CHAPTER III. Death of Edward the Sixth-Lady Jane Grey-Accession of Mary-Elizabeth's hypocritical profession of the Popish Faith-Takes part in Mary's CoronationIs set up as a rival to the Crown-Breach between her and Mary, widened by the rival factions-Refuses to marry the Prince of Piedmont-Implicated in the Wyatt Rebellion—Sent for to Court-Imprisoned in the Tower-Severely treated Gardiner's attempt to take her life-Removed to Richmond-The Duke of Savoy offered her in marriage-Removed to Woodstock-Still treated with rigourSent for to Court-Is forgiven, and restored to Royal favour-Philip's efforts to marry her to the Duke of Savoy-Spends Christmas at Court-Proceeds to Hatfield―Renewed offer of marriage—Magnificent entertainments —Proposals of Eric of Sweden-Her dislike of marriage-Mary bequeaths the Crown to her— Her dying request to her-She vows that she is a Catholic-Affects surprise when informed of Mary's demise. HE long-anticipated and firmly replied, that her eldest sister, death of Edward the Mary, was the first to be treated with, Sixth took place at during whose lifetime she, for her part, Greenwich, on the had no right or title to renounce. Whilst sixth of July, 1553. Mary asserted her rights by an appeal to It was hastened by arms, Elizabeth, confined to her house the unskilful treat- by a sickness, most probably feigned, ment of a female merely avoided taking part in the strugempiric, to whose care the royal pa- gle for the crown. She did not, as tient had been improperly confided; some historians state, raise troops in aid and coming, as it did, upon Northum- of Mary. But although, during this berland somewhat by surprise, compelled eventful crisis, she no more supported him to act with a degree of precipita- Mary than Lady Jane, the moment tion, injurious to his crafty designs. the contest was at an end, and the news Several preparatory measures were yet of her sister's victory had reached her, to be adopted, particularly the important she forgot her indisposition, and hastened one of securing the persons of the two in state, to meet and court the favour of princesses, Mary and Elizabeth. Ac- the conqueror. At the head of one cordingly he ordered the death of the thousand persons, on horseback, many King to be carefully concealed, whilst of whom were ladies, she met her sister he wrote letters in the name of Edward Mary at Wanstead, where she first paid the Sixth, requiring the immediate at- homage to her as Queen. When Mary tendance of his sisters at court. How far made her triumphal entry into London, the stratagem succeeded with Mary, and she rode by her side. In personal apher subsequent proceedings, have already pearance and manners, she had the been detailed. The more wary Elizabeth, advantage of Mary. She was but twenty, informed, it is supposed by Cecil, of the about half the age of the Queen, and treachery hatching at court, remained without pretensions to extraordinary tranquil at her residence in Hertfordshire. | beauty, she could boast of a tall, portly, The Duke of Northumberland soon graceful figure, evenly chiselled features, after despatched messengers to Elizabeth, large blue eyes, a fine but rather sallow apprizing her of the accession of Lady complexion, and delicate hands, the Jane Grey to the throne, and proposing elegant symmetry of which she was proud to her the alternative of resigning her to display on every possible occasion. own title, in consideration of a sum of She also condescended to court popularity money and certain lands to be assigned by all those arts of which her after-confor her benefit. Elizabeth prudently | duct proved her to be a perfect mistress. But a few weeks after Mary had been proclaimed Queen, the partizans of the opposing religions succeeded in exciting her jealous ill-will against her sister Elizabeth. When Mary made known her intention of restoring the mass and other Catholic rituals, the Protestants took the alarm; fixed their hopes on the constancy of Elizabeth, who had already won for herself the good will of the people generally, and openly declared that she might be placed upon the throne with as little difficulty as Mary had been. On this account Mary was advised to place her sister under arrest. But this unjust, unpopular measure, she refused to consent to; and to at once gratify her own religious prejudices, and weaken the power of the reformers, she endeavoured, by entreaties, promises, threats, to withdraw her royal sister from the Protestant to the Catholic Church. Elizabeth firmly resisted every attempt, till she found that her repugnance was attributed not to motives of conscience, but to the persuasions of factions; when, demanding an audience with the Queen, she, on her knees, and with tearful eyes, excused her past obstinacy, on the plea that she had never practised, nor been taught, any other than the reformed religion, and employed Mary to furnish her with proper books and instructors, that she might learn her error, and embrace the religion of her fathers. In a week her defection from the Protestant Church was effected; policy induced her to make a hypocritical profession of the Catholic faith, and, as a show of sincerity, to attend mass on the eighth of September, and to shortly afterwards write to the Emperor, for permission to purchase in Flanders a chalice, cross, and other ecclesiastical ornaments for a Catholic chapel, she was about to open in her own house. By this and other dissimulation, Elizabeth succeeded for a time in retaining her influence at court. Mary, evidently believing in her sincerity, treated her, in public and private, with extraordinary kindness. In the splendid procession of her Majesty from the Tower to Whitehall, previously to her coronation, in October, 1553, the royal carriage, sumptuously covered with cloth of tissue, and drawn by six horses with similar trappings, was immediately followed by another, likewise drawn by six horses, and covered with cloth of silver, in which sat the Princess Elizabeth and the Lady Anne of Cleves, the former of whom assisted in this ceremony as the Queen's sister, and the latter not as the widow, but as the adopted sister of Henry the Eighth. At the coronation banquet, Elizabeth dined at the same table with the Queen -an honour conferred on none else but Anne of Cleves. She was prayed for by Dr. Harpfield, as the Queen's sister, and generally recognized as heiress presumptive to the throne. She, however, enjoyed this state of felicity for little more than a month. The act passed by Mary's first Parliament, legitimizing the Queen, in effect, though not in words, bastardized Elizabeth, and so wounded her pride, that she requested permission to remove from court-a request which was refused, and followed by a temporary estrangement between the royal sisters. Intrigue was now rife at court, independent of the religious partizans. The King of France, in the hope of obtaining the whole sovereignty of the Britannic isles for his daughter-in-law, Mary Queen of Scots, resolved to ruin Queen Mary by setting up Elizabeth as her rival, and afterwards to destroy the Princess herself. With this view, the unprincipled French ambassador, Noailles, devised, and supported with supplies of arms and money, an attempt to depose Mary in favour of Elizabeth, who was to be married to Courtney, Earl of Devonshire. Whilst this conspiracy was hatching, Elizabeth, who, in all probability, tacitly countenanced it, again requested permis. sion to retire to one of her seats in the country. Leave was granted, and the day fixed for her departure, when the representations of Renaud, the Spanish ambassador, that she was deeply implicated in the plots against the government, so incensed the Queen and the privy council against her, that she was ordered not to leave the palace, and, in the end, confined to her own chamber, and surrounded by spies, who reported that she was too ill to travel, and immediately afterwards fortified and garrisoned her house. This illness, whether real or feigned, in all probability saved her from a violent death. Mary allowed her a fortnight's respite, and during this eventful fortnight, Wyatt, at the head of a formidable army of insurgents, had unsuccessfully attacked the Queen in her palace at Westminster, and been conveyed, with the other leading rebels, to captivity in the Tower, when he and his fellow-rebels, to screen themselves, named Elizabeth and Courtney as the instigators of the uprising. Mary, whose throne had been made to totter, signed the death-warrant of the unfortunate Lady Jane Grey and her husband, and as she now more than ever distrusted the loyalty of Elizabeth, she sent that Princess's maternal kinsman, her every movement to the privy coun- | cil. The peril of her position daily increased. Mary deeply mortified her by permitting the Countess of Lennox and the Duchess of Suffolk, the representatives of her aunts, the Scottish and French Queens, to take precedence of her; and, at length, Renaud openly charged Noailles with paying her nocturnal visits, with treasonable designs; but, fortunately for Elizabeth, she explained away the charges against her, and Mary, despite the opposition of Renaud and others, forgave her, granted her permission to depart, and, on the sixth of December, dismissed her with tokens of affection, and a present of a double set of large and valuable pearls. She retired to her mansion at Ashridge, in Bucks, where she had scarcely arrived when she was annoyed by an offer of the hand of the Prince of Piedmont in mar-Lord William Howard, together with riage, and a renewal of the matrimonial Sir Edward Hastings and Sir Thomas proposals in favour of the King of Den- Cornwallis, to bring her to the court at mark's son; both of these offers she London. When they arrived, the Queen's promptly negatived; and she also refused physicians, Dr. Wendy and Dr. OwenNoailles' request, that she would unite whom, it appears, by an original letter herself openly with the conspirators, in Tytler's "Edward and Mary," which whose plot was scarcely arranged, when we have not space to insert, the Queen the fears or simplicity of Courtney in- had kindly sent to tend her, and see that duced him to impart the whole secret to she was sufficiently recovered to bear the Gardiner, whilst the privy council inter-removal-decided that she might at once cepted letters to Elizabeth, in ciphers; from the French King, offering her money, and urging her to seek an asylum in France; from the French ambassador, advising her to throw off the mask, and openly espouse their cause, and from Wyatt, Sir James Crofts, and other of the conspirators, informing her that they had been betrayed by Courtney, and exhorting her to retire from Ashridge, which, being near the metropolis and unfortified, left her at the mercy of the Queen and the council, to the strong castle of Donnington, which was near to the head-quarters of the rebels. The day after the breaking-out of the Wyatt rebellion was known to the council, Mary sent a letter to Elizabeth, enjoining her to return immediately to court, and assuring her that she should be heartily welcomed; but as Elizabeth put no faith in these assurances, she took to her bed, sent word to the Queen | commence the journey without endangering her life. But, her object being to gain time, she refused to see the three commissioners; and when, after waiting half the day, they, at the late hour of ten at night, entered her chamber, she had retired to rest, and with affected amazement, exclaimed, "Is the haste such that it might not have pleased you to come to-morrow in the morning ?" They made answer that they were right sorry to see her in such a case. "And I," quoth she, "am not glad to see you here at this time of night." Her Grace was then informed that the Queen had sent her own litter for her accommodation, and that the next morning she would be removed. Her departure, which took place at about eleven in the morning, on Monday, the twelfth of February, excited the tears and lamentations of her afflicted household, who naturally gave way to the most painful forebodings. She reached first to be permitted to write to the Redburn, in a very feeble condition, the Queen, and the Earl of Sussex assenting, first night; on the second, she rested at in spite of the opposition of another Sir Ralph Rowlet's house, at St. Alban's; | lord, and undertaking himself to be the on the third, at Mr. Dod's, at Mimmes; on bearer of her letter, she took the opporthe fourth, at Highgate, where she stayed tunity of repeating her protestations of at Mr. Cholmeley's house for a night and a innocence and loyalty, adding with much day, till her drooping spirits had revived, vehemence of manner:-"As for that and her health somewhat recovered. traitor, Wyatt, he might peradventure write me a letter; but, on my faith, I never received any from him. And as for the copy of my letter to the French King, which is laid to my charge, I pray to God confound me eternally, if ever I sent him word, message, token, or letter, by any means. Her letter failed to procure an interview with the Queen; and the next day, being Palm Sunday, strict orders were issued for all the people to attend the churches, and carry their palms, whilst, in the meantime, Elizabeth was privately removed to the Tower, attended by the Earl of Sussex, the Lord Treasurer, three of her own ladies, three of the Queen's attendants, and some of her officers. On reaching the place of her destination, she for a long time refused to land at Traitor's Gate; and when one of the lords declared "that she should not choose," and, at the same time, offered her his cloak to protect her from the rain, she retained enough of her high spirit to throw it from her with a good dash; and as she set her foot on the illomened stairs, she exclaimed: "Here At Highgate, a number of gentlemen rode out to meet her, in testimony of their sympathy and attachment; and as she proceeded, the general feeling was further displayed, by crowds of people lining the pathways, who flocked anxiously around her litter, weeping and bewailing her unhappy fate. Her passage through Smithfield and Fleet Street, in a litter open at both sides, was followed by a hundred men, attired in coats of velvet, and a hundred others succeeded, in coats of fine red, trimmed with velvet; with this imposing train did Elizabeth pass through the Queen's garden to the court of the palace. This open support of the Princess by a formidable party in the capital, greatly disconcerted the plans of her enemies. They contented themselves, for the present, with detaining her in a kind of honourable custody at Whitehall. She demanded an interview with the Queen, but Mary refused to see her; and when the privy council examined her, she protested her innocence, and ignorance of the treasonable designs of Wyatt and his confederates. Lords Arundel and Paget, and the Em-landeth as true a subject, being a priperor's ambassador, Renaud, urged that she should be immediately brought to the block as a traitress; but Mary abhorred the idea of shedding her blood; and at last, when all the lords of the council had individually refused to take charge of her, the Queen, for the security of her own person, resolved to send her to the Tower. This determination was announced to her by the Earl of Sussex, on the sixteenth of March. Bishop Gardiner and two others came soon afterwards, and, dismissing her attendants, supplied their place with some of the Queen's servants, and set a guard round the palace for that night. In the morning, a barge was in readiness to convey her to the Tower: she entreated soner, as ever landed at these stairs; and before thee, O God! I speak it, having no other friend but thee alone.” On seeing a number of warders and other attendants drawn out in order, she asked, "What meaneth this?" Some one answered, that it was customary on receiving a state prisoner. "If it be,” said Elizabeth, "I beesech you that, for my cause, they may be dis missed." Immediately the poor men kneeled down and prayed God to preserve her; for which action they all were severely reprimanded the next day. Going a little further, she sat down on a stone to rest herself; the lieutenant urged her to rise and come in out of the cold and wet, but she answered, "Better sitting here | but that I may go to mine own houses than in a worse place; for God knoweth at all times?" Then the Earl of Arundel, whither you bring me." kneeling down, said, "Your Grace sayeth true, and certainly we are very sorry that we have troubled you about so vain a matter. Elizabeth replied, "My Lords, you do sift me very narrowly; but I am well assured you will not do more to me than God hath appointed; and so God forgive you all." Wyatt was at length, on the eleventh of April, condemned to death; when he confounded all the hopes and expectations of the enemies of Elizabeth, by strenuously and publicly declaring her entire innocence of any participation in the treasonable designs. On hearing these words, her gentleman-usher wept, for which she reproved him, saying, "You ought rather to be my comforter, especially since I know my own truth to be such, that no man shall have cause to weep for me." Then rising, she entered the prison, and its gloomy doors were locked and bolted on her. Shocked and dismayed, she collected her servants around her, called for her prayer-book, and devoutly prayed that she might "build her house upon the rock.' Her conductors then retired; and her firm friend, the Earl of Sussex, took the opportunity of remind- One only resource now remained to ing all whom it might concern, that the the Court, in their endeavours to ruin Princess was to be treated in no other Elizabeth. They thought, that a longmanner than they might be able to jus- continued absence, whilst it might gratify, whatever should happen hereafter; dually weaken the affections of the peoand that they were to take heed to do ple, would afford them many opportunothing but what their commission would nities for injuring or supplanting her, bear out. To this the attendants cordially and it was therefore resolved to provide assented; and, having performed their for her a kind of honourable banishoffice, the two lords took their departure. ment. Her confinement had been renA few days after her committal, dered as uncomfortable as it could well Gardiner, and other privy councillors, be. After a month's close imprisonment came to examine her, respecting the in the Tower, by which the health of the conversation she had held with Sir Princess had severely suffered, she obJames Croft on her removal to Don-tained, with great difficulty, permission nington Castle. Elizabeth said, after some recollection, that she had in truth such a place, but that she had never occupied it in her life, and she did not remember that any one had moved her so to do. Then, to enforce the matter, they brought forth Sir James Croft; and Gardiner demanded what she had to say to that man. She answered, that she had little to say to him, or to the rest that were in the Tower. "But, my Lords," said the Princess, "you do examine every mean prisoner respecting me, wherein you do me great injury. If they have done evil and offended the Queen's Majesty, let them answer for it accordingly. I beseech you, my Lords, join not me in this sort with any of these offenders; and, concerning my going to Donnington Castle, I do remember that Master Hobby, and my officers, and you, Sir James Croft, had such talk. But what is that to the purpose, my Lords, to walk in the state apartments, under the close superintendence of the constable of the Tower and the Lord Chamberlain, with the attendance of three of the Queen's servants; the windows being shut, and the Princess not allowed to look out. Afterwards she had the liberty of walking in a small garden, the gates and doors being carefully closed; and the prisoners, whose rooms looked into the garden, being at such times closely watched, to prevent the interchange of any word or sign. Even a little child of five years of age, who was wont to cheer her by his daily visits, and to bring her flowers, was suspected of being employed as a messenger between the Princess and the Earl of Devonshire, and in spite of * Courtney, Earl of Devonshire, was then hended on the twelfth of the preceding Fea prisoner in the Tower; he had been apprebruary, at the house of the Earl of Sussex. |