible purpose,
-a transparent attempt to induce her to place herself
-in the power of her enemies.</p>
-
-<p>Opinions have differed as to the means by which
-Northumberland’s scheme was frustrated. Some say
-that the news was conveyed to the Princess by the
-Earl of Arundel. Sir Nicholas Throckmorton also
-claims credit for the warning. According to this
-account of the matter, a young brother of his, in
-attendance upon Northumberland, had become cognisant
-of the intended treachery, and had come
-post-haste to report what was a-foot at his father’s
-house. A few words spoken by Sir John Gates,
-visiting the Duke before he had risen, were all
-that had reached the young man’s ears, but those
-words had been of startling significance, the state
-of affairs being what it was.</p>
-
-<p>“What, sir,” he had heard Gates say, “will you let
-the Lady Mary escape, and not secure her person?”</p>
-
-<p>A consultation was hurriedly held at Throckmorton
-House, between the father and his three sons. Sir
-Nicholas, who had been present at the King’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_216">216</a></span>
-death, was too well aware of the circumstances to
-minimise the importance of his brother’s story, and,
-summoning the Princess Mary’s goldsmith, it was
-decided to entrust him with the duty of conveying a
-caution to his mistress, and stopping her journey.
-Sir Nicholas’s metrical version of what followed
-may be given.<a id="FNanchor_157" href="#Footnote_157" class="fnanchor">157</a></p>
-
-<div class="poem-container">
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Mourning, from Greenwich did I straight depart,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">To London, to a house which bore our name.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">My brethren guessèd by my heavie hearte,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The King was dead, and I confess’d the same:<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">The hushing of his death I didd unfolde,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Their meaning to proclaime Queene Jane I tolde.<br /></span>
-</div>
-
-<div class="tb">* <span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">* </span><span class="in2">*</span></div>
-
-<div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Wherefore from four of us the newes was sent<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">How that her brother hee was dead and gone;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">In post her goldsmith then from London went,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">By whom the message was dispatcht anon.<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Shee asked, “If wee knewe it certainlie?”<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Who said, “Sir Nicholas knew it verilie.”<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-</div>
-
-<p class="in0">The first stroke hazarded by the conspirators had
-resulted in failure. Mary, after some deliberation,
-turned her face northwards, and escaped the snare
-laid for her by her enemies.</p>
-
-<p>The next object of Northumberland and his friends
-was to obtain the concurrence of the City to the
-substitution of his daughter-in-law for the rightful
-heir. Various as were the views of the best means
-of ensuring success, all the Council were agreed
-on one point, namely, “that London was the hand
-which must reach Jane the crown.”<a id="FNanchor_158" href="#Footnote_158" class="fnanchor">158</a> London was to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_217">217</a></span>
-be made to do it. On July 8 the Lord Mayor, with
-six aldermen, six “merchants of the staple, and as
-many merchant adventurers,” were summoned to
-Greenwich, were there secretly informed of the King’s
-death, and of his will by letters patent, “to which
-they were sworn and charged to keep it secret.”</p>
-
-<p>All this had been done before Lady Jane was
-summoned to Sion House. It was time for the
-stage Queen to make her appearance, and at Sion
-the facts were made known to her.<a id="FNanchor_159" href="#Footnote_159" class="fnanchor">159</a></p>
-
-<p>Of her reception of the great news accounts vary.
-A graphic picture, painted in the first place by
-Heylyn, has been copied by divers other historians.
-The learned John Nichols, unable to trace it in
-any contemporary documents or records, has decided
-that it must be classed amongst “those dramatic
-scenes in which historical writers formerly considered
-themselves justified in indulging.”<a id="FNanchor_160" href="#Footnote_160" class="fnanchor">160</a></p>
-
-<p>He is probably right; yet an early and generally
-accepted tradition has a value of its own, and may
-be true to the spirit, if not to the letter, of what
-actually occurred. Mary herself afterwards told the
-envoy of Charles V. that she believed her cousin
-to have had no part in the Duke of Northumberland’s<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_218">218</a></span>
-enterprise; and, supposing her to have been
-ignorant, or only dimly cognisant, of the plot, the
-revelation of it may easily have occasioned her a
-shock. It has been constantly asserted that, in this
-first interview with those who, calling themselves her
-subjects, were practically the masters of her fate,
-she began by declining to be a party to their scheme;
-and if her letter, written at a later date, from the
-Tower to Mary, does not wholly confirm the assertion,
-it points to an attitude of reluctant assent.
-Her mother-in-law had given her hints of what was
-intended, but, like the announcement made by
-the Duke at Durham House of her approaching
-greatness, they were too incredible to be taken
-seriously; and the fact that when she was joined
-at Sion by the Dukes of Northumberland and
-Suffolk they did not at once make the matter
-plain, but confined the conversation for a time to
-indifferent subjects, seems to indicate a doubt upon
-their part of her pliability. There was, nevertheless,
-a change in their demeanour and bearing
-giving rise in her mind to an uneasy consciousness
-of a mystery she had not fathomed; whilst
-Huntingdon and Pembroke, who were present,
-treated her with even more incomprehensible
-reverence, and went so far as to bow the knee.</p>
-
-<p>On the arrival of her mother, together with the
-Duchess of Northumberland, the explanation of the
-riddle took place. The tidings of the King’s death<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_219">219</a></span>
-and of her exaltation was broken to her, together
-with the reasons prompting Edward to set aside his
-sisters in her favour. The nobles fell upon their
-knees, took her formally for their Queen, and
-swore&mdash;it was shortly to be proved how little the
-oath was worth&mdash;to shed their blood in defence of
-her rights.</p>
-
-<p>“Having heard which things,” pursues Lady Jane
-in her apology, “with infinite grief of spirit, I call
-to witness those lords who were present that I was
-so stunned and stupefied that, overcome by sudden
-and unexpected sorrow, they saw me fall to the
-ground, weeping very bitterly. And afterwards,
-declaring to them my insufficiency, I lamented much
-the death of so noble a prince; and at the same
-time turned to God, humbly praying and beseeching
-Him that, if what was given me was in truth and
-legitimately mine, He would grant me grace and
-power to govern to His glory and service, and for
-the good of this realm.”<a id="FNanchor_161" href="#Footnote_161" class="fnanchor">161</a></p>
-
-<p>There is, as Dr. Lingard points out, nothing unnatural
-in this description of what had occurred;
-whereas the grandiloquent language attributed to
-her by some historians is most unlikely to have
-been used at a moment both of grief and
-excitement. According to these authorities, not
-only did she defend Mary’s right, and denounce<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_220">220</a></span>
-those who had conspired against it, but delivered
-a lengthy oration upon the fickleness of fortune.
-“If she enrich any, it is but to make them the
-subject of her sport; if she raise others, it is but
-to pleasure herself with their ruins. What she
-adored yesterday, to-day is her pastime. And if
-I now permit her to adorn and crown me, I must
-to-morrow suffer her to crush and tear me to
-pieces”&mdash;proceeding to cite Katherine of Aragon
-and Anne Boleyn as examples of those who had,
-to their own undoing, worn a crown. “If you love
-me sincerely and in good earnest,” she is made to say,
-“you will rather wish me a secure and quiet fortune,
-though mean, than an exalted condition exposed
-to the wind, and followed by some dismal fall.”</p>
-
-<p>Poor little plaything of the fortune she is represented
-as anathematising, the designs of those who
-were striving to exalt her were due to nothing
-less than a sincere love. Any other puppet
-would have answered their purpose equally well,
-so that the excuse of royal blood was in her veins.
-But Jane, willing or unwilling, was to be made use
-of for their ends, and it was vain for her to protest.</p>
-
-<p>On the following day, July 10, the Queen-designate
-was brought, following the ancient custom
-of Kings on their accession, to the Tower; reaching
-it at three o’clock, to be received at the gate by
-Northumberland, and formally presented with the
-keys in the presence of a great crowd who looked<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_221">221</a></span>
-on at the proceedings in sinister silence and gave
-no sign of rejoicing or cordiality.</p>
-
-<p>Shortly after, the Marquis of Winchester, in his
-capacity of Treasurer, brought the crown jewels,
-with the crown itself, “asking me,” wrote Jane,
-“to put it on my head, to try whether it fitted me
-or not. Who knows well that, with many excuses,
-I refused. He not the less insisted that I should
-boldly take it, and that another should be made
-that my husband might be crowned with me, which
-I certainly heard unwillingly, and with infinite grief
-and displeasure.”<a id="FNanchor_162" href="#Footnote_162" class="fnanchor">162</a></p>
-
-<p>The idea that young Guilford Dudley, with
-no royal blood to make his claim colourable, was
-intended to share her dignity appears to have
-roused his wife, somewhat strangely, to hot indignation.
-She at least was a Tudor on her mother’s
-side; but what was Dudley, that he should aspire so
-high? Had she loved her boy-husband she might
-have taken a different view of his pretensions; but
-there is nothing to show that she regarded him with
-any special affection, and she was disposed to use
-her authority after a fashion neither he nor his
-father would tolerate.</p>
-
-<p>At first Guilford, taken by surprise, appeared
-inclined to yield the point, and in a conversation
-between the two, when Winchester had withdrawn,
-he agreed that, were he to be made King, it should<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_222">222</a></span>
-be only by Act of Parliament. Thereupon, losing
-no time in setting the matter on a right footing,
-Jane sent for the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke,
-and informed them that, if she were to be Queen,
-she would be willing to make her husband Duke;
-“but to make him King I would not consent.”</p>
-
-<p>Though Arundel and Pembroke were probably
-quite at one with her on the question, that she should
-show signs of exercising an independent judgment
-was naturally exasperating to those to whom it was
-due that she was placed in her present position; and
-when the Duchess of Northumberland became
-aware of what was going forward she not only
-treated Lady Jane, according to her own account,
-very ill, but stirred up Guilford to do the like; the
-boy, primed by his mother, declaring that he would
-in no wise be Duke, but King, and, holding sulkily
-aloof from his wife that night, so that she was
-compelled, “as a woman, and loving my husband,”
-to send the Earls of Arundel and Pembroke to bring
-him to her, otherwise he would have left in the
-morning, at his mother’s bidding, for Sion. “Thus,”
-ends the poor child, “I was in truth deceived by the
-Duke and Council, and badly treated by my husband
-and his mother.”</p>
-
-<p>The discussion was premature. Boy and girl
-were all too soon to learn that it was not to be a
-question of crowns for either so much as of heads to
-wear them. Whilst the wrangle had been carried<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_223">223</a></span>
-on in the Tower, the first step had been taken
-towards bringing the disputants to the scaffold.
-The death of the King had been made public,
-together with the provisions of his will, and Jane
-had been proclaimed Queen in two or three parts of
-the City.</p>
-
-<p>“The tenth day of the same month,” runs the
-entry in the <cite>Grey Friar’s Chronicle</cite>, “after seven
-o’clock at night, was made a proclamation in Cheap
-by three heralds and one trumpet ... for Jane,
-the Duke of Suffolk’s daughter, to be Queen of
-England. But few or none said ‘God save her.’”</p>
-
-<p>There was a singular unanimity upon the subject
-amongst the citizens of London. It is said that
-upon the faces of the heralds forced to proclaim
-the new Queen their discontent was visible;<a id="FNanchor_163" href="#Footnote_163" class="fnanchor">163</a> and
-a curious French letter sent from London at the
-time states, after mentioning the absence of any
-acclamation upon the part of the people, that a
-moment afterwards they had broken out into
-lamentation, clamour, tears, sighs, sadness, and
-desolation impossible to describe.</p>
-
-<p>Thus inauspiciously was Lady Jane’s nine days’
-reign inaugurated. On a great catafalque in Westminster
-Abbey the dead boy-King was lying,
-guarded day and night by twelve watchers until
-he should be given sepulture. But there was little
-leisure to attend to his obsequies on the part of<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_224">224</a></span>
-the men who had made him their tool, and had
-staked their lives and fortunes upon the success of
-their plot. For the present all had gone according
-to their hopes. “Through the pious intents of
-Edward, the religion of Mary, the ambition of
-Northumberland, the simplicity of Suffolk, the
-fearfulness of the judges, and the flattery of the
-courtiers”&mdash;thus Fuller sums up the causes to
-which the situation was due&mdash;“matters were made
-as sure as man’s policy can make that good which
-in itself is bad.” It was quickly to be seen to what
-that security amounted.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_225">225</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Lady Jane as Queen&mdash;Mary asserts her claims&mdash;The English
-envoys at Brussels&mdash;Mary’s popularity&mdash;Northumberland leaves
-London&mdash;His farewells.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">To</span> enter in any degree into the position of
-“Jane the Queen” during the brief period
-when she was the nominal head of the State, the time
-in which she lived, as well as the prevalent conception
-of royalty in England, must be taken into the
-reckoning.</p>
-
-<p>In our own days she would not only have been a
-mere cipher&mdash;as indeed she was&mdash;but would have
-been content to remain such, so far as actual power
-was concerned. Royalty, stripped of its reality,
-is largely become a mere matter of show, a part
-of the pageant of State. In the case of a child
-of sixteen it would wear that character alone. But
-in the days of the Tudors a King was accustomed
-to govern; even in the hands of a minor a sceptre
-was not a mere symbolic ornament.</p>
-
-<p>And Lady Jane was precisely the person to
-take a serious view of her duties. Thoughtful,
-conscientious, and grave beyond her years, she<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_226">226</a></span>
-had no sooner found herself a Queen than she had
-asserted her authority in opposition to that of the
-man who had invested her with the dignity by
-announcing her intention of refusing to allow it
-to be shared by his son&mdash;already, it appears by
-letters from Brussels, recognised there as Prince
-Consort&mdash;and shut up in the gloomy fortress to
-which she had been taken she was occupied
-with the thought of her duty to the kingdom she
-believed herself to be called to rule over, of the
-necessity of providing for the wants of the nation,
-and more especially for the future of religion.
-Whilst, perhaps, all the time there lingered in her
-mind a misgiving, lifting its head to confront her
-from time to time with a paralysing doubt, torturing
-to a sensitive and scrupulous nature; was she indeed
-the rightful Queen of England?</p>
-
-<p>Mary had lost no time in asserting her claims.
-On July 9&mdash;the day before that of Jane’s proclamation&mdash;she
-had written a letter to the Council from
-Kenninghall in Norfolk, expressing her astonishment
-that they had neither communicated to her the fact
-of her brother’s death, nor had caused her to be
-proclaimed Queen, and requiring them to perform
-this last duty without delay. The rebuke reaching
-London on the morning of January 11 “seemed to
-give their Lordships no other trouble than the
-returning of an answer,”<a id="FNanchor_164" href="#Footnote_164" class="fnanchor">164</a> which they did in terms<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_227">227</a></span>
-of studied insult, reminding her of her alleged
-illegitimacy, and exhorting her to submit to her
-lawful sovereign, Queen Jane, else she should prove
-grievous unto them and unto herself. This unconciliatory
-document received the signature of every
-one of the Council, including Cecil, who was
-afterwards at much pains to explain his concurrence
-in the proceedings of his colleagues; and
-Northumberland, as he despatched it, must have
-felt with satisfaction that it would be difficult for
-those responsible for the missive to make their
-peace with the woman to whom it was addressed.</p>
-
-<p>The terms in which the defiance was couched show
-the little importance attached to the chances that
-Henry VIII.’s eldest daughter would ever be in
-a position to vindicate her rights. Once again
-her enemies had failed to take into account the
-stubborn justice of the people. Though by many
-of them Mary’s religion was feared and disliked,
-they viewed with sullen disapproval the conspiracy
-to rob her of her heritage. And Northumberland
-they hated.</p>
-
-<p>The sinister rumours current during the last few
-years were still afloat; justified, as it seemed, by the
-course of recent events. It was said that the Duke
-had incited Somerset to put his brother to death, and
-had then slain Somerset, in order that, bereft
-of his nearest of kin, the young King might the
-more easily become his victim. The reports of foul<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_228">228</a></span>
-play were repeated, and it was said that Edward
-had been removed by poison to make way for
-Northumberland’s daughter-in-law. That he had
-not come by his death by fair means was indeed
-so generally believed that the Emperor, writing to
-Mary when she had defeated her enemies, counselled
-her to punish all those that had been concerned
-in it.<a id="FNanchor_165" href="#Footnote_165" class="fnanchor">165</a></p>
-
-<p>The charge of poisoning was not so uncommon
-as to make it strange that it should be thought to
-have been instrumental in removing an obstacle from
-the path of an ambitious man. In Lady Jane’s
-pitiful letter to her cousin she stated&mdash;doubtless in
-good faith&mdash;that poison had twice been administered
-to her, once in the house of the Duchess of Northumberland&mdash;when
-the motive would have been hard
-to find&mdash;and again in the Tower, “as I have certain
-evidence.” What the poor child honestly believed
-had been attempted in her case, the angry people
-imagined had been successfully accomplished in
-the case of their young King, and his death was
-another item laid to the charge of the man they
-hated.</p>
-
-<p>The news of what was going forward in England
-had by this time become known abroad. Though
-letters had been addressed by the Council to Sir
-Philip Hoby and Sir Richard Morysine, ambassadors
-at Brussels, announcing the King’s death and his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_229">229</a></span>
-cousin’s accession, the tidings had reached them
-unofficially before the arrival of the despatches from
-London. As the envoys were walking in the garden,
-they were joined by a servant of the Emperor’s,
-Don Diego by name, who, making profession of
-personal good will towards their country, expressed
-his regret at its present loss, adding at the same
-time his congratulations that so noble a King&mdash;meaning,
-it would seem, Guilford Dudley&mdash;had been
-provided for them, a King he would himself be at
-all times ready to serve.</p>
-
-<p>The envoys replied that the sorrowful news had
-reached them, but not the joyous&mdash;that they were
-glad to hear so much from him. Don Diego thereupon
-proceeded to impart the further fact of Edward’s
-will in favour of Lady Jane. With the question
-whether the two daughters of Henry VIII. were
-bastards or not, strangers, he observed, had nothing
-to do. It was reasonable to accept as King him who
-had been declared such by the nobles of the land;
-and Diego, for his part, was bound to rejoice that
-His Majesty had been set in this office, since he was
-his godfather, and&mdash;so long as the Emperor was
-in amity with him&mdash;would be willing to shed his
-blood in his service.<a id="FNanchor_166" href="#Footnote_166" class="fnanchor">166</a></p>
-
-<p>This last personal detail probably contained the
-explanation of Don Diego’s approbation of an
-arrangement which could scarcely be expected to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_230">230</a></span>
-commend itself to his master, and likewise of the
-curiously subordinate part awarded to Lady Jane
-in his account of it. But whatever might be the
-opinion of foreigners, it had quickly been made
-plain in England that the country would not be
-content to accept either the sovereignty of Jane or
-of her husband without a struggle.</p>
-
-<p>Of the temper of the capital a letter or libel
-scattered abroad, after the fashion of the day,
-during the week, is an example. In this document,
-addressed by a certain “poor Pratte” to a
-young man who had been placed in the pillory and
-had lost his ears in consequence of his advocacy of
-Mary’s rights, love for the lawful Queen, and hatred
-of the “ragged bear,” Northumberland, is expressed
-in every line. Should England prove disloyal, misfortune
-will overtake it as a chastisement for its
-sin; the Gospel will be plucked away and the Lady
-Mary replaced by so cruel a Pharaoh as the ragged
-bear. Her Grace&mdash;in marked contrast to the sentiments
-commonly attributed to the Duke&mdash;is doubtless
-more sorrowful for her brother than glad to
-be Queen, and would have been as glad of his life
-as the ragged bear of his death. In conclusion, the
-writer trusts that God will shortly exalt Mary,
-“and pluck down that Jane&mdash;I cannot nominate her
-Queen, for that I know no other Queen but the
-good Lady Mary, her Grace, whom God prosper.”
-To those who would Mary to be Queen poor<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_231">231</a></span>
-Pratte wishes long life and pleasure; to her
-opponents, the pains of Satan in hell.<a id="FNanchor_167" href="#Footnote_167" class="fnanchor">167</a></p>
-
-<p>Such was the delirious spirit of loyalty towards
-the dispossessed heir, even amongst those who owed
-no allegiance to Rome. It was not long before the
-Council were to be taught by more forcible means
-than scurrilous abuse to correct their estimate of the
-situation and of the forces at work, strangely
-misapprehended at the first by one and all.</p>
-
-<p>News was reaching London of the support tendered
-to Mary. The Earls of Sussex and of Bath had
-declared in her favour; the county of Suffolk had
-led the way in rising on her behalf; nobles and
-gentlemen, with their retainers, were flocking to
-her standard; it was becoming clearer with every
-hour that she would not consent to be ousted from
-her rights without a fierce struggle.</p>
-
-<p>Measures for meeting the resistance of her adherents
-had to be taken without delay; and
-Northumberland, wisely unwilling to absent himself
-from the capital at a juncture so critical, had intended
-to depute Suffolk to command the forces to be led
-against her; to gain, if possible, possession of her
-person, and to bring her to London. This was
-the arrangement hastily made on July 12. Before
-nightfall it had been cancelled at the entreaty of
-the titular Queen.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_232">232</a></span>
-It is not difficult to enter into the Lady Jane’s
-feelings, threatened with the absence of her father
-on a dangerous errand. With her nervous fears
-of poison, her evident dislike of her mother-in-law,
-and ill at ease in new circumstances and surroundings,
-she may well have clung to the comfort and
-support afforded by his presence; nor is it incomprehensible
-that she had “taken the matter heavily”
-when informed of the decision of the Council.
-Her wishes might have had little effect if other
-causes had not conspired to assist her to gain her
-object, and it has been suggested that those of the
-lords already contemplating the possibility of Mary’s
-success, and desirous of being freed from the restraint
-imposed by Northumberland’s presence amongst them,
-may have had a hand in instigating her request,
-proffered with tears, that her father might tarry at
-home in her company. The entreaty was, at all
-events, in full accordance with their desires, and
-pressure was brought upon Northumberland to induce
-him to yield to her petition&mdash;leaving Suffolk
-in his place at the Tower, and himself leading the
-troops north.</p>
-
-<p>Many reasons were urged rendering it advisable
-that the Duke should take the field in person. He
-had been the victor in the struggle with Kett,
-of which Norfolk had been the scene, and enjoyed,
-in consequence, a great reputation in that county,
-where it seemed that the fight with Mary and her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_233">233</a></span>
-adherents was to take place. He was, moreover,
-an able soldier; Suffolk was not. On the other
-hand, it was impossible for Northumberland to adduce
-the true motives prompting his desire to continue at
-headquarters; since chief amongst them was the
-wisdom and prudence of remaining at hand to maintain
-his personal influence over his colleagues and to
-keep them true to the oaths they had sworn. In
-the end he consented to bow to their wishes.</p>
-
-<p>“Since ye think it good,” he said, “I and mine
-will go, not doubting of your fidelity to the
-Queen’s Majesty, which I leave in your custody.”</p>
-
-<p>More than the Queen’s Majesty was left to their
-care. The safety, if not the life, of the man chiefly
-responsible for the conspiracy which had made her
-what she was, hung upon their loyalty to their vows,
-and Northumberland must have known it. But
-Lady Jane was to have her way, and the Council,
-waiting upon her, brought the welcome news to
-the Queen, who humbly thanked the Duke for
-reserving her father at home, and besought him&mdash;she
-was already learning royal fashions&mdash;to use his
-diligence. To this Northumberland, surely not
-without an inward smile, answered that he would
-do what in him lay, and the matter was concluded.</p>
-
-<p>At Durham House, next day, the Duke’s retinue
-assembled.<a id="FNanchor_168" href="#Footnote_168" class="fnanchor">168</a> In the forenoon he met the Council,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_234">234</a></span>
-taking leave of them in friendly sort, yet with words
-betraying his misgivings in the very terms used
-to convey the assurance of his confidence in their
-good faith and fidelity.</p>
-
-<p>He and the other nobles who were to be his companions
-went forth, he told the men left behind, as
-much to assure their safety as that of the Queen
-herself. Whilst he and his comrades were to risk
-their lives in the field, their preservation at home,
-with the preservation of their children and families,
-was committed to those who stayed in London.
-And then he spoke some weighty words, the doubts
-and forebodings within him finding vent:</p>
-
-<p>“If we thought ye would through malice, conspiracy,
-or dissension, leave us your friends in the
-briars and betray us, we could as well sundry ways
-forsee and provide for our own safeguards as any of
-you, by betraying us, can do for yours. But now,
-upon the only trust and faithfulness of your honours,
-whereof we think ourselves most assured, we do
-hazard and jubarde [jeopardize] our lives, which trust
-and promise if ye shall violate, hoping thereby of life
-and promotion, yet shall not God count you
-innocent of our bloods, neither acquit you of the
-sacred and holy oath of allegiance made freely by
-you to this virtuous lady, the Queen’s Highness,
-who by your and our enticement is rather of force<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_235">235</a></span>
-placed therein than by her own seeking and request.”
-Commending to their consideration the interests
-of religion, he again reiterated his warning. “If
-ye mean deceit, though not forthwith, yet hereafter,
-God will revenge the same,” ending by assuring his
-colleagues that his words had not been caused by
-distrust, but that he had spoken them as a reminder
-of the chances of variance which might grow in his
-absence.</p>
-
-<p>One of the Council&mdash;the narrator does not give
-his name&mdash;took upon him to reply for the rest.</p>
-
-<p>“My Lord,” he answered, “if ye mistrust any of
-us in this matter your Grace is far deceived. For
-which of us can wipe his hands clean thereof? And
-if we should shrink from you as one that is culpable,
-which of us can excuse himself as guiltless?
-Therefore herein your doubt is too far cast.”</p>
-
-<p>It was characteristic of times and men that, far
-from resenting the suspicion of unfaith, the sole
-ground upon which the Duke was asked to base a
-confidence in the fidelity of his colleagues was that
-it would not be to their interest to betray him.</p>
-
-<p>“I pray God it may be so,” he answered. “Let
-us go to dinner.”</p>
-
-<p>After dinner came an interview with Jane,
-who bade farewell to the Duke and to the lords
-who were to accompany him on his mission. Everywhere
-we are confronted by the same heavy atmosphere
-of impending treachery. As the chief<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_236">236</a></span>
-conspirator passed through the Council-chamber
-Arundel met him&mdash;Arundel, who was to be one
-of the first to leave the sinking ship, and who may
-already have been looking for a loophole of escape
-from a perilous situation. Yet he now prayed God
-be with his Grace, saying he was very sorry it was
-not his chance to go with him and bear him company,
-in whose presence he could find it in his heart
-to shed his blood, even at his foot.</p>
-
-<p>The words, with their gratuitous and unsolicited
-asseveration of loyal friendship, must have been
-remembered by both when the two met again. It
-is nevertheless possible that, moved and affected, the
-Earl was sincere at the moment in his protestations.</p>
-
-<p>“Farewell, gentle Thomas,” he added to the
-Duke’s “boy,” Thomas Lovell, taking him by the
-hand, “Farewell, gentle Thomas, with all my
-heart.”</p>
-
-<p>The next day Northumberland took his departure
-from the capital. As he rode through the city, with
-some six hundred followers, the same ominous
-silence that had greeted the proclamation of Lady
-Jane was preserved by the throng gathered together
-to see her father-in-law pass. The Duke noticed it.</p>
-
-<p>“The people press to see us,” he observed
-gloomily, “but not one sayeth God speed us.”</p>
-
-<p>When next Northumberland and the London
-crowd were face to face it was under changed circumstances.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_237">237</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Turn of the tide&mdash;Reaction in Mary’s favour in the Council&mdash;Suffolk
-yields&mdash;Mary proclaimed in London&mdash;Lady Jane’s
-deposition&mdash;She returns to Sion House.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Northumberland</span> was gone. The weight
-of his dominant influence was removed, and
-many of his colleagues must have breathed more
-freely. In the Tower Lady Jane, with those of the
-Council left in London, continued to watch and
-wait the course of events. It must have been
-recognised that the future was dark and uncertain;
-and whilst the lords and nobles looked about for
-a way of escape should affairs go ill with the new
-government, the boy and girl arbitrarily linked
-together may have been drawn closer by the
-growing sense of a common danger. Guilford
-Dudley did not share his father’s unpopularity.
-Young and handsome, he is said to have been
-endowed with virtues calling forth an unusual
-amount of pity for his premature end,<a id="FNanchor_169" href="#Footnote_169" class="fnanchor">169</a> and Heylyn
-declared that of all Dudley’s brood he had nothing
-of his father in him.<a id="FNanchor_170" href="#Footnote_170" class="fnanchor">170</a> “He was,” says Fuller, adding<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_238">238</a></span>
-his testimony, “a goodly and (for aught I find to the
-contrary) a godly gentleman, whose worst fault was
-that he was son to an ambitious father.”<a id="FNanchor_171" href="#Footnote_171" class="fnanchor">171</a> The
-flash of boyish ambition he had evinced in his
-determination to be content with nothing less than
-kingship must have been soon extinguished by the
-consciousness that life itself was at stake.</p>
-
-<p>For quicker and quicker came tidings of fresh
-triumphs for Mary, each one striking at the hopes
-of her rival’s partisans. News was brought that Mary
-had been proclaimed Queen first in Buckinghamshire;
-next at Norwich. Her forces were gathering
-strength, her adherents gaining courage. Again, six
-vessels placed at Yarmouth to intercept her flight,
-should she attempt it, were won over to her side,
-their captains, with men and ordnance, making
-submission; whereat “the Lady Mary”&mdash;from whose
-mind nothing had been further than flight&mdash;“and
-her company were wonderful joyous.”</p>
-
-<p>This last blow hit the party acknowledging Jane
-as Queen hard; nor were its effects long in becoming
-visible. In the Tower “each man began to pluck in
-his horns,” and to cast about for a manner of dissevering
-his private fortunes from a cause manifestly
-doomed to disaster. Pembroke, who in May had
-associated himself with Northumberland by marrying
-his son to Katherine Grey, was one of the foremost
-in considering the possibility of quitting the Tower, so<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_239">239</a></span>
-that he might hold consultation with those without;
-but as yet he had not devised a means of accomplishing
-his purpose. Each day brought its developments
-within the walls of the fortress, and beyond them.
-On the Sunday night&mdash;not a week after the crown
-had been fitted on Jane’s head&mdash;when the Lord
-Treasurer, then officiously desirous of adding a
-second for her husband, was leaving the building
-in order to repair to his own house, the gates were
-suddenly shut and the keys carried up to the mistress
-of the Tower. What was the reason? No one
-knew, but it was whispered that a seal had been
-found missing. Others said that she had feared
-some packinge [<i xml:lang="la" lang="la">sic</i>] in the Treasurer. The days
-were coming when it would be in no one’s power
-to keep the Lords of the Council at their post
-under lock and key.</p>
-
-<p>That Sunday morning&mdash;it was July 16&mdash;Ridley
-had preached at Paul’s Cross before the Mayor,
-Aldermen, and people, pleading Lady Jane’s cause
-with all the eloquence at his command. Let his
-hearers, he said, contrast her piety and gentleness
-with the haughtiness and papistry of her rival. And
-he told the story of his visit to Hunsdon, of his
-attempt to convince Mary of her errors, and of its
-failure, conjuring all who heard him to maintain
-the cause of Queen Jane and of the Gospel. But
-his exhortations fell on deaf ears.</p>
-
-<p>And still one messenger of ill tidings followed<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_240">240</a></span>
-hard upon the heels of another. Cecil, with his
-natural aptitude for intrigue, was engaging in
-secret deliberations with members of the Council
-inclined to be favourable to Mary, finding in
-especial the Lord Treasurer, Winchester, the Earl
-of Arundel, and Lord Darcy, willing listeners,
-“whereof I did immediately tell Mr. Petre”&mdash;the
-other Secretary&mdash;“for both our comfort.”<a id="FNanchor_172" href="#Footnote_172" class="fnanchor">172</a>
-Presently a pretext was invented to cover the escape
-of the lords from the Tower. It was said that
-Northumberland had sent for auxiliaries, and that
-it was necessary to hold a consultation with the
-foreign ambassadors as to the employment of
-mercenaries.<a id="FNanchor_173" href="#Footnote_173" class="fnanchor">173</a> The meeting was to take place at
-Baynard’s Castle, Arundel observing significantly
-that he liked not the air of the Tower. He and
-his friends may indeed have reflected that it had
-proved fatal to many less steeped in treason than
-they. To Baynard’s Castle some of the lords
-accordingly repaired, sending afterwards to summon
-the rest to join them, with the exception of Suffolk,
-who remained behind, in apparent ignorance of what
-was going forward.</p>
-
-<p>In the consultation, held on July 19, the deathblow
-was dealt to the hopes of those faithful to the
-nine-days’ Queen. Arundel was the first to declare
-himself unhesitatingly on Mary’s side, and to denounce<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_241">241</a></span>
-the Duke, from whom he had so lately
-parted on terms of devoted friendship. He boasted
-of his courage in now opposing Northumberland&mdash;a
-man of supreme authority, and&mdash;as one who had
-little or no conscience&mdash;fond of blood. It was by
-no desire of vengeance that Arundel’s conduct was
-prompted, he declared, but by conscience and anxiety
-for the public welfare; the Duke was actuated
-by a desire neither for the good of the kingdom nor
-by religious zeal, but purely by a desire for power,
-and he proceeded to hold him up to the reprobation
-of his colleagues.</p>
-
-<p>Pembroke made answer, promising, with his hand
-on his sword, to make Mary Queen. There were
-indeed few dissentient voices, and, though some of
-the lords at first maintained that warning should
-be sent to Northumberland and a general pardon
-obtained from Mary, their proposals did not meet
-with favour, and they did not press them.</p>
-
-<p>A hundred men had been despatched on various
-pretexts, and by degrees, to the Tower, with orders to
-make themselves masters of the place, in case Suffolk
-would not leave it except upon compulsion; but the
-Duke was not a man to lead a forlorn hope. Had
-Northumberland been at hand a struggle might
-have taken place; as it was, not a voice was raised
-against the decision of the Council, and with almost
-incredible rapidity the face of affairs underwent
-a change, absolute and complete. Suffolk, so soon<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_242">242</a></span>
-as the determination of the lords was made known
-to him, lost no time in expressing his willingness to
-concur in it and to add his signature to the proclamation
-of Mary, already drawn up.<a id="FNanchor_174" href="#Footnote_174" class="fnanchor">174</a> He was, he
-said, but one man; and proclaiming his daughter’s
-rival in person on Tower Hill, he finally struck his
-colours; going so far, as some affirm, as to share in
-the demonstration in the new Queen’s honour in
-Cheapside, where the proclamation was read by the
-Earl of Pembroke amidst a scene of wild enthusiasm
-contrasting vividly with the coldness and apathy
-shown by the populace when, nine days earlier, they
-had been asked to accept the Duke of Northumberland’s
-daughter-in-law as their Queen.</p>
-
-<p>“For my time I never saw the like,” says a news-letter,<a id="FNanchor_175" href="#Footnote_175" class="fnanchor">175</a>
-“and by the report of others the like was
-never seen. The number of caps that were thrown
-up at the proclamation were not to be told.... I
-saw myself money was thrown out at windows for
-joy. The bonfires were without number, and, what
-with shouting and crying of the people and ringing
-of the bells, there could no one hear almost what
-another said, besides banquetings and singing in
-the street for joy.”</p>
-
-<p>Arundel was there, as well as Pembroke, with
-Shrewsbury and others, and the day was ended with
-evensong at St. Paul’s.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_243">243</a></span>
-And whilst all this was going on outside, in the
-gloom of the Tower, where the air must have struck
-chill even on that July day, sat the little victim
-of state-craft&mdash;“Cette pauvre reine,” wrote Noailles
-to his master, “qui s’en peut dire de la féve”&mdash;a
-Twelfth Night’s Queen&mdash;in the fortress that had
-seen her brief exaltation, and was so soon to become
-to her a prison. As the joy-bells echoed through
-the City and the shouting of the people penetrated
-the thick walls she must have wondered what
-was the cause of rejoicing. Presently she learnt
-it.</p>
-
-<p>That afternoon had been fixed for the christening
-of a child born to Underhyll&mdash;nicknamed, on account
-of his religious zeal, the Hot-Gospeller&mdash;on duty
-as a Gentleman Pensioner at the Tower. The baby
-was highly favoured, since the Duke of Suffolk and
-the Earl of Pembroke were to be his sponsors by
-proxy and Lady Jane had signified her intention of
-acting as godmother, calling the infant Guilford, after
-her husband.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Throckmorton, wife to Sir Nicholas, in
-attendance on Jane,<a id="FNanchor_176" href="#Footnote_176" class="fnanchor">176</a> had been chosen to represent her
-mistress at the ceremony; and, on quitting the
-Tower for that purpose, had waited on the Queen
-and received her usual orders, according to royal<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_244">244</a></span>
-etiquette. Upon her return, the baptism over, she
-found all&mdash;like a transformation scene at the
-theatre&mdash;changed. The canopy of state had been
-removed from Lady Jane’s apartment, and Lady
-Jane herself, divested of her sovereignty, was
-practically a prisoner.<a id="FNanchor_177" href="#Footnote_177" class="fnanchor">177</a></p>
-
-<p>During the absence of the Lady-in-waiting, Suffolk,
-his part on Cheapside played, had returned to the
-Tower, to set matters there on their new footing.
-Informing his daughter, as one imagines with the
-roughness of a man smarting under defeat, that
-since her cousin had been elected Queen by the
-Council, and had been proclaimed, it was time she
-should do her honour, he removed the insignia
-of royalty. The rank she had possessed not being
-her own she must make a virtue of necessity, and
-bow to that fortune of which she had been the sport
-and victim.</p>
-
-<p>Rising to the occasion, Jane, as might be expected,
-made fitting reply. The words now spoken by her
-father were, she answered, more becoming and
-praiseworthy than those he had uttered on putting
-her in possession of the crown; proceeding to
-moralise the matter after a fashion that can only
-be attributed to the imaginative faculties of the
-narrator of the scene. This done she, more
-naturally, withdrew into her private apartments with
-her mother and other ladies and gave way, in spite<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_245">245</a></span>
-of her firmness, to “infinite sorrow.”<a id="FNanchor_178" href="#Footnote_178" class="fnanchor">178</a> A further
-scene narrated by the Italian, Florio, on the authority
-of the Duke of Suffolk’s chaplain&mdash;“as her father’s
-learned and pious preacher told me”&mdash;represents
-her as confronted with some at least of the men who
-had betrayed her, and as reproaching them bitterly
-with their duplicity. Without vouching for the
-accuracy of the speech reported, touches are discernible
-in it&mdash;evidences of a very human wrath,
-indignation, and scorn&mdash;unlikely to have been
-invented by men whose habit it was to describe
-the speaker as the living embodiment of meekness
-and patience, and it may be that the evangelist’s
-account is founded on fact.</p>
-
-<p>“Therefore, O Lords of the Council,” she is
-made to say, “there is found in men of illustrious
-blood, and as much esteemed by the world as you,
-double dealing, deceit, fickleness, and ruin to the
-innocent. Which of you can boast with truth that
-I besought him to make me a Queen? Where
-are the gifts I promised or gave on this account?
-Did ye not of your own accord drag me from my
-literary studies, and, depriving me of liberty, place
-me in this rank? Alas! double-faced men, how well
-I see, though late, to what end ye set me in this
-royal dignity! How will ye escape the infamy
-following upon such deeds?” How were broken<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_246">246</a></span>
-promises, violated oaths, to be coloured and disguised?
-Who would trust them for the future?
-“But be of good cheer, with the same measure it
-shall be meted to you again.”</p>
-
-<p>With this prophecy of retribution to follow she
-ended. “For a good space she was silent; and they
-departed, full of shame, leaving her well guarded.”<a id="FNanchor_179" href="#Footnote_179" class="fnanchor">179</a></p>
-
-<p>Her attendants were not long in availing themselves
-of the permission accorded them to go where
-they pleased. The service of Lady Jane was, from
-an honour, become a perilous duty; and they went
-to their own homes, leaving their nine-days’ mistress
-“burdened with thought and woe.” The following
-morning she too quitted the Tower, returning to
-Sion House. It was no more than ten days since
-she had been brought from it in royal state.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_247">247</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Northumberland at bay&mdash;His capitulation&mdash;Meeting with Arundel,
-and arrest&mdash;Lady Jane a prisoner&mdash;Mary and Elizabeth&mdash;Mary’s
-visit to the Tower&mdash;London&mdash;Mary’s policy.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> unanimous capitulation of the Council, in
-which he was by absence precluded from
-joining, sealed Northumberland’s fate. The centre
-of interest shifts from London to the country, whither
-he had gone to meet the forces gathering round
-Mary. The ragged bear was at bay.</p>
-
-<p>Arundel and Paget had posted northwards on the
-night following the revolution in London to inform
-the Queen of the proceedings of the Council and to
-make their peace with the new sovereign; Paget’s
-success in particular being so marked that the French
-looker-on reported that his favour with the Queen
-“etait chose plaisante à voir et oir.” The question
-all men were asking was what stand would be made
-by the leader of the troops arrayed against her.
-That Northumberland, knowing that he had sinned
-too deeply for forgiveness, would yield without a
-blow can scarcely have been contemplated by the
-most sanguine of his opponents, and the singular<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_248">248</a></span>
-transmutation taking place in a man who hitherto,
-whatever might have been his faults or crimes, had
-never been lacking in courage, must have taken his
-enemies and what friends remained to him by surprise.</p>
-
-<p>“Bold, sensitive, and magnanimous,” as some one
-describes him,<a id="FNanchor_180" href="#Footnote_180" class="fnanchor">180</a> he was to display a lack of every
-manly quality only explicable on the hypothesis that
-the incessant strain and excitement of the last three
-weeks had told upon nerves and spirits to an extent
-making it impossible for him to meet the crisis with
-dignity and valour.</p>
-
-<p>Hampered with orders from the Council framed
-in Mary’s interest and with the secret object of
-delaying his movements until her adherents had had
-time to muster in force, he did not adopt the only
-course&mdash;that of immediate attack&mdash;offering a possibility
-of success, and had retreated to Cambridge
-when the news that Mary had been proclaimed
-in London reached him. From that instant he
-abandoned the struggle.</p>
-
-<p>On the previous day the Vice-Chancellor of the
-University, Doctor Sandys, had preached, at his
-request, a sermon directed against Mary. Now,
-Duke and churchman standing side by side in the
-market-place, Northumberland, with the tears running
-down his face, and throwing his cap into the air,
-proclaimed her Queen. She was a merciful woman,
-he told Sandys, and all would doubtless share in her<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_249">249</a></span>
-general pardon. Sandys knew better, and bade the
-Duke not flatter himself with false hopes. Were
-the Queen ever so much inclined to pardon, those
-who ruled her would destroy Northumberland, whoever
-else were spared.</p>
-
-<p>The churchman proved to have judged more
-accurately than the soldier. An hour later the Duke
-received letters from the Council, indicating the
-treatment he might expect at their hands. He was
-thereby bidden, on pain of treason, to disarm, and
-it was added that, should he come within ten miles
-of London, his late comrades would fight him.
-Could greater loyalty and zeal in the service of the
-rising sun be displayed?</p>
-
-<p>Fidelity was at a discount. His troops melted
-away, leaving their captain at the mercy of his
-enemies. In the camp confusion prevailed.
-Northumberland was first put under arrest, then set
-again at liberty upon his protest, based upon the
-orders of the Council that “all men should go his
-way.” Was he, the leader, to be prevented from
-acting upon their command? Young Warwick, his
-son, was upon the point of riding away, when, the
-morning after the scene in the market-place, the
-Earl of Arundel arrived from Queen Mary with
-orders to arrest the Duke.</p>
-
-<p>What ensued was a painful spectacle, Northumberland’s
-bearing, even in a day when servility on the
-part of the fallen was so common as to be almost a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_250">250</a></span>
-matter of course, being generally stigmatized as unworthy
-of the man who had often given proof of
-a brave and noble spirit.<a id="FNanchor_181" href="#Footnote_181" class="fnanchor">181</a> As the two men met, it
-may be that the Duke augured well from the Queen’s
-choice of a messenger. If he had, he was to be
-quickly undeceived. Arundel was not disposed to
-risk his newly acquired favour with the sovereign for
-the sake of a discredited comrade, and Northumberland
-might have spared the abjectness of his attitude;
-as, falling on his knees, he begged his former friend,
-for the love of God, to be good to him.</p>
-
-<p>“Consider,” he urged, “I have done nothing
-but by the consents of you and all the whole
-Council.”</p>
-
-<p>The plea was ill-chosen. That Arundel had been
-implicated in the treason was a reason the more why
-he could not afford to show mercy to a fellow-traitor;
-nor was he in a mood to discuss a past he
-would have preferred to forget and to blot out. It
-is the unfortunate who are prone to indulge in long
-memories, and the Earl had just achieved a success
-which he was anxious to render permanent. Disregarding
-Northumberland’s appeal, he turned at once
-to the practical matter in hand. He had been sent
-there by the Queen’s Majesty, he told the Duke;
-in her name he arrested him.</p>
-
-<p>Northumberland made no attempt at resistance.
-He obeyed, he answered humbly; “and I beseech<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_251">251</a></span>
-you, my Lord of Arundel, use mercy towards me,
-knowing the case as it is.”</p>
-
-<p>Again Arundel coldly ignored the appeal to the
-past.</p>
-
-<p>“My lord,” he replied, “ye should have sought
-for mercy sooner. I must do according to my
-commandment,” and he handed over his prisoner
-forthwith to the guards who stood near.</p>
-
-<p>For two hours, denied so much as the services of
-his attendants, the Duke paced the chamber wherein
-he was confined, till, looking out of the window,
-he caught sight of Arundel passing below, and
-entreated that his servants might be admitted to
-him.</p>
-
-<p>“For the love of God,” he cried, “let me have
-Cox, one of my chamber, to wait on me!”</p>
-
-<p>“You shall have Tom, your boy,” answered the
-Earl, naming the lad, Thomas Lovell, of whom, a
-few days earlier, he had taken so affectionate a leave.
-Northumberland protested.</p>
-
-<p>“Alas, my lord,” he said, “what stead can a
-boy do me? I pray you let me have Cox.” And
-so both Lovell and Cox were permitted to attend
-their master. It was the single concession he could
-obtain.<a id="FNanchor_182" href="#Footnote_182" class="fnanchor">182</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus Northumberland met his fate.</p>
-
-<p>The Queen’s justice had overtaken more innocent
-victims. Lady Jane’s stay at Sion House had not<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_252">252</a></span>
-been prolonged. By July 23, not more than three
-days after she had quitted the Tower, she returned
-to it, not as a Queen, but as a captive, accompanied
-by the Duchess of Northumberland and Guilford
-Dudley, her husband. More prisoners were quickly
-added to their number. Northumberland was
-brought, with others of his adherents, from
-Cambridge. Northampton, who had hurried to
-Framlingham, where Mary then was, to throw
-himself upon her mercy, arrived soon after; with
-Bishop Ridley, who, notwithstanding his recent
-declamations against the Queen, had resorted with
-the rest to Norfolk, had met with an unfriendly
-reception from Mary, and was sent back to London
-“on a halting horse.”<a id="FNanchor_183" href="#Footnote_183" class="fnanchor">183</a></p>
-
-<p>It is singular that to the Duke of Suffolk, prominent
-amongst those who had been arrayed against
-her, the new Queen showed unusual indulgence.
-So far as actual deeds were concerned, he had been
-second in guilt only to Northumberland; though
-there can be little doubt that he was led and governed
-by the stronger will and more soaring ambition of
-his confederate. Lady Jane being, besides, his
-daughter, and not merely married to his son, it
-would have been natural to expect that he would
-have been called to a stricter account than Dudley.
-He was, as a matter of course, arrested and consigned
-to the Tower; but when a convenient attack<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_253">253</a></span>
-of illness laid him low&mdash;a news-letter reporting that
-he was “in such case as no man judgeth he could
-live”<a id="FNanchor_184" href="#Footnote_184" class="fnanchor">184</a>&mdash;and his wife represented his desperate condition
-to her cousin the Queen, adding that, if left
-in the Tower, death would ensue, Mary appears to
-have made no difficulty in granting her his freedom,
-merely ordering him to confine himself to his house,
-rather as restraint than as chastisement.<a id="FNanchor_185" href="#Footnote_185" class="fnanchor">185</a></p>
-
-<p>Mary could afford to show mercy. On August 3
-she made her triumphal entry into the capital which
-had proved so loyal to her cause, riding on a white
-horse, with the Earl of Arundel bearing before her
-the sword of state, and preceded by some thousand
-gentlemen in rich array.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth was at her side&mdash;Elizabeth, who had
-learnt wisdom since the days, nearly five years ago,
-when she had compromised herself for the sake of
-Seymour. During the crisis now over, she had
-shown both prudence and caution, playing in fact
-a waiting game, as she looked on at the contest between
-her sister and Northumberland, and carefully
-abstaining from taking any side in it, until it should
-be seen which of the two would prove victorious.
-To her, as well as to Mary, a summons had been
-sent as from her dying brother; more wary than
-her sister, she detected the snare, and remained at
-Hatfield, whilst Mary came near to falling a prey
-to her enemies. At Hatfield she continued during<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_254">254</a></span>
-the ensuing days, being visited by commissioners
-from Northumberland, who offered a large price, in
-land and money, in exchange for her acquiescence
-in Edward’s appointment of Lady Jane as his
-successor. If Elizabeth loved money, she loved her
-safety more; and returned an answer to the effect
-that it was with her elder sister that an agreement
-must be made, since in Mary’s lifetime she herself
-had neither claim nor title to the succession. Leti,<a id="FNanchor_186" href="#Footnote_186" class="fnanchor">186</a>
-representing her as regarding Lady Jane as a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">jeune
-étourdie</i>&mdash;the first and only time the epithet can have
-been applied to Suffolk’s grave daughter&mdash;states that
-she indignantly expostulated with Northumberland
-upon the wrong done to herself and Mary. She is
-more likely to have kept silence; and it is certain
-that an opportune attack of illness afforded her an
-excuse for prudent inaction. When Mary’s cause had
-become triumphant she had recovered sufficiently to
-proceed to London, meeting her sister on the following
-day at Aldgate, and riding at her side when she made
-her entry into the capital.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_254" class="figcenter" style="width: 459px;">
- <img src="images/i_254.jpg" width="459" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting attributed to F. Zuccaro.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>QUEEN ELIZABETH.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The two presented a painful contrast: Mary prematurely
-aged by grief and care, small and thin,
-“unlike in every respect to father or mother,” says
-Michele, the Venetian ambassador, “with eyes so
-piercing as to inspire not only reverence, but fear”;
-Elizabeth, now twenty, tall and well made, though
-possessing more grace than beauty, with fine eyes,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_255">255</a></span>
-and, above all, beautiful hands, “della quale fa
-professione”&mdash;which she was accustomed to display.</p>
-
-<p>Her entry into the City made, Mary proceeded,
-according to ancient custom, and as her unwilling
-rival had done three weeks before, to the Tower,
-where a striking scene took place. On her entrance
-she was met by a group of those who, imprisoned
-during the two previous reigns, awaited her on their
-knees. Her kinsman, Edward Courtenay, was there&mdash;since
-he was ten years old he had known no other
-home&mdash;and the Duchess of Somerset, widow of the
-Protector, with the old Duke of Norfolk, father to
-Surrey, Tunstall, the deprived Bishop of Durham,
-and Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester. In Mary’s
-eyes some of these were martyrs, suffering for their
-fidelity to the faith for which she had herself been
-prepared to go to the scaffold; for others she felt
-the natural compassion due to captives who have
-wasted long years within prison walls; and, touched
-and overcome by the sight of that motley company,
-she burst into tears.</p>
-
-<p>“These are my prisoners,” she said, as she bent
-and kissed them.</p>
-
-<p>Their day was come. By August 11 Gardiner
-was reinstated in Winchester House, which had been
-appropriated to the use of the Marquis of Northampton,
-now perhaps inhabiting the Bishop’s quarters
-in the Tower. The Duke of Norfolk, the Duchess
-of Somerset, Courtenay, were all at liberty. Bonner<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_256">256</a></span>
-was once more exercising his functions as Bishop
-of London. But their places in the old prison-house
-were not left vacant: fresh captives being
-sent to join those already there. Report declared&mdash;prematurely&mdash;that
-sentence had been passed on
-Northumberland, Huntingdon, Gates, and others.
-Pembroke, notwithstanding the zealous share he
-had taken in proclaiming Mary Queen, as well as
-Winchester and Darcy, were confined to their houses.</p>
-
-<p>All necessary measures had been taken for the
-security of the Government. It was time to think
-of the dead boy lying unburied whilst the struggle
-for his inheritance had been fought out. In the
-arrangements for her brother’s funeral Mary displayed
-a toleration that must have gone far to raise
-the hopes of the Protestant party, awaiting, in
-anxiety and dread, enlightenment as to the course
-the new ruler would pursue with regard to religion.
-Permitting her brother’s obsequies to be celebrated
-by Cranmer according to the ritual prescribed by the
-reformed Prayer-book, she caused a Requiem Mass
-to be sung for him in the Tower in the presence
-of some hundreds of worshippers, notwithstanding
-the fact that, according to Griffet, “this was not
-in conformity with the laws of the Roman Church,
-since the Prince died in schism and heresy.”<a id="FNanchor_187" href="#Footnote_187" class="fnanchor">187</a></p>
-
-<p>It was the moment when Mary, the recipient, as
-she told the French ambassador, of more graces than<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_257">257</a></span>
-any living Princess; the object of the love and
-devotion of her subjects; her long years of misfortune
-ended; her record unstained, should have
-died. But, unfortunately, five more years of life
-remained to her.</p>
-
-<p>The presage of coming trouble was not absent in
-the midst of the general rejoicing, and the first notes
-of discord had already been struck. Emboldened by
-the Requiem celebrated in the Tower, a priest had
-taken courage, and had said Mass in the Church of
-St. Bartholomew in the City. It was then seen how
-far the people were from being unanimous in including
-in their devotion to the Queen toleration
-for her religion. “This day,” reports a news-letter
-of August 11, “an old priest said Mass at
-St. Bartholomew’s, but after that Mass was done,
-the people would have pulled him to pieces.”<a id="FNanchor_188" href="#Footnote_188" class="fnanchor">188</a>
-“When they saw him go up to the altar,” says
-Griffet, “there was a great tumult, some attempting
-to throw themselves upon him and strike him,
-others trying to prevent this violence, so that there
-came near to being blood shed.”<a id="FNanchor_189" href="#Footnote_189" class="fnanchor">189</a></p>
-
-<p>Scenes of this nature, with the open declarations
-of the Protestants that they would meet the re-establishment
-of the old worship with an armed
-resistance, and that it would be necessary to pass
-over the bodies of twenty thousand men before a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_258">258</a></span>
-single Mass should be quietly said in London, were
-warnings of rocks ahead. That Mary recognised
-the gravity of the situation was proved by the fact
-that, after an interview with the Mayor, she permitted
-the priest who had disregarded the law to
-be put into prison, although taking care that an
-opportunity of escape should shortly be afforded
-him.<a id="FNanchor_190" href="#Footnote_190" class="fnanchor">190</a></p>
-
-<p>A proclamation made in the middle of August
-also testified to some desire upon the Queen’s part,
-at this stage, to adopt a policy of conciliation. In
-it she declared that it was her will “that all men
-should embrace that religion which all men knew
-she had of long time observed, and meant, God
-willing, to continue the same; willing all men to
-be quiet, and not call men the names of heretick
-and papist, but each man to live after the religion
-he thought best until further order were taken
-concerning the same.”<a id="FNanchor_191" href="#Footnote_191" class="fnanchor">191</a></p>
-
-<p>Though the liberty granted was only provisional
-and temporary, there was nothing in the proclamation
-to foreshadow the fires of Smithfield, and it was
-calculated to allay any fears or forebodings disquieting
-the minds of loyal subjects.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_259">259</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XX"></a>CHAPTER XX<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Trial and condemnation of Northumberland&mdash;His recantation&mdash;Final
-scenes&mdash;Lady Jane’s fate in the balances&mdash;A conversation
-with her.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">The</span> great subject of interest agitating the
-capital, when the excitement attending the
-Queen’s triumphal entry had had time to subside,
-was the approaching trial of the Duke of Northumberland
-and his principal accomplices. On
-August 18 the great conspirator, with his son, the
-Earl of Warwick, and the Marquis of Northampton,
-were arraigned at Westminster Hall, the Duke
-of Norfolk, lately himself a prisoner, presiding, as
-High Steward of England, at the trial.</p>
-
-<p>Its issue was a foregone conclusion. If ever man
-deserved to suffer the penalty for high treason, that
-man was Northumberland. His brain had devised
-the plot intended to keep the Queen out of the
-heritage hers by birth and right; his hand had done
-what was possible to execute it. He had commanded
-in person the forces arrayed against her, and
-had been taken, as it were, red-handed. He must
-have recognised the fact that any attempt at a<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_260">260</a></span>
-defence would be hopeless. Two points of law,
-however, he raised: Could a man, acting by warrant
-of the great seal of England, and by the authority of
-the Council, be accused of high treason? And
-further, could he be judged by those who, implicated
-in the same offence, were his fellow-culprits?</p>
-
-<p>The argument was quickly disposed of. If, as
-Mr. Tytler supposes,<a id="FNanchor_192" href="#Footnote_192" class="fnanchor">192</a> the Duke’s intention was to
-appeal to the sanction of the great seal affixed to
-Edward’s will, the judges preferred to interpret his
-plea, as most historians have concurred in doing,
-as referring to the seal used during Lady Jane’s
-short reign; and, thus understood, the authority
-of a usurper could not be allowed to exonerate
-her father-in-law from the guilt of rebellion. As to
-his second question, so long as those by whom
-he was to be judged were themselves unattainted,
-they were not disqualified from filling their office.
-Sentence was passed without delay, the Duke
-proffering three requests. First, he asked that
-he might die the death of a noble; secondly, that
-the Queen would be gracious to his children, since
-they had acted by his command, and not of their
-own free will; and thirdly, that two members of the
-Council Board might visit him, in order that he
-might declare to them matters concerning the public
-welfare.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_261">261</a></span>
-The trial had been conducted on a Friday. The
-uncertainty prevailing as to the condition of public
-sentiment in the city may be inferred from the fact,
-that, when the customary sermon was to be preached
-at Paul’s Cross on the following Sunday, it was
-considered expedient to have the preacher chosen by
-the Queen surrounded by her guards, lest a tumult
-should ensue. The state of feeling in the capital must
-have been curiously mixed. Mary was the lawful
-sovereign, and had been brought to her rights
-amidst universal rejoicing. Northumberland was an
-object of detestation to the populace. Yet, whilst
-the Queen was undisguisedly devoted to a religion
-to which the majority of her subjects were hostile,
-the Duke was regarded as, with Suffolk, the chief
-representative and support of the faith they held
-and the Church as by law established. If his adherence
-to Protestant doctrine, as was now to appear, had
-been a matter of policy rather than of conviction,
-it had been singularly successful in imposing upon
-the multitude; though, according to the story which
-makes him observe to Sir Anthony Browne that he
-certainly thought best of the old religion, “but,
-seeing a new one begun, run dog, run devil, he would
-go forward,” he had been at little pains to conceal
-his lack of genuine sympathy with innovation.<a id="FNanchor_193" href="#Footnote_193" class="fnanchor">193</a>
-When the speech was made, suspicion of Catholic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_262">262</a></span>
-proclivities would have been fatal to his position
-and his schemes. The case was now reversed. He
-was about to forfeit, by the fashion of his death,
-the solitary merit he had possessed in the eyes of a
-large section of his countrymen; to throw off the
-mask, however carelessly it had been worn; and
-to give the lie, at that supreme moment, to the
-professions of years.</p>
-
-<p>It is said that, in consequence of the request
-he had preferred at his trial that he might be visited
-by some members of the Council, he was granted an
-interview with Gardiner and another of his colleagues,
-name unknown; that the Bishop of Winchester
-subsequently interceded with the Queen on his
-behalf, and was sanguine of success; but that, in
-deference to the Emperor’s advice, Mary decided in
-the end that the Duke must die.<a id="FNanchor_194" href="#Footnote_194" class="fnanchor">194</a> To Arundel,
-in spite of the little encouragement he had received
-at Cambridge to hope that the Earl would prove his
-friend, Northumberland wrote, begging for life,
-“yea, the life of a dog, that he may but live and
-kiss the Queen’s feet.”<a id="FNanchor_195" href="#Footnote_195" class="fnanchor">195</a> All was in vain. Prayers,
-supplications, entreaties, were useless. He was to
-die.</p>
-
-<p>Of those tried together with him, two shared his
-sentence&mdash;Sir Thomas Palmer and Sir John Gates.
-Monday, August 21, had been fixed for the executions,
-Commendone, the Pope’s agent, delaying his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_263">263</a></span>
-journey to Italy at Mary’s request that he might be
-present on the occasion.<a id="FNanchor_196" href="#Footnote_196" class="fnanchor">196</a> For some unexplained
-reason, they were deferred. It was probably in
-order to leave Northumberland time to make his
-recantation at leisure; for he had expressed his
-desire to renounce his errors “and to hear Mass
-and to receive the Sacrament according to the old
-accustomed manner.”<a id="FNanchor_197" href="#Footnote_197" class="fnanchor">197</a></p>
-
-<p>The account of what followed has been preserved
-in detail. At nine in the morning the altar in the
-chapel was prepared; and thither the Duke was
-presently conducted by Sir John Gage, Constable
-of the Tower, four of the lesser prisoners being
-brought in by the Lieutenant. Dying men,
-three of them, and the rest in jeopardy, it was
-a solemn company there assembled as the officiating
-priest proceeded with the ancient ritual. At a given
-moment the service was interrupted, so that the
-Duke might make his confession of faith and
-formally abjure the new ways he had followed for
-sixteen years, “the which is the only cause of the
-great plagues and vengeance which hath light upon
-the whole realm of England, and now likewise
-worthily fallen upon me and others here present for
-our unfaithfulness; ... and this I pray you all
-to testify, and pray for me.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_264">264</a></span>
-After which, kneeling down, he asked forgiveness
-from all, and forgave all.</p>
-
-<p>“Amongst others standing by,” says the narrator
-of the scene, “were the Duke of Somerset’s sons,”
-Hertford and his brother, boys scarcely emerged
-from childhood; watching the fallen enemy of
-their house, and remembering that to him had been
-chiefly due their father’s death.</p>
-
-<p>Other spectators were some fourteen or fifteen
-merchants from the City, bidden to the chapel
-that they might witness the ceremony and perhaps
-make report of the Duke’s recantation to their
-fellows.</p>
-
-<p>The news of what was going forward must have
-spread through the Tower, partly palace, partly
-dungeon, partly fortress; and men must have
-looked strangely upon one another as they heard
-that the leader principally responsible for all that
-had happened in the course of the last month, to
-whom the safety of the Protestant faith had been
-war-cry and watchword, had abjured it as the
-work of the devil. Where was truth, or sincerity,
-or pure conviction to be found?</p>
-
-<p>Of Lady Jane, during this day, there is but one
-mention. The limelight had been turned off her
-small figure, and she had fallen back into obscurity.
-Yet we hear that, looking through a window, she
-had seen her father-in-law led to the chapel, where
-he was, in her eyes, to imperil his soul. But<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_265">265</a></span>
-whether she had been made aware of what was in
-contemplation we are ignorant.</p>
-
-<p>The final scene took place on the succeeding day.
-At nine o’clock the scaffold was ready, and Sir John
-Gates, with young Lord Warwick, were brought
-forth to receive Communion in the chapel (“Memorandum,”
-says the chronicler again, “the Duke of
-Somerset’s sons stood by”). By one after the other,
-their abjuration had been made, and the priest
-present had offered what comfort he might to the
-men appointed to die.</p>
-
-<p>“I would,” he said, “ye should not be ignorant
-of God’s mercy, which is infinite. And let not
-death fear you, for it is but a little while, ye know,
-ended in one half-hour. What shall I say? I
-trust to God it shall be to you a short passage
-(though somewhat sharp) out of innumerable miseries
-into a most pleasant rest&mdash;which God grant.”</p>
-
-<p>As the other prisoners were led out the Duke and
-Sir John Gates met at the garden gate. Northumberland
-spoke.</p>
-
-<p>“Sir John,” he said, “God have mercy on us,
-for this day shall end both our lives. And I pray
-you, forgive me whatsoever I have offended; and
-I forgive you, with all my heart, although you and
-your counsel was a great occasion thereof.”</p>
-
-<p>“Well, my Lord,” was the reply, “I forgive you,
-as I would be forgiven. And yet you and your
-authority was the only original cause of all together.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_266">266</a></span>
-But the Lord pardon you, and I pray you forgive
-me.”</p>
-
-<p>So, not without a recapitulation of each one’s
-grievance, they made obeisance, and the Duke
-passed on. Again, “the Duke of Somerset’s sons
-stood thereby”&mdash;the words recur like a sinister
-refrain.</p>
-
-<p>The end had come. Standing upon the scaffold,
-the Duke put off his damask gown; then, leaning on
-the rail, he repeated the confession of faith made on
-the previous day, begging those present to remember
-the old learning, and thanking God that He
-had called him to be a Christian. With his own
-hands he knit the handkerchief about his eyes,
-laid him down, and so met the executioner’s
-blow.</p>
-
-<p>Gates followed, with few words. Sir Thomas
-Palmer, having witnessed the ghastly spectacle, came
-last. That morning, whilst preparations for the
-executions were being made, he had been walking
-in the Lieutenant’s garden, observed, says that
-“resident in the Tower” in whose diary so many
-incidents of this time have been preserved, to seem
-“more cheerful in countenance than when he was
-most at liberty in his lifetime”; and when the
-end was at hand, he met it, as some men did meet
-death in those days, with undaunted courage, and
-with a heroism not altogether unaffected by dramatic
-instinct.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_267">267</a></span>
-Though apparently implicitly included amongst the
-prisoners who had made their peace with the Church,
-he is not recorded to have taken any prominent part
-in the affair, and his dying speech dealt with no controversial
-matters, but with eternal verities confessed
-alike by Catholic and Protestant. At his trial he had
-denied that he had ever borne arms against the Queen;
-though, charged with having been present when others
-did so, he acknowledged his guilt. He now passed
-that matter over, with a brief admission that his fate
-had been deserved at God’s hands: “For I know it
-to be His divine ordinance by this mean to call me
-to His mercy and to teach me to know myself, what
-I am, and whereto we are all subject. I thank His
-merciful goodness, for He has caused me to learn
-more in one little dark corner in yonder Tower than
-ever I learned by any travail in so many places as I
-have been.” For there he had seen God; he had
-seen himself; he had seen and known what the
-world was. “Finally, I have seen there what death
-is, how near hanging over every man’s head, and yet
-how uncertain the time, and how unknown to all
-men, and how little it is to be feared. And why
-should I fear death, or be sad therefore? Have
-I not seen two die before mine eyes, yea, and within
-the hearing of mine ears? No, neither the sprinkling
-of the blood, or the shedding thereof, nor the
-bloody axe itself, shall not make me afraid.”</p>
-
-<p>Taking leave of all present, he begged their<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_268">268</a></span>
-prayers, forgave the executioner, and, master of
-himself to the last, kneeling, laid his head upon the
-block.</p>
-
-<p>“I will see how meet the block is for my neck,”
-he said, “I pray thee, strike me not yet, for I have
-a few prayers to say. And that done, strike in God’s
-name. Good leave have thou.”</p>
-
-<p>So the scene came to an end. The three rebels
-whose life Mary had taken&mdash;no large number&mdash;had
-paid the forfeit of their deed. That night the
-Lancaster Herald, a dependant of the Duke of
-Northumberland, more faithful to old ties and
-memories than those in higher place, sought the
-Queen, and begged of her his master’s head, that
-he might give it sepulture. In God’s name, Mary
-bade him take his lord’s whole body and bury him.
-By a curious caprice of destiny the Duke was laid to
-rest in the Tower at the side of Somerset.<a id="FNanchor_198" href="#Footnote_198" class="fnanchor">198</a> There,
-in the reconciliation of a common defeat, the ancient
-rivals were united.</p>
-
-<p>The three chief victims had thus paid the supreme
-penalty. The rest of the participators in Northumberland’s
-guilt, if not pardoned, were suffered to escape
-with life. Young Warwick had shared his father’s
-condemnation, and, finding that the excuse of youth
-was not to be allowed to avail in so grave a matter,
-had contented himself with begging that, out of his<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_269">269</a></span>
-goods, forfeited to the Crown, his debts might be
-paid. Returning to the Tower, he had afterwards
-followed his father’s example in abjuring Protestantism,
-and had listened, with the older victims, to the
-words addressed by the priest to the men appointed
-to die. Whether or not he had been aware that
-he was to be spared, Mass concluded, he had been
-taken back to his lodging and had not shared the
-Duke’s fate.</p>
-
-<p>Northampton’s defence had been a strange one.
-He had, he said, forborne the execution of any
-public office during the interregnum and, being
-intent on hunting and other sports, had not shared
-in the conspiracy. The plea was not allowed to
-stand, but though he, like Warwick, was condemned,
-he was likewise permitted to escape with life. As
-Warwick’s youth may have made its appeal to
-Mary, so she may have remembered that Northampton
-was the brother of her dead friend, Katherine Parr,
-and have allowed that memory to save him.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Jane’s fate had hung in the balances. By
-some she was still considered a menace to the
-stability of her cousin’s throne. Charles V.’s ambassadors,
-representing to the Queen the need of
-proceeding with caution in matters of religion, urged
-the necessity of executing punishment upon the more
-guilty of those who had striven to deprive her of
-her crown, clemency being used towards the rest.
-In which class was Jane to be included? The<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_270">270</a></span>
-determination of that question would decide her
-fate. At an interview between Mary and Simon
-Renard, one of the Emperor’s envoys, it was
-discussed, the Queen declaring that she could not
-make up her mind to send Lady Jane to the scaffold;
-that she had been told that, before her marriage with
-Guilford Dudley, she had been bestowed upon
-another man by a <i xml:lang="fr" lang="fr">contrat obligatoire</i>, rendering the
-subsequent tie null and void. Mary drew from
-this hypothetical fact the inference that her cousin
-was not the daughter-in-law of the Duke of
-Northumberland’s, adding that she had had no
-share in his undertaking, and that, as she was
-innocent, it would be against her own conscience
-to put her to death.</p>
-
-<p>Renard demurred. He said, what was probably
-true, that it was to be feared that the alleged contract
-of marriage had been invented to save Lady Jane;
-and it would be necessary at the least to keep her
-a prisoner, since many inconveniences might be
-expected were she set at liberty. To this Mary
-agreed, promising that her cousin should not be
-liberated without all precautions necessary to ensure
-that no ill results would follow.<a id="FNanchor_199" href="#Footnote_199" class="fnanchor">199</a></p>
-
-<p>This interview must have taken place shortly
-before Northumberland’s death; for on August 23
-the Emperor, to whom it had been duly reported,
-was replying by a reiteration of his opinion that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_271">271</a></span>
-all those who had conspired against the Queen, as
-well as any concerned in Edward’s death, should be
-chastised without mercy. He advised that the
-executions should take place simultaneously, so that
-the pardon of the less guilty should follow without
-delay. If Mary was unable to resolve to put
-“Jeanne de Suffolck” to death, she ought at least
-to relegate her to some place of security, where she
-could be kept under supervision and rendered
-incapable of causing trouble in the realm.</p>
-
-<p>That Mary had decided upon this course is clear,
-and there is no reason to believe that Lady Jane
-would have suffered death had it not been for
-her father’s subsequent conduct. In the meantime,
-she remained a prisoner in the Tower, and on
-August 29, eleven days after the executions on
-Tower Hill, she is shown to us in one of the rare
-pictures left of her during the time of her captivity.
-On that day&mdash;a Tuesday&mdash;the diarist in the Tower, admitted
-to dine at the same table as the royal prisoner,
-placed upon record an account of the conversation.</p>
-
-<p>Besides Lady Jane, who sat at the end of the
-board, there was present the narrator himself, one
-Partridge,<a id="FNanchor_200" href="#Footnote_200" class="fnanchor">200</a> and his wife&mdash;it was in “Partridge’s
-house,” or lodging within the Tower, that the
-guests met&mdash;with Lady Jane’s gentlewoman and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_272">272</a></span>
-her man. Her presence had been unexpected by
-the diarist, as he was careful to explain, excusing
-his boldness in having accepted Partridge’s invitation
-on the score that he had not been aware that she
-dined below.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Jane did not appear anxious to stand on
-her dignity. Desiring guest and host to be covered,
-she drank to the new-comer and made him welcome.
-The conversation turned, naturally enough, upon the
-conduct of public affairs, of which Lady Jane was
-inclined to take a sanguine view.</p>
-
-<p>“The Queen’s Majesty is a merciful Princess,”
-she observed. “I beseech God she may long continue,
-and send His merciful grace upon her.”</p>
-
-<p>Religious matters were discussed, Lady Jane
-inquiring as to who had been the preacher at
-St. Paul’s the preceding Sunday.</p>
-
-<p>“I pray you,” she asked next, “have they Mass
-in London?”</p>
-
-<p>“Yea, forsooth,” was the answer, “in some
-places.”</p>
-
-<p>“It may be so,” she said. “It is not so strange
-as the sudden conversion of the late Duke. For
-who would have thought he would have so done?”
-negativing at once and decidedly the suggestion
-made by some one present that a hope of escaping
-his imminent doom and winning pardon from the
-Queen might supply an explanation of his change
-of front.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_273">273</a></span>
-“‘Pardon?’ repeated the dead man’s daughter-in-law.
-‘Woe worth him! He hath brought me
-and our stock into most miserable calamity and
-misery by his exceeding ambition. But for the
-answering that he hoped for life by his turning,
-though other men be of that opinion, I utterly am
-not. For what man is there living, I pray you,
-although he had been innocent, that would hope
-of life in that case; being in the field against the
-Queen in person as general, and, after his taking,
-so hated and evil spoken of by the commons? and
-at his coming into prison so wondered at as the like
-was never heard by any man’s time? Who was
-judge that he should hope for pardon, whose life
-was odious to all men? But what will ye more?
-Like as his life was wicked and full of dissimulation,
-so was his end thereafter. I pray God I, nor no
-friend of mine, die so. Should I who [am] young
-and in my fewers [few years?] forsake my faith for
-the love of life? Nay, God forbid, much more he
-should not, whose fatal course, although he had
-lived his just number of years, could not have long
-continued. But life was sweet, it appeared; so he
-might have lived, you will say, he did [not] care
-how. Indeed the reason is good, he that would have
-lived in chains, to have had his life, by like would
-leave no other means attempted. But God be merciful
-to us, for He saith, whoso denyeth Him before
-men, He will not know in His Father’s Kingdom.’”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_274">274</a></span>
-The conviction of Northumberland’s daughter-in-law
-that his recantation had not been a mere
-device designed to lengthen his days may be allowed
-in some sort to weigh in favour of the man she
-hated; and it is also fair to remember that if his
-first abjuration may be accounted for by a lingering
-hope that it might purchase life, any such expectation
-must have been abandoned before the final repetition
-of it upon the scaffold. In Lady Jane’s eyes, however,
-there seems to have been little to choose
-between a sham apostacy and a genuine reversion
-to his older creed.</p>
-
-<p>“With this and much like talk the dinner passed
-away,” and with exchange of courtesies the little
-company separated. The brief shaft of light throwing
-Lady Jane’s figure into relief fades and leaves her
-once more in the shadow&mdash;a shadow that was to
-deepen above her till the end. It was early days of
-captivity still. Yet one discerns something of the
-passionate longing of the prisoner for freedom in
-her wonder that life in chains could be accounted
-worth any sacrifice.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_275">275</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXI"></a>CHAPTER XXI<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Mary’s marriage in question&mdash;Pole and Courtenay&mdash;Foreign suitors&mdash;The
-Prince of Spain proposed to her&mdash;Elizabeth’s attitude&mdash;Lady
-Jane’s letter to Hardinge&mdash;The coronation&mdash;Cranmer in
-the Tower&mdash;Lady Jane attainted&mdash;Letter to her father&mdash;Sentence
-of death&mdash;The Spanish match.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">To</span> Mary there were at present matters of more
-personal and pressing moment than the fate
-of her ill-starred cousin. It was essential that the
-kingdom should be provided as quickly as possible
-with an heir whose title to the throne should admit
-of no question. Mary was no longer young and
-there was no time to lose. The question in all
-men’s minds was who was to be the Queen’s
-husband. Amongst Englishmen, Pole, who, though
-a Cardinal, was not in priest’s orders, and Courtenay,
-the prisoner of the Tower, were both of royal blood,
-and considered in the light of possible aspirants to
-her hand. The first, however, was soon set aside,
-as disqualified by age and infirmity. Towards
-Courtenay she appeared for a time not ill-disposed.
-His unhappy youth, his long captivity, may have
-told in his favour in the eyes of a woman herself
-the victim of injustice and misfortune. He was<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_276">276</a></span>
-young, not more than twenty-seven, handsome&mdash;called
-by Castlenau “l’un des plus beaux entre les
-jeunes seigneurs de son âge”&mdash;and the Queen
-cherished a special affection for his mother. He
-had been restored to the forfeited honours of his
-family, had been made Earl of Devonshire and
-Knight of the Bath. Gardiner also, whose opinion
-carried weight, was an advocate of the match. But
-on his enfranchisement from prison the young
-man had not used his liberty wisely. His head
-turned by the position already his, and the chance
-of a higher one, he had started his household on
-a princely scale, inducing many of the courtiers to
-kneel in his presence. Follies such as these Mary
-might have condoned, although the fact that she
-directed her cousin to accept no invitations to dinner
-without her permission indicates the exercise of a
-supervision somewhat like that to be kept over an
-emancipated schoolboy. But at a moment when he
-was aspiring to the highest rank to be enjoyed by
-any subject, his moral misconduct was matter
-of public report and sufficient to deter any woman
-from becoming his wife. He was also headstrong
-and self-willed, “so difficult to guide,” sighed
-Noailles, “that he will believe nobody; and as
-one who has spent his life in a tower, seeing
-himself now in the enjoyment of entire liberty,
-cannot abstain from its delights, having no fear of
-those things which may be placed before him.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_277">277</a></span>
-To these causes, rather than to the romantic
-passion for Elizabeth attributed to Courtenay by
-some other writers, Dr. Lingard attributes Mary’s
-refusal to entertain the idea of becoming his wife.
-“In public she observed that it was not for her
-honour to marry a subject, but to her confidential
-friends she attributed the cause to the immorality
-of Courtenay.”<a id="FNanchor_201" href="#Footnote_201" class="fnanchor">201</a></p>
-
-<p>Her two English suitors disposed of, it remained
-to select a husband from amongst foreign princes&mdash;the
-King of Denmark, the Prince of Spain, the
-Infant of Portugal, the Prince of Piedmont, being
-all under consideration. A few months ago Mary
-had been a negligible quantity in the marriage
-market; she had now become one of the most
-desirable matches in Europe. She was determined
-to follow in her choice the advice of the
-Emperor; and the Emperor had hitherto abstained
-from proffering it, contenting himself with negativing
-the candidature of the son of the King of the
-Romans. It was not until September 20 that, in
-answer to her repeated inquiries, he instructed his
-ambassadors to offer her the hand of his son;
-requesting that the matter should be kept secret,
-even from her ministers of State, until he had been
-informed whether she was inclined to accept his
-suggestion.<a id="FNanchor_202" href="#Footnote_202" class="fnanchor">202</a> The contents of the Emperor’s despatch<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_278">278</a></span>
-must have been communicated to the Queen immediately
-before her coronation on September 30;
-but not being as yet made public there was nothing
-to interfere with the loyal rejoicings of the people,
-to whom the very idea of the Spanish match would
-have been abhorrent.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the attitude of Elizabeth was increasing
-the desire of the Catholic party that a direct heir
-should be born to the Catholic Queen. The nation
-was insensibly dividing itself into two camps, and
-the Protestant and Catholic parties eyed one another
-with suspicion, each looking to the sister who shared
-its faith for support. The enthusiasm displayed
-towards Elizabeth by a section of the people was not
-conducive to the continuance of affectionate relations
-between the Queen and the next heir to the
-throne, Pope Julius describing the younger sister
-as being in the heart and mouth of every one.
-Elizabeth was in a position of no little difficulty.
-She desired to continue on good terms with the
-Queen; she was not willing to relinquish her chief
-title to honour in Protestant eyes; and it is possible
-that genuine religious sentiment, a sincere preference
-for the creed she professed, may have added to her
-embarrassment. It may have been due to conviction
-that she declined to bow to her sister’s wishes by
-attending Mass, refusing so much as to be present
-at the ceremonial which created Courtenay Earl
-of Devonshire. It was satisfactory to know that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_279">279</a></span>
-Protestant England looked on and applauded. It
-was less pleasant to hear that some of the Queen’s
-hot-headed friends, interpreting her refusal as an act
-of disrespect to their mistress, had demanded&mdash;though
-vainly&mdash;her arrest; and though on September 6
-Noailles reported to his master that on
-the previous Saturday and Sunday the Princess had
-proved deaf to the arguments of preachers and the
-solicitations of Councillors, and had gone so far as to
-make a rude reply to the last, she suddenly changed
-her tactics, fell on her knees, weeping, before Mary,
-and begged that books and teachers might be supplied
-to her, so that she might perhaps see cause to alter
-the faith in which she had been brought up. The
-expectation seems to have been promptly realised.
-On September 8 she accompanied the Queen to
-Mass, and, expressing an intention of establishing a
-chapel in her house, wrote to the Emperor to
-ask permission to purchase the ornaments for it
-in Brussels.</p>
-
-<p>It was a season of sudden conversions. Elizabeth
-was not the only person who saw the wisdom of
-conforming in appearance or in sincerity to the
-standard set up by the Queen. Hardinge, a chaplain
-of the Duke of Suffolk’s&mdash;he must have succeeded
-to the post of the worthy Haddon&mdash;had recognized
-his errors; and it is believed that to him a letter
-of Lady Jane’s&mdash;though signed with her unmarried
-name&mdash;was addressed. Printed in English, and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_280">280</a></span>
-abroad, perhaps through the instrumentality of her
-former tutor, Aylmer, it is an epistle of expostulation,
-reproof, and warning, couched in the violent language
-of the time. To her “noble friend, newly fallen
-from the truth” she writes, marvelling at him, and
-lamenting the case of one who, once the lively
-member of Christ, was now the deformed imp of
-the devil, and from the temple of God was become
-the kennel of Satan&mdash;with much more in the same
-strain. It has not been recorded what effect, if any,
-the missive produced upon the delinquent to whom
-it was addressed.</p>
-
-<p>Elizabeth, for her part, had effectually made
-her peace with her sister. The coronation, on
-October 10, found their relations restored to a
-pleasant footing, and Elizabeth’s proper place at
-the ceremony was assured to her. To Mary, a sad
-and lonely woman, the reconciliation must have been
-welcome. To Elizabeth the material advantages
-of standing on terms of affection with the Queen
-will have appealed more strongly than motives
-of sentiment; and that her attitude was surmised
-by those about her would seem to be shown by
-a curious incident reported in the despatches of the
-imperial ambassador.</p>
-
-<p>As the younger sister bore the crown to be placed
-upon Mary’s head, she complained to M. de Noailles,
-who stood near, of its weight. It was heavy, she
-said, and she was weary.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_281">281</a></span>
-The Frenchman replied with a flippant jest,
-overheard by Charles’s ambassador, though Noailles
-himself, perhaps convicted of indiscretion, makes
-no mention of it in his account of the day’s proceedings.
-Let Elizabeth have patience, he replied.
-When the crown should shortly be upon her own
-head it would appear lighter.<a id="FNanchor_203" href="#Footnote_203" class="fnanchor">203</a></p>
-
-<p>Outwardly all was as it should be. Mary held
-her sister’s hand in an affectionate clasp, assigning
-to her the place of honour next her own at the
-ensuing banquet, and court and nation looked on
-and were edified.</p>
-
-<p>Gardiner, now not only Bishop of Winchester
-but Lord Chancellor, had performed the rites of the
-coronation, in the absence of the Archbishops, both
-in confinement. The Tower had been once more
-opening its hospitable doors, and a fortnight earlier
-its resident diarist had noted Cranmer’s arrival.
-“Item, the Bishop of Canterbury was brought
-into the Tower as prisoner, and lodged in the
-Tower over the gate anenst the water-gate, where
-the Duke of Northumberland lay before his death.”</p>
-
-<p>Nor was Cranmer the only churchman to find
-a lodging there. Doctor Ridley had preceded
-him to the universal prison-house, and on the
-same day that the Archbishop took up his residence
-in it “Master Latimer was brought to the Tower
-prisoner; who at his coming said to one Rutter,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_282">282</a></span>
-a warder there, ‘What, my old friend, how do you?
-I am now come to be your neighbour again,’ and
-was lodged in the garden in Sir Thomas Palmer’s
-lodging.”</p>
-
-<p>Ominous quarters both! It was a day when
-the great fortress received, and discharged, many
-guests.</p>
-
-<p>If Cranmer had drawn his imprisonment upon
-himself, the imprudence to which it was due did
-him honour. He had at first been treated by
-Mary with an indulgence the more singular when
-it is remembered that he had been the instrument
-of her mother’s divorce, and a strenuous
-supporter of Lady Jane. Prudence would have
-dictated the adoption on his part of a policy of
-silence; but, confined to his house at Lambeth,
-and regarding with the bitterness inevitable in a
-man of his convictions the steps in course of being
-taken for the restoration of the ancient worship,
-the news that Mass had been once again celebrated
-in Canterbury Cathedral, and that it was commonly
-reported that it had been done with his consent
-and connivance, was too much for him. Feeling
-the need of clearing himself from what he regarded
-as a damaging imputation, he wrote and spread
-abroad a declaration of his faith and opinions,
-adding to it a violent attack upon the rites of
-the Catholic Church. By Mary and her advisers
-the challenge could scarcely have been ignored;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_283">283</a></span>
-and it was this document, read to the people in
-the streets, which was the cause of the Archbishop
-being called before the Council and committed to
-the Tower on a charge of treason accompanied by
-the spreading abroad of seditious libels.<a id="FNanchor_204" href="#Footnote_204" class="fnanchor">204</a></p>
-
-<p>The Tower continued to be, in some sort,
-the centre of all that was going forward. On
-September 27, two days before the coronation,
-Mary had again visited the fortress whither she
-had so nearly escaped being brought in quite another
-character and guise. Elizabeth came with her, and
-she was attended by the whole Council&mdash;just as they
-had, not three months before, attended upon Jane,
-the innocent usurper. And somewhere in the
-great dark building the little Twelfth-night Queen
-must have listened to the pealing of the joy-bells
-and to the acclamations of the people who had
-kept so ominous a silence when she herself had
-made her entry. Perhaps young Guilford Dudley
-too, who a week or two before had been accorded
-“the liberty of the leads on Beacham’s Tower,”
-may have stood above, catching a glimpse of the
-show, and remembering the day when he and his
-wife had their boy-and-girl quarrel, because she
-would not make him a King.</p>
-
-<p>The two questions of the hour were those
-relating to the Queen’s marriage and to matters
-of religion. When Parliament met on October 5,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_284">284</a></span>
-the news of the Spanish match had not been announced,
-and the bills of chief interest passed were
-one dealing with the important point of the validity
-of Katherine of Aragon’s marriage, and a second,
-which, avoiding any discussion of the Papal
-supremacy, the only thoroughly unpopular article
-of the Catholic creed, cancelled recent legislation
-on ecclesiastical matters, and restored the ritual
-in use during the last year of Henry’s reign. The
-other important measure carried in this session was
-the attainder of Cranmer, Lady Jane and her
-husband, and Sir Ambrose Dudley.</p>
-
-<p>So far as Lady Jane was concerned the step was
-purely formal, intended to serve as a warning to
-her friends, and it was understood on all hands that
-a pardon would be granted to the guiltless figure-head
-of the conspiracy. Yet to a nervous child,
-not yet seventeen, there may well have been something
-terrifying in the sentence hanging over her,
-and it seems to have been about this time that she
-addressed a letter to her father which could scarcely
-have been otherwise conceived had she expected in
-truth to suffer the penalty due to treason.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_284" class="figcenter" style="width: 600px;">
- <img src="images/i_284.jpg" width="600" height="359" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From an etching by W. Hollar.</p>
- <p class="up1 right smaller">Photo by W.&nbsp;A. Mansell &amp; Co.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>THE TOWER OF LONDON.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>“If I may without offence rejoice in mine own
-mishap,” she wrote, “meseems in this I may
-account myself blessed, that washing mine hands
-with the innocency of my fact, my guiltless blood
-may cry before the Lord, mercy, mercy to the
-innocent. And yet I must acknowledge that being<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_285">285</a></span>
-constrained, and, as you wot well enough, continually
-assailed, in taking upon me I seemed to consent, and
-therein offended the Queen and her laws, yet do I
-assuredly trust that this mine offence towards God
-is much the less, in that being in so royal an estate
-as I was, mine enforced honour never agreed with
-mine innocent heart.”<a id="FNanchor_205" href="#Footnote_205" class="fnanchor">205</a></p>
-
-<p>The trial was held on November 13, on which
-day Cranmer, with Guilford, and his brother, and
-Lady Jane, were all conducted on foot to the
-Guildhall to answer the charge of treason.</p>
-
-<p>The Archbishop led the way, followed by young
-Dudley. After them came Lady Jane, a childish
-figure of woe, dressed in black, with a French hood,
-also black, a book bound in black velvet hanging at
-her side, and another in her hand.</p>
-
-<p>Her condemnation was a foregone conclusion,
-and, pleading guilty, she was sentenced to death,
-by the axe or by fire, according to the old brutal
-law dealing with a woman convicted of treason.
-As she returned to the Tower a demonstration took
-place in her honour, not unlikely to be productive
-of some uneasiness to those in power, and little
-calculated to serve her cause.</p>
-
-<p>The London populace were more favourably
-disposed towards her in misfortune, than in her
-brief period of prosperity. The sight of the
-forlorn pair, still no more than boy and girl,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_286">286</a></span>
-touched and moved the multitude, and crowds
-accompanied them to their place of captivity. It
-is said that this was the solitary occasion upon
-which she and Guilford Dudley met during their
-imprisonment.</p>
-
-<p>Another cause, besides simple pity, was perhaps
-responsible for the tenderness displayed towards
-the Queen’s rival. A week or two before the trial
-the news of the Spanish match had been made
-known to the public, and may have had the effect
-of suggesting doubts as to the wisdom of the
-enthusiastic welcome given to Mary. At the
-beginning of November the affair had been undecided,
-and Gardiner was telling the Emperor’s
-envoy candidly that, if the Queen asked his advice,
-he would counsel her to choose an Englishman for
-her husband. The nation, he added, was deeply
-prejudiced against foreign domination, especially in
-the case of Spaniards, and the proposed union
-would also produce war with France.</p>
-
-<p>Mary’s mind, however, was made up, nor had
-she any intention of being swayed by Gardiner’s
-advice. On the night of October 30 she took
-the singular step of summoning the ambassador,
-Simon Renard, to her apartment; when, in the
-presence of the Blessed Sacrament, and after repeating
-on her knees the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Veni Creator</i>, she gave
-him her promise to wed the Prince of Spain. In
-the face of the curious determination thus shown<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_287">287</a></span>
-to bind herself by a contract irrevocable in her own
-eyes, it is strange to find historians attributing to
-her a continued leaning towards Courtenay.</p>
-
-<p>When the fact got abroad that the Emperor’s
-son was destined to become the Queen’s husband,
-London thrilled with indignation; whilst Parliament
-made its sentiments plain by means of a deputation
-which, in an address containing an entreaty that
-she would marry, expressed a hope that her choice
-would fall upon an Englishman. But Mary was
-a Tudor. Dispensing with the customary medium
-of the Chancellor, she gave her reply in person.
-Thanking the petitioners for their zeal, she declared
-herself disposed to act upon their advice and to
-take a husband. It was, however, for herself alone
-to select one, according to her inclination, and for
-the good of her kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>Simon Renard, reporting the scene, observed that
-her speech had been applauded by the nobles present,
-Arundel informing the Chancellor in jest that he
-had been deprived of his office, since the Queen
-had undertaken the functions belonging to it.
-In the pleasantry the Emperor’s envoy detected a
-warning that should Gardiner continue his opposition
-to the match he would not long retain his present
-post.<a id="FNanchor_206" href="#Footnote_206" class="fnanchor">206</a></p>
-
-<p>The Bishop yielded. He may have agreed with
-Renard. At all events, the Queen being determined,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_288">288</a></span>
-and recognising that he was unable to deter her
-from the measure upon which she had decided,
-he took the prudent step of putting himself on her
-side. His opposition removed, Renard was able
-to inform his master, on December 17, that Mary
-had received him in open daylight, had informed
-him that the necessity for secrecy was at an end,
-and that she regarded her marriage as a thing
-definitely and irrevocably fixed.<a id="FNanchor_207" href="#Footnote_207" class="fnanchor">207</a></p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_289">289</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXII"></a>CHAPTER XXII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1553-1554</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Discontent at the Spanish match&mdash;Insurrections in the country&mdash;Courtenay
-and Elizabeth&mdash;Suffolk a rebel&mdash;General failure of
-the insurgents&mdash;Wyatt’s success&mdash;Marches to London&mdash;Mary’s
-conduct&mdash;Apprehensions in London, and at the palace&mdash;The
-fight&mdash;Wyatt a prisoner&mdash;Taken to the Tower.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">When</span> the year 1553 drew towards its close
-there was nothing to indicate that any
-catastrophe was at hand. The crisis appeared to
-be past and no further danger to be apprehended.
-Northumberland and his principal accomplices had
-paid the penalty of their treason. Suffolk, with
-lesser criminals, had been allowed to escape it; the
-rest of the confederates had been practically pardoned.
-If some were still in confinement it was
-understood to be without danger to life or limb.
-In the Tower Lady Jane and her husband lay
-formally under sentence of death, but the conditions
-of their captivity had been lightened; on
-December 18 Lady Jane was accorded “the liberty
-of the Tower,” and was permitted to walk in the
-Queen’s garden and on the hill; Guilford and
-his brother&mdash;Elizabeth’s Leicester&mdash;were allowed
-the liberty of the leads in the Bell Tower. Both<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_290">290</a></span>
-Northampton and young Warwick&mdash;who did not
-long survive his enfranchisement&mdash;had been released.
-No further chastisement seemed likely to be inflicted
-in expiation of the late attempt to keep Mary
-out of her rights.</p>
-
-<p>Yet discontent was on the increase. As early as
-November steps had been taken to induce Courtenay
-to head a new conspiracy. He was timid and
-faint-hearted, and urged delay, and nothing had,
-so far, come of it. It would be well, he said, advocating
-a policy of procrastination, to wait to be
-certain that the Queen was determined upon the
-Spanish match before taking hazardous measures to
-oppose it.<a id="FNanchor_208" href="#Footnote_208" class="fnanchor">208</a></p>
-
-<p>Thus Christmas had found the country ostensibly
-at peace, and the prisoners in the Tower with no
-reason to fear any change for the worse in their
-condition. On the following day the thunder
-of the cannon discharged as a welcome to the
-Emperor’s ambassadors sounded in their ears, and
-was, though they were ignorant of it, the prelude
-of their destruction. The arrival of envoys expressly
-charged with the marriage negotiations put
-the matter beyond doubt; nor was England in a mood
-to submit passively to a union it hated and feared.</p>
-
-<p>By January 2 the Counts of Egmont and Laing
-and the Sieur de Corriers had reached the capital;
-landing at the Tower, where they were greeted<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_291">291</a></span>
-with a salute from the guns, and met by the Earl
-of Devonshire, who escorted them through the
-City. “The people, nothing rejoicing, held down
-their heads sorrowfully.” When on the previous
-day the retinue of the Spanish envoys had ridden
-through the town, more forcible expression had been
-given to public opinion, and they had been pelted
-with snowballs.<a id="FNanchor_209" href="#Footnote_209" class="fnanchor">209</a></p>
-
-<p>Matters were pressed quickly on. By January 13
-the formal announcement of the unpopular arrangement,
-with its provisions, was made by Gardiner in
-the Presence-chamber at Westminster to the lords
-and nobles there assembled; hope could no longer
-be entertained that the Queen would be otherwise
-persuaded. “These news,” adds the Tower diarist,
-“although they were not unknown to many and
-very much disliked, yet being now in this wise
-pronounced, was not only credited, but also heavily
-taken of sundry men; yea, and almost each man
-was abashed, looking daily for worse matters to
-grow shortly after.”</p>
-
-<p>They did not look in vain. The unpopularity of
-the Spanish match was the direct cause of the
-insurrections which soon broke out. Indirectly it
-was the cause of the death of Lady Jane Grey.</p>
-
-<p>Wild tales were afloat, rousing the passions of the
-angry people to fever-heat. Some reports stated
-that Edward was still alive; others asserted that<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_292">292</a></span>
-the tower and the forts were to be seized and held
-by an imperialist army; abuse of every kind was
-directed against the Prince of Spain and his nation.
-Mary was said to have given her pledge that she
-would marry no foreigner, and by the breach of
-this promise she was declared to have forfeited the
-crown. Fresh schemes were set on foot for a
-rising in the spring. It does not appear that the
-substitution of Lady Jane for her cousin was again
-generally contemplated. That plan had resulted
-in so complete a failure that it had probably been
-tacitly admitted that the arrangement would not
-work. But the eyes of many were turning towards
-Elizabeth. She was to wed Courtenay, and they
-were jointly to occupy the throne. The two
-principally concerned were not likely to have refused
-to fall in with the project had it seemed to offer a fair
-chance of success, and France was in favour of it.</p>
-
-<p>“By what I hear,” wrote Noailles, “it will be
-by my Lord Courtenay’s own fault if he does not
-marry her, and she does not follow him to Devonshire,”&mdash;the
-selected centre of operations&mdash;“but the
-misfortune is that the said Courtenay is in such
-fear that he dares undertake nothing. I see no
-reason that prevents him save lack of heart.”</p>
-
-<p>Courtenay was in truth not the stuff of which
-conductors of revolutions are made. Gratitude
-and loyalty would not have availed to keep
-him true to Mary, and in able hands he might<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_293">293</a></span>
-have become the instrument of a rebellion. But
-Gardiner found no difficulty in so playing on his
-apprehensions as to lead him to divulge the plots
-that were on foot; and his revelations, or betrayals,
-whichever they are to be called, precipitated the
-action of the conspirators. If their enterprise was
-to be attempted, no time must be lost.<a id="FNanchor_210" href="#Footnote_210" class="fnanchor">210</a></p>
-
-<p>On January 20 it became known that Devonshire
-was in arms, “resisting the King of Spain’s coming,”
-and that Exeter was in the hands of the insurgents.
-By the 25th the Duke of Suffolk, with his two
-brothers, Lord John and Lord Leonard Grey, had
-fled from his house at Sheen, and gone northwards
-to rouse his Warwickshire tenants to insurrection.
-It was currently reported that he had narrowly
-escaped being detained, a messenger from the Queen
-having arrived as he was on the point of starting,
-with orders that he should repair to Court.</p>
-
-<p>“Marry,” said the Duke, “I was coming to
-her Grace. Ye may see I am booted and spurred
-ready to ride, and I will but break my fast and go.”</p>
-
-<p>Bestowing a present upon the messenger, he gave
-him drink, and himself departed, no one then knew
-whither.</p>
-
-<p>That same day tidings had reached the Council
-that Kent had risen, Sir Thomas Wyatt at its head,
-with Culpepper, Cobham, and others, alleging, as
-their sole motives, resistance to the Prince of Spain,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_294">294</a></span>
-and the removal of certain lords from the Council
-Board. Sir John Crofts had proceeded to Wales
-to call upon it to join the insurrectionary movement.</p>
-
-<p>The country being thus in a turmoil the two
-persons who should have taken the lead and
-upon whom much of the success of the insurgents
-depended were playing a cautious game. Courtenay
-was at Court, and Elizabeth remained at Ashridge
-to watch the event, no doubt prepared to shape
-her course accordingly. A letter addressed to
-her by her partisans, counselling her withdrawal
-to Dunnington, as to a place of greater safety, had
-been intercepted by the authorities; and she had
-received an invitation, or command, to join her sister
-at St. James’s, where, it was significantly added, she
-would be more secure than either at Ashridge or
-Dunnington. On the score of ill-health she
-disobeyed the summons, fortifying the house, and
-assembling around it some numbers of armed
-retainers.</p>
-
-<div id="ip_294" class="figcenter" style="width: 423px;">
- <img src="images/i_294.jpg" width="423" height="600" alt="" />
- <p class="p0 in0 smaller">From a photo by Emery Walker after a painting by Joannes Corvus in the National Portrait Gallery.</p>
- <div class="caption"><p>HENRY GREY, DUKE OF SUFFOLK, K.G.</p></div></div>
-
-<p>The hopes built by the insurgents upon the general
-discontent throughout the country were doomed to
-disappointment. It was one thing to disapprove of
-the Queen’s choice; it was quite another to take
-up arms against her. Devonshire proved cold;
-most of the leaders there were seized, or compelled
-to make their escape to France; Crofts had been
-pursued to Wales, and was arrested before he had
-time to rally any support in the principality.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_295">295</a></span>
-Suffolk had done no better in the Midlands.
-Authorities are divided as to his intentions. By
-Dr. Lingard it is considered uncertain whether
-he meant to press Elizabeth’s claims or to revive
-those of his daughter. With either upon the
-throne the dominance of the Protestant religion
-would have been ensured, and, unlike Northumberland,
-Suffolk was sincere and honest in his attachment
-to the principles of the Reformation. Other writers,
-however, assert categorically that he caused Lady
-Jane to be proclaimed at his halting-places as he
-went north; and the sequel seems to make it
-probable that she had been once more forced into
-a position of dangerous prominence.</p>
-
-<p>Whatever may have been the exact nature of
-the scheme he propounded, the country made no
-response to his appeal; after a skirmish near Coventry
-he gave up hopes of any immediate success, disbanded
-his followers, and, betrayed by a tenant
-upon whose fidelity he had believed he could count,
-fell into the hands of those in pursuit of him. By
-February 10 he had gone to swell the numbers
-of the prisoners in the Tower.</p>
-
-<p>The rising in Kent had alone answered in any
-degree to the expectations of its promoters.
-Drawn into the conspiracy, if his own assertions
-are to be credited, by Courtenay, Wyatt had
-become the most conspicuous leader of the insurrection
-known by his name. He was well<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_296">296</a></span>
-fitted for the post. Brave, skilful, and secret, he
-was, says Noailles, “un gentilhomme le plus vaillant
-et assuré que j’ai jamais ouï parler”; and whether
-or not he had been deserted by the man to whom
-it was due that he had taken up arms, he was
-not disposed to submit to defeat without a struggle.</p>
-
-<p>Fixing his headquarters at Rochester, he had
-gathered together a body of some fifteen thousand
-men, and was there found by the Duke of Norfolk,
-sent at the head of the Queen’s forces against him.
-The utmost enthusiasm prevailed amongst the
-insurgents, and when a herald arrived in Rochester
-commissioned by the Duke to proclaim a pardon
-for all who would consent to lay down arms, “each
-man cried that they had done nothing wherefore
-they should need any pardon, and that quarrel
-which they took they would die and live in it.”<a id="FNanchor_211" href="#Footnote_211" class="fnanchor">211</a>
-Sir George Harper was in fact the sole rebel who
-accepted the proffered boon.</p>
-
-<p>Worse was to follow. At the first encounter
-of the royal troops with the Kentish men Captain
-Bret, leading five hundred Londoners, went over
-to the rebels, explaining in a spirited speech
-the grounds for his desertion, the miseries which
-might be expected to befall the nation should the
-Spaniards bear rule over it, and expressing his
-determination to spend his blood “in the quarrel
-of this worthy captain, Master Wyatt.”<a id="FNanchor_212" href="#Footnote_212" class="fnanchor">212</a></p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_297">297</a></span>
-It was an ominous beginning to the struggle,
-and at the applause greeting Bret’s announcement,
-the Duke of Norfolk, the Earl of Ormond, and
-Jerningham, Captain of the Guard, fled. Wyatt,
-taking instant advantage of the situation, rode
-in amongst the Queen’s troops, crying out that
-any who desired to join him should be welcome
-and that those who wished might depart.</p>
-
-<p>Most of the men accepted the alternative of
-throwing in their lot with Wyatt and his company,
-leaving their leaders to return without them to
-London. “Ye should have seen,” adds the diarist,
-from whom these details and many others of this
-episode are taken, “some of the Guard come home,
-their coats turned, all ruined, without arrows or
-string in their bow, or sword, in very strange wise;
-which discomfiture, like as it was very heart-sore
-and displeasing to the Queen and Council, even so
-it was almost no less joyous to the Londoners and
-most part of others.”</p>
-
-<p>With the capital in this temper, the juncture
-was a critical one. Wyatt was marching on London,
-and who could say what reception he would meet
-with at the hands of the discontented populace?
-The fact that he was encountered at Deptford by a
-deputation from the Council, sent to inquire into his
-demands, is proof of the apprehensions entertained.
-The interview did not end amicably. Flushed
-with victory, Wyatt was not disposed to be moderate.<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_298">298</a></span>
-To Sir Edward Hastings, who asked the reason why,
-calling himself a true subject, he played the part of
-a traitor, he answered boldly that he had assembled
-the people to defend the realm from the danger of
-being overrun by strangers, a result which must
-follow from the proposed marriage of the Queen.</p>
-
-<p>Hastings temporised. No stranger was yet come
-who need be suspected. Therefore, if this was
-their only quarrel, the Queen would be content
-they should be heard.</p>
-
-<p>“To that I yield,” returned Wyatt warily, “but
-for my further surety I would rather be trusted
-than trust.”</p>
-
-<p>In carrying out this principle of caution it was
-reported that he had pressed his demand for confidence
-so far as to require that the custody of
-the Tower, and the Queen’s person within it,
-should be conceded to him. If this was the case,
-he can scarcely have felt much surprise that the
-negotiations were brought to an abrupt conclusion,
-Hastings replying hotly that before his traitorous
-conditions should be granted, Wyatt and twenty
-thousand with him should die. And thus the
-conference ended.<a id="FNanchor_213" href="#Footnote_213" class="fnanchor">213</a></p>
-
-<p>London was in a ferment. Mayor, aldermen,
-and many of the citizens went about in armour,
-“the lawyers pleaded their causes in harness,” and
-when Dr. Weston said Mass before the Queen on<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_299">299</a></span>
-Ash Wednesday he wore a coat of mail beneath
-his vestments. There had been no need to bid
-the Spanish ambassadors to depart, those gentlemen
-having prudently decamped as speedily as possible.
-Upon February 2 Mary in person proceeded to
-the Guildhall, and, there meeting the chief amongst
-the citizens, made them a speech which was an
-admirable combination of appeal and independence,
-and showed that if outwardly she bore no resemblance
-to father or sister the Tudor spirit was alive in her.
-She had come, she said, to tell them what they
-already knew&mdash;of the treason of the Kentish rebels,
-who demanded the possession of her person, the
-keeping of the Tower, and the placing and displacing
-of her counsellors.</p>
-
-<p>That day marked the crisis in the progress of
-the insurrection. Mary’s visit to the Guildhall had
-taken place on February 2. When on the following
-day Wyatt, leaving Deptford, marched to Southwark
-the tide had turned. His followers were falling
-away; no other part of the country was in arms
-to support him; and his position was becoming
-desperate. His daring, nevertheless, did not fail.
-A price had been put upon his head, and, aware
-of the proclamation, he caused his name to be
-“fair written,” and set it on his cap. The act of
-bravado was characteristic of the spirit of the
-popular leader.</p>
-
-<p>Meantime the measures to be taken against him<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_300">300</a></span>
-were anxiously discussed. On the 4th Sir Nicholas
-Poynings, on duty at the Tower, waited upon the
-Queen to receive her orders, and to learn whether
-the ordnance was to be directed upon Southwark,
-and the houses knocked down upon the heads of
-Wyatt and his men, quartered in that district.</p>
-
-<p>Mary, to her honour, refused to authorise the
-drastic mode of attack.</p>
-
-<p>“Nay,” she replied, “that were pity; for many
-poor men and householders are like to be undone
-there and killed. For, God willing, they shall be
-fought with to-morrow.”</p>
-
-<p>The innocent were not to be involved in the
-destruction of the guilty. Her decision was unwelcome
-at the Tower. The night before Sir John
-Bridges had expressed his surprise to the sentinel
-on duty that the rebels had not yet been fought.</p>
-
-<p>“By God’s mother,” he added, “I fear there is
-some traitor abroad, that they be suffered all this
-while. For surely if it had been about my sentry
-[or beat] I would have fought with them myself,
-by God’s grace.”</p>
-
-<p>Wyatt, strangely enough, was no less pitiful than
-the Queen. Although she had refused permission
-for the discharge of the guns, they had been directed
-by those responsible for them upon the spot where
-the rebel body was stationed; and, in terror of
-a cannonade, the inhabitants, men and women,
-approached the insurgent leader “in most lamentable<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_301">301</a></span>
-wise,” setting forth the danger his presence was
-bringing upon them, and praying him for the love of
-God to have pity. The appeal was not made in vain.</p>
-
-<p>“At which words he, being partly abashed, stayed
-awhile, and then said these, or much like words,
-‘I pray you, my friends, content yourselves a
-little, and I will soon ease you of this mischief.
-For God forbid that you, or the least child here,
-should be hurt or killed on my behalf,’ and so in
-most speedy manner marched away.”</p>
-
-<p>A meeting was to have taken place before sunrise
-with some of the disaffected in the City. By
-this means it had been hoped that a surprise
-might be contrived. But a portion of Kingston
-Bridge, where the river was to be crossed, had
-been destroyed; time was lost in repairing it,
-and the assignation at Ludgate was missed. The
-scheme had supplied Wyatt’s last chance and
-failure was staring him in the face. Rats were
-leaving the sinking vessel. The Protestant
-Bishop of Winchester, who had hitherto lent the
-countenance of his presence in the camp to the
-insurgents, fled beyond seas; Sir George Harper,
-having rejoined Wyatt’s forces, deserted for the
-second time, and made his way to St. James’s to
-give warning to the Court of the approach of the
-rebel leader.</p>
-
-<p>Such being the condition of things, it is singular
-to find that at the palace something like a panic<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_302">302</a></span>
-was prevailing. Mary was entreated by her ministers
-to seek safety at the Tower; and, though deciding
-in the end to remain at her post, she appears at first
-to have been inclined to act upon the suggestion.
-A plan of action was determined upon in a hurried
-consultation. Wyatt, it was agreed, was to be permitted
-to reach the City, with a certain number of
-his followers, and having been thus detached from
-the main body of his troops it was hoped that he
-would be trapped and seized.</p>
-
-<p>In the meantime arrangements were made for
-the defence of the Queen and the palace. Edward
-Underhyll, the Hot-Gospeller for whose child Lady
-Jane had stood godmother six months earlier, and
-who was on duty as a gentleman-pensioner at St.
-James’s, has left a graphic account of the scene
-there that night, and of the terror of the Queen’s
-ladies when the pensioners, armed with pole-axes,
-were placed on guard in their mistress’s apartments.
-The breach of etiquette appears to have struck them
-as an earnest of the peril to which it was owing.
-Was such a sight ever seen, they cried, wringing
-their hands, that the Queen’s chamber should be
-full of armed men?</p>
-
-<p>Underhyll, for his part, soon received his
-dismissal. As the usher charged with the duty
-looked at the list of the pensioners before calling
-them over, his eye was caught by the well-known
-name of the Hot-Gospeller.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_303">303</a></span>
-“By God’s Body,” he said, “that heretic shall
-not watch here!” and Underhyll, taking his men
-with him, and professing satisfaction at his exemption
-from duty, went his way.</p>
-
-<p>By the morning he had reconsidered the matter,
-and thought it well to ignore his rebuff and return
-to his post. For the present, he joined company
-with one of the Throckmortons, who had just left
-the palace after reporting there the welcome tidings
-of the capture of the Duke of Suffolk at Coventry,
-the two proceeding together to Ludgate, intending
-to pass the remainder of the night in the City.
-The gate, however, was found to be fast locked, and
-those on guard within explained, with much ill-timed
-laughter, to the tired wayfarers outside, that they
-were not entrusted with the keys, and could give
-admittance to none.</p>
-
-<p>It was disconcerting intelligence to men in search
-of a lodging and repose; and Throckmorton, in
-especial, fresh from his hurried journey, felt that
-he was hardly treated.</p>
-
-<p>“I am weary and faint,” he complained, “and I
-wax now cold.” No man would open his door in
-this dangerous time, and he would perish that night.
-Such was his piteous lament.</p>
-
-<p>Underhyll, a man of resource, had a plan to
-propose.</p>
-
-<p>“Let us go to Newgate,” he suggested. He
-thought himself secure of an entrance there into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_304">304</a></span>
-the city. At the worst, he had acquaintances within
-the prison&mdash;like most men at that day&mdash;having
-recently been in confinement there. The door of
-the keeper of the gaol was without the gate, and
-Underhyll entertained no doubts of finding a
-hospitable reception in his old quarters. Throckmorton,
-it was true, declared at first that he would
-almost as soon die in the street as seek so ill-omened
-a refuge; but in the end the two proceeded thither,
-and, a friend of Underhyll’s being fortunately in
-command of the guard placed outside the gate, the
-wanderers were permitted to enter the City.</p>
-
-<p>Whilst consternation and alarm were felt at
-the palace at the tidings of Wyatt’s approach,
-the rebel leader himself must have been aware that
-the game had been played and lost. Yet he
-kept up a bold front, and refused to acknowledge
-that he was beaten.</p>
-
-<p>“Twice have I knocked, and not been suffered
-to enter,” he was reported to have said. “If I
-knock the third time I will come in, by God’s
-grace.”</p>
-
-<p>They were brave words. An incident of his march
-to Kingston nevertheless sounds the note of a consciousness
-of impending defeat. Meeting, as he went,
-a merchant of London who was known to him, he
-charged him with a greeting to his fellow-citizens.
-“And say unto them from me that when liberty
-and freedom was offered them they would not accept<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_305">305</a></span>
-it, neither would they admit me within their gates,
-who for their freedom and the disburthening of
-their griefs and oppression by strangers would have
-frankly spent my blood in that their cause and
-quarrel; ... therefore they are the less to be
-bemoaned hereafter when the miserable tyranny of
-strangers shall oppress them.”</p>
-
-<p>It may be that by some amongst the men to
-whom the message was sent his words were remembered
-thereafter.</p>
-
-<p>Still the insurgents pushed on. By nine in
-the morning Knightsbridge was reached. Disheartened,
-weary, and faint for lack of food, they
-were in no condition to stand against the Queen’s
-troops. But the mere fact of their vicinity was
-disquieting to those in no position to form a
-correct estimate of their strength or weakness, and
-when Underhyll returned to the palace he found
-confusion and turmoil there.</p>
-
-<p>His men were stationed in the hall, which was
-to be their special charge. Sir John Gage, with
-part of the guard, was placed outside the gate, the
-rest of the guard were within the great courtyard;
-the Queen occupying the gallery by the gatehouse,
-whence she could watch what should befall.</p>
-
-<p>This was the disposition of the defenders, when
-suddenly a body of the rebels made their way to
-the very gates of the palace. A struggle took place;
-Gage and three of the judges who had been with<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_306">306</a></span>
-him retreated hurriedly within the gates, Sir John,
-who was old, stumbling in his haste and falling in the
-mire. Within all was in disorder. The gates had
-clanged to behind Gage, his soldiers, and the men
-of law, as they gained the shelter of the courtyard.
-Without the rebels were using their bows and
-arrows. The guard stationed in the outer court,
-attempting to make good their entrance to the hall,
-were forcibly ejected by the gentlemen pensioners
-in charge of it. Poor Gage&mdash;“so frighted that he
-could not speak to us”&mdash;and the three judges, also
-in such terror that force would have been necessary
-to keep them out, were alone admitted to the
-comparative safety it afforded.</p>
-
-<p>There was in truth little reason for alarm. The
-manœuvre decided upon during the night had
-been executed. The Queen’s troops, Pembroke at
-their head, had deliberately permitted Wyatt to
-break through their lines, and, with some hundreds
-of his men, to proceed eastward. Behind him the
-enemy had closed up, and he was separated from
-the main body of the rebels, thus left leaderless to
-be engaged by the royal forces. The Queen’s
-orders had been successfully carried out. But to
-the anxious watchers in the palace the affair may
-have worn the aspect of a defeat, if not of a treason,
-and there were not wanting those who suspected
-Pembroke of a betrayal of his trust. A shout was
-raised that all was lost.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_307">307</a></span>
-“Away, away! a barge, a barge!&mdash;let the Queen
-be placed in safety!” was the cry.</p>
-
-<p>Again Mary was to show that she was a Tudor.
-She would not beat a retreat before rebels. Where,
-she inquired, was the Earl of Pembroke? and
-receiving the answer that he was in the field,
-“Well then,” she said, “fall to prayer, and I
-warrant you that we shall have better news anon,
-for my lord will not deceive me, I know well. If
-he would, God will not, in Whom my chief trust
-is, Who will not deceive me.”</p>
-
-<p>Though it was well to have confidence in God,
-men with arms in their hands would have liked to
-use them, and the pensioners entreated Sir Richard
-Southwell, in authority within the palace, to have
-the gates opened that they might try a fall with
-the enemy; else, they threatened, they would break
-them down. It was too much shame that the
-doors should be shut upon a few rebels.</p>
-
-<p>Southwell was quite of the same mind; and,
-interceding with Mary, obtained her leave for the
-pensioners to have their way, provided they would
-not go out of her sight, since her trust was in
-them&mdash;a command she reiterated as, the gates being
-thrown open, the band marched under the gallery,
-where she still kept her place. It was not long
-before her confidence in the commander of the royal
-troops was justified, and news was brought that
-put an end to all fear. Wyatt was taken.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_308">308</a></span>
-At the head of that body of his men who
-had been allowed to clear the enemy’s lines, he had
-ridden on towards the City, had passed Temple
-Bar and Fleet Street, till Ludgate was reached.
-There he halted. He had kept his tryst, fulfilled
-the pledge he had given, and knocked, as he had
-promised, at the gate. Let them open to him;
-Wyatt was there&mdash;successful so long, he may have
-thought there was magic in the name&mdash;Wyatt was
-there; the Queen had granted their requests.</p>
-
-<p>The City remained unmoved; and, in terms of
-insult, Sir William Howard refused him entrance.</p>
-
-<p>“Avaunt, traitor,” he said, barring the way,
-“thou shalt not come in here.”</p>
-
-<p>It was the last blow. The poor chance that
-the City might have lent its aid had constituted the
-single remaining possibility of a retrieval of the
-fortunes of the insurrection. That vanished, the
-end was inevitable. London had blustered, had
-expressed its detestation for the Spanish match,
-had paraded its Protestantism; it was now plain
-that it had not meant business, and the man who
-had taken it at its word was doomed.</p>
-
-<p>A strange little scene followed&mdash;a scene forming
-an interlude, as it were, in the tumult and excitement
-of the hour. It may be that the effects of the
-strain and fatigue of the last weeks, of the hopes
-and fears that had filled them, of the march of
-the night before, unlightened by any genuine<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_309">309</a></span>
-anticipation of victory, were suddenly felt by the
-man who had borne the burden and heat of the day.
-At any rate, turning without further parley, he
-made his way back to the Bel Savage Inn, and there
-“awhile stayed, and, as some say, rested him upon
-a seat.” Sitting there, trapped by his enemies, in
-“the shirt of mail, with sleeves very fair, velvet
-cassock, and the fair hat of velvet with broad
-bone-work lace” he had worn that day, he may
-have looked on and seen the future bounded by
-a scaffold. Then, rousing himself, he rose, and
-returned by the way he had come, until Temple Bar
-was reached.</p>
-
-<p>Though the combat was there renewed, all must
-have known that further resistance was vain, and at
-length, yielding to a remonstrance at the shedding
-of useless blood, Wyatt consented to acknowledge
-his defeat and to yield himself a prisoner to Sir
-Maurice Berkeley. He had fought the battle of
-many men who had taken no weapon in hand to
-support him. When false hopes had at one time
-been entertained of his success “many hollow hearts
-rejoiced in London at the same.” But scant
-sympathy will have been shown to the vanquished.</p>
-
-<p>It remained to consign the captives to the
-universal house of detention. By five o’clock in
-the afternoon, as the spring day was closing in,
-Wyatt and five of his comrades had been conducted
-to the Tower by Jerningham. They arrived by<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_310">310</a></span>
-water, and were met at the bulwark by Sir Philip
-Denny, who greeted the prisoners with words of
-fierce upbraiding.</p>
-
-<p>“Go, traitor,” he said, as Wyatt passed by, “there
-was never such a traitor in England.”</p>
-
-<p>Wyatt turned upon him.</p>
-
-<p>“I am no traitor,” he answered. “I would thou
-should well know thou art more traitor than I; and
-it is not the part of an honest man to call me so.”</p>
-
-<p>He was right; but courtesy to the defeated was
-no article of the code of the day. At the Tower
-Gate Sir John Bridges, the Lieutenant, stood, likewise
-ready to receive and to revile his prisoners.
-To each in turn he addressed some varied form of
-abuse, taking Wyatt, who came last, by the collar
-“in very rigorous manner,” and shaking him.</p>
-
-<p>“‘Thou villain and unhappy traitor,’ he cried, ...
-‘if it were not that the law must justly pass upon
-thee, I would strike thee through with my dagger.’</p>
-
-<p>“To whom Wyatt made no answer, but, holding
-his arms under his side, and looking grievously
-with a grim look upon the said Lieutenant, said,
-‘It is no mastery now,’ and so they passed on.”</p>
-
-<p>Thus ended Wyatt’s rebellion. Together with
-her father’s treason, it had sealed Lady Jane’s fate,
-and that of the boy-husband who shared her
-captivity.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_311">311</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="CHAPTER_XXIII"></a>CHAPTER XXIII<br />
-
-<span class="subhead">1554</span>
-
-<span class="subhead">Lady Jane and her husband doomed&mdash;Her dispute with Feckenham&mdash;Gardiner’s
-sermon&mdash;Farewell messages&mdash;Last hours&mdash;Guilford
-Dudley’s execution&mdash;Lady Jane’s death.</span></h2>
-</div>
-
-<p class="drop-cap"><span class="smcap1">Those</span> anxious days when the fortunes of
-England and its Queen appeared once more
-to hang in the balance had sealed the fate of the
-prisoners in the Tower. They must die. Mary had
-been warned that the clemency shown to her little
-cousin was unwise; she had struggled against the
-counsellors who had striven to convince her that
-the usurper, so long as she lived, was a menace
-to the peace of the realm, and the stability of her
-government. Their warnings had been justified,
-and Jane must pay the penalty.</p>
-
-<p>What was to be done was to be done quickly.
-It was perhaps feared that, with leisure to reconsider
-the matter, the Queen would even now retract her
-consent to deliver up the victim; nor was there
-any excuse for delay. The boy and girl already lay
-under sentence of death; it was only necessary
-to carry it into effect. So far as this life was
-concerned Lady Jane’s doom was fixed.</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_312">312</a></span>
-It remained to take thought for her soul. With
-death staring them in the face, many had been lately
-found willing to conform their faith to the Queen’s.
-Why should it not be so with the Queen’s cousin?
-To compass this object Mary’s chaplain, Dr.
-Feckenham, the new Dean of St. Paul’s, was sent to
-plead with the captive, and to strive to reconcile
-her with God and the Church before she went hence.</p>
-
-<p>The ambassador was well chosen. Learned and
-devout, he had been bred a Benedictine, and had,
-under Henry VIII., suffered imprisonment on account
-of his faith; until Sir Philip Hoby, in his
-own words, “borrowed him of the Tower.” Since
-then it had been his habit to hold disputations,
-“earnest yet modest,” according to Fuller, in defence
-of his religion, and was honoured by Mary
-and Elizabeth alike. This was the man to whom
-was entrusted the difficult task of convincing Lady
-Jane of her errors. It was scarcely to be anticipated
-that he would succeed, but he seems to have
-performed the thankless duty laid upon him with
-gentleness and good feeling.</p>
-
-<p>Arrived at the Tower&mdash;his whilom place of captivity&mdash;Feckenham,
-after some preliminary courtesies,
-disclosed the object of his visit, adding certain
-persuasive arguments, to which the prisoner made
-reply that he had delayed too long, and time
-was over-short to allow her to give attention to
-these matters. The answer, in whatever sense it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_313">313</a></span>
-was meant, was sufficiently ambiguous to afford a
-sanguine and anxious man grounds for hope that,
-with leisure for discussion, he might win a favourable
-hearing; considering his proposed convert
-“in very good dispositions,” he went to seek the
-Queen; and, describing his interview, had no difficulty
-in inducing her to grant a three-days’ reprieve.
-Friday, February 9, had been at first appointed for
-the execution, and when&mdash;for reasons undisclosed
-to the public&mdash;it was deferred until the following
-Monday, the change may have given rise in some
-quarters to expectations unwarranted by the event.
-There were those determined to hold Mary to her
-purpose.</p>
-
-<p>On Sunday, the 11th, Gardiner preached before
-the Queen, dealing first with the doctrine of free
-will; secondly, with the institution of Lent; thirdly,
-with the necessity of good works; and fourthly,
-with Protestant errors. After which he came to
-the practical question in all men’s minds. He
-asked a boon of the Queen’s Highness&mdash;that, like
-as she had beforetime extended her mercy, particularly
-and privately, so through her lenity and
-gentleness much conspiracy and open rebellion were
-grown, according to the proverb, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">nimia familiaritas
-parit contemptum</i>, which he brought in for the
-purpose that she would now be merciful to the
-body of the Commonwealth and conservation
-thereof, which could not be unless the rotten and<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_314">314</a></span>
-hurtful members thereof were cut off and consumed.
-“And thus he ended soon after, whereby all the
-audience did gather there should shortly follow
-sharp and cruel execution.”<a id="FNanchor_214" href="#Footnote_214" class="fnanchor">214</a></p>
-
-<p>Whether or not Gardiner’s discourse was directed
-against a tendency to waver in her intention on
-the part of his mistress, it was proved that there
-was nothing in that direction to be apprehended.
-Meantime, armed with the boon he had obtained,
-Feckenham had returned to the Tower, to beg the
-captive to make use of the reprieve for the salvation
-of her soul.</p>
-
-<p>Lady Jane’s reply was not encouraging. She
-had not, she told him, intended her words to be
-repeated to the Queen; she had already abandoned
-worldly things, had no thought of fear, and
-was prepared to meet death patiently in whatsoever
-form might please the Queen. To the flesh it
-was indeed painful, but her soul was joyful at
-quitting this darkness, and rising, as by God’s
-mercy she hoped to rise, to eternal light.<a id="FNanchor_215" href="#Footnote_215" class="fnanchor">215</a></p>
-
-<p>It was not to be expected that the priest,
-a good man, full of zeal for his religion and of
-solicitude for the dying culprit, would consent to
-relinquish, without an effort, the attempt to utilise
-the respite he had been granted. Of what followed
-accounts vary, according to the theological proclivities<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_315">315</a></span>
-of the narrator of the scene, an early
-pamphlet asserting that Feckenham, finding himself,
-in reasoning, “in all holy gifts so short of [Lady
-Jane’s] excellence that he acknowledged himself
-fitter to be her disciple than teacher, thereupon
-humbly besought her to deliver unto him some
-brief sum of her faith which he might hereafter
-keep, and as a faithful witness publish to the world;
-to which she willingly condescended, and bade him
-boldly question her in what points of religion soever
-it pleased him.”<a id="FNanchor_216" href="#Footnote_216" class="fnanchor">216</a></p>
-
-<p>The attitude ascribed to Queen Mary’s chaplain
-would seem more likely to be due to imagination
-than to fact. It appears, however, that a species
-of “catechising argument” did in truth take place
-in the presence of witnesses, an account of which
-was set down in writing, and received Lady Jane’s
-signature. The only result of the discussion was
-the strengthening rather than shaking of her convictions;
-and though it was not until she stood
-upon the scaffold that the last farewells of the
-disputants were taken, Feckenham must soon have
-been aware that his efforts would be made in
-vain. It may be hoped that to the imagination
-of the chronicler is again to be ascribed the
-manner of the parting of the two on this first
-occasion, when, feeling himself to be worsted in
-argument, Feckenham is said to have “grown into<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_316">316</a></span>
-a little choler,” and used language unsuitable to his
-gravity, received with smiles and patience by the
-cause of his irritation. It is further stated that to
-a final speech of her visitor, to the effect that he
-was sorry for her obstinacy, and was certain that
-they would meet no more, Lady Jane, not altogether
-with the meekness attributed to her, retorted that
-his words were indeed most true, since, unless he
-should repent, he was in a sad and desperate case,
-and she prayed God that, as He had given him
-His great gift of utterance, He might open his
-heart to His truth.<a id="FNanchor_217" href="#Footnote_217" class="fnanchor">217</a></p>
-
-<p>So the days passed, and the fatal one was at hand.
-On Saturday, February 10, the Duke of Suffolk,
-with his brother, Lord John Grey, had been brought
-prisoners to the Tower; but it does not appear that
-any meeting took place between father and daughter,
-and Lady Jane’s leave-taking was made in writing;
-sentences of farewell being inscribed by her and her
-husband in a manual of prayers belonging, as is
-conjectured, to the Lieutenant of the Tower, and
-used by her on the scaffold. In this volume three
-sentences were written.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>“Your loving and obedient son,” wrote Guilford,
-“wisheth unto your Grace long life in this world,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_317">317</a></span>
-with as much joy and comfort as ever I wished to
-myself, and in the world to come joy everlasting.</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">
-<span class="smcap">G. Duddeley.</span>”
-</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>Jane’s farewell followed:</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>“The Lord comfort your Grace, and that in His
-word wherein all creatures only are to be comforted.
-And though it has pleased God to take away two
-of your children, yet think not, I most humbly
-beseech your Grace, that you have lost them, but
-trust that we, by leaving this mortal life, have won
-an immortal life. And I, for my part, as I have
-honoured your Grace in this life, will pray for you
-in another life.</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">
-<span class="l4">“Your Grace’s humble daughter,</span><br />
-“<span class="smcap">Jane Duddeley</span>.”
-</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>The same book bears another inscription addressed
-to the Lieutenant of the Tower, Bridges,
-apparently at his own request.</p>
-
-<blockquote>
-
-<p>“Forasmuch as you have desired,” Jane wrote,
-“so simple a woman to write in so worthy a book,
-good Master Lieutenant, therefore I shall as a
-friend desire you, and as a Christian require you,
-to call upon God to incline your heart to His laws,
-to quicken you in His way, and not to take the
-word of truth utterly out of your mouth. Live
-still to die, that by death you may purchase eternal
-life, and remember the end of Methuselah, who, as<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_318">318</a></span>
-we read in the Scriptures, was the longest liver that
-was of a man, died at the last; for as the preacher
-saith, there is a time to be born and a time to die,
-and the day of death is better than the day of our
-birth. Yours, as the Lord knoweth, as a friend,</p>
-
-<p class="sigright">
-“<span class="smcap">Jane Duddeley</span>.”
-</p></blockquote>
-
-<p>Such an admonition to the Lieutenant, written
-when death was very near, is characteristic. It
-was ever Lady Jane’s custom to use her pen, and
-the habit clung to her. Tradition asserts that
-three sentences, the one in Greek, the other in
-Latin, and the third in English, were written by
-her in yet another book; and though it has been
-argued that she would have been in no condition
-to compose epigrams in the dead languages at a
-moment when death was staring her in the face,
-there is nothing improbable in the story, unsupported
-as it is by evidence. As a man lives, he dies; and
-Jane had been a scholar and a moralist from her
-cradle.</p>
-
-<p>“If justice dwells in my body”&mdash;thus the
-sentences are said to have run&mdash;“my soul will
-receive it from the mercy of God.&mdash;Death will pay
-the penalty of my fault, but my soul will be justified
-before the Face of God.&mdash;If my fault merited
-chastisement, my youth, at least, and my imprudence,
-deserved excuse. God and posterity will show me
-grace.”</p>
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_319">319</a></span>
-A letter of exhortation addressed to her sister
-Katherine likewise remains, another proof of her
-desire to impress upon others the lessons life had
-taught her. Having been reading, the night
-before her death, in “a fair New Testament in
-Greek,” she found, on closing it, some few leaves
-of clean paper, unwritten, at the end of the volume,
-and made use of them to convey her final farewell
-to the sister she was leaving behind, giving it in
-charge to her servant as a token of love and
-remembrance. As might have been expected, with
-the thought of the morrow before her, death was
-the recurrent burden of her theme. “Live still
-to die,” she told little Katherine, as she had
-told the Lieutenant of the Tower, “and that by
-death you may purchase eternal life; and trust
-not that the tenderness of your age shall lengthen
-your life ... for as soon will the Lord be glorified
-in the young as in the old.... Once more let
-me entreat thee to learn to die.... Desire with
-St. Paul to be dissolved and to be with Christ, with
-whom even in death there is life.... As touching
-my death, rejoice as I do ... that I shall be
-delivered of this corruption and put on incorruption;
-for I am assured that I shall, for losing of a mortal
-life, win one that is immortal, joyful, and everlasting.”</p>
-
-<p>Another composition is extant, said to belong
-to this last period, and showing the writer, it<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_320">320</a></span>
-may be, in a more pathetic light than that thrown
-upon her by disputes with controversialists, or
-exhortations to those she left behind. This is
-a prayer, exhibiting not so much the premature
-woman as the child&mdash;a child, it is true, facing death
-with steadfast faith and resignation, but nevertheless
-frightened, unhappy, “unquieted with troubles,
-wrapped in cares, overwhelmed with miseries, vexed
-with temptations ... craving Thy mercy and help,
-without the which so little hope of deliverance is
-left that I may utterly despair of my liberty.”<a href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">218</a></p>
-
-<p>Of liberty it was, in truth, time to despair. It
-is said that for two hours on this last night two
-bishops, with other divines, made a vain attempt
-to accomplish the conversion that Feckenham had
-failed to effect<a id="FNanchor_218" href="#Footnote_218" class="fnanchor">218</a>; after which we may hope that,
-worn out and exhausted, the prisoner forgot her
-troubles in sleep. And so the night passed away.</p>
-
-<p>In another part of the great fortress young
-Guilford Dudley was also preparing for the end.
-It is said<a id="FNanchor_219" href="#Footnote_219" class="fnanchor">219</a> that, “desiring to give his wife the last
-kisses and embraces,” he begged for an interview,
-but that she refused the request&mdash;not disallowed by
-Mary&mdash;replying that, could sight have given souls
-comfort, she would have been very willing; that
-since it would only increase the misery of each,
-and bring greater grief, it would be best to put off<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_321">321</a></span>
-their meeting, since soon they would see each
-other in another place and live joined for ever by
-an indissoluble tie. If the story is true, there is
-something a little inhuman&mdash;or perhaps only
-belonging to the coldness of a child&mdash;in the wisdom
-which, at that moment, could weigh and balance
-the disadvantages of a leave-taking and refuse it.
-It is not, however, out of character.</p>
-
-<p>It had been at first intended that the two should
-suffer together on Tower Hill. Fearing the effect
-upon the populace, the order was cancelled, and it
-was decided that, whilst Guilford’s execution should
-take place as originally arranged, Lady Jane should
-meet her death within the precincts of the Tower
-itself. As the lad, led to his doom, passed below
-her window, the two looked upon each other for
-the last time. Young Dudley met the end bravely.
-Taking Sir Anthony Browne, John Throckmorton
-and others by the hand, he asked their prayers;
-then, attended by no priest or minister, he knelt
-to pray, “holding up his eyes and hands to God
-many times,” before the executioner did his work
-and he went to join the father who was responsible
-for his fate, “bewailed with lamentable tears” even
-by those of the spectators who till that day had
-never seen him.<a id="FNanchor_220" href="#Footnote_220" class="fnanchor">220</a></p>
-
-<p>A ghastly incident, variously recorded, followed.
-His body thrown into a cart, and his head wrapped<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_322">322</a></span>
-in a cloth, he was brought into the Tower chapel,
-where Lady Jane, having probably left her apartments
-on her way to her own place of execution,
-encountered the cart and those in charge of it,
-seeing the husband who had passed beneath her
-window a few minutes earlier living, taken from
-it a corpse&mdash;a sight to her, says the chronicler, no
-less than death. It “a little startled her,” observes
-another narrator, “and many tears were seen to
-descend and fall upon her cheeks, which her silence
-and great heart soon dried.”<a id="FNanchor_221" href="#Footnote_221" class="fnanchor">221</a> According to a
-third account, she addressed the dead.</p>
-
-<p>“Oh, Guilford, Guilford,” she is made to exclaim,
-“the antepast that you have tasted and I
-shall soon taste, is not so bitter as to make my
-flesh tremble; for all this is nothing to the feast
-that you and I shall partake this day in Paradise.”</p>
-
-<p>It had been ten o’clock when Guilford had left
-his prison. By the time that the first act of the
-tragedy was over, a scaffold had been erected upon
-the green over against the White Tower, and led
-by the Lieutenant, the chief victim was brought
-forth, “her countenance nothing abashed, neither
-her eyes moisted with tears,”<a id="FNanchor_222" href="#Footnote_222" class="fnanchor">222</a> as she moved onwards,
-a book in her hand&mdash;the same she gave afterwards
-to Sir John Bridges&mdash;from which she prayed all<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_323">323</a></span>
-the way until the scaffold was reached. With her
-were her two gentlewomen, Elizabeth Tylney and
-Eleyn, who both “wonderfully wept” as they
-accompanied their mistress; and Feckenham was
-also present, her kindly opponent, perhaps even
-now hoping against hope that success might crown
-his efforts. As the two stood together at the place
-of execution, she took him by the hand, and,
-embracing him, bade him leave her&mdash;desiring, it
-may be, to spare him the sight of what was to
-follow. Might God our Lord, she said, give him
-all his desires; she was grateful for his company,
-although it had given her more disquiet than, now,
-the fear of death.<a id="FNanchor_223" href="#Footnote_223" class="fnanchor">223</a></p>
-
-<p>Like most of her fellow-sufferers she had
-come prepared with a speech. That her sentence
-was lawful she admitted, but reasserted the absence
-on her part of any desire for her elevation to the
-throne, “touching the procurement and desire thereof
-by me or my half, I do wash my hands in
-innocency before God and the face of you, good
-Christian people, this day,” and therewith she wrung
-her hands, in which she had her book; proceeding
-to make confession of the faith in which she died,
-owning that she had neglected the word of God,
-and loved herself and the world, and thereby
-merited her punishment. “And yet I thank God
-that He hath thus given me time and respite to<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_324">324</a></span>
-repent. And now, good people, while I am alive,
-I pray you to assist me with your prayers.”</p>
-
-<p>After this, kneeling down, she turned to Feckenham,
-who had not availed himself of her suggestion
-that he should leave her.</p>
-
-<p>“Shall I say this psalm?” she asked him; and
-on his assenting repeated the <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">Miserere</i> in English,
-before, rising again, she prepared for the end, giving
-her book to Bridges, brother to the Lieutenant,
-who stood by, and her gloves and handkerchief to
-one of her ladies. With her own hands she untied
-her gown, rejecting the aid of the executioner, and,
-turning to her maids for assistance, removed her
-“frose paast”&mdash;probably some kind of head-dress&mdash;let
-down her hair, throwing it over her eyes, and
-knit a “fair handkerchief” about them.</p>
-
-<p>After kneeling for her forgiveness, the executioner
-directed her to take her place on the straw.</p>
-
-<p>“Then she said,</p>
-
-<p>“‘I pray you despatch me quickly.’</p>
-
-<p>“Then she kneeled down, saying,</p>
-
-<p>“‘Will you take it off before I lay me down?’</p>
-
-<p>“And the hangman answered her,</p>
-
-<p>“‘No, madame.’”</p>
-
-<p>The handkerchief was bound about her eyes,
-blinding her.</p>
-
-<p>“What shall I do?” she said, feeling for the
-block. “Where is it?”</p>
-
-<p>Then, as some one standing near guided her,<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_325">325</a></span>
-she laid down her head, and saying, “Lord, into
-Thy hands I commend my spirit,” met the blow
-of the executioner.</p>
-
-<p>Thus died Lady Jane Grey, most guiltless of
-traitors; who, to quote Fuller’s panegyric, possessed,
-at sixteen, the innocency of childhood, the
-beauty of youth, the solidity of middle, and the
-gravity of old, age; who had had the birth of a
-princess, the learning of a clerk, the life of a saint,
-and the death of a malefactor.</p>
-
-<hr />
-
-<p><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_326">326</a><a class="hidev" id="Page_327">327</a></span></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<h2><a id="INDEX"></a>INDEX</h2>
-</div>
-
-<ul class="index">
-<li class="ifrst">Annebaut, Admiral d’, French ambassador, <a href="#Page_33">33</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Arundel, Earl of, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249-51</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ascham, Roger, <a href="#Page_141">141-4</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ashley, Katherine, Princess Elizabeth’s governess, <a href="#Page_88">88-91</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ashridge, Princess Elizabeth at, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Askew, Anne, Trial and execution of, <a href="#Page_36">36-41</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Aylmer, John, Lady Jane’s tutor, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154-7</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Baker, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Barnes, Dr., burnt, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bath, Earl of, <a href="#Page_231">231</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Baynard’s Castle, Meeting at, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bel Savage Inn, Wyatt at, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Berkeley, Sir Maurice, Wyatt surrenders to, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bloody Statute, The, <a href="#Page_4">4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bodoaro, Venetian ambassador to Charles V., <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bonner, Dr., Bishop of London, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Borough, Lord, Katherine Parr’s first husband, <a href="#Page_19">19</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bradgate Park, <a href="#Page_25">25</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Brandon, Charles, Duke of Suffolk, <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bret, Captain, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bridges, Sir John, Lieutenant of the Tower, <a href="#Page_300">300</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a>, <a href="#Page_318">318</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bromley, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_204">204</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Browne, Sir Anthony, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_261">261</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bucer, the reformer, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Bullinger, Henry, <a href="#Page_145">145-55</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a>, <a href="#Page_211">211</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Burgoyne, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Calvin, <a href="#Page_159">159</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cecil, Secretary, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Charles V., The Emperor, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cheke, John, Edward VI.’s tutor, <a href="#Page_22">22</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Clerkenwell, Lady Jane visits Mary at, <a href="#Page_183">183</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Commendone, the Pope’s agent, <a href="#Page_262">262</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Corriers, Sieur de, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Courtenay, Edward, afterwards Earl of Devonshire, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_275">275-7</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_290">290</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292-4</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cox, Dr., tutor to Edward VI., <a href="#Page_22">22</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_328">328</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8-10</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_174">174</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>, <a href="#Page_285">285</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crofts, Sir John, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Crome, Dr., <a href="#Page_34">34</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Cromwell, Thomas, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">executed, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Culpeper, Thomas, <a href="#Page_11">11</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Darcy, Lord, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Day, Bishop, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Denmark, King of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Denny, Sir Anthony, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Deptford, Wyatt at, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Diego, Don, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dorset, Marchioness of, afterwards Duchess of Suffolk. <i>See</i> <a href="#Suffolk">Suffolk</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dorset, Marquis of, afterwards Duke of Suffolk. <i>See</i> <a href="#Suffolk">Suffolk</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Dudley, Lord Guilford, married to Lady Jane Grey, <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_237">237</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attainted and sentenced, <a href="#Page_284">284-6</a>, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">executed, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>, <a href="#Page_322">322</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Sir Ambrose, <a href="#Page_284">284</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <i>See</i> <a href="#Warwick">Warwick</a> and <a href="#Northumberland">Northumberland</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Edward, Prince, afterwards Edward VI., <a href="#Page_1">1</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">education, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relations with Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and with Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his coronation, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his uncles, <a href="#Page_83">83-85</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134-8</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169-71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">illness, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">religious scruples, <a href="#Page_176">176</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dying, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_199">199</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his will, <a href="#Page_202">202-7</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_209">209</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">funeral, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Egmont, Count of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eleyn, Lady Jane Grey’s attendant, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Elizabeth, Princess, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Seymour her suitor, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_78">78</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relations with Seymour, <a href="#Page_88">88-91</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">set aside by Edward’s will, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">enters London with Mary, <a href="#Page_253">253-5</a>, <a href="#Page_278">278</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Mary’s coronation, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_283">283</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_294">294</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Eyre, Christopher, <a href="#Page_122">122</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Feckenham, Dr., Dean of St. Paul’s, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a>, <a href="#Page_315">315</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_323">323</a>, <a href="#Page_324">324</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fitzpatrick, Barnaby, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_172">172</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Florio, Michel Angelo, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fowler, John, <a href="#Page_85">85</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Fuller, quoted, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_325">325</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Gage, Sir John, Constable of the Tower, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_305">305</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_42">42</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_175">175</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a>, <a href="#Page_288">288</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Garrard, burned, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Gates, Sir John, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sentenced, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">executed, <a href="#Page_266">266</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grey, Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">childhood and education, <a href="#Page_26">26</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relations with her cousins, <a href="#Page_28">28-30</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">consigned to Seymour’s custody, <a href="#Page_67">67</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_329">329</a></span></li>
-<li class="isub1">her parents’ severity, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">with Queen Katherine Parr, <a href="#Page_77">77</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reclaimed by her parents, <a href="#Page_100">100-104</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">sent back to Seymour, <a href="#Page_105">105-107</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">return to Bradgate, <a href="#Page_139">139</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">interview with Ascham, <a href="#Page_141">141-4</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">intercourse with Protestant divines, <a href="#Page_145">145-52</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">love of dress, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">visits Mary, <a href="#Page_173">173</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">letter to Bullinger, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">visit to Mary, <a href="#Page_183">183</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Tylsey, <a href="#Page_188">188</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her eulogists, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_191">191</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Florio’s description of her, <a href="#Page_192">192</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her marriage, <a href="#Page_196">196</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">made Edward’s heiress, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">receives the news, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_217">217-220</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Tower, <a href="#Page_220">220</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">quarrels with Guilford Dudley, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclaimed, <a href="#Page_223">223</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her reign, <a href="#Page_225">225</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">begs that her father may remain in London, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">takes leave of Northumberland, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">deposed, <a href="#Page_244">244-6</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">returns to Sion House, <cite>ibid.</cite>, <a href="#Page_264">264</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her fate uncertain, <a href="#Page_269">269</a>, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_271">271</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conversation in the Tower, <a href="#Page_271">271-4</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">letter to Hardinge <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">attainted, <a href="#Page_284">284</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">tried and sentenced, <a href="#Page_285">285</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">indulgence shown her, <a href="#Page_289">289</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her fate sealed, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">interviews with Feckenham, <a href="#Page_312">312</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314-16</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her written farewells, <a href="#Page_317">317-19</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">refuses to see Guilford Dudley, <a href="#Page_320">320</a>, <a href="#Page_321">321</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">meets his body, <a href="#Page_322">322</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her execution, <a href="#Page_323">323-5</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Grey, Lady Katherine, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lady Jane’s letter to, <a href="#Page_319">319</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Lord John, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Lord Leonard, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <i>See</i> <a href="#Suffolk">Suffolk</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Haddon, James, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179-83</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hardinge, Lady Jane’s letter to, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harper, Sir George, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_301">301</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Harrington, Lord Seymour’s servant, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_104">104</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hastings, Lord, <a href="#Page_196">196</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Sir Edward, <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Heath, Bishop, <a href="#Page_175">175</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Henry VIII., King, <a href="#Page_1">1</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">displeased with his wife, <a href="#Page_44">44</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">reconciled with her, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dying, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">death, <a href="#Page_56">56</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Herbert, Lady, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_75">75</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Lord, of Cherbury, quoted, <a href="#Page_44">44</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hertford, Lord, son of the Protector, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <i>See</i> <a href="#Somerset">Somerset</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hoby, Sir Philip, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hooper, Bishop, <a href="#Page_149">149</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Howard, Sir William, <a href="#Page_308">308</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Hunsdon, Mary at, <a href="#Page_184">184</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huntingdon, Earl of, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Huyck, Dr. Robert, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Jerningham, Captain of the Guard, <a href="#Page_297">297</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Jerome, burned, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Katherine, Queen, of Aragon, <a href="#Page_3">3</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Howard, Queen, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Parr, Queen, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">marriage to Henry, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her past, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">as Queen, <a href="#Page_17">17</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_330">330</a></span></li>
-<li class="isub1">Protestant sympathies, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">plot against her, <a href="#Page_43">43</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">her escape, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Queen-dowager, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">marriage to Lord Seymour, <a href="#Page_69">69-77</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">married life, <a href="#Page_80">80</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">illness and death, <a href="#Page_96">96-9</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Kett’s Rebellion, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Laing, Count of, <a href="#Page_290">290</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lane, Lady, Katherine Parr’s cousin, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_282">282</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Lord, Katherine Parr’s second husband, <a href="#Page_18">18</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lee, Sir Richard a, <a href="#Page_131">131</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Lovell, Thomas, <a href="#Page_236">236</a>, <a href="#Page_251">251</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Maeterlinck, quoted, <a href="#Page_78">78</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary Stuart, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_2">2</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <a id="Tudor"></a>Tudor, Princess, afterwards Queen, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29-32</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_76">76</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">quarrels with Council, <a href="#Page_174">174-7</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">visited by Ridley, <a href="#Page_184">184-6</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">set aside in Edward’s will, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">plot against, <a href="#Page_214">214</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">escape, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Kenninghall, <a href="#Page_226">226</a>, <a href="#Page_227">227</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">popular enthusiasm for, <a href="#Page_230">230</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">successful, <a href="#Page_238">238</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclaimed, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a>, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">enters London, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_254">254</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Tower, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a>, <a href="#Page_258">258</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269-71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">marriage question, <a href="#Page_275">275</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">coronation, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Spanish match, <a href="#Page_286">286</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at the Guildhall, <a href="#Page_299">299</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">conduct during Wyatt’s Rebellion, <a href="#Page_300">300</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_311">311</a>, <a href="#Page_313">313</a>, <a href="#Page_314">314</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Mary of Lorraine, Queen-Dowager of Scotland, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Michele, Venetian ambassador, <a href="#Page_198">198</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Montagu, Sir Edward, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Morysine, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_228">228</a>, <a href="#Page_229">229</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Newhall, Mary and Lady Jane at, <a href="#Page_173">173</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Noailles, French ambassador, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_276">276</a>, <a href="#Page_279">279</a>, <a href="#Page_280">280</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Norfolk, Duke of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">imprisoned, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_296">296</a>, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Northampton"></a>Northampton, Earl of, at first Lord Parr, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>, <a href="#Page_204">204</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Northumberland"></a>Northumberland, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_228">228</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Duke of, at first Earl of Warwick, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his unpopularity, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_169">169</a>, <a href="#Page_170">170</a>, <a href="#Page_171">171</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his schemes, <a href="#Page_189">189</a>, <a href="#Page_190">190</a>, <a href="#Page_193">193</a>, <a href="#Page_194">194</a>, <a href="#Page_195">195</a>, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_200">200</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his character, <a href="#Page_201">201</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dictates Edward’s will, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_203">203</a>, <a href="#Page_205">205</a>, <a href="#Page_206">206</a>, <a href="#Page_207">207</a>, <a href="#Page_208">208</a>, <a href="#Page_212">212</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his conspiracy, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">at Sion House with Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_218">218</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">commander of the forces, <a href="#Page_232">232-6</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">fall and arrest, <a href="#Page_247">247-51</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trial and sentence, <a href="#Page_259">259</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">recantation, <a href="#Page_263">263</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">burial, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">discussed by Lady Jane, <a href="#Page_272">272</a>, <a href="#Page_273">273</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Ormond, Earl of, <a href="#Page_297">297</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Owen, Dr., <a href="#Page_209">209</a><span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_331">331</a></span></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Paget, Lady, <a href="#Page_72">72</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Secretary, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>, <a href="#Page_247">247</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Palmer, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_262">262</a>, <a href="#Page_266">266</a>, <a href="#Page_267">267</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parkhurst, Rev. John, <a href="#Page_98">98</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parr, Lord. <i>See</i> <a href="#Northampton">Northampton</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Parry, Princess Elizabeth’s Cofferer, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_114">114</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Partridge’s lodging in the Tower, Lady Jane at, <a href="#Page_271">271</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pellican, Conrad, <a href="#Page_147">147</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pembroke, Earl of, <a href="#Page_196">196</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a>, <a href="#Page_222">222</a>, <a href="#Page_238">238</a>, <a href="#Page_241">241</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">proclaims Mary, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_306">306</a>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Petre, Secretary of the Council, <a href="#Page_240">240</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Philip, Prince of Spain, <a href="#Page_277">277</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_291">291</a>, <a href="#Page_292">292</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Piedmont, Prince of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pinkie, Battle of, <a href="#Page_128">128</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Pole, Cardinal, <a href="#Page_275">275</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Poor Pratte,” <a href="#Page_230">230</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Portugal, Infant of, <a href="#Page_277">277</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Powell, Dr., hanged, <a href="#Page_6">6</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Poynings, Sir Nicholas, <a href="#Page_300">300</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Raleigh, Sir Walter, quoted, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Renard, Simon, imperial envoy, <a href="#Page_270">270</a>, <a href="#Page_286">286</a>, <a href="#Page_287">287</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">“Resident in the Tower,” The, <a href="#Page_271">271</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Rich, Lord Chancellor, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Richmond, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Ridley, Bishop, <a href="#Page_184">184-6</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_281">281</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Russell, Lord, Privy Seal, <a href="#Page_113">113</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Sandys, Dr., Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge, <a href="#Page_248">248</a>, <a href="#Page_249">249</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Seymour, Sir Thomas, Lord Admiral, afterwards Lord Seymour of Sudeley, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Katherine Parr’s lover, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">opposes his brother, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">obtains Lady Jane’s custody, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">is suitor to Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">marries Katherine Parr, <a href="#Page_72">72-7</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">relations with Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_88">88-91</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his wife’s death, <a href="#Page_96">96</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">again Elizabeth’s suitor, <a href="#Page_108">108</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in the Tower, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trial and execution, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <i>See</i> <a href="#Somerset">Somerset</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shaxton, Nicholas, <a href="#Page_40">40</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Shrewsbury, Earl of, <a href="#Page_242">242</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sion House, Lady Jane at, <a href="#Page_213">213</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Somerset"></a>Somerset, Duchess of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Edward Seymour, Duke of, at first Earl of Hertford, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">rivalry between him and Surrey, <a href="#Page_50">50</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">Lord Protector, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">and Duke of Somerset, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">campaign in Scotland, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">dissensions with his brother, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his wealth, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in danger, <a href="#Page_130">130</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">prisoner, <a href="#Page_135">135</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">pardoned, <a href="#Page_136">136</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">in the Tower, <a href="#Page_157">157</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">his spoils, <a href="#Page_197">197</a>, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Southwell, Sir Richard, <a href="#Page_307">307</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sudeley Castle, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Suffolk, Duchess of, at first Marchioness of Dorset, Lady Jane Grey’s mother, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_218">218</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx"><a id="Suffolk"></a>Suffolk, Duke of, at first Marquis of Dorset, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100-7</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>;<span class="pagenum"><a id="Page_332">332</a></span></li>
-<li class="isub1">created Duke, <a href="#Page_178">178</a>, <a href="#Page_179">179</a>, <a href="#Page_231">231</a>, <a href="#Page_232">232</a>, <a href="#Page_233">233</a>, <a href="#Page_242">242</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a>, <a href="#Page_245">245</a>, <a href="#Page_252">252</a>, <a href="#Page_253">253</a>, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a>, <a href="#Page_316">316</a>, <a href="#Page_317">317</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Surrey, Henry Howard, Earl of, <a href="#Page_48">48</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">trial, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>;</li>
-<li class="isub1">execution, <a href="#Page_56">56</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Sydney, Lady, <a href="#Page_213">213</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Throckmorton House, <a href="#Page_215">215</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; John, <a href="#Page_321">321</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Lady, <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_244">244</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Sir Nicholas, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_202">202</a>, <a href="#Page_215">215</a>, <a href="#Page_216">216</a>, <a href="#Page_243">243</a> note</li>
-
-<li class="indx">Traheron, <a href="#Page_152">152</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tudor, Mary, daughter of Henry VII., <a href="#Page_24">24</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; <i>See</i> <a href="#Tudor">Mary</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tunstall, Bishop of Durham, <a href="#Page_255">255</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tylney, Elizabeth, <a href="#Page_323">323</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tyrwhitt, Lady, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Tyrwhitt, Sir Robert, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst">Ulmis, John ab, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>, <a href="#Page_147">147</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_180">180</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Underhyll, Edward, the “Hot-Gospeller,” <a href="#Page_243">243</a>, <a href="#Page_302">302-5</a></li>
-
-<li class="ifrst"><a id="Warwick"></a>Warwick, Earl of. <i>See</i> <a href="#Northumberland">Northumberland</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">&mdash; Earl of, son to Duke of Northumberland, <a href="#Page_249">249</a>, <a href="#Page_259">259</a>, <a href="#Page_265">265</a>, <a href="#Page_268">268</a>, <a href="#Page_269">269</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Weston, Dr., <a href="#Page_298">298</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wharton, Sir Thomas, <a href="#Page_186">186</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wightman, Sir Thomas Seymour’s servant, <a href="#Page_111">111</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Winchester, Marquis of, <a href="#Page_221">221</a>, <a href="#Page_239">239</a>, <a href="#Page_240">240</a>, <a href="#Page_256">256</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wriothesley, Chancellor, and afterwards Earl of Southampton, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_47">47</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a></li>
-
-<li class="indx">Wyatt, Sir Thomas, rebel leader, <a href="#Page_293">293</a>, <a href="#Page_295">295</a> <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">seq.</i>, <a href="#Page_307">307</a>, <a href="#Page_309">309</a>, <a href="#Page_310">310</a></li>
-</ul>
-
-<p class="p2 center smaller"><i>Printed by Hazell, Watson &amp; Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.</i></p>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="footnotes">
-<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="FOOTNOTES"></a>FOOTNOTES</h2>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="fnanchor">1</a> Hall’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="fnanchor">2</a> Martin Hume, <cite>The Wives of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 447.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="fnanchor">3</a> Ellis’s <cite>Original Letters</cite>, Series III., vol. iii., p. 203.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="fnanchor">4</a> <cite>Grey Friar’s Chronicle</cite> (Camden Society), p. 44.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="fnanchor">5</a> Martin Hume, <cite>Wives of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 344.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="fnanchor">6</a> Holinshed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="fnanchor">7</a> Strype’s <cite>Memorials of Archbishop Cranmer</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="fnanchor">8</a> Hall’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn1"><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="fnanchor">9</a> <cite>Spanish Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite>, translated by Martin Hume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="fnanchor">10</a> Hayward’s <cite>Life of Edward VI.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="fnanchor">11</a> Sir H. Ellis, <cite>Original Letters</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="fnanchor">12</a> <cite>Calendar, Henry VIII.</cite>, vol. xviii., p. 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="fnanchor">13</a> Speed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="fnanchor">14</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite>, translated by Martin Hume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="fnanchor">15</a> Martin Hume, <cite>Wives of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 438.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="fnanchor">16</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="fnanchor">17</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="fnanchor">18</a> Andrew Bloxam.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="fnanchor">19</a> <cite>Calendar of State Papers</cite> (Venetian), p. 346.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="fnanchor">20</a> It is stated in the <cite>Dictionary of National Biography</cite> that Lady
-Jane was attached to the Queen’s household in 1546, but I am
-unable to discover any proof of the fact. Speed, in his chronicle,
-makes two or three mentions of her, from which other biographers
-have concluded that she was in close attendance on Katherine Parr
-during the King’s lifetime. But it seems clear that he made a
-confusion between Lady <em>Jane</em>, the King’s great-niece, and Lady
-<em>Lane</em>, Katherine’s cousin, born Maud Parr, who was at that time
-a member of her household.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="fnanchor">21</a> Naunton.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="fnanchor">22</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="fnanchor">23</a> <cite>Grey Friars’ Chronicle</cite> (Camden Society), p. 50.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="fnanchor">24</a> G. Leti, <cite>Vie d’Elizabeth, Reine d’Angleterre</cite>, t. i., p. 153.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="fnanchor">25</a> <cite>Grey Friars’ Chronicle</cite> (Camden Society), p. 51.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="fnanchor">26</a> Ellis’s <cite>Original Letters</cite>, Series II., vol. ii., p. 176.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="fnanchor">27</a> Lord Herbert of Cherbury, <cite>Life of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 537.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="fnanchor">28</a> N. D., quoted, with disapproval, by Speed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="fnanchor">29</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 200.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="fnanchor">30</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="fnanchor">31</a> Dr. Lingard, quoting the narrative attributed to Anne, credits
-neither it nor the addition for which Foxe is responsible, stating
-that there is no other instance of a woman being subjected to
-torture, that a written order from the Lords of the Council was
-necessary before it could be inflicted, and that it was not customary
-for either the Chancellor or his colleagues to be present on these
-occasions.&mdash;<cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 201.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_32" href="#FNanchor_32" class="fnanchor">32</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_33" href="#FNanchor_33" class="fnanchor">33</a> <cite>Life of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 561.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_34" href="#FNanchor_34" class="fnanchor">34</a> Speed, and Miss Strickland following him, read the name
-“Jane.”</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_35" href="#FNanchor_35" class="fnanchor">35</a> <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, Speed’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, Lord Herbert of
-Cherbury, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_36" href="#FNanchor_36" class="fnanchor">36</a> Bapst, <cite>Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes</cite>, p. 275.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_37" href="#FNanchor_37" class="fnanchor">37</a> Bapst, <cite>Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes</cite>, p. 287.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_38" href="#FNanchor_38" class="fnanchor">38</a> Lord Herbert of Cherbury, <cite>Life of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 564.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_39" href="#FNanchor_39" class="fnanchor">39</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, p. 563.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_40" href="#FNanchor_40" class="fnanchor">40</a> <cite>Chronicle of King Henry VIII. of England</cite> (translated by
-Martin Hume), p. 182.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_41" href="#FNanchor_41" class="fnanchor">41</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite> (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 152.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_42" href="#FNanchor_42" class="fnanchor">42</a> Bapst, <cite>Deux Gentilshommes Poëtes</cite>, p. 346.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_43" href="#FNanchor_43" class="fnanchor">43</a> <cite>Grey Friars’ Chronicle</cite>, p. 52.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_44" href="#FNanchor_44" class="fnanchor">44</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite> (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 147.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_45" href="#FNanchor_45" class="fnanchor">45</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite> (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 148.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_46" href="#FNanchor_46" class="fnanchor">46</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. v., p. 689.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_47" href="#FNanchor_47" class="fnanchor">47</a> <cite>History of the World.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_48" href="#FNanchor_48" class="fnanchor">48</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite> (tr. by Martin Hume), p. 152.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_49" href="#FNanchor_49" class="fnanchor">49</a> <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. v., p. 689.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_50" href="#FNanchor_50" class="fnanchor">50</a> <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. v., p. 691.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_51" href="#FNanchor_51" class="fnanchor">51</a> <cite>Literary Remains of Edward VI.</cite>, Roxburgh Club, ed. Nichols.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_52" href="#FNanchor_52" class="fnanchor">52</a> Hayward’s <cite>Life of Edward VI.</cite>, p. 82.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_53" href="#FNanchor_53" class="fnanchor">53</a> Leti, <cite>Vie de la Reine Elizabeth</cite>, p. 166.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_54" href="#FNanchor_54" class="fnanchor">54</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>. It is difficult to distinguish between
-statements relating to the negotiations with regard to Lady Jane
-carried on at this date, and those taking place eighteen months later.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_55" href="#FNanchor_55" class="fnanchor">55</a> Tytler, <cite>England under Edward VI. and Mary</cite>, vol. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_56" href="#FNanchor_56" class="fnanchor">56</a> Fuller’s <cite>Worthies</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_57" href="#FNanchor_57" class="fnanchor">57</a> Leti, <cite>Vie de la Reine Elizabeth</cite>, p. 163.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_58" href="#FNanchor_58" class="fnanchor">58</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 158.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_59" href="#FNanchor_59" class="fnanchor">59</a> Leti, <cite>Vie de la Reine Elizabeth</cite>, p. 170.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_60" href="#FNanchor_60" class="fnanchor">60</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_61" href="#FNanchor_61" class="fnanchor">61</a> <cite>An Historical Account of Sudeley Castle.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_62" href="#FNanchor_62" class="fnanchor">62</a> Quoted by Strype.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_63" href="#FNanchor_63" class="fnanchor">63</a> <cite>Chronicle of Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 156.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_64" href="#FNanchor_64" class="fnanchor">64</a> Hayward, <cite>Life of Edward VI.</cite>, p. 82.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_65" href="#FNanchor_65" class="fnanchor">65</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>, p. 71.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_66" href="#FNanchor_66" class="fnanchor">66</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_67" href="#FNanchor_67" class="fnanchor">67</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_68" href="#FNanchor_68" class="fnanchor">68</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_69" href="#FNanchor_69" class="fnanchor">69</a> <cite>State Papers.</cite> Quoted in Strickland’s <cite>Queens of England</cite>,
-vol. iii., p. 272.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_70" href="#FNanchor_70" class="fnanchor">70</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_71" href="#FNanchor_71" class="fnanchor">71</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_72" href="#FNanchor_72" class="fnanchor">72</a> Leti is responsible for it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_73" href="#FNanchor_73" class="fnanchor">73</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 96.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_74" href="#FNanchor_74" class="fnanchor">74</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward and Mary</cite>, vol. i., p. 70.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_75" href="#FNanchor_75" class="fnanchor">75</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 61.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_76" href="#FNanchor_76" class="fnanchor">76</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_77" href="#FNanchor_77" class="fnanchor">77</a> Quoted <cite>Remains of Edward VI.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_78" href="#FNanchor_78" class="fnanchor">78</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward and Mary</cite>, vol. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_79" href="#FNanchor_79" class="fnanchor">79</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, pp. 103, 104.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_80" href="#FNanchor_80" class="fnanchor">80</a> Miss Strickland, <cite>Queens of England</cite>, vol. iii., p 281.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_81" href="#FNanchor_81" class="fnanchor">81</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, pp. 77, 78.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_82" href="#FNanchor_82" class="fnanchor">82</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, pp. 78, 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_83" href="#FNanchor_83" class="fnanchor">83</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward VI. and Mary</cite>, vol. i., p. 134.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_84" href="#FNanchor_84" class="fnanchor">84</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 76.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_85" href="#FNanchor_85" class="fnanchor">85</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, pp. 79, 80.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_86" href="#FNanchor_86" class="fnanchor">86</a> <cite>Chronicle of King Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 163.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_87" href="#FNanchor_87" class="fnanchor">87</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 89.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_88" href="#FNanchor_88" class="fnanchor">88</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_89" href="#FNanchor_89" class="fnanchor">89</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 109.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_90" href="#FNanchor_90" class="fnanchor">90</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 98.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_91" href="#FNanchor_91" class="fnanchor">91</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 108.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_92" href="#FNanchor_92" class="fnanchor">92</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 71.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_93" href="#FNanchor_93" class="fnanchor">93</a> Haynes, <cite>State Papers</cite>, p. 106.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_94" href="#FNanchor_94" class="fnanchor">94</a> Latimer’s <cite>Sermons</cite>, quoted by Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 279.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_95" href="#FNanchor_95" class="fnanchor">95</a> Leti, <cite>Vie de la Reine Elizabeth</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_96" href="#FNanchor_96" class="fnanchor">96</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 293.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_97" href="#FNanchor_97" class="fnanchor">97</a> Strype’s <cite>Ecclesiastical Memorials</cite>, vol. ii., p. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_98" href="#FNanchor_98" class="fnanchor">98</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward VI. and Mary</cite>, vol. i., p. 174.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn2"><a id="Footnote_99" href="#FNanchor_99" class="fnanchor">99</a> Holinshed, vol. iii., p. 1014.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_100" href="#FNanchor_100" class="fnanchor">100</a> <cite>Chronicle of King Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 187.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_101" href="#FNanchor_101" class="fnanchor">101</a> See Tytler, <cite>Edward VI. and Mary</cite>, vol. i., p. 241. Dr. Lingard
-expresses doubts as to the document upon which Tytler relies, and
-Froude acquits the Council of treachery.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_102" href="#FNanchor_102" class="fnanchor">102</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward VI. and Mary</cite>, vol. i., p. 242.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_103" href="#FNanchor_103" class="fnanchor">103</a> <cite>Chronicle of King Henry VIII.</cite>, p. 192.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_104" href="#FNanchor_104" class="fnanchor">104</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. vi., pp. 351, 352.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_105" href="#FNanchor_105" class="fnanchor">105</a> Ascham describes her as fifteen&mdash;a manifest error.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_106" href="#FNanchor_106" class="fnanchor">106</a> Roger Ascham, <cite>The Schoolmaster</cite>, bk. ii.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_107" href="#FNanchor_107" class="fnanchor">107</a> Ascham, <cite>The Schoolmaster</cite>, bk. i.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_108" href="#FNanchor_108" class="fnanchor">108</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, Parker Society.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_109" href="#FNanchor_109" class="fnanchor">109</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_110" href="#FNanchor_110" class="fnanchor">110</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. ii., Parker Society, p. 399.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_111" href="#FNanchor_111" class="fnanchor">111</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, p. 427.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_112" href="#FNanchor_112" class="fnanchor">112</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. ii., p. 430.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_113" href="#FNanchor_113" class="fnanchor">113</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, p. 433.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_114" href="#FNanchor_114" class="fnanchor">114</a> There is little mention of Lady Jane’s mother in contemporary
-records. But the nature of the woman, and her heritage of Tudor
-blood, is sufficiently indicated by the fact that not a fortnight after
-her husband had been executed, and about a month after Lady
-Jane’s death she bestowed herself in marriage upon her
-equerry.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_115" href="#FNanchor_115" class="fnanchor">115</a> Becon’s <cite>Jewel of Joy</cite>, Parker Society.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_116" href="#FNanchor_116" class="fnanchor">116</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, p. 103.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_117" href="#FNanchor_117" class="fnanchor">117</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. i., p. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_118" href="#FNanchor_118" class="fnanchor">118</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. i., p. 72.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_119" href="#FNanchor_119" class="fnanchor">119</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. i., pp. 76, 77.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_120" href="#FNanchor_120" class="fnanchor">120</a> <cite>Church History</cite>, vol. i., p. 338.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_121" href="#FNanchor_121" class="fnanchor">121</a> <cite>Church History</cite>, vol. i., p. 340.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_122" href="#FNanchor_122" class="fnanchor">122</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. ii., p. 441.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_123" href="#FNanchor_123" class="fnanchor">123</a> Fuller’s <cite>Church History</cite>, vol. i., p. 341.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_124" href="#FNanchor_124" class="fnanchor">124</a> Ellis’s <cite>Original Letters</cite>, Series III., vol. i., p. 216.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_125" href="#FNanchor_125" class="fnanchor">125</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>, vol. ii., p. 7.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_126" href="#FNanchor_126" class="fnanchor">126</a> Soranzo’s Report (<cite>Venetian Calendar</cite>), p. 535.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_127" href="#FNanchor_127" class="fnanchor">127</a> Strype’s <cite>Ecclesiastical Memorials</cite>, vol. ii., p. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_128" href="#FNanchor_128" class="fnanchor">128</a> <cite>Venetian Calendar</cite>, p. 535.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_129" href="#FNanchor_129" class="fnanchor">129</a> Fuller’s <cite>Church History</cite>, vol, i., p. 345.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_130" href="#FNanchor_130" class="fnanchor">130</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, vol. ii., p. 466. Meaning that Cranmer, who had
-already been married some years, had brought his wife from
-Germany, and owned her openly. See Strype.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_131" href="#FNanchor_131" class="fnanchor">131</a> Two victims were burnt for heresy, Joan Bocher and a Dutch
-surgeon, named Pariss. A priest is also stated by Wriothesley to
-have been hanged and quartered, July 7, 1548.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_132" href="#FNanchor_132" class="fnanchor">132</a> <cite>Zurich Letters</cite>, pp. 281 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_133" href="#FNanchor_133" class="fnanchor">133</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. vi., pp. 354-5. Heylyn’s
-<cite>Reformation</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_134" href="#FNanchor_134" class="fnanchor">134</a> Speed’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, p. 1122.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_135" href="#FNanchor_135" class="fnanchor">135</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>, vol. i., p. 291.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_136" href="#FNanchor_136" class="fnanchor">136</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>, p. 5.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_137" href="#FNanchor_137" class="fnanchor">137</a> Wriothesley’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, vol. ii., p. 82.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_138" href="#FNanchor_138" class="fnanchor">138</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_139" href="#FNanchor_139" class="fnanchor">139</a> Florio’s <cite>Life</cite>, p. 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_140" href="#FNanchor_140" class="fnanchor">140</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, p. 28.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_141" href="#FNanchor_141" class="fnanchor">141</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_142" href="#FNanchor_142" class="fnanchor">142</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>, p. 297.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_143" href="#FNanchor_143" class="fnanchor">143</a> <cite>Ambassades de Noailles</cite>; Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements
-sur l’Histoire de Marie</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_144" href="#FNanchor_144" class="fnanchor">144</a> Wriothesley’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, vol. ii., p. 79.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_145" href="#FNanchor_145" class="fnanchor">145</a> <cite>Reformation</cite>, vol. i., p. 294.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_146" href="#FNanchor_146" class="fnanchor">146</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>, vol. i., p. 294.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_147" href="#FNanchor_147" class="fnanchor">147</a> Griffet, <cite>Éclaircissements</cite>, etc., p. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_148" href="#FNanchor_148" class="fnanchor">148</a> <cite>Ambassades de Noailles</cite>, vol. i., p. 49.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_149" href="#FNanchor_149" class="fnanchor">149</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, p. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_150" href="#FNanchor_150" class="fnanchor">150</a> Quoted in Strickland’s <cite>Queen Mary</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_151" href="#FNanchor_151" class="fnanchor">151</a> Fuller’s <cite>Church History</cite>, vol. i., pp. 369 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_152" href="#FNanchor_152" class="fnanchor">152</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_153" href="#FNanchor_153" class="fnanchor">153</a> Griffet’s <cite>Éclaircissements</cite>, etc.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_154" href="#FNanchor_154" class="fnanchor">154</a> Foxe’s <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>, vol. vi., p. 352.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_155" href="#FNanchor_155" class="fnanchor">155</a> The paper is only to be found in two Italian histories, Pollini’s
-<cite>Istoria Ecclesiastica della Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra</cite> and Raviglio
-Rosso’s account of the events following upon Edward’s death, stated
-to be partly drawn from the despatches of Bodoaro. The discrepancies
-here and there in the translation point to both having had
-access to an English version.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_156" href="#FNanchor_156" class="fnanchor">156</a> <cite>History of Syon Monastery</cite>, Aungier.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_157" href="#FNanchor_157" class="fnanchor">157</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane</cite> (Camden Society), p. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_158" href="#FNanchor_158" class="fnanchor">158</a> Speed’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, p. 1127.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_159" href="#FNanchor_159" class="fnanchor">159</a> Heylyn makes Durham House the scene of the announcement.
-In this he seems clearly to be mistaken, as it is stated in the <cite>Grey
-Friar’s Chronicle</cite> that she was brought down the river from
-Richmond to Westminster, and so to the Tower.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_160" href="#FNanchor_160" class="fnanchor">160</a> <cite>The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite> (Camden Society),
-p. 3.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_161" href="#FNanchor_161" class="fnanchor">161</a> Letter from Jane to Mary, Pollini’s <cite>Istoria Ecclesiastica della
-Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra</cite>, pp. 355-8.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_162" href="#FNanchor_162" class="fnanchor">162</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>, p. 13.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_163" href="#FNanchor_163" class="fnanchor">163</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>, p. 9.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_164" href="#FNanchor_164" class="fnanchor">164</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_165" href="#FNanchor_165" class="fnanchor">165</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_166" href="#FNanchor_166" class="fnanchor">166</a> Strype’s <cite>Memorials</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_167" href="#FNanchor_167" class="fnanchor">167</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, ed. John Nichols
-(Camden Society), App., pp. 116-121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_168" href="#FNanchor_168" class="fnanchor">168</a> The foregoing details are mostly taken from Stowe’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>.
-At this point <cite>The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>
-by a Resident in the Tower (Camden Society), takes up the tale.
-The anonymous author plainly speaks from personal knowledge,
-and is the principal authority for this period.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_169" href="#FNanchor_169" class="fnanchor">169</a> Grafton’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_170" href="#FNanchor_170" class="fnanchor">170</a> Heylyn’s <cite>Reformation</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_171" href="#FNanchor_171" class="fnanchor">171</a> Fuller’s <cite>Worthies</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_172" href="#FNanchor_172" class="fnanchor">172</a> Tytler’s <cite>Edward and Mary</cite>, vol. ii., p. 202.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_173" href="#FNanchor_173" class="fnanchor">173</a> Rosso’s <cite>Succesi</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_174" href="#FNanchor_174" class="fnanchor">174</a> Rosso’s <cite>Succesi</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_175" href="#FNanchor_175" class="fnanchor">175</a> Quoted in <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_176" href="#FNanchor_176" class="fnanchor">176</a> This fact, together with Sir Nicholas’s subsequent trial, seems
-to throw doubt upon the veracity of his versified account of the
-services he had rendered to Mary.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_177" href="#FNanchor_177" class="fnanchor">177</a> <cite>Biog. Brit.</cite> Quoted in <cite>Lady Jane Grey’s Literary Remains</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_178" href="#FNanchor_178" class="fnanchor">178</a> <cite>L’Istoria Ecclesiastica della Rivoluzione d’Inghilterra.</cite> Pollini,
-pp. 274, 275. Rosso’s <cite>Succesi</cite>, p. 20.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_179" href="#FNanchor_179" class="fnanchor">179</a> M. A. Florio, <cite>Vita</cite>, pp. 58, 59.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_180" href="#FNanchor_180" class="fnanchor">180</a> <cite>Dictionary of National Biography.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_181" href="#FNanchor_181" class="fnanchor">181</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi</cite>, p. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_182" href="#FNanchor_182" class="fnanchor">182</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane</cite>, etc., pp. 10, 11.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_183" href="#FNanchor_183" class="fnanchor">183</a> Foxe, <cite>Acts and Monuments</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_184" href="#FNanchor_184" class="fnanchor">184</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane</cite>, etc. p. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_185" href="#FNanchor_185" class="fnanchor">185</a> Rosso.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_186" href="#FNanchor_186" class="fnanchor">186</a> <cite>Vie d’Elizabeth</cite>, p. 198.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_187" href="#FNanchor_187" class="fnanchor">187</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_188" href="#FNanchor_188" class="fnanchor">188</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 16.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_189" href="#FNanchor_189" class="fnanchor">189</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 25.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_190" href="#FNanchor_190" class="fnanchor">190</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, pp. 26, 27.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_191" href="#FNanchor_191" class="fnanchor">191</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 24.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_192" href="#FNanchor_192" class="fnanchor">192</a> <cite>Edward and Mary</cite>, vol. ii., p. 224.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_193" href="#FNanchor_193" class="fnanchor">193</a> <cite>Peerage of England</cite> (1799), vol. ii., p. 406. Quoted in
-<cite>Strickland’s Queens of England</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_194" href="#FNanchor_194" class="fnanchor">194</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., pp. 390, 391.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_195" href="#FNanchor_195" class="fnanchor">195</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite>, p. 391.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_196" href="#FNanchor_196" class="fnanchor">196</a> Tytler, <cite>Edward and Mary</cite>, vol. ii., p. 227.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_197" href="#FNanchor_197" class="fnanchor">197</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, from which the
-following details of the execution are mostly taken.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_198" href="#FNanchor_198" class="fnanchor">198</a> <cite>Peerage of England</cite> (1709), vol. ii., p. 406. Quoted in Miss
-Strickland’s <cite>Queens</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_199" href="#FNanchor_199" class="fnanchor">199</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 55.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_200" href="#FNanchor_200" class="fnanchor">200</a> Dr. Nichols suggests that Partridge may have been Queen
-Mary’s goldsmith of that name, apparently resident in the Tower
-during the following year.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_201" href="#FNanchor_201" class="fnanchor">201</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 393.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_202" href="#FNanchor_202" class="fnanchor">202</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 65.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_203" href="#FNanchor_203" class="fnanchor">203</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 60.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_204" href="#FNanchor_204" class="fnanchor">204</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 401.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_205" href="#FNanchor_205" class="fnanchor">205</a> Speed’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_206" href="#FNanchor_206" class="fnanchor">206</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, pp. 125-6.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_207" href="#FNanchor_207" class="fnanchor">207</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 127.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_208" href="#FNanchor_208" class="fnanchor">208</a> Lingard, <cite>History</cite>, vol. v., p. 411.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_209" href="#FNanchor_209" class="fnanchor">209</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 34.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_210" href="#FNanchor_210" class="fnanchor">210</a> Griffet, <cite>Nouveaux Éclaircissements</cite>, p. 118.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_211" href="#FNanchor_211" class="fnanchor">211</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 38 <i xml:lang="la" lang="la">et seq.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_212" href="#FNanchor_212" class="fnanchor">212</a> <cite>Ibid.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_213" href="#FNanchor_213" class="fnanchor">213</a> Speed’s <cite>Chronicle</cite>, p. 1133.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_214" href="#FNanchor_214" class="fnanchor">214</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, p. 54.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_215" href="#FNanchor_215" class="fnanchor">215</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>, p. 53.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_216" href="#FNanchor_216" class="fnanchor">216</a> <cite>Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey</cite>, 1615, p. 22.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_217" href="#FNanchor_217" class="fnanchor">217</a> It will be seen that the bearing of the two opponents on the
-scaffold would seem to give the lie to this account of their interview;
-unless, the heat of argument over, both should have regretted what
-had passed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_218" href="#FNanchor_218" class="fnanchor">218</a> <cite>Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey</cite>, 1615, p. 25.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_219" href="#FNanchor_219" class="fnanchor">219</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi</cite>, etc., p. 57.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_220" href="#FNanchor_220" class="fnanchor">220</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary.</cite></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_221" href="#FNanchor_221" class="fnanchor">221</a> <cite>Life and Death of Lady Jane Grey</cite>, 1615, p. 30.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_222" href="#FNanchor_222" class="fnanchor">222</a> <cite>Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary</cite>, pp. 54-6. The
-author, “resident in the Tower,” was doubtless an eye-witness of
-the scene.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote">
-
-<p class="fn3"><a id="Footnote_223" href="#FNanchor_223" class="fnanchor">223</a> Rosso, <cite>Succesi d’Inghilterra</cite>, etc., pp. 57, 58.</p></div>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="chapter">
-<div class="transnote">
-<h2 class="nobreak p1"><a id="Transcribers_Notes"></a>Transcriber’s Notes</h2>
-
-<p>Punctuation, hyphenation, and spelling were made consistent when a predominant
-preference was found in this book; otherwise they were not changed.</p>
-
-<p>Simple typographical errors were corrected; occasional unbalanced
-quotation marks retained.</p>
-
-<p>Ambiguous hyphens at the ends of lines were retained.</p>
-
-<p>Index not checked for proper alphabetization or correct page references.</p>
-
-<p>Index often used semi-colons between page number references. They have
-been replaced by commas in this eBook. Semi-colons between sub-entries
-have been retained.</p>
-
-<p>Frontispiece: The original caption attributes the painting to “Lucas ?
-Heere” where the “?” represents an indistinct letter. It should be “de”,
-and that is what is used in this eBook.</p>
-
-<p>The illustrations on the Title Page are just very small decorations.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_13">13</a>: The chapter number was misprinted as “I”; changed here to “II”.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_29">29</a>: “to my cousin, Jane Gray,” was printed with the surname
-spelled that way.</p>
-
-<p>Page <a href="#Page_35">35</a>: Closing quotation mark added after “and served.”</p>
-</div></div>
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-<pre>
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Lady Jane Grey and Her Times, by
-Ida Ashworth Taylor
-
-*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LADY JANE GREY AND HER TIMES ***
-
-***** This file should be named 51057-h.htm or 51057-h.zip *****
-This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:
- http://www.gutenberg.org/5/1/0/5/51057/
-
-Produced by MWS, Charlie Howard, and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was
-produced from images generously made available by The
-Internet Archive/American Libraries.)
-
-Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will
-be renamed.
-
-Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright
-law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works,
-so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United
-States without permission and without paying copyright
-royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part
-of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm
-concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark,
-and may not be used if you charge for the eBooks, unless you receive
-specific permission. If you do not charge anything for copies of this
-eBook, complying with the rules is very easy. You may use this eBook
-for nearly any purpose such as creation of derivative works, reports,
-performances and research. They may be modified and printed and given
-away--you may do practically ANYTHING in the United States with eBooks
-not protected by U.S. copyright law. Redistribution is subject to the
-trademark license, especially commercial redistribution.
-
-START: FULL LICENSE
-
-THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE
-PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK
-
-To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free
-distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work
-(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full
-Project Gutenberg-tm License available with this file or online at
-www.gutenberg.org/license.
-
-Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-
-1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to
-and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property
-(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all
-the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or
-destroy all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your
-possession. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a
-Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound
-by the terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the
-person or entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph
-1.E.8.
-
-1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be
-used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who
-agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few
-things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See
-paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this
-agreement and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works. See paragraph 1.E below.
-
-1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the
-Foundation" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection
-of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual
-works in the collection are in the public domain in the United
-States. If an individual work is unprotected by copyright law in the
-United States and you are located in the United States, we do not
-claim a right to prevent you from copying, distributing, performing,
-displaying or creating derivative works based on the work as long as
-all references to Project Gutenberg are removed. Of course, we hope
-that you will support the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting
-free access to electronic works by freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm
-works in compliance with the terms of this agreement for keeping the
-Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with the work. You can easily
-comply with the terms of this agreement by keeping this work in the
-same format with its attached full Project Gutenberg-tm License when
-you share it without charge with others.
-
-1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern
-what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are
-in a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States,
-check the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this
-agreement before downloading, copying, displaying, performing,
-distributing or creating derivative works based on this work or any
-other Project Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no
-representations concerning the copyright status of any work in any
-country outside the United States.
-
-1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg:
-
-1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other
-immediate access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear
-prominently whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work
-on which the phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the
-phrase "Project Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed,
-performed, viewed, copied or distributed:
-
- This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
- most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
- restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
- under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
- eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
- United States, you'll have to check the laws of the country where you
- are located before using this ebook.
-
-1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is
-derived from texts not protected by U.S. copyright law (does not
-contain a notice indicating that it is posted with permission of the
-copyright holder), the work can be copied and distributed to anyone in
-the United States without paying any fees or charges. If you are
-redistributing or providing access to a work with the phrase "Project
-Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the work, you must comply
-either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 or
-obtain permission for the use of the work and the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted
-with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution
-must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any
-additional terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms
-will be linked to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works
-posted with the permission of the copyright holder found at the
-beginning of this work.
-
-1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm
-License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this
-work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm.
-
-1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this
-electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without
-prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with
-active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm License.
-
-1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary,
-compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including
-any word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access
-to or distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format
-other than "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official
-version posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site
-(www.gutenberg.org), you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense
-to the user, provide a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means
-of obtaining a copy upon request, of the work in its original "Plain
-Vanilla ASCII" or other form. Any alternate format must include the
-full Project Gutenberg-tm License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1.
-
-1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying,
-performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works
-unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9.
-
-1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing
-access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works
-provided that
-
-* You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from
- the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method
- you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is owed
- to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he has
- agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the Project
- Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments must be paid
- within 60 days following each date on which you prepare (or are
- legally required to prepare) your periodic tax returns. Royalty
- payments should be clearly marked as such and sent to the Project
- Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the address specified in
- Section 4, "Information about donations to the Project Gutenberg
- Literary Archive Foundation."
-
-* You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies
- you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he
- does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm
- License. You must require such a user to return or destroy all
- copies of the works possessed in a physical medium and discontinue
- all use of and all access to other copies of Project Gutenberg-tm
- works.
-
-* You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of
- any money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the
- electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days of
- receipt of the work.
-
-* You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free
- distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works.
-
-1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work or group of works on different terms than
-are set forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing
-from both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and The
-Project Gutenberg Trademark LLC, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm
-trademark. Contact the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below.
-
-1.F.
-
-1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable
-effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread
-works not protected by U.S. copyright law in creating the Project
-Gutenberg-tm collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may
-contain "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate
-or corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other
-intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or
-other medium, a computer virus, or computer codes that damage or
-cannot be read by your equipment.
-
-1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right
-of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project
-Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all
-liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal
-fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT
-LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE
-PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE
-TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE
-LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR
-INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
-DAMAGE.
-
-1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a
-defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can
-receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a
-written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you
-received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium
-with your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you
-with the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in
-lieu of a refund. If you received the work electronically, the person
-or entity providing it to you may choose to give you a second
-opportunity to receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If
-the second copy is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing
-without further opportunities to fix the problem.
-
-1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth
-in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS', WITH NO
-OTHER WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT
-LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE.
-
-1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied
-warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of
-damages. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement
-violates the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the
-agreement shall be interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or
-limitation permitted by the applicable state law. The invalidity or
-unenforceability of any provision of this agreement shall not void the
-remaining provisions.
-
-1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the
-trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone
-providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in
-accordance with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the
-production, promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm
-electronic works, harmless from all liability, costs and expenses,
-including legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of
-the following which you do or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this
-or any Project Gutenberg-tm work, (b) alteration, modification, or
-additions or deletions to any Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any
-Defect you cause.
-
-Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of
-electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of
-computers including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It
-exists because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations
-from people in all walks of life.
-
-Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the
-assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's
-goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will
-remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project
-Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure
-and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future
-generations. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation and how your efforts and donations can help, see
-Sections 3 and 4 and the Foundation information page at
-www.gutenberg.org
-
-
-
-Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation
-
-The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit
-501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the
-state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal
-Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification
-number is 64-6221541. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent permitted by
-U.S. federal laws and your state's laws.
-
-The Foundation's principal office is in Fairbanks, Alaska, with the
-mailing address: PO Box 750175, Fairbanks, AK 99775, but its
-volunteers and employees are scattered throughout numerous
-locations. Its business office is located at 809 North 1500 West, Salt
-Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887. Email contact links and up to
-date contact information can be found at the Foundation's web site and
-official page at www.gutenberg.org/contact
-
-For additional contact information:
-
- Dr. Gregory B. Newby
- Chief Executive and Director
- gbnewby@pglaf.org
-
-Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg
-Literary Archive Foundation
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide
-spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of
-increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be
-freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest
-array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations
-($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt
-status with the IRS.
-
-The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating
-charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United
-States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a
-considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up
-with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations
-where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To SEND
-DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any particular
-state visit www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we
-have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition
-against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who
-approach us with offers to donate.
-
-International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make
-any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from
-outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff.
-
-Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation
-methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other
-ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. To
-donate, please visit: www.gutenberg.org/donate
-
-Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works.
-
-Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project
-Gutenberg-tm concept of a library of electronic works that could be
-freely shared with anyone. For forty years, he produced and
-distributed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of
-volunteer support.
-
-Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed
-editions, all of which are confirmed as not protected by copyright in
-the U.S. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not
-necessarily keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper
-edition.
-
-Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search
-facility: www.gutenberg.org
-
-This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm,
-including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary
-Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to
-subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks.
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-</body>
-</html>
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/cover.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/cover.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 60d14ac..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/cover.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_001.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_001.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 485beeb..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_001.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_002.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_002.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 54d255a..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_002.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_002a.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_002a.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index e258229..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_002a.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_006.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_006.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 2fc7e22..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_006.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_012.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_012.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 27382a4..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_012.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_020.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_020.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 574dcac..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_020.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_032.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_032.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 4e4566b..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_032.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_054.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_054.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index b6596b5..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_054.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_082.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_082.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 62bdf43..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_082.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_132.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_132.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 0d32dca..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_132.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_136.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_136.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 32d5de8..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_136.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_142.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_142.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index be28714..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_142.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_152.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_152.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 08b5d26..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_152.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_168.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_168.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 1998be9..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_168.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_184.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_184.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 2069db6..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_184.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_200.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_200.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index f7647f0..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_200.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_254.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_254.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index a2fd21e..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_254.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_284.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_284.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 351d0c1..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_284.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ
diff --git a/old/51057-h/images/i_294.jpg b/old/51057-h/images/i_294.jpg
deleted file mode 100644
index 19f2e43..0000000
--- a/old/51057-h/images/i_294.jpg
+++ /dev/null
Binary files differ