certain of her fortunes, "Well, let it burn, I will build not hesitate. Kenninghall was but a defenceless house him a better; " and she kept her word. She passed in an open country; she therefore rode forward to Framthrough Bury St. Edmunds, and the next night reached lingham Castle, not far from the Suffolk coast, where, in the seat of Kenninghall, in Norfolk. Thence without a strong fortress, she could await the result of an appeal delay she dispatched a messenger to the Privy Council, to her subjects, and, were she forced to fly, could easily commanding them to desist from the treasonable scheme escape across to Holland and put herself under the prowhich she knew that they were attempting, and ordering tection of her imperial kinsman. them to proclaim her their rightful sovereign, in which Once within the lofty walls of Framlingham, she comcase all that was past should be pardoned. The messen- manded the standard of England to be cast loose to the ger arrived just in time to see the rival queen proclaimed winds, and caused herself to be proclaimed Queen-reguant on the 10th, and to bring back a reply peculiarly insulting for its gross language, asserting her illegitimacy, and calling upon her to submit to her sovereign, Queen Jane. Mary on this occasion displayed the strong spirit of the Tudor. Though Northumberland had all the powers of the Government, the military strength, the influence of party, and the support of the nobility of the nation apparently under his hand, and possessed the reputation of being an able and most successful general, and though she had nobody with her but Sir Thomas Wharton, the steward of her household, Andrew Huddlestone, and her ladies; though she had neither troops nor money, she did of England and Ireland. The effect was soon seen. Sir Henry Jerningham and Sir Henry Bedingfeld had joined her with a few followers before she quitted Kenninghall, and had served her as a guard in her ride of twenty miles to Framlingham. Sir John Sulyard now arrived, and was appointed captain of her guards. He was speedily followed by the tenants of Sir Henry Bedingfeld, to the number of 140. By the influence of Sir Henry Jerningham, Yarmouth declared for her; and soon after flocked in, with more or less of followers, Lord Thomas Howard, a grandson of the old Duke of Norfolk Sir William Drury, Sir Thomas Cornwallis, High Sheriff of Suffolk; Sir John Skelton, and Sir John Tyrrel. These were all zealous Papists; and the people of Norfolk and Suffolk hurried to her standard, impelled by the memory of Northumberland's sanguinary extinction of Ket's rebellion, the horrors of which still kept alive a deep detestation of him in those counties. In a very short time she beheld herself surrounded by an army of 13,000 men, all serving without pay, but all confidently calculating on the certain recompouse which, as queen, she would soon be able to award them. In the lofty fortress of Framlingham, whence she could see over the woods the German Ocean, and near to the seaport of Aldborough, she remained, as is supposed, till the end of the month, but meantime her cause had grown rapidly and spread far and wide. On the 12th, only two days after her arrival there, she was proclaimed queen at Norwich. On the 15th, or thereabouts, a fleet was seen off the coast bearing for Yarmouth. It consisted of six ships of war, and was carrying artillery and ammunition for the siege of Framlingham Castle; and having effected that service, it was to cruise about to intercept her flight to the Continent. Sir Henry Jerningham put out from Yarmouth as these vessels drew near, to hail them. The sailors demanding what he wanted, he replied, "Your captains, who are rebels to their lawful Queen Mary." "If they are," said the men, "we will throw them into the sea, for we are her true subjects;' upon which the captains surrendered, and Sir Henry conveyed them into Yarmouth. On the 16th, Mr. Smith, clerk of the Council at Framlingham, announced a despatch from Mr. Brande, stating that Sir Edward Hastings, on the 15th, at Drayton, the seat of Lord Paget, had mustered 10,000 of the militia of Oxford, Bucks, Berkshire, and Middlesex, with the intention of marching to seize the palace of Westminster for the queen. Before leaving Kenninghall, Mary had written to Sir Edward Hastings claiming his allegiance. Sir Edward was brother to the Earl of Huntingdon, who was closely allied by marriage with Northumberland, but he was at the same time great-nephew to Cardinal Pole, and otherwise connected with his family. Sir Edward had been commissioned to raise this force by Northumberland, and the news of his defection coming simultaneously with that of the defection of the fleet at Yarmouth, must have thunderstruck Northumberland. On the same day, the 16th, a placard was found affixed to the door of Queenhithe Church, asserting that Mary had been proclaimed queen in every town of England except London; and so rapidly was the spirit of adhesion to Mary spreading, that that very day the Earls of Sussex and Bath deserted the Council, and took their way to Framlingham, at the head of their armed vassals. The same day all the vessels in the harbour of Harwich declared for Mary, dismissing Sir Richard Broke and other uncomplying officers from their commands; John Hughes, the Comptroller of the Customs at Yarmouth, went over, and John Grice, the captain of a ship of war. Mary ordered artillery and ammunition to be provided from Grice's ship and from Aldborough, to be forwarded for the defence of Framlingham; and on the 18th, seeing the zealous support which was every day manifesting itself, she issued a proclamation, offering £1,000 in land to any noble, £500 to any gentleman, and £100 to any yeoman, who should bring Northumberland prisoner to the queen. At the same time she maintained a guard of 500 men over her own person; and, no doubt, receiving information that the prisoners who crowded the gaols of Suffolk and Norfolk were chiefly those who had suffered for their opposition to the innovations of the reign of Edward, and especially under the more recent measure of Northumberland, she ordered them to be all set at liberty. Meantime Northumberland, with all his planning, was but ill prepared for the execution of his design when the king's death took place. It was the part of a clever diplomatist to have in good time secured in his hands the two next heirs to the throne. This not being done, and other matters being equally unsettled, he kept the death of the king concealed for two days, during which time he was deep in consultation with the Council. An exception, however, was made in favour of the lord mayor and aldermen of London, who were invited to Greenwich, where the Council was sitting, the death of the king revealed to them, and the fact that by Edward's will the Lady Jane Grey was appointed his successor. They were bound under a severe penalty not to divulge these secrets till they should receive orders from the Council, but to be prepared to preserve order in the city. The officers of the guards and of the household, and twelve eminent citizens were at the same time admitted to the knowledge of the king's decease, and sworn to their allegiance. Lady Jane Grey, the innocent object of these hazardous plans, had obtained a short leave of absence from Court, and was indulging her love of quiet and of books, when she was suddenly summoned by the Lady Sydney, the sister of her husband, to return to Sion House, and there to await the commands of the king, of whose death she was yet ignorant. On the morning of the 10th she was surprised by a deputation, consisting of the Duke of Northumberland, the Marquis of Northampton, and the Earls of Arundel, Huntingdon, and Pembroke. Soon after entered the Duchesses of Northumberland and Suffolk, and the Marchioness of Northampton. Her mother-inlaw, the Duchess of Northumberland, had already dropped some mysterious hints of some wonderful fortune awaiting her, and now the serious aspect of her visitors filled her with alarm. The Duke of Northumberland then informed her that the king, her cousin, was dead; that he had fal great concern for the continuance of the Church in the form and spirit in which it now was; and that on this account, and also to preserve the kingdom from the disorders which the illegitimacy of his sisters might occas he had in his will passed them over, and bequeathed the Crown to her, as the true legitimate heir, and, moreover holding the true faith. He had, therefore, in the will, ordered the Council proclaim her queen, and in default of her issue, ber sisters Catherine and Mary. The attendant nobles on this fell on their knees, declared her their queen, azi vowed to defend her right with their blood, if necessary. One of them, Arundel, as we have seen, was already n communication with Mary, and warned her of what wa being done. At this surprising revelation the Lady Jane swucced. and fell with a shriek on the floor. On recovering, sh A.D. 1553.] PROCLAMATION OF LADY JANE GREY. was overwhelmed with grief and terror, and declared herself a most unfit person for a sovereign. She was but a girl of sixteen, and was especially fond of retirement and study. 345 he alone was the man for the purpose. They moreover so excited the fears of Lady Jane that she entreated in tears that her father might remain with her. "Whereupon," says Stow, "the Council persuaded the Duke of Northumberland to take that voyage upon himself, saying that no man was so fit therefor, because he had achieved the victory in Norfolk once already, and was so feared there that none durst lift up their weapons against him; besides, that he was the best man of war in the realm, as well for the ordering of his camp and soldiers, both in battle and in their tents, as also by experience, knowledge, and wisdom, he could animate his army with witty persuasions, and also pacify and allay his enemies' That afternoon she was conveyed by water to the Tower, according to the usual custom on the accession of a new sovereign, and preparatory to the coronation. She arrived there in state about three o'clock. On her entrance, her mother, the Duchess of Suffolk, bore her train. The Lord Treasurer presented to her the Crown, and her assembled relatives saluted her on their knees. The unhappy victim of this fatal enterprise had opposed, the prosecution of the plan with all her energy in private, and amid many tears and fears. She was far from think-pride with his stout courage, or else dissuade them, if ing it either just or likely to succeed, but all her efforts were fruitless against her aspiring connections. Her old schoolmaster, Roger Ascham, describes her as a most amiable and excellent young woman, pleasing in her person, if not regularly beautiful, fond of domestic life and literature, and accustomed to read Plato in Greek. At six o'clock that evening, proclamation was made in London of the death of King Edward, and the succession of Queen Jane by his will; and a long announcement of the reasons which had led to this, signed by the new queen, was made public. Those reasons were of the most flimsy and superficial kind. They admitted that the succession was settled by the 35th of Henry VIII. in favour of Mary and Elizabeth, but pleaded that that was rendered void by a previous statute, which declared their illegitimacy, being unrepealed. It asserted that even had they been born in lawful wedlock, they could not inherit from the late king, being only his sisters in half-blood, as though they did not already inherit from their father, Henry, or as though Edward, their brother, supposing them legitimate, could not bequeath the Crown just as fully to them as to the Lady Jane. Various other reasons, all as frivolous, were added, the only valid one being the danger of the realm, in case of the succession of Mary, being brought again under the Papal dominion. To this proclamation there was no cordial response, the people listening in ominous silence. On the following morning, whilst Lady Jane's party were feeling the chill of this inauspicious beginning, the messenger of Mary arrived, commanding the Council to see that she was duly proclaimed, and warning them to desist from their treasonable purposes. Scarcely had they returned their uncourteous refusal, when news came pouring in that Mary had taken possession of the castle of Framlingham, and that the nobility, gentry, and people of Suffolk were flocking to her standard. need were, from their enterprise. Finally, they said, this is the short and long, the queen will in no wise grant that her father should take it upon him." Northumberland consented, though with many misgivings. He equally distrusted the Council and the citizens. On the 13th of July he set out, urging on the Council at his departure fidelity to the trust reposed in them, and received from them the most earnest protestations of zeal and attachment. If these assurances did not inspire him with confidence, far less did the aspect of the people as he marched out of the city with his little army, so that he could not help remarking to Sir John Gates, "The people come to look at us, but not one exclaims, God speed you!" The people, in fact, now regarded him as a desperate adventurer. They said,' they now saw through him and all his actions; that he had incited Somerset to put to death his own brother, and then he had got Somerset executed, so that the young king might be stripped of his nearest relatives, his natural protectors, and left in his own hands; and that now he had poisoned him to make way for his daughter-in-law, Lady Jane, and thus too for his son. 6 To remove these impressions as much as possible, he now sent for the most eminent preachers, and especially Ridley, and exhorted them to disabuse the people in their sermons whilst he was away. Accordingly, Ridley preached on the following Sunday at St. Paul's Cross, before the lord mayor, aldermen, and a great concourso of the people. In his sermon he drew a striking contrast betwixt the daughters of Henry VIII., and especially Mary, and the Lady Jane. He represented that not only the illegitimacy of the two princesses had induced their brother Edward to omit them from the succession, but the certain prospect of destruction to the reformed religion if Mary succeeded, and the equally certain prospect of its maintenance if the amiable, able, and pious Northumberland saw that no time was to be lost. It Lady Jane was queen. On the one hand, there were the was necessary that forces should be instantly dispatched bigoted Spanish connections of Mary, the supporters of to check the growth of Mary's army, and to disperse it the Inquisition, and most probably a prince of that altogether. But who should command it? There was despotic house as her husband; on the other hand, there no one so proper as himself; but he suspected the fidelity would be a noble Protestant queen surrounded by the of the Council, and was unwilling to remove himself to a prelates and councillors who had so stoutly combated for distance from them; he therefore recommended the Duke the pure faith. To satisfy them of the determined Popery of Suffolk, the father of Lady Jane, to the command of Mary, he related a personal interview which he had of the expedition. The Council, who were anxious to get with her before the late king's death. He had ridden rid of Northumberland in order that they might them-over in September from his house at Hadlam to her resiselves escape to Mary's camp, represented privately that Suffolk was a general of no reputation, that everything depended on decisive proceedings in the outset, and that dence at Hunsdon, to pay his respects to her. She had invited him to stay and dine, and after dinner he informed her that he intended on Sunday to come as her diocesan and preach before her. Mary replied that certainly the parish church would be open to him, but that he must not calculate on seeing her or her household there. He had answered that he hoped she would not refuse God's word. She answered that she did not know what they called God's word now, but certainly it was not the same as in her father's time. "God's word," rejoined Ridley, "was the same at all times, but had been better understood and practised in some ages than others." She replied, that he durst not have avowed his present faith in her father's lifetime, and asked if he were of the Council. He said he was not; and on his retiring, she thanked him for coming to see her, but not at all for his proposal to preach before her. But not all the eloquence of Ridley, nor the terrors of Mary's bigotry, could move the people, who had a simple, strong conviction that a deed of flagrant wrong was attempted. Northumberland meantime was pursuing his melancholy march towards Framlingham. He was accompanied by his son, the Earl of Warwick, the Marquis of Northampton, the Earl of Huntingdon, and Lord Grey. His army amounted only to 8,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry, but it was so superior in discipline and military supplies, that under ordinary circumstances, with the same vigour and address which he had formerly shown in Scotland and in Norfolk, the superior number of the enemy would have availed nothing against him. Here the circumstances were significantly different. He was no longer battling against a national foe, with a bold heart, and the hope of glory and advancement; he was fighting against his true sovereign, and everything around him or which reached his ears made him feel, moreover, that he was fighting against the convictions of the nation. Instead of the animation of the conqueror, the terrors of the traitor fell over him. At every step some expectation was falsified, or some disastrous news met him. The promised reinforcements did not arrive, but he heard of them taking the way to the camp of Mary instead of his own. He heard of the defection of the fleet; and lastly, a prostrating blow, of the Council having gone over to Queen Mary. Struck with dismay at this accumulation of evil tidings, he retreated from Bury St. Edmunds, which he had reached, to Cambridge, and there betrayed the most pitiable indecision. Scarcely had he left London before the Council, whilst outwardly professing much activity for the interests of Queen Jane, was really at work to terminate as soon as possible the perilous farce of her Royalty. On the very evening of Sunday the 16th, on which Ridley had preached to the people, the Lord Treasurer left the Tower and made a visit to his own house, contrary to the positive order of Northumberland, who had strictly enjoined Suffolk to keep the whole Council within its walls. On the 19th the Lord Treasurer and Lord Privy Seal, the Earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury, and Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney, and Sir John Mason, left the Tower on the plea that it was necessary to levy forces, and to receive the French ambassador, and that Baynard's Castle, the residence of the Earl of Pembroke, was a much more convenient place for these purposes. As they professed to be actuated by zeal for the cause of his daughter, Suffolk, a very weak person, was easily duped. No sooner had they reached Baynard's Castle, than they unanimously de clared for Queen Mary. They sent for the lord mayor and the aldermen, and the Earl of Arundel announced to them that the Council had resolved to proclaim Queen Mary, denouncing the opposition in no measured terms. The Earl of Pembroke starting up as he finished, and drawing his sword, exclaimed, "If the arguments of my Lord Arundel do not persuade you, this sword shall make Mary queen, or I will die in her quarrel." Shouts of applause echoed his declaration, and they all forthwith rode to St. Paul's Cross, where the garter king-at-arms, arrayed in his heraldic coat, blew his trumpet and proclaimed Mary Queen of England, France, and Ireland. This time there was no gloomy silence, but triumphant acclamations; and the whole body of nobles and civic gentlemen went in procession to St. Paul's, and together sung "Te Deum." Beer, wine, and money were distributed amongst the people, and the day was finished amid the blaze of bonfires, illuminations, and loud rejoicings. Immediately after proclaiming the new queen, the Council sent to summon the Duke of Suffolk to surrender the Tower, which he did with all alacrity, and, proceeding to Baynard's Castle, signed the proclamations which the Council were issuing. Poor Lady Jane resigned her uneasy and unblessed crown of nine days with unfeigned joy, and the next morning returned to Sion House. This brief period of queenship, which had been thrust upon her against her own wishes and better judgment, had been embittered not only by her own sense of injustice towards her kinswoman, the Princess Mary, and by apprehension of the consequences to herself and all her friends, but still more by the harshness and insatiate ambition of her husband and his mother. In Lady Jane's own letter to Mary from the Tower, we find that whilst in that Royal fortress, her husband, Lord Guildford, insisted on being crowned with her, which she did not think it advisable at once to accede to. A very warm altercation ensued, and she then thought she could give him the crown by Act of Parliament. On reflection, however, she felt it best to waive this question, which so much incensed her husband that he refused to go near her. His mother then upbraided her so severely that she became very ill, and imagined from her sensations that they had given her poison. In the Italian version of her own account, as preserved by Pollini and Rosso, she says that the duchess treated her very ill, "molto malamente," and with the most angry disdain. It was clearly to her a deep and bitter baptism of misery. The Council dispatched a letter to Northumberland by Richard Rose, the herald, commanding him to disband his army and return to his allegiance to Queen Mary, under penalty of being declared a traitor. But before this reached him he had submitted himself, and in a manner the least heroic and dignified possible. On the Sunday he had induced Dr. Sandys, the vice-chancellor of the university, to preach a sermon against the title and religion of Mary. The very next day the news of the revolution at London arrived, and Northumberland proceeding to the market-place proclaimed the woman ba had thus denounced, and flung up his cap as if in joy at the event, whilst the tears of grief and chagrin streamed down his face. Turning to Dr. Sandys, who was again with him, he said, "Queen Mary was a merciful woman, |