inherit both his sisters; but his firmness at last was overcome, and he consented that Lady Jane should be his successor.

He died on the 6th of July, 1553, in the sixteenth

year of his age and the seventh of his reign.

Lady Jane Grey was grand-daughter of Mary, sister of Henry the Eighth. She was a most amiable person, learned and virtuous, and firmly attached to the Protestant religion. On being told by her father-in-law, Northumberland, that the crown was left to her, she refused the perilous dignity with many tears, and her reluctance was only overcome by the persevering entreaties of her relatives. The majority of the nation, however, even those who were sincere Protestants, were favourable to the legitimate claims of Mary, the eldest sister of the late king; and the Catholic nobility, still very powerful, were her enthusiastic partizans; for they knew the constancy with which she had adhered to their religion in the midst of many dangers, and they hoped that by her accession England would be restored to its ancient faith. Both parties prepared for civil war. Northumberland, who commanded the troops in the interest of Lady Jane, was compelled to yield and proclaim Mary as queen. Mary entered the capital in triumph, and received the crown. Lady Jane gladly retired from a throne which she had not sought, after a nominal reign of ten days. Her mild virtues might have saved her from the vengeance of Mary; but that princess inherited all the imperious spirit and vindictiveness of her father. Her passions were excited by her mother's wrongs and her own, and she would not relent. Lady Jane died calmly on the scaffold,

where her husband had fallen just before. The leaders of the late usurpation, Northumberland and Warwick, were executed; the Catholic prelates, and those confined for their religious opinions during the late reign, were released; and Latimer and Cranmer took the places in the Tower lately occupied by Bonner and Gardiner. It was Mary's intention to restore, as speedily as possible, the Catholic religion; and in a parliament held shortly after her accession, the act establishing the Church of England was repealed, and measures adopted to restore the Papal supremacy. She did not, however, venture to restore the confiscated lands to the Church again.

Mary, to the dismay of her subjects, married Philip, son of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, a gloomy bigot and persecutor. A revolt took place in Kent, headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the object of which appears to have been to place Elizabeth, Mary's sister, on the throne. Mary tried to implicate Elizabeth in this conspiracy, but no proof could be found against her. She was, however, closely confined, and kept in constant terror for her life.

A parliament, packed by the influence of the Crown, restored the persecuting laws of Henry the Fourth, and Henry the Fifth, and a fierce persecution of the Protestants began. The chief instruments of the queen were Bishops Bonner and Gardiner, the former a most merciless bigot. The latter had, during the reign of Henry, seemed favourably disposed to the Reformed doctrines; but he had changed with the times, and was now become the most bitter enemy of the Protestants. Hooper, Bishop of Gloucester, and Rogers, a clergyman of Essex,

were amongst the first victims of the infamous fires of Smithfield. The venerable Latimer and Ridley followed. Cranmer was for a time spared, and, unhappily for his good name, he recanted in a moment of weakness the doctrines he had so long preached; but soon recovering himself, he disavowed his recantation, and when led to the stake thrust his right hand, which had signed the recantation, into the flames, crying, "This right hand hath offended." By the heroism of his death he atoned, in some measure, for the many faults which undoubtedly stained his character.

A host of more humble, but not less noble men, and women too, followed these leaders to the stake. But instead of uprooting the Protestant faith, such cruelties made its success and ultimate triumph more certain. Great numbers of Englishmen were driven by this persecution to Germany and Switzerland, where the foreign Protestants received them most kindly, and protected them till the return of better days.

The history of Mary's reign is little else than the history of this persecution. She was herself unhappy in her union with Philip, which engaged the realm in a war with France, of which the most remarkable incident was the loss of Calais, the last remains of the conquests of the Plantagenets. Calais, after a possession by England of more than 200 years, was finally reunited to France. Mary was now sinking rapidly, and this loss so affected her, that she said, "When I die, you will find Calais written on my heart." The loss of Calais was not in reality a great misfortune, for it put a stop to those schemes for the conquest of France which had so long wasted the blood and treasure of England.

Mary died on the 17th of November, 1558, at the age of forty-four, and was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth.

CHAP. XXV.

ELIZABETH. 1558-1603.

THE accession of Elizabeth was hailed with enthusiasm by the great bulk of the nation, as she was known to be firmly attached to the Protestant faith, for which she had suffered persecution; but many were distrustful of her title to the crown as the daughter of Anne Boleyn, and it was with great difficulty that a bishop could be found willing to perform her coronation ceremony.

In London, the citizens vied with each other in preparations to receive her with honour. The streets of the capital through which she passed were decorated with banners and flowers, spanned by triumphal arches, and lined with thousands in the gay holiday attire of the period, who all rejoiced in their deliverance from past dangers, and hoped for a glorious and peaceful reign. Elizabeth possessed in a higher degree than any other English sovereign the honest art of gaining the affections of her people. She was surrounded by wise and prudent councillors, among whom the chief were Sir Nicholas Bacon, and Cecil, Lord Burleigh. By their advice the constitution of the Church was restored to its state in the reign of her brother Edward. The Book of Common Prayer was restored

with some alterations, and the Acts of Supremacy and Uniformity were passed. The latter act enforced attendance at the parish church, and severely punished all who would not conform to the doctrine and discipline and the Established Church of England.

The parliament of 1559, in their anxiety to secure the Protestant succession, and prevent disputes as to the title to the crown, urged Elizabeth to marry; but though several suitors sought her hand she said her intention was to "live and die a maiden queen.” Amongst those suitors was Philip, the husband of her late sister Mary, but Elizabeth refused to listen to him. Philip was now at the head of a great Roman Catholic party in Europe, whose object was to crush the Reformation; and it was anxiously desired by them that England should be ruled by a Roman Catholic sovereign. Mary Queen of Scots was regarded by them as the true heir of the English throne, and they encouraged the conspiracies formed by some of the English nobles to make her Queen of England.

Mary was a Roman Catholic, while her subjects were, most of them, as zealous Protestants. She had tried, with the assistance of France, to put down the Reformation in Scotland, but she failed. Elizabeth sent assistance to the Scottish reformers; and after several years of civil war and tumult Mary was forced to flee from Scotland, and in 1568 she took refuge in England. Elizabeth ungenerously took advantage of the misfortunes of her rival, and ordered her to be confined in prison.

From this time Elizabeth's reign was disturbed by plots to rescue Mary and restore the Roman Catholic