CHAP. XXXVI. 1553. 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 Philip-Wyat's insurrection- Suppressed Execution of lady Jane Gray-A parliament -- Philip's arrival in England. CHAP. THE title of the princess Mary, after the demise XXXVI. 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. 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, recognised 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 XXXVI. 1553. it was ever esteemed just and natural. The public CHAP. 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,1 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 injustice 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 Seymours, as well as the title of the princesses, 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 ancient civil wars were not so entirely forgotten, that men were willing, by a departure from the lawful heir, to incur the danger of like bloodshed and confusion. Northumberland, sensible of the opposition which he must expeet, 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 2 Heylin, p. 154. 1 Sleidan, lib. 25. 2 1553. CHAP. had already reached Hoddesden, within half a day's XXXVI. 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 immediately made haste to retire; and she arrived by quick journeys, first at Kenning-hall 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.2 claimed queen. 3 Northumberland found that farther 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 reLady Jane Spect usually paid to the sovereign. Jane was in a Gray pro- 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; had passed most of her time in an application to learning; and expressed a great indifference for other occupations and amuse 1 Burnet, vol. ii, p. 233. 3 Thuanus, lib. xiii, c. 10. 2 Fox, vol. iii, p. 14. * Godwin in Kennet, p. 329. Heylin, p. 149. Burnet, vol. ii, p. 234. XXXVI. 1553. ments usual with her sex and station. Roger Ascham, CHAP. 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 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 of the present; pleaded the preferable title of the two princesses; expressed her dread of the consequences attending an enterprise so dangerous, not to say so ériminal, 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. 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 them The CHAP. selves, who were employed to convince the people XXXVI. of Jane's title, found their eloquence fruitless; and 1553. Ridley, bishop of London, who preached a sermon to that purpose, wrought no effect upon his audience. The people of Suffolk, meanwhile, paid their attendance on Mary. As they were much attached to the reformed communion, they could not forbear, amidst their tenders of duty, expressing apprehensions for their religion; but when she assured them that she 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 Wharton 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.1 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 Northumberland to lie off the coast of Suffolk, being forced into Yarmouth by a storm, was engaged to declare for that princess. Northumberland, hitherto blinded by ambition, saw at last the danger gather round him, and knew not to what hand to turn himself. He had levied forces which were assembled at London; but dreading the cabals of the courtiers and counsellors, whose compliance he knew had been entirely the result of fear or artifice, he was resolved to keep near the person of the lady Jane, and sent Suffolk to command the army. But the counsellors, who wished to remove him, working on the filial ten 1 Heylin, p. 160. |