Obv.: PHILIP.D.G. HISP. REX. Z. Bust of Philip to right. Rev.: MARIA I REG. ANGL. FRANC. ET. HIB. Z. Bust of Mary to left.

CHAPTER XVII.

MARY, b. 1516; r. A.D. 1553-1558.

§ 1. Lady Jane Grey proclaimed. Mary acknowledged queen. § 2. Northumberland executed. Roman catholic religion restored. § 3. The Spanish match. Wyatt's insurrection. § 4. Imprisonment of the princess Elizabeth. Execution of Lady Jane Grey. § 5. Mary's marriage with Philip of Spain. England reconciled with the see of Rome. § 6. Persecutions. Execution of Cranmer. 7. War with France. Loss of Calais. § 8. Death and character of the queen.

§ 1. NORTHUMBERLAND, sensible of the opposition which he must expect, had carefully concealed the destination of the succession made by the king; and, in order to bring the princess Mary into his power, had desired her to attend on her dying brother. Mary was at Hoddesdon, within half a day's journey of the court, when she received private intelligence, probably from the earl of Arundel, both of her brother's death and of the conspiracy formed against her. She immediately retired into Norfolk, and despatched a message to the council, requiring them immediately to give orders for proclaiming her in London. Northumberland found that further dissimulation was fruitless. He went to Sion house, accompanied by the duke of Suffolk, the earl of Pembroke, and others of the nobility; and he approached the lady Jane, who resided there, with all the respect usually paid to the sovereign. Jane was, in a great measure, ignorant of these transactions; and it was with equal grief and surprise that she received intelligence of them. She was a lady of an amiable person, an engaging disposition, and accomplished parts. She had attained a familiar knowledge of the Latin and Greek languages, besides modern tongues; had passed

most of her time in an application to learning; and expressed a great indifference for other occupations and amusements usual with her sex and station. Roger Ascham, tutor to the lady Elizabeth, having one day paid her a visit, found her employed in reading Plato, while the rest of the family were hunting in the park. The intelligence of her elevation to the throne was nowise agreeable to her. She was greatly overcome, but at last submitted to their will, and even accepted the crown with alacrity. Orders were given to proclaim Jane throughout the kingdom; but these orders were executed only in London and the neighbourhood. No applause ensued: the people heard the proclamation with silence and concern, and some even expressed their scorn and contempt. The people of Norfolk, meanwhile, paid their court to Mary, and the nobility and gentry daily flocked to her with reinforcements. Northumberland, hitherto blinded by ambition, saw at last the danger gather round him, and knew not which way to turn. At length he determined to march against her; but he found his army too weak to encounter the queen's. He wrote to the council, desiring them to send him reinforcements; but the councillors agreed upon a speedy return to the duty which they owed to their lawful sovereign. The mayor and aldermen of London were immediately sent for, who discovered great alacrity in obeying the orders they received to proclaim Mary. The people expressed their approbation by shouts of applause. Suffolk, who commanded in the Tower, finding resistance fruitless, opened the gates, and declared for Mary; and even Northumberland, being deserted by all his followers, was obliged to do the same. The people everywhere, on the queen's approach to Londor, gave sensible expressions of their loyalty and attachment. And the lady Elizabeth met her at the head of a thousand horse, which that princess had levied in order to support their joint title against the usurper.

§ 2. The duke of Northumberland was seized and taken to the Tower: at the same time were committed the duke of Suffolk, lady Jane Grey, lord Guilford Dudley, and several of the nobility. As the councillors pleaded constraint as an excuse for their treason, Mary extended her pardon to most of them. But the guilt of Northumberland was too great, as well as his ambition and courage too dangerous, to permit him to entertain any reasonable hopes of life. When brought to his trial he attempted no defence, but pleaded guilty (August 18). At his execution he made a profession of the catholic religion, and told the people that they never would enjoy tranquillity till they returned to the faith of their ancestors; either because these were his real sentiments, which he had formerly disguised from interest and ambition, or that he hoped by

this declaration to render the queen more favourable to his family. Sir Thomas Palmer and sir John Gates suffered with him (August 22, 1553); and this was all the blood spilled on account of so dangerous and criminal an enterprise against the rights of the sovereign.

Mary soon showed that she was determined to restore the Roman catholic religion. Gardiner, Bonner, Tunstal, and others, who had been deprived in the preceding reign, were reinstated in their sees. On pretence of discouraging controversy, she silenced, by an act of prerogative, all the preachers throughout England, except such as should obtain a particular licence. Holgate, archbishop of York, Coverdale, bi-hop of Exeter, Ridley of London. and Hooper of Gloucester, were thrown into prison; whither Latimer also was sent soon after. The zealous bishops and priests were encouraged in their forwardness to revive the mass, though contrary to the present laws. Cranmer, the primate, had reason to expect little favour during the present reign; but it was by his own indiscreet zeal that he brought on himself the first violence and persecution. A report being spread that in order to pay court to the queen he had promised to officiate in the Latin service, to wipe off this aspersion, he published a manifesto in his own defence, in which he attributed the mass to the invention of the devil, and branded its abuses as blasphemies. On the publication of this inflammatory paper, Cranmer was thrown into prison, and was tried for the part which he had acted in concurring with the lady Jane, and opposing the queen's accession (November 13). Sentence of high treason was pronounced against him, and by the same court against Jane and her husband, but the execution of it did not follow; and the primate was reserved for a more cruel punishment. In opening parliament (October 5), the court showed its contempt of the laws by celebrating, before the two houses, a mass of the Holy Ghost, in the Latin tongue, with all the ancient ceremonies. The first bill passed by the parliament was of a popular nature, and abolished every species of treason not contained in the statute of Edward III., and every species of felony that did not subsist before the first year of Henry VIII.; for many of the cruel laws of that monarch had been re-enacted by the last parliament of Edward VI. It next declared the queen to be legitimate, ratified the marriage of Henry with Katharine of Arragon, and annulled the divorce pronounced by Cranmer. The statutes of king Edward regarding religion were repealed by one act, and the old form of service restored. attainder of the duke of Norfolk, who had been previously liberated from the Tower, and admitted to Mary's confidence and favour, was reversed. The queen also sent assurances to the pope, then Julius

The

III., of her earnest desire to reconcile herself and her kingdoms to the holy see.

§ 3. No sooner did the emperor Charles V. hear of the death of Edward, and the accession of his kinswoman Mary to the crown of England, than he sent over an agent to propose his son Philip as her husband. Philip was a widower, and, though he was only 27 years of age, 12 years younger than the queen; this objection, it was thought, would be overlooked, and there was no reason to despair of her still having issue. Norfolk, Arundel, and Paget gave their advice for the match; but Gardiner, who had now become chancellor, opposed it. The Commons, alarmed to hear that Mary was resolved to contract a foreign alliance, sent their speaker to renonstrate in strong terms against so dangerous a measure; and, to prevent further applications of the same kind, the queen thought proper to dissolve the parliament. A convocation had been summoned at the same time with the parliament; and the majority here also appeared to be of the court religion. After the parliament and convocation were dismissed, the new laws with regard to religion were still more openly put in execution: the mass was everywhere re-established; marriage was declared to be incompatible with any spiritual office; and a large proportion of the clergy were deprived of their livings. This violent and sudden change of religion inspired the protestants with great discontent; whilst the Spanish match diffused universal apprehensions for the liberty and independence of the nation. To obviate all clamour, the articles of marriage were drawn as favourably as possible for the interest and security and even grandeur of England: and, in particular, it was agreed that, though Philip should have the title of king, the administration should be entirely in the queen; and that no foreigner should be capable of enjoying any office in the kingdom. But these articles gave little satisfaction to the nation, and some were determined to resist the marriage by arms. Sir Thomas Wyatt purposed to raise Kent; sir Peter Carew, Devonshire; and they engaged the duke of Suffolk, by the hopes of recovering the crown for the lady Jane, to attempt raising the midland counties (1554). The attempts of the last two wer speedily disconcerted, but Wyatt was at first more successful. Having dispersed a declaration throughout Kent, against the queen's evil counsellors, and against the Spanish match, without any mention of religion, he raised his standard at Rochester. He then forced his way into London; but his followers, finding that no person of note joined him, insensibly fell off, and he was at last seized near Temple Bar by sir Maurice Berkeley (February 7, 1554). About 30 persons suffered for this rebellion: 400 more were conducted before the queen with ropes about their necks, and, falling

on their knees, received a pardon and were dismissed. Wyatt was condemned and executed.

§ 4. This rebellion proved fatal to the lady Jane Grey, as well as to her husband. the duke of Suffolk's guilt was imputed to her, and both she and her husband were beheaded (February 12, 1554). On the scaffold she made a speech to the bystanders, in which the mildness of her dis; osition led her to take the blame wholly on herself, without uttering a single complaint against the severity with which she had been treated. She then caused herself to be disrobed by her women, and with a serene countenance submitted herself to the executioner. The duke of Suffolk was tried, condemned, and executed soon after. The princess Elizabeth, suspected for a time of being implicated in the late plot, was sent to the Tower; but in the following May was released and placed under the care and surveillance of sir Henry Bedingfield, at Woodstock. It is even said that the more violent party of the council proposed capital punishment, but were opposed by Gardiner, who interceded in her favour. The story, however, requires confirmation.

§ 5. Philip of Spain arrived at Southampton on July 20, 1554, and a few days after he was married to Mary at Winchester (July 25). Having made a pompous entry into London, where Philip displayed his wealth with great ostentation, they proceeded to their residence at Windsor. The prince's behaviour was ill calculated to remove the prejudices which the English nation had entertained against him. He was distant and reserved in his address ; took no notice of the salutes even of the most considerable no!lemen; and so intrenched himself in form and ceremony, that he was in a manner inaccessible. The zeal of the catholics, the influence of Spanish gold, the powers of prerogative, the discouragement of the gentry, particularly of the protestants, procured a House of Commons which was in a great measure to the queen's satisfaction. Cardinal Pole, whose attainder had been reversed, came over to England as legate (November 20); and, after being introduced to the king and queen, he invited the parliament to reconcile themselves and the kingdom to the apostolic see, from which they had been so long and so unhappily divided. This message was taken in good part: both houses voted an address declaring their sorrow for their past proceedings against the pope, and professing their willingness to repeal them, provided that their purchases of abbey and chantry lands were confirmed. In this stipulation they were supported by the clergy. Thirty-three members, however, of the Commons seceded rather than be implicated in these proceedings. The legate, in the name of his holiness, then gave the parliament and kingdom absolution, freed them