ton to Hampshire; Sir William Fitzwilliams to the king's use:† yet such had been the raand Sir Henry Nevil to Berkshire; Sir Wil-pacity of the courtiers, that the crown owed liam Drury, and Sir Henry Benningfield to about 300,000 pounds; and great dilapidaSuffolk, &c. But though some counties only tions were at the same time made of the royal received this species of congé d'elire from the demesnes. The young prince showed, among king; the recommendations from the privy- other virtues, a disposition to frugality, which, council and the counsellors, we may fairly had he lived, would soon have retrieved these presume, would extend to the greater part, if losses: but as his health was declining very fast, not to the whole of the kingdom. the present emptiness of the exchequer was a Ir is remarkable that this attempt was made sensible obstacle to the execution of those produring the reign of a minor king, when thejects which the ambition of Northumberland royal authority is usually weakest; that it was had founded on the prospect of Edward's appatiently submitted to; and that it gave so proaching end. little umbrage as scarcely to be taken notice of by any historian. The painful and laborious collector above cited, who never omits the most trivial matter, is the only person that has thought this memorable letter worthy of being transmitted to posterity. 1553. THE parliament answered Northumberland's expectations. As Tonstal had in the interval been deprived of his bishopric in an arbitrary manner, by the sentence of lay commissioners appointed to try him, the see of Durham was by act of parliament divided into two bishoprics, which had certain portions of the revenue assigned them. The regalities of the see, which included the jurisdiction of a count palatine, were given by the king to Northumberland; nor is it to be doubted but that nobleman had also purposed to make rich plunder of the revenue, as was then usual with the courtiers whenever a bishopric became vacant. THAT nobleman represented to the prince, whom youth and an infirm state of health made susceptible of any impression, that his two sisters Mary and Elizabeth, had both of them been declared illegitimate by act of parliament: and though Henry by his will had restored them to a place in the succession, the nation would never submit to see the throne of England filled by a bastard: that they were the king's sisters by the half blood only; and even if they were legitimate, could not enjoy the crown as his heirs and successors : that the queen of Scots stood excluded by the late king's will; and being an alien, had lost by law all right of inheriting; not to mention, that as she was betrothed to the dauphin, she would by her succession render England, as she had already done Scotland, a province to France: that the certain consequence of his sister Mary's succession, or that of the queen of Scots, was the abolition of the protestant THE Commons gave the ministry another religion, and the repeal of the laws enacted in inark of attachment, which was at that time favour of the reformation, and the re-esta the most sincere of any, the most cordial, and blishment of the usurpation and idolatry of the most difficult to be obtained: they granted. the church of Rome: that, fortunately for a supply of two subsidies and two fifteenths. England, the same order of succession which To render this present the more acceptable, justice required, was also the most conform they voted a preamble, containing a long ac- able to public interest; and there was not on cusation of Somerset, "for involving the any side any just ground for doubt or deking in wars, wasting his treasure, engaging liberation: that when these three princesses him in much debt, embasing the coin, and were excluded by such solid reasons, the sucgiving occasion for a most terrible rebellion.*"cession devolved on the marchioness of DorTHE debts of the crown were at this time considerable. The king had received from France 400,000 crowns on delivering Boulogne; he had reaped profit from the sale of some chantry lands; the churches had been spoiled of all their plate and rich ornaments, which by a decree of council, without any pretence of law or equity, had been converted * 7 Edw. VI. cap. 12. set, elder daughter of the Erench queen and the duke of Suffolk that the next heir of the marchioness was the lady Jane Gray, a lady of the most amiable character, accomplished by the best education, both in literature and religion; and every way, worthy of a crown: and that even if her title by blood were doubtful, which there was no just reason to pretend, † Heylin, p. 95, 132. Strype's Eccl. Mem. vol. ii. p. 344. the king was possessed of the same power that might get the better of the malady, men saw bis father enjoyed, and might leave her the with great concern his bloom and vigour crown by letters patent. These reasonings insensibly decay. The general attachment to made impression on the young prince; and the young prince, joined to the hatred borne the above all, his zealous attachment to the pro- Dudleys, made it be remarked, that Edward testant religion made him apprehend the con- had every moment declined in health from the sequences, if so bigotted a catholic as his sis-time that lord Robert Dudley had been put ter Mary should succeed to the throne. And about him in quality of gentleman of the bedthough he bore a tender affection to the lady chamber. Elizabeth, who was liable to no such objection, means were found to persuade him that he could not exclude the one sister on account of illegitimacy, without giving also an exclusion to the other. THE languishing state of Edward's health made Northumberland the more intent on the execution of his project. He removed all except his own emissaries from about the king: he himself attended him with the greatest asNORTHUMBERLAND, finding that his argu- siduity he pretended the most anxious conments were likely to operate on the king, be- cern for his health and welfare: and by all gan to prepare the other parts of his scheme. these artifices he prevailed on the young prince Two sons of the duke of Suffolk by a second to give his final consent to the settlement pro venter having died this season of the sweating jected. Sir Edward Montague, chief justice sickness, that title was extinct; and Northum- of the common pleas, Sir John Baker and Sir berland engaged the king to bestow it on the Thomas Bromley, two judges, with the attor marquis of Dorset. By means of this favour, ney and solicitor-general, were summoned to and of others which he conferred upon him, the council; where, after the minutes of the he persuaded the new duke of Suffolk and intended deed were read to them, the king rethe dutchess to give their daughter, the lady quired them to draw them up in the form Jane, in marriage to his fourth son, the lord of letters patent. They hesitated to obey; Guildford Dudley. In order to fortify him- and desired time to consider of it. The more self by farther alliances, he negotiated a mar- they reflected the greater danger they found riage between the lady Catherine Gray, second in compliance. The settlement of the crown daughter of Suffolk, and lord Herbert, eldest by Henry VIII. had been made in consequence son of the earl of Pembroke. He also mar- of an act of parliament; and by another act, ried his own daughter to lord Hastings, el- passed in the beginning of this reign, it was de dest son of the earl of Huntingdon.* These clared treason in any of the heirs, their aiders marriages were solemnized with great pomp or abettors, to attempt on the right of anoand festivity; and the people, who hated ther, or change the order of succession. The Northumberland, could not forbear express-judges pleaded these reasons before the couning their indignation at seeing such public demonstrations of joy during the languishing state of the young prince's health. . cil. They urged, that such a patent as was intended would be entirely invalid; that it would subject, not only the judges who drew EDWARD had been seized in the foregoing it, but every counsellor, who signed it, to the year, first with the measles, then with the pains of treason; and that the only proper expesmall-pox; but having perfectly recovered dient, both for giving sanction to the new from both these distempers, the nation enter- settlement, and freeing its partisans from dantained hopes that they would only serve to ger, was to summon a parliament, and to obto confirm his health; and he had afterwards tain the consent of that assembly. The king made a progress through some parts of the said, that he intended afterwards to follow that. kingdom. It was suspected that he had there method, and would call a parliament, in which overheated himself in exercise: he was seized he purposed to have his settlement ratified with a cough, which proved obstinate, and but in the mean time he required the judges, gave way neither to regimen nor medicines on their allegiance, to draw the patent in the several fatal symptoms of a consumption ap-form required. The council told the judges. peared and though it was hoped, that as the season advanced his youth and temperance * Heylin, p. 199, Stowe, p. 609. VOL. I 4. Z that their refusal would subject all of them to 46 said that he would in his shirt fight any man in so just a cause as that of lady Jane's succession. The judges were reduced to great difficulties between the dangers from the law, and those which arose from the violence of present power and authority.* thus, by the king's letters patent, the two princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, were set aside; and the crown was settled on the heirs of the dutchess of Suffolk: for the dutchess herself was content to give place to her daughters. THE arguments were canvassed in several AFTER this settlement was made, with so different meetings between the council and many inauspicious circumstances, Edward the judges; and no solution could be found visibly declined every day; and small hopes of the difficulties. At last Montague proposed were entertained of his recovery. To make an expedient, which satisfied both his brethren matters worse, his physicians were dismissed and the counsellors. He desired that a by Northumberland's advice, and by an order special commission should be passed by the of council; and he was put into the hands king and council, requiring the judges to of an ignorant woman, who undertook in a draw a patent for the new settlement of the little time to restore him to his former state crown, and that a pardon should immediately of health. After the use of her medicines, all after be granted them for any offence which the bad symptoms increased to the most viothey might have incurred by their compliance.lent degree: he felt a difficulty of speech and When the patent was drawn, and brought to breathing; his pulse failed, his legs swelled, the bishop of Ely chancellor, in order to have his colour became livid; and many other the great seal affixed to it, this prelate re- symptoms appeared of his approaching end. quired that all the judges should previously He expired at Greenwich, in the sixteenth sign it. Gosnald at first refused; and it was year of his age, and the seventh of his reign. with much difficulty that he was prevailed on, ALL the English historians dwell with by the violent menaces of Northumberland, to pleasure on the excellent qualities of this comply; but the constancy of Sir James young prince; whom the flattering promises Hales, who, though a zealous protestant, pre-of hope, joined to many real virtues, had made ferred justice on this occasion to the prejudices of his party, could not be shaken by any expedient. The chancellor next required, for his greater security, that all the privy counsellors should set their hands to the patent: the intrigues of Northumberland, or the fears of his violence, were so prevalent, that the coun-age in which he lived, too much of a narrow sellors complied with this demand. Cranmer alone hesitated during some time, but at last yielded to the earnest and pathetic entreaties of the king. Cecil, at that time secretary of state, pretended afterwards that he only signed as witness to the king's subscription. And * Fuller, book viii. p. 2. † Cranm. Mem. p. 295. an object of tender affection to the public. He possessed mildness of disposition, application to study and business, a capacity to learn and judge, and an attachment to equity and justice. He seems only to have contracted, from his education, and from the genius of the prepossession in matters of religion, which made him incline somewhat to bigotry and persecution: but as the bigotry of protestants, less governed by priests, lies under more restraints than that of catholics, the effects of this malignant quality were the less to be apprehended if a longer life had been granted to young Edward. MARY. Lady Jane Gray proclaimed Queen-Deserted by the People-The Queen proclaimed and acknowledged-Northumberland executed-Catholic Religion restored-A Parliament— Deliberations with regard to the Queen's Marriage-Queen's Marriage with PhilipWyat's Insurrection-suppressed-Execution of Lady Jane Gray—A Parliament-Philip's Arrival in England. TH justice in a full light; and when the people reflected on the long train of fraud, iniquity, and cruelty, by which that project had been conducted; that the lives of the two Sey had been sacrificed to it; they were moved by indignation to exert themselves in opposition to such criminal enterprises. The general veneration also paid to the memory of Henry VIII. prompted the nation to defend the rights of his posterity; and the miseries of the antient civil wars were not so entirely forgotten, that men were willing, by a de parture from the lawful heir, to incur the danger of like bloodshed and confusion. HE title of the princess Mary, after the demise of her brother, was not exposed to any considerable difficulty; and the objections started by the lady Jane's partisans were new and unheard of by the nation.mours, as well as the title of the princesses, Though all the protestants, and even many of the catholics, believed the marriage of Henry VIII. with Catherine of Arragon to be unlawful and invalid; yet, as it had been contracted by the parties without any criminal intention, had been avowed by their parents, recognized by the nation, and seemingly founded on those principles of law and religion which then prevailed, few imagined that their issue ought on that account to be regarded as illegitimate. A declaration to that purpose had indeed been extorted from parliament by the usual violence and caprice of Henry; but as that monarch had afterwards been induced to restore his daughter to the right of succession, her title was now become as legal and parliamentary as it was ever esteemed just and natural. The public had long been familiarised to these sentiments: during all the reign of Edward, the princess was regarded as his lawful successor and though the protestants dreaded the effects of her prejudices, the extreme hatred universally entertained against the Dudleys, who men foresaw would, under the name of Jane, be the real sovereigns, was more than sufficient to counterbalance, even with that party, the attachment to religion. This last attempt to violate the order of succession, had displayed Northumberland's ambition and in* Sleidan, lib. 25. NORTHUMBERLAND, sensible of the opposition which he must expect, had carefully concealed the destination made by the king; and in order to bring the two princesses into his power, he had had the precaution to engage the council, before Edward's death, to write to them in that prince's name desiring their attendance, on pretence that his infirm state of health required the assistance of their counsel, and the consolation of their company. Edward expired before their arrival; but Northumberland, in order to make the princesses fall into the snare, kept. the king's death still secret; and the lady Mary had already reached Hoddesden, within half a day's journey of the court. Happily, the earl of Arundel sent her private intelligence both of her brother's death and of the conspiracy formed against her: she imme diately made haste to retire; and she arrived, † Heylin, p. 154. ‡ Burnet, vol. ii. p. 233, of the present; pleaded the preferable title of the two princesses; expressed the dread of the consequences attending an enterprise so dangerous, not to say so criminal; and desired to remain in the private station in which she was born. Overcome at last by the entreaties rather than the reasons of her father and father-in-law, and above all of her husband, she submitted to their will, and was prevailed on to relinquish her own judgment. It was then usual for the kings of England, after their accession, to pass the first days in the Tower; and Northumberland immediately conveyed thither the new sovereign. All the counsellors were obliged to attend her to that fortress; and by this means became in reality prisoners in the hands of Northumberland; whose will they were necessitated to obey. Orders were given by the council 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: some even expressed their scorn and contempt; and one Pot, a vintner's apprentice, was severely punished for this offence. The protestant teachers themselves, who were employed to convince the people of Jane's title, found their eloquence fruitless; and Ridley, bishop of London, who preached a sermon to that purpose, wrought no effect upon his audience. by quick journies, first at Kenninghall in Norfolk, then at Framlingham in Suffolk; where she purposed to embark and escape to Flanders, in case she should find it impossible to defend her right of succession. She wrote letters to the nobility and most considerable gentry in every county in England; commanding them to assist her in the defence of her crown and person. And she dispatched a message to the council, by which she notified to them that her brother's death was no longer a secret to her, promised them pardon for past offences, and required them immediately to give orders for proclaiming her in London.* NORTHUMBERLAND found that farther dissimulation was fruitless: he went to Sionhouse,† 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, accomplished parts; and being of an equal age with the late king, she had received all her education with him, and seemed even to possess greater facility in acquiring every part of manly and polite literature. She had attained a familiar knowledge of the Roman and Greek languages, besides modern tongues; THE people of Suffolk, meanwhile, paid had passed most of her time in an application their attendance ou Mary. As they were to learning; and expressed a great indiffer- much attached to the reformed communion, ence for other occupations and amusements they could not forbear, amidst their tenders of usual with her sex and station. Roger As- duty, expressing apprehensions for their relicham, tutor to the lady Elizabeth, having onegion; but when she assured them that she day paid her a visit, found her employed in reading Plato, while the rest of the family were engaged in a party of hunting in the park; and on his admiring the singularity of her choice, she told him that she received more pleasure from that author than the others could reap from all their sport and gaiety. Her heart, full of this passion for literature and the elegant arts, and of tenderness towards her husband, who was deserving of her affections, had never opened itself to the flattering allurements of ambition; and the intelligence of her elevation to the throne was nowise agreeable to her. She even refused to accept Fox, vol. iii. p. 14. † Thuanus, lib. xiii. c. 10. Godwin in Kennet, p. 329. Heylin, p. 149. Burnet, vol. ii. p. 234. | Ascham's Works, p. 222, 223. never meant to change the laws of Edward, they inlisted themselves in her cause with zeal and affection. The nobility and gentry daily flocked to her, and brought her reinforcement. The earls of Bath and Sussex, the eldest sons of lord Whartou and lord Mordaunt, Sir William Drury, Sir Henry Benningfield, Sir Henry Jernegan, persons whose interest lay in the neighbourhood, appeared at the head of their tenants and retainers. Sir Edward Hastings, brother to the earl of Huntingdon, having received a commission from the council to make levies for the lady Jane in Buckinghamshire, carried over his troops, which amounted to four thousand men, and joined Mary. Even a fleet which had been sent by § Heylin, p. 160. Burnet, vol. ii. p. 237. |
