sumption began to appear. It was hoped, however, that his youth and temperance might get the better of his disorders; and from their love the people were unwilling to think him in danger. It had been remarked indeed by some, that his health was visibly seen to decline, from the time that the Dudleys were brought about his person. The character of Northumberland might have justly given some colour to suspicion; and his removing all, except his own emissaries, from about the king, still farther increased the distrusts of the people. Northumberland, however, was no way uneasy at their murmurs; he was assiduous in his. attendance upon the king; and professed the most anxious concern for his safety; but still drove forward his darling scheme of transferring the succession to his own daughter-in-law. The judges who were appointed to draw up the king's letters patent for that purpose, warmly objected to the measure; and gave their reasons before the council. They begged a parliament might be summoned, both to give it force, and to free its partizans from danger; they said, that the form was invalid, and would not only subject the judges who drew it, but every counsellor who signed it, to the pains of treason. Northumberland could

not brook their demurs; he threatened them with the dread of his authority; he called one of them a traitor; and said, that he would fight in his shirt with any man on so just a cause, as that of the lady Jane's succession. A method was therefore found of screening the judges from danger, by granting them the king's pardon for what they should draw up; and at length, after much deliberation, and some refusals, the patent for changing the succession was completed. Thus, by this patent, Mary and Elizabeth were set aside; and the crown was settled on the heirs of the duchess

of

of Suffolk, for the duchess herself was contented to forego her claim.

Northumberland having thus far succeeded, thought physicians were no longer serviceable in the king's complaint; they were dismissed by his advice; and Edward was put into the hands of an ignorant woman, who very confidently undertook his cure. After the use of her medicines,' all the bad symptoms increased to a most violent degree; he felt a difficulty of speech and breathing; his pulse failed, his legs swelled, his colour became livid, and many other symptoms appeared of his approaching end. He expired at Greenwich, in the sixteenth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign, greatly regretted by all, as his early virtues gave a prospect of the continuance of an happy reign. What were the real quaJuly 6. lities of this young prince's heart there was no time to discover; but the cultivation of his understanding, if we may credit historians, was amazing. He was said to understand the Greek, Latin, French, Italian, and Spanish languages. He was versed in logic, music, natural philosophy, and theology. Cardan, the extraordinary scholar and visionary, happening to pay a visit to the English court, was so astonished at his early progress, that he extols him as a prodigy of nature. It is probable, however, that so much flattery as he received would have contributed to corrupt him, as it had formerly cor rupted his father.

1553.

CHAP.

THE

CHAP. XXV.

MARY.

HE death of Edward only served to prepare fresh troubles for a people that had hitherto greatly suffered from the depravity of their kings, or the turbulence of their nobility. The succession to the throne had hitherto been obtained partly by lineal descent, and partly by the aptitude for government in the person chosen. Neither quite hereditary, nor quite elective, it had made ancestry the pretext of right, while the consent of the people was necessary to support all hereditary pretensions. In fact, when wisely conducted, this is the best species of succession that can be conceived, as it prevents that aristocracy, which is ever the result of a government entirely elective; and that tyranny which is too often established, where there is never an infringement on hereditary claims.

Whenever a monarch of England happened to be arbitrary, and to enlarge the prerogative, he generally considered the kingdom as his property, and not himself as a servant of the people. In such cases it was natural for him at his decease to bequeath his dominions as he thought proper, making his own will the standard of his subjects happiness. Henry the eighth, in conformity to this practice, made his will in which he settled the succession merely according to his caprice. In that, Edward his son was the first nominated to succeed him; then Mary, his eldest daughter by Catherine of Spain; but with a special mark of condescension, by which he would intimate her illegitimacy. The next that followed was Eliza

VOL. III.

B

beth,

beth, his daughter by Anne Bullen, with the same marks, intimating her illegitimacy also. After his own children, his sister's children were mentioned; his younger sister the dutchess of Suffolk's issue were preferred before those of their elder sister the queen of Scotland, which preference was thought by all to be neither founded in justice, nor supported by reason. This will, was now, however, set aside by the intrigues of Northumberland, by whose advice a will was made, as we have seen, in favour of Lady Jane Gray, the dutchess of Suffolk's daughter, in prejudice of all other claimants. Thus, after the death of this young monarch, there were no fewer than four young princesses who could assert their pretensions to the crown. Mary, who was the first upon Henry's will, but who had been declared illegitimate by an act of parliament, which was never repealed. Elizabeth was next to succeed,and though she had been declared illegitimate, yet she had been restored to her right during her father's life-time. The queen of Scotland, Henry's eldest sister, was first in right, supposing the two daughters illegitimate, while lady Jane Gray might alledge the will of the late king in her own favour.

Of these, however, only two put in their pretensions to the crown. Mary relying on the justice of her cause, and lady Jane upon the support of the duke of Northumberland, her father-inlaw. Mary was greatly bigotted to the popish superstitions, having been bred up among churchmen, and having been taught to prefer martyrdom to a denial of belief. 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

attached to her religious opinions, but even to the popish clergy who maintained them. On the other hand, Jane Gray, 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. Ascham, tutor of Elizabeth, informs us, that coming once to wait upon lady Jane at her father's house in Leicestershire, he found her reading Plato's works in Greek, while all the rest of the family were hunting in the park. Upon his testifying his surprize at her situation, she assured him that Plato was an higher amusement to her than the most studious refinements of sensual pleasure; and she, in fact, seemed born for philosophy, and not for ambition.

Such were the present rivals for power; but lady Jane had the start of her antagonist. Northumberland, now resolving to secure the succession, carefully concealed the death of Edward, in hope of securing the person of Mary, who by an order of council had been required to attend her brother during his illness; but being informed of his death, she immediately prepared to assert her pretensions to the crown. This crafty minister, therefore, finding that farther dissimulation was needlesss went to Sion-house,accompanied by the duke of Suffolk, the earl of Pembroke, and others of the nobility, to salute lady Jane Gray, who resided there. Jane was in a great measure ignorant of all these transactions; and it was with equal grief and surprise that 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

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of