Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury. Heath and Day, bishops of Worcester and Chichester. Lord Seymour. Dukes of Somerset and Northumberland Guildford, Lord Dudley. Lady Jane Grey. CHAPTER XXV. MARY. Born 1516. Died December 1, 1558. Began to reign July 16, 1533. Reigned 5 years. When persecuting zeal made royal sport Then Bonner, blythe as shepherd at a wake, Enjoy'd the show, and danced about the stake.- Cowper. 1. (A.D. 1553.) UPON the death of Edward, two candi dates put in their pretensions to the crown; Mary, Henry's daughter by Catharine of Arragon, relying on the justice of her cause; and lady Jane Grey, being nominated in the late young king's will, and upon the support of the duke of Northumberland, her father-in law. Mary was strongly bigoted to the popish superstitions, having been bred up among churchmen, and having been even taught to prefer martyrdom to a denial of her belief. 2. As she had lived in continual restraint, she was reserved and gloomy; she had, even during the life of her father, the resolution to maintain her sentiments, and refused to comply with his new institutions. Her zeal had rendered her furious; and she was not only blindly attached to her religious opinions, but even to the popish clergy who maintained them. 3. On the other hand, Jane Grey was strongly attached to the reformers; and, though yet but sixteen, her judgment had attained to such a degree of maturity as few have been found to possess. All historians agree that the solidity of her understanding, improved by continual application, rendered her the wonder of her age. Jane, who was in a great measure ignorant of 4. all the transactions in her favour, was struck with equa grief and surprise when she received intelligence of them. She shed a flood of tears, appeared inconsolable, and it was not without the utmost difficulty that she yielded to the entreaties of Northumberland, and the duke her father. Orders were given also for proclaiming her throughout the kingdom; but these were but very remissly obeyed. When she was proclaimed in the city, the people heard her accession made public without any signs of pleasure; no applause ensued, and some even expressed their scorn and con tempt. 5. In the mean time, Mary, who had retired, upon the news of the king's death, to Kenning Hall, in Norfolk, sent circular letters to all the great towns and nobility in the kingdom, reminding them of her right, and commanding them to proclaim her without delay. Her claims soon became irresistible; in a little time she found herself at the head of forty thousand men ; while the few who attended Northumberland continued irresolute, and he even feared to lead them to the encounter. 6. Lady Jane, thus finding that all was lost, resigned her royalty, which she had held but ten days, with marks of real satisfaction, and retired with her mother to their own habitation. Northumberland, also, who found his affairs desperate, and that it was impossible to stem the tide of popular opposition, attempted to quit the kingdom; but he was prevented by the band of pensioner guards, who informed him that he must stay to justify their conduct in being led out against their lawful sovereign. Thus circumvented on all sides, he delivered himself up to Mary, and was soon afterwards executed in a summary way. Sentence was a so pronounced against lady Jane and lord Guildford, but without any intention for the present of putting it into execution. 7. Mary now entered London, and with very little effusion of blood saw herself joyfully proclaimed, and peaceably settled on the throne. This was a flattering prospect; but soon the pleasing phantom was dissolved. Mary was morose, and a bigot; she was resolved to give back their former power to the clergy; and thus once more to involve the kingdom in all the horrors from which it had just emerged. Gardiner, Tonstal, Day, Heath, and Vesey, who had been confined or suffered losses, for their catholic opinions, during the late reign, were taken from prison, reinstated in their sees, and their former sentences repealed. 8. A parliament, which the queen called soon after, seemed willing to concur in all her measures; they at one biow repealed all the statutes, with regard to religion, which had passed during the reign of her predecessors; so that the national religion was again placed on the same footing on which it stood in the early part of the reign of Henry the Eighth. 9. While religion was thus returning to its primitive abuses, the queen's ministers, who were willing to strengthen her power by a catholic alliance, had been for some time looking out for a proper consort; and they at length chose Philip, prince of Spain, son to the celebrated Charles the Fifth. In order to avoid any disagreeable remonstrance from the people, the articles of marriage were drawn as favourable as possible to the interest and honour of England; and this in some measure stilled the clamours that had already been begun against it. 10. The discontents of the people rose to such a pitch, that an insurrection, headed by sir Thomas Wyat, succeeded; but Wyat, being made prisoner, was condemned and executed, with some of his adherents. But what excited the compassion of the people most of all, was the execution of lady Jane Grey, and her husband, lord Guildford Dudley, who were involved in the punishment, thougn not in the guilt of this insurrection. 11. Two days after Wyat was apprehended, lady Jane and her husband were ordered to prepare for death. Lady Jane, who had long before seen the threatening blow, was no way surprised at the message, but bore it with heroic resolution; and being informed that she had three days to prepare, she seemed displeased at so long a delay. 12. On the day of her execution her husband desired permission to see her; but this she refused, as she knew the parting would be too tender for her fortitude to withstand. The place at first designed for their execution was without the Tower: but their youth, beauty, and innocence being likely to raise an insurrection among the people, orders were given that they should be executed within the verge of the Tower. 13. Lord Dudley was the first that suffered; and while the lady Jane was conducting to the place of execution, the officers of the Tower met her, bearing along the headless body of her husband streaming with blood, in order to be interred in the Tower chapel. She looked on the corpse for some time without any emotion: and then, with a sigh, desired them to proceed. 14. On the scaffold she made a speech, in which she alleged that her offence was not the having laid her hand upon the crown, but the not rejecting it with sufficient constancy; that she had less erred through ambition than filial obedience; and she willingly accepted death as the only atonement she could make to the injured state; and was ready by her punishment to show, that innocence is no plea in excuse for deeds that tend to injure the community. After speaking to this effect, she caused herself to be disrobed by her women, and with a steady serene countenance submitted to the executioner. 15. At the head of those who drove these violent measures forward were Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, and cardinal Pole, who was now returned from Italy. Pole, who was nearly allied by birth to the royal family, had always conscientiously adhered to the catholic religion, and had incurred Henry's displeasure, not only by refusing to assent to his measures, but by writing against him. 16. It was for this adherence that he was cherished by the pope, and now sent over to England as legate from the holy see. Gardiner was a man of a very different character; his chief aim was to please the reigning prince, and he had shown already many instances of his prudent conformity. Questions for Examination. 1. What were the pretensions of the two candidates for the crown? 2. What was the character of Mary? 3. What is said of lady Jane Grey? 4. In what manner was her proclamation received? 5. How did Mary act, and what was her success? 6 What was the fate of the duke of Northumberland? 7. What was Mary's conduct after her accession? 8. Did the parliament concur in her religious views? 9. What plan was resolved on to strengthen the catholic power? 11. What was the fate of lady Jane Grey and her hushand? 12-14. Mention the circumstances that attended their execution. 15, 16. Who were the instigators of those violent measures? SECTION II. Curst superstition which deludes the mind And makes it to the tender feelings blind. - Anon. 1. (A.D. 1554.) A PERSECUTION, therefore, began by the martyrdom of Hooper, bishop of Gloucester, and Rogers, prebendary of St. Paul's. They were examined by commissioners appointed by the queen, with the chancellor at the head of them. Saunders and Taylor, two other clergymen, whose zeal had been distinguished in carrying on the reformation, were the next that suffered. 2. Bonner, bishop of London, bloated at once with rage and luxury, let loose his vengeance without restraint, and seemed to take a pleasure in the pains of the unhappy sufferers; while the queen, by her letters, exhorted him to pursue the pious work without pity or interruption. Soon after, in obedience to her commands, Ridley, bishop of London, and the venerable Latimer, bishop of Worcester, were condemned together. 3. Ridley had been one of the ablest champions for the reformation; his piety, learning, and solidity of judgment were admired by his friends and dreaded by his enemies. The night before his execution, he invited the mayor of Oxford and his wife to see him; and, when he beheld them melted into tears, he himself appeared quite unmoved, inwardly supported and comforted in that hour of agony. When he was brought to the stake to be burnt, he found his old friend Latimer there before him, 4. Of all the prelates of that age, Latimer was the most remarkable for his unaffected piety, and the simplicity of his manners. He had never learnt to flatter in courts: and his open rebuke was dreaded by all the great, who at that time too much deserved it. 5. His sermons, which |