as still remained in its possession were totally inadequate to meet the annual demands of the Government. Northumberland, therefore, asked for two-tenths and twofifteenths; but even with his care to pack the Commons he found it no easy task to obtain it, and the friends of Somerset again assembled in considerable force in the House, resenting in strong terms the pretence thrown out in the preamble to the bill that it was owing to the extravagance and improvidence of the late Duke of Somerset, to his involving the country in needless wars, debasing the coin, and occasioning a terrible rebellion. In his second object, the suppression of the bishopric of Durham, Northumberland succeeded more easily. Failing to persuade Parliament to condemn the bishop, Northumberland had erected a new and utterly unconstitutional court of lawyers and civilians, empowering them to call the prelate before them, and to examine him on the charge of cognisance of conspiracy; and this monstrous and illegal tribunal had stripped the bishop of all his ecclesiastical preferments as the punishment for his offence. The see being now held to be vacant, an Act was passed for the suppression of that diocese and the erection of two new ones-one including Durham, the other Northumberland. The plea for this daring innovation was the vast and unwieldy extent of the diocese of Durham; but the real cause was well understood to be one much more interesting to Northumberland himself. These two important Acts being passed, Parliament was dissolved, and within two months the bishopric was converted into a county palatine, annexed at present to the Crown, but awaiting a convenient transfer to the possessions of the house of Dudley. But the king's health was fast failing, and it was high time for Northumberland to make sure his position and fortune. The constitution of Edward had long betrayed symptoms of fragility. In the early spring of the past year he was successively attacked by measles and smallpox. In the autumn, through incautious exposure to cold, he was attacked by inflammation of the lungs, and so enfeebled was he become by the meeting of Parliament on the 1st of March, 1553, that he was obliged to receive the two Houses at his palace of Whitehall. He was greatly exhausted by the exertion, being evidently far gone in a consumption, and harassed with a troublesome cough. Northumberland, from the day on which he rose into the ascendant at Court, had shown that he was the true son of the old licensed extortioner. He had laboured assiduously not only to surround himself by interested adherents, but to add estate to estate. He inherited a large property, the accumulations of oppression and crimes of the blackest dye. But during the three years in which he had enjoyed all but kingly power, he had been diligently at work creating a kingly demesne. He was become the Steward of the East Riding of Yorkshire, and of all the Royal manors in the five northern counties. He had obtained Tynemouth and Alnwick in Northumberland, Barnard Castle in Durham, and immense estates in Warwick, Worcester, and Somersetshire. The more he saw the king fail, the more anxious he was to place his brother, his sons, his relatives, and most devoted partisans in places of honour and profit around him at Court. This done, he advanced to bolder measures, to which these were only the stepping-stones. Lady Jane Grey was the daughter of Frances, Duchess of Suffolk, whose mother was Mary, the sister of Henry VIII. Mary first married Louis XII. of France, by whom she had no children, and next, Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, by whom she had two daughters. The youngest of these two daughters married Clifford, Earl of Cumberland, but the eldest, Frances, whose claim came first, had by the Duke of Suffolk three daughters, Jane, Catherine, and Mary. Northumberland, casting his eye over the descendants of Henry VIII., saw the only son, King Edward, dying, and the two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, bastardised by Acts of Parliament still unrepealed. A daring scheme seized his ambitious mind-a scheme to set aside these two princesses, the elder of whom, and immediate heir to the throne, was especially dangerous to the permanence of the newly-established Protestantism. It was true that Margaret of Scotland, the sister of Henry VIII., was older than his sister Mary, and her granddaughter, Mary Queen of Scots, would have taken precedence of the descendants of Mary, but she and her issue had been entirely passed over in the will of Henry. Leaving out, then, this line, and setting aside the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth as legally illegitimate, Lady Jane Grey would become heir to the throne after her mother Frances, Duchess of Suffolk. But Northumberland wa well informed that the Duchess of Suffolk would not on any account aspire to the throne, though she might not object to see her daughter placed there under promising circumstances. Northumberland resolved, therefore, to secure Lady Jane in marriage for his son, Lord Guildford Dudley; to obtain Lady Jane's sister, Catherine, for Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke, who owed title, estates, and everything to the favour of Northumberland; and to marry his own daughter Catherine to the eldest son of the Earl of Huntingdon. In May, 1553, Edward was apparently much improved in health, and though, with a good portion of his father's obstinacy, he had greatly disregarded the advice of bes physicians, he now promised to observe their reconmendations, and cheering hopes were entertained of l actual recovery. The promise was delusive, and Northumberland was probably well aware of it; but as th auspicious event enabled him to effect the contemplated marriage with less suspicion, and with the personal sanstion of the sovereign, he seized upon it. The marriages were celebrated at Durham House, Northumberland new residence in the Strand, where the utmost gaiety prevailed, which the king, with all his asserted improve ment, was too feeble to witness, but he sent to the bride magnificent presents; and, no doubt with the intention of winning the approval of the Princess Mary to the alliances, at this time a grant was made her of the caste of Hertford, and of several manors and parks in th county and in Essex. The gleam of the king's convalescence died away, 15 it were, with the wedding fêtes at Durham House; in June he had sunk into such debility that it was evident that his life was fast ebbing to a close. Northumberland saw that no time was to be lost in the completion of his aspiring plans. He sat down by the bed of the dy young prince, a boy still not sixteen years of age, and entered into a serious conversation with him on the prospects of the kingdom, and still more of the Church in it, when he should be gone. The wily politician knew that the interests of the reformed faith ran with the very pulses of the Royal youth's heart, more powerful even than that of nature and family affinity. Through his short life and shorter reign, he had entered into the work of reformation of the national faith with all the zeal of an apostle. Northumberland observed that by his ardent support of this emancipated Christianity, by his manly extirpations of the idolatries and superstitions of the old corrupted form of it, he won an everlasting reputation, and a place amongst the highest saints in heaven. But when they looked forward, what was the prospect? Was this noble work to be perpetuated, or to be marred? If his sister Mary succeeded, with all her Spanish bigotry, what must be the inevitable result? Undoubtedly the return of the old darkness and all its monkish and priestly legends, and the fair faith and knowledge of the Bible must vanish as a beautiful morning dream. 339 land, for none of the ladies named had any heirs male; and therefore, on the death of Edward, the Crown would have passed over the whole family, and would go to the next of kin. A slight alteration was therefore suggested and made. The letter "s" at the end of "Jane's " was scored out, the words "and her " inserted, and thus the bequest stood "to the Lady Jane and her heirs masles.” This alteration made, a fair copy was drawn, and Edward signed it with his own hand, above, below, and on each margin. This was the first act of the great drama which Dudley was composing-a most marvellous thing when we carry back our memory a few years to the scoundrel deeds of his father, in the notable copartnership of infamy with Empson; the second was to make the poor invalid go through the exciting labour of making this will known, and settling its decision whilst alive. On the 11th of June, therefore, Sir Edward Montague, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, Sir Thomas Bromley, another judge of the same court, Sir Richard Baker, Chancellor of the Augmentations, with Gosnold and Griffyn, the Attorney and Solicitor-Generals, were summoned to Greenwich. The king received them in the Council the next day, and informed them of the danger which menaced the laws, the liberties, and the religion of the country if his sister Mary should succeed him, and marry a foreign prince; and that, to provide against this, he had resolved to change the order of succession. He required them, therefore, to draw up an instrument for this purpose, according to the instructions he had prepared and signed for them. The judges, startled at this dangerous and illegal project, were about to make objections, but Edward, who, no doubt, was instructed how to act, would not listen to them, and would only grant them a short time to examine the different acts of succession, and prepare themselves for this duty. Having sufficiently stretched the young king on the rack of apprehension, he adroitly suggested to him that the case was by no means without remedy. It was difficult and dangerous, but it was practicable, and within his power. He had only to place the interests of religion and of his kingdom in preference to the mere ties of consanguinity, and all would be safe. There was Lady Jane Grey, the descendant of the same father as his own, a lady of his own blood, a lady wise beyond her years, learned beyond most men, and in whose soul the same divine truths were planted beyond all power of eradication, by the same hand which had guided and instructed his own Royal mind. He had only to make a will, like his father, and pass by Mary as declaredly illegitimate by that father, and the danger was past, and he would leave the work which he had nobly begun safe from all fear of change. It was true, as Northumberland was aware, that Elizabeth was as fairly Protestant as Mary was Papist, and the choice of her would undoubtedly have been highly acceptable to the reformed portion of the nation; but that view of things did not suit Northumberland, and therefore he adroitly showed the young monarch that as the thing to guard against was Mary's Popery-a cause, however, which could not be assigned simply and alone, without calling forth all the partisanship of the Papist portion of the nation—it was impossible to exclude Mary on the ground of ille-threats and promises were at length induced to comply, gitimacy, and admit Elizabeth, who lay under the same disqualification. The dying prince listened with a mind which had long been under the influence of the more powerful will of Dudley, and saw nothing but the most patriotic objects in his recommendations. He no doubt considered it a great kingly duty to decide by his will, as his father had done, the succession; and that the whole responsibility might rest on himself, and not on Northumberland, who had so much at stake, he was easily induced to sketch the form of his devise of the Crown with his own pen. In this rough draft he entailed the succession on "the Lady Frances's heirs masles," next on "Lady Jane's heirs masles," and then on the heirs male of her sisters. This, however, did not accord with the plans of Northumber On the 14th, two days later, the judges waited on the lords of the Council, and informed them that to draw the instrument required of them would be a direct breach of the 35th of the late king, and would involve both themselves and they who advised them in the penalties of treason. At these words, Northumberland, who had been listening in an adjoining room, entered in a great rage, denounced them as traitors, and declared that he would fight any man in his shirt who called so salutary a disposition of the Crown in question. The next day they were again summoned, and by The demanding, however, that they should receive a commis- Northumberland was not satisfied with the will of the king and the act of the Crown lawyer; he produced another document, to which he required the signatures of the members of the Council and of the legal advisers John Gates exclaimed, What, sir! will you let the of the Crown, who pledged to the number of four-and- Lady Mary escape, and not secure her person?" The twenty their oaths and honour to support this arrange-answer was too low to be caught, but the young man ment. The legal instrument, being prepared, was engrossed in parchment, and was authenticated by the great seal. The peers, the judges, the lords of the Council, the officers of the Crown, and others then signed it, to the number of 101. There were many other measures necessary to ensure so dangerous an enterprise as Northumberland had now undertaken, which if he failed must send his head to the block-if he succeeded would make him the father of a line of kings. These measures he had carefully prepared. He had superseded the Constable of the Tower, Sir John Gates, by a creature of his own, Sir James Croft. He had dismantled some of the forts on the sea coasts and the banks of the Thames, to carry their stock of ammunition to the Tower, and these preparations being made, Croft surrendered the keeping of Edward VI. in Council. From an old Engraving hastened to inform his family, who consulted on the best means of apprising Mary of her danger. It was thought best to consult Mary's goldsmith, who was accordingly sent for, and, it is supposed, immediately dispatched to stay her progress. He met and arrested her advance at Hoddesdon. On the 6th of July the king expired in the evening, and Sir Nicholas Throckmorton hastened after the goldsmith to inform the princess. Mary was in a state of great perplexity when he arrived, from the previous news brought to her, and from a similar message from the Earl of Arundel. The tidings of Sir Nicholas were speedily confirmed by his father, and by the father of the young man who had given the first alarm. By the advice of the elder Throckmorton, Mary quitted the road to London in all haste, and took her way through Bary St. Edmunds for her seat of Kenninghall, in the county of Norfolk. The death of Edward had been long expected by the whole nation, and so many prognostics had been published of it, that the Council had dealt severe corporal chastisement, as well as incarceration, to a number of such death-prophets. Hayward, Heylin, and others represent the Royal invalid as being, during the latter part of his life, taken out of the hands of his physicians and entrusted to the care of a female quack, whose nostrums hastened his end, and led many to a suspicion that even poison had been resorted to. When his physicians were at last recalled, they declared him past recovery. Edward was only fifteen years, eight months, and twenty-two days old at his death, and had reigned sir years and a half. Much as has been said of the genius and virtues of this young prince, it is still difficult to decide the exact amount of his personal merit, and still more to prognosticate what might have been the character of his reign had he attained to full manhood or to age. That he had a fair share of ability is not to be doubted, and this had been cultivated to the greatest advantage for his the Tower to the high admiral, Lord Clinton. His sons years. But we are not warranted in endorsing all the were placed at the head of some companies of horse, and marvellous flatteries of the party in whose hands he was, feeling himself now strong at all points, the arch-traitor and who represented him as a prodigy of talent, learning, laid his plans to inveigle the Princess Mary into his and virtue. His talent, and indeed his wisdom, would be hands. A letter was written to her from the Council, in- pre-eminent, did we give him credit for all the grave forming her that her brother was very ill, and praying and well-weighed sentences which were put into his her to come to him, as he earnestly desired the comfort of mouth. The boy of fourteen used to sit like an oracle her presence, and wished her to see all well ordered about amid his council of learned prelates and practical stateshim. Mary, who was at Hunsdon, was touched by the men, and deliver his opinions and decisions with a grave apparent regard of the king, and sending back a message propriety, which was rather that of a hoary king than of that she was much gratified that her dear brother thought a mere youth. But we learn from Strype that all this she could be of any comfort to him, set out to go to him. was prepared beforehand. He was drilled by Northan This was on the last of June. She had reached Hoddes- berland in the part which he had to act on every occasion. don, and all seemed to favour the plot of Northumber- The whole business was laid down plainly before him. land, when a mysterious messenger met her, and brought and he was supplied with short notes of the affair in hand, information which caused her to pause in much wonder. which he committed to memory. The whole reduced It appears from Cole's MS. in the British Museum, that itself into the mere lesson of the schoolboy; but to the this messenger was her goldsmith; that one of the uninitiated spectator it appeared astonishing and prec Throckmortons, who was in the service of the Duke of cious. His learning, which has been asserted on the Northumberland, casually overheard a part of a conver-evidence of his letters, which have been preserved sation between that nobleman and Sir John Gates, one of his most resolute cavaliers. The duke was in bed, the subject of conversation was the Princess Mary, and Sir Fuller, Strype, and others, bears marks of the touches of his preceptors, and his virtues are still more difficult of estimation. That he assisted in a great work of reforms A.D. 1553.] FLIGHT OF MARY. 341 The ancient Britons admitted the right of females to rule as sovereigns, and there were amongst them queensregnant in their own right; but since then, though the common law recognised the claim, the fierce martial fullest hereditary descent, and placed the sceptre in a male hand. The Empress Matilda could not obtain the throne due to her by her birth, and the same custom had made itself felt in the cases of Eleanor of Brittany and Elizabeth of York. But the ferocious wars of England, and the bloody spirit induced by them, had destroyed almost all Royal male descent in England at this time. There were Mary and her sister Elizabeth, Mary the Queen of Scots, the great-niece of Henry VIII., and Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, whose claims we have stated. It was, therefore, a most interesting epoch, which was to place a woman on the throne, and set the example of female reigns, destined to be so remarkable. But if Mary's position as a woman was novel, it was peculiarly critical, as it regarded the new spirit and new institutions which had developed themselves in the country. She was firmly attached to the old spirit and the old institutions; and both at home and abroad men were anxiously watching what would be the result of her becoming queen. tion in the Church is undoubted, but that work was the work of the party in whose hands he was. If we look for any depth of family affection, we experience considerable disappointment. He suffered both his uncles—who, so far as he was personally concerned, never showed him any-spirit of Europe had generally passed over women in the thing but kindness-to perish in their blood, when a slight exercise of the virtues and wisdom attributed to him might at least have saved their lives. He suffered his sisters to be thrust from the throne, apparently without a pang; and coolly and formally stamped upon them with his own hand the base brand of bastardy, which it required no precocious genius to discern was false, and put forward only for the most sordid interests. Still, whatever the merits or demerits of Edward VI., we must ever gratefully regard him as an instrument in the hands of Providence for the material and manifest furtherance of those institutions which have tended to build up England into what she is, and to mark her out, by her free and liberal spirit, and by her grand prosperity, from all the nations of the earth. So far as regarded the government of the kingdom at the time, nothing was less successful. The party, whichever it was, which had the king in their hands, were too much engrossed by their eager pursuit of the Church lands and of titles, to maintain the domestic prosperity and the foreign fame of England. Never did a country sink so rapidly in prestige, not even in the miserably imbecile reigns of Richard II. and Edward II. The English forces were driven out of Scotland, after some bloody and wanton successes, and out of France without any success at all. Boulogne, the solitary conquest of Henry VIII., was surrendered on ignominious terms, and amid the most imperious airs of insult from the French ministers. The Queen of Scots, whose hand might have cemented the two countries into an eternal union, was driven into the arms of the French; and foreign nations ceased to respect the once great name of Briton. At home the land was covered by homeless vagabonds, uncultured fields, insurrection, or sullen discontent. The enclosure of commons, and the rack-rents of land, drove the farmer from his grange, and the cotter from his cot. The beggar and the thief infested the highways; and, if we are to believe the preachers of the time, the corruption of morals kept pace with the rapacity of the statesmen and the degradation of the clergy. CHAPTER XII. THE REIGN OF QUEEN MARY. Laly Jane Grey proclaimed-Mary raises her Standard at Framlingham -Her triumphant Progress to London-Arrival at the TowerExecution of Northumberland-Religious Contests-Lady Jane Grey's Letter to Mary--Mary's behaviour to Elizabeth-Her Engagement to Philip of Spain-Wishes to resign Church Supremacy -Restores the Duke of Norfolk-Procession through the CityCoronation-Repeals the Religious Laws of Edward VI., and those regarding Life and Property of Henry VIII.-Marriage Treaty with Philip-Insurrections-Wyatt's Battle in London-Death of Lady Jane Grey and Lord Guildford Dudley-The Conspiracy of Elizabeth and Courtenay-Parliament securing England against the claims of Philip as King Consort-Wyatt Executed-Arrival of Philip in England. THE ascension of Mary to the throne of England was a remarkable event. She was the first English queen in her own right since the Norman conquest; nor even in the Saxon times had a woman reigned over these islands. Especially was the question of deep interest to the Pope, and the sovereigns of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. If Mary brought back the old religion, how greatly would the union betwixt her and her relatives of Spain and the Netherlands be augmented. It was an event which opened up wonderful scenes to the imagination of Charles, and in his old age gave new impetus to his thirst for universal dominion. The King of France had secured the Queen of Scotland for his son, but what was that advantage compared with the opportunity of his own son securing the heiress of England? He had seen, with fearful pangs of political jealousy, the prospect of the union of France and Scotland under one Crown; but now, what was to prevent the Crowns of Spain, of the Netherlands, and of England being blended into one glorious imperial diadem? All that Charles hoped of course Henry feared, and therefore each monarch had long been keeping a close and absorbing watch on the sinking powers of the late king. Renard, the ambassador of the emperor, and Noailles, the ambassador of the King of France, had kept close to the throne of the dying youth, watching with breathless interest every symptom of the advancing disease, and preparing by every diplomatic art for the coming crisis. As Mary pursued her flight on the 7th of July, after learning the death of her brother, she arrived in the ensuing evening at the gates of Sawston Hall, near Cambridge, the seat of a Mr. Huddlestone, a zealous Romanist, a kinsman of whose was a gentleman of Mary's retinue. There she passed the night, but was compelled to resume her journey early in the morning, the Protestant party in Cambridge having heard of her arrival, and being on the march to attack her. She and her followers were obliged to make the best of their way thence in different disguises, and turning on the Gogmagog Hills to take a look at the hall, she saw it in flames: her night's sojourn had cost her entertainer the home of his ancestors. On seeing this, she exclaimed, as quite |