[1553 A.D.]

at the head of eight thousand foot and two thousand horse in the direction of Framlingham; but at Bury St. Edmunds he found it advisable to retreat, and he returned to Cambridge, whence he wrote to the council requiring them to send him reinforcements without loss of time.

But things in London had meantime taken a new direction. On the 19th the lord treasurer and lord privy seal, the earls of Arundel, Shrewsbury and Pembroke, Sir Thomas Cheney and Sir John Mason met at Baynard's castle, where they were attended by the lord mayor, the recorder, and some of the aldermen. Arundel, who had all along been in secret correspondence with Mary, advised them to acknowledge her; he met the main objection by saying, "How doth it appear that Mary intends any alteration in religion? Certainly, having been lately petitioned on this point by the Suffolk men, she gave them a very hopeful answer." 1 Pembroke then drew his sword, and exclaimed, "If the arguments of my lord of Arundel do not persuade you, this sword shall make Mary queen, or I will die in her quarrel." All, however, gave a willing assent; they rode forth and proclaimed Mary at St. Paul's Cross amid the acclamations of the populace, to whom beer, wine and money were then distributed, and the night was ushered in by bonfires and illuminations. Arundel and Paget having set forth with the news to Mary, Pembroke took the custody of the Tower from Suffolk.

The lady Jane, after a brief reign of only ten days, laid down her royalty and retired to Sion House. When her father announced to her the necessity for her resignation, she replied that it was far more agreeable than his late announcement had been, and expressed her wish that her cheerful abdication might atone for the offence she had committed in accepting the crown, in obedience to him and her mother. Northumberland, when he found the turn matters were taking, proclaimed Queen Mary at Cambridge; but he was arrested by Arundel and committed to the Tower,3 as also were the duke of Suffolk and twenty-five more of their friends.

Mary now advanced towards London. At Wanstead in Essex she was met by the lady Elizabeth, at the head of a stately cavalcade of knights, ladies, gentlemen, and their servants. Four days after, the two sisters, followed by a magnificent train, rode through the city to the Tower-Mary small, thin and delicate; Elizabeth tall, handsome and well-formed, carefully displaying her beautiful hands. In the Tower Mary was met by four state prisoners of rank: the duke of Norfolk, the duchess of Somerset, Courtenay, son of the late marquis of Exeter, and Gardiner, bishop of Winchester. She raised them from the ground where they knelt, kissed them, and gave them their liberty. Next day she released Tunstall and Bonner. When forming her council, she bestowed the office of chancellor on Gardiner, who soon showed that his captivity had not subdued his haughty, overbearing spirit. Paget was next in influence and importance in the cabinet.

Though Mary had hitherto led a life of seclusion, the love of splendid apparel, which seems to have been inherent in her family, was seated deep in her heart, and she gave loose to it in such a manner as to surprise even the French ambassador, who must have been well used to the pomp and display

1 "Which indeed was true," adds Bishop Godwin,w as of his own knowledge. As it appears to have been only verbal, it was easy for Mary and her partisans afterwards to deny it.

This fervent loyalist had been one of those who signed the devise of the crown to Jane, and he had sworn a few days before to shed his blood in her cause!

As he was led through the city, a woman displayed one of the handkerchiefs dipped in Somerset's blood. "Behold," she cried, "the blood of that worthy man, the good uncle of that worthy prince, which was shed by thy malicious practices! It plainly now begins to revenge itself on thee."

[1553 A.D.] of dress at his own court. She required all about her, both lords and ladies, to be similarly arrayed, and gray-haired dames of sixty were now to be seen in the gayest hues, and laden with jewels and ornaments-unlike the perhaps too sober court of Edward VI. Her coronation was celebrated (September 30th, 1553) with all possible splendour. It was performed in the ancient manner: her clothes were all blessed; she was anointed on various parts of her head and body; Gardiner chanted mass; the crown was borne by Elizabeth,1 who with Anne of Cleves afterwards dined at the queen's table. A general pardon to all but sixty persons, who were named, was proclaimed the same day.q

['It is said that she whispered to the French ambassador, Noailles, that it was very heavy; and that he replied, "Be patient; it will seem lighter when it is on your own head."]

To appreciate the reasons that impelled Henry VIII to attach such importance to a male heir, and to bar his daughter by the Spanish marriage from the succession, we need but glance at what followed when she became queen after all. The Tudor ideal of founding a political power absolute in itself and independent of internal disputes or foreign interference, was sacrificed by Mary to her fondness for the nation to which her mother belonged and whence she chose also her husband. While her father and her brother had bent their energies to relieving England of papal influence, she restored it, and placed at its disposal all the strength and resource of the country.-VON RANKE.b

THE enthusiasm with which the bloodless revolution in favour of Queen Mary was hailed by the people has been considered as a proof that the majority were Roman Catholic, and would gladly lay aside all the doctrine and discipline of the church which had been so completely settled in the reign of Edward. We are inclined to receive this notion with considerable doubt. Another theory was set forth in the bitter satire of the Venetian ambassador, Micheli, that the English "would be full as zealous followers of the Mohammedan or Jewish religion did the king profess either of them, or commanded his subjects to do so; that, in short, they will accommodate themselves to any religious persuasion, but most readily to one that promises to minister to licentiousness and profit."

At the accession of Mary, the English were neither wholly devoted to Catholicism nor indifferent to all religion. They accepted Mary with joy because, without entering into the subtleties of the divorce question of her mother, they knew that she was the direct heir to the crown, and that the attempt to set her aside was the unjust act of a few ambitious and unscrupu

[1552 A.D.] lous men. There were many decided Protestants amongst her first adherents. They could not doubt that she would firmly cleave to the mass and to the ceremonies of the church, as in the time of her father; but they could not assume that she would venture to force the papal domination again upon England, or think it possible to take away the Bible from the people which her father had consented to give them. Mary herself saw the necessity of proceeding with great caution.

The news of her accession was received in Rome with exultation, and the. pope resolved to send Cardinal Pole as legate to England. That measure was determined in a consistory as early as the 5th of August. But Pole was too discreet to risk such a demonstration before the temper of the people had been farther tried. Mary herself received a secret agent of Rome, Francis Commendone, and to him she professed her attachment to the Romish church, and her desire to bring back its worship. But she implored him to be cautious, for much was still unsettled. Mary, however, sent letters to the pope by this agent, which were so acceptable to Julius III that he wept for joy that his pontificate should be honoured by the restoration of England to its ancient obedience.e

EXECUTION OF NORTHUMBERLAND AND FIRST REACTIONS

Abject in adversity as insolent in prosperity, Northumberland sought an interview with Gardiner, and implored his interest to save his life. 'Alas," cried he, "let me live a little longer, though it be but in a mouse-hole." Gardiner expressed his wish to serve him, but could not venture to give any hopes. He then prayed that a learned priest might be sent, to whom he might confess, adding that he had never been of any religion but the bishop's own, though for ambitious motives he had pretended otherwise; and that so he would declare at his death. Gardiner, it is said, shed tears, and there is reason to believe did apply to Mary on his behalf; but the emperor had strictly enjoined her not to spare him.

On the 22nd he was led with Gates and Palmer to the scaffold on Tower Hill. The duke, taking off his damask gown, leaned over the railing on the east side and addressed the spectators. He acknowledged his guilt, but said that he had been incited by others whom he would not name; he exhorted the people to return to the ancient faith, without which they could not hope for peace. "By our creed," says he, "we are taught to say, 'I believe in the holy Catholic faith,' and such is my very belief, as my lord bishop here present can testify. All this I say not from having been commanded so to do, but of my own free will." He then prayed, and laid his head on the block. His two companions died with penitence and courage, but made no recantation. The other prisoners, with the exception of Lady Jane and her husband, were set at liberty. But notwithstanding all this clemency, the prospect for

['It is singular that, though the crown of England had so often passed to claimants whose descent was wholly in the female line, yet England had never before seen a crowned queen. The empress Matilda was never crowned, and she bore no higher title than lady. The novelty gave rise to some cavil, and it was found needful at a later stage of Mary's reign for parliament to declare that a queen of England possessed all the rights and powers of a king. This first female reign was the time which finally settled the religious position of England. The supremacy of Rome was inseparably connected with the validity of her mother's marriage and the legitimacy of her own birth. As it was, she was simply queen by act of parliament. She naturally wished to be queen as the legitimate daughter of her father. -FREEMAN d]