A.D. 1550-1553. DEATH OF THE KING. 301 to Northumberland a vaster prospect of ambition. He endeavored to persuade Edward to deprive his two sisters of the succession on the ground of illegitimacy. He represented that the certain consequences of his sister Mary's succession, or that of the Queen of Scots, was the re-establishment of the usurpation and idolatry of the Church of Rome; that, though the Lady Elizabeth was liable to no such objection, her exclusion must follow that of her elder sister; that, when these princesses were excluded by such solid reasons, the succession devolved on the Marchioness of Dorset, elder daughter of the French queen and the Duke of Suffolk; that the next heir of the marchioness was the Lady Jane Gray; a lady every way worthy of a crown; and that, even if her title by blood were doubtful, which there was no just reason to pretend, the king was possessed of the same power that his father enjoyed, and might leave her the crown by letters patent. Northumberland, finding that his arguments were likely to operate on the king, began to prepare the other parts of his scheme. dukedom of Suffolk being extinct, the Marquis of Dorset was raised to this title; and the new Duke of Suffolk and the duchess were persuaded by Northumberland to give their daughter, the Lady Jane, in marriage to his fourth son, the Lord Guilford Dudley. The languishing state of Edward's health, who was now in a confirmed consumption, made Northumberland the more intent on the execution of his project. He removed all except his own emissaries from about the king, and prevailed on the young prince to give his final consent to the settlement projected. The judges hesitated to draw up the necessary deed, but were at length brought to do so by the menaces of Northumberland, and the promise that a pardon should immediately after be granted them for any offense which they might have incurred by their compliance. The After this settlement was made Edward visibly declined every day. To make matters worse, his physicians were dismissed by Northumberland's advice and by an order of council, and he was put into the hands of an ignorant woman, who undertook in a little time to restore him to his former state of health. After the use of her medicines, all the bad symptoms increased to the most violent degree; and he expired at Greenwich (July 6, 1553), in the 16th year of his age, and the 7th of his reign. All the English historians dwell with pleasure on the excellent qualities of this young prince, whom the flattering promises of hope, joined to many real virtues, had made an object of tender affection to the public. Rev. MARIA I REG. Obv.: PHILIP. D. G. HISP. REX. Z. Bust of Philip to right. CHAPTER XVII. MARY. A.D. 1553-1558. § 1. Lady Jane Gray proclaimed. Mary acknowledged Queen. § 2. Northumberland executed. Roman Catholic Religion restored. § 3. The Spanish Match. Wyatt's Insurrection. § 4. Imprisonment of the Princess Elizabeth. Execution of Lady Jane Gray. § 5. Mary's Marriage with Philip of Spain. England reconciled with the Sec of Rome. § 6. Persecutions. Execution of Cranmer. § 7. War with France. Loss of Calais. § 8. Death and Character of the Queen. § I. NORTHUMBERLAND, sensible of the opposition which he must expect, had carefully concealed the destination made by the king; and in order to bring the Princess Mary into his power, desired her to attend on her dying brother. Mary had already reached Hoddesden, within half a day's journey of the court, when the Earl of Arundel sent her private intelligence both of her brother's death and of the conspiracy formed against her. She immediately retired to Suffolk, and dispatched a message to the council, requiring them immediately to give orders for proclaiming her in London. 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 respect usually paid to the sovereign. Jane was, in a 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, and accomplished parts. 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 amusements usual with her sex and station. Roger Ascham, 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. 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; but, 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. Orders were given by the council to proclaim Jane throughout the kingdom; but these orders were executed only in London and the neighborhood. No applause ensued; the people heard the proclamation with silence and concern, and some even expressed their scorn and contempt. The people of Suffolk, meanwhile, paid their attendance on Mary, and the nobility and gentry daily flocked to her and brought her re-enforcement. Northumberland, hitherto blinded by ambition, saw at last the danger gather round him, and knew not to what hand to turn himself. At length he determined to march into Suffolk; but he found his army too weak to encounter the queen's. He wrote to the council, desiring them to send him a re-enforcement; but the counselors. agreed upon a speedy return to the duty which they owed to their lawful sovereign. The mayor and aldermen of London were immediately sent for, who discovered great alacrity in obeying the orders they received to proclaim Mary. The people expressed their approbation by shouts of applause. Suffolk, who commanded in the Tower, finding resistance fruitless, opened the gates and declared for the queen; and even Northumberland, being deserted by all his followers, was obliged to proclaim Mary. The people every where, on the queen's approach to London, gave sensible expressions of their loyalty and attachment. And the Lady Elizabeth met her at the head of a thousand horse, which that princess had levied in order to support their joint title against the usurper. § 2. The Duke of Northumberland was taken into custody; at the same time were committed the Duke of Suffolk, Lady Jane Gray, Lord Guilford Dudley, and several of the nobility. As the counselors pleaded constraint as an excuse for their treason, Mary extended her pardon to most of them. But the guilt of Northumberland was too great, as well as his ambition and courage too dangerous, to permit him to entertain any reasonable hopes of life. When brought to his trial he attempted no defense, but pleaded guilty. At his execution he made a profession of the Catholic religion, and told the people that they never would enjoy tranquillity till they returned to the faith of their ancestors; whether such were his real sentiments, which he had formerly disguised from 1 A.D. 1553. NORTHUMBERLAND EXECUTED. 305 interest and ambition, or that he hoped by this declaration to render the queen more favorable to his family. Sir Thomas Palmer and Sir John Gates suffered with him (Aug. 23, 1553); and this was all the blood spilled on account of so dangerous and criminal an enterprise against the rights of the sovereign. Sentence was pronounced against the Lady Jane and Lord Guilford, but without any present intention of putting it in execution. All Mary's acts showed that she was determined to restore the Roman Catholic religion. Gardiner, Bonner, Tonstal, and others, who had been deprived in the preceding reign, were reinstated in their sees. On pretense of discouraging controversy, she silenced, by an act of prerogative, all the preachers throughout England, except such as should obtain a particular license. Holgate, Archbishop of York, Coverdale, Bishop of Exeter, Ridley of London, and Hooper of Gloucester, were thrown into prison, whither old Latimer also was sent soon after. The zealous bishops and priests were encouraged in their forwardness to revive the mass, though contrary to the present laws. The primate had reason to expect little favor during the present reign, but it was by his own indiscreet zeal that he brought on himself the first violence and persecution. A report being spread that, in order to pay court to the queen, he had promised to officiate in the Latin service, Cranmer, to wipe off this aspersion, published a manifesto in his own defense, in which he attributed some of the popish rites to the invention of the devil, and characterized the mass as replete with horrid blasphemies. On the publication of this inflammatory paper Cranmer was thrown into prison, and was tried for the part which he had acted in concurring with the Lady Jane, and opposing the queen's accession. Sentence of high treason was pronounced against him, but the execution of it did not follow; and the primate was reserved for a more cruel punishment. In opening the Parliament the court showed a contempt of the laws by celebrating, before the two houses, a mass of the Holy Ghost, in the Latin tongue, attended with all the ancient rites and ceremonies. The first bill passed by the Parliament was of a popular nature, and abolished every species of treason not contained in the statute of Edward III., and every species of felony that did not subsist before the first of Henry VIII. The Parliament next declared the queen to be legitimate, ratified the marriage of Henry with Catherine of Aragon, and annulled the divorce pronounced by Cranmer. All the statutes of King Edward with regard to religion were repealed by one vote. The attainder of the Duke of Norfolk, who had been previously liberated from the Tower, and admitted to Mary's confidence and favor, was reversed. The queen also sent assurances to the Pope, then Julius III., of her earnest desire to reconcile herself and her kingdoms to the Holy Sce. |