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CHA P. patent for the new settlement of the crown, and XXXV. that a pardon should immediately after be granted them for any offence which they might have incurred by their compliance. When the patent was drawn, and brought to the Bishop of Ely chancellor, in order to have the great seal affixed to it, this prelate required that all the judges should previously sign it. Gosnald at first refused; and it was with much difficulty that he was prevailed on, by the violent menaces of Northumberland, to comply; but the constancy of Sir James Hales, who, though a zealous Protestant, preferred justice on this occasion to the prejudices of his party, could not be shaken by any expedient. The Chancellor next required, for his greater security, that all the privy counsellors should set their hands to the patent: The intrigues of Northumberland, or the fears of his violence, were so prevalent, that the counsellors complied with 21st June. this demand. Cranmer alone hesitated during some time, but at last yielded to the earnest and pathetic entreaties of the King. g Cecil, at that time secretary of state, pretended afterwards that he only signed as witness to the King's subscription. And thus, by the King's letters patent, the two Princesses, Mary and Elizabeth, were set aside; and the crown was settled on the heirs of the Dutchess of Suffolk: For the Dutchess herself was content to give place to her daughters.

AFTER this settlement was made, with so many inauspicious circumstances, Edward visibly declined every day; and small hopes were entertained of his recovery. 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

Cran. Mem. p. 295.

bad

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bad symptoms increased to the most violent degree: C H A P. He felt a difficulty of speech and breathing; his pulse XXXV. failed, his legs swelled, his colour became livid; and many other symptoms appeared of his approaching end. He expired at Greenwich, in the sixteenth and death. year of his age, and the seventh 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. He possessed mildness of disposition, application to study and business, a capacity to learn and judge, and an attachment to equity and justice. He seems only to have contracted, from his education, and from the genius of the age in which he lived, too much of a narrow prepossession in matters of religion, which made him incline somewhat to bigotry and persecution: But as the bigotry of Protestants, less governed by priests, lies under more restraints than that of Catholics, the effects of this malignant quality were the less to be apprehended if a longer life had been granted to young Edward.

6th July.

CHAP.

XXXVI.

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CHAP. XXXVI.

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.

THE title of the Princess Mary, after the demise of her brother, was not exposed to any considerable difficulty; and the objections started by the Lady Jane's partisans were new and unheardof 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, recognized 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

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it was ever esteemed just and natural. The public C HA P. had long been familiarised to these sentiments: XXXVI. 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, 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 expect, 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

Sleidan, lib. 25.

Heylin, p. 154.

Mary

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CHAP. Mary had already reached Hoddesden, within half XXXVI. a day's 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 Kenninghall 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.

m

k

NORTHUMBERLAND found that farther dissimulation was fruitless: He went to 1 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 Lady Jane intelligence of them. She was a lady of an amiable Gray proclaimed 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

Queen.