CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



conducted mildly though wastefully, until the Pro- 

 tector Somerset was degraded from his authority 

 by the rising influence of Dudley, Duke of North- 

 umberland, the son of the extortioner Dudley, who 

 caused the Protector soon after to be tried and ex- 

 ecuted. Northumberland, who is believed to have 

 had no religious convictions, but who, profess- 

 ing to be a keen Protestant, was much favoured 

 In members of that party, was an unpopular and 

 mical ruler. Edward VI. died on the 6th 

 ;1 >' '553 a "d the crown now belonged by 

 birthright to MARY, the eldest daughter of Henry 

 VIII. who was a zealous Catholic. Northum- 

 berland, however, assuming the illegitimacy of that 

 princess and her sister Elizabeth, set up as queen 

 the Lady Jane Grey, cousin of Edward, and grand- 

 iitor of Mary Tudor, whom he had married 

 to his son Guilford, Lord Dudley. Lady Jane, 

 who was firmly attached to the doctrines of the 

 Reformation, was, perhaps, the most beautiful, 

 amiable, and accomplished of all the females 

 who appear prominently in the history of Eng- 

 land. Unfortunately, her father-in-law, North- 

 umberland, was so much disliked, that the 

 Catholics were enabled to displace her from the 

 throne in nine days, and to set up in her stead 

 the Princess Mary. Northumberland, Lady Jane, 

 and her husband Guilford, Lord Dudley, were 

 all beheaded by this fanatical princess, who soon 

 after took steps for restoring the Catholic religion, 

 and married Philip II. king of Spain, in order to 

 strengthen herself against the Protestant interest. 

 As soon as she had replaced the Catholic system, 

 and found herself in possession of sufficient power, 

 she began that career of persecution which has 

 rendered her name so infamous. Five out of 

 fourteen Protestant bishops, including the revered 

 names of Cranmer, Hooper, Latimer, and Ridley, 

 were committed to the flames as heretics ; and dur- 

 ing the ensuing part of her reign, which was closed 

 by her death, November 17, 1 558,nearly 300 persons 

 suffered in the same manner. In the latter part 

 of her reign, Mary was drawn by her husband 

 into a war with France, of which the only effect 

 was the loss, in the beginning of 1558, of Calais, 

 the last of the French possessions of the sovereigns 

 of England. The natural sourness of Mary's 

 temper was increased by this event, as well as by 

 her want of children and neglect on the part of 

 her husband ; and she died in a state of great 

 unhappiness. 



ELIZABETH MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS REFOR- 

 MATION IN SCOTLAND. 



A more auspicious scene opened for England 

 in the accession, in her twenty-sixth year, of 

 ELIZABETH, a princess of great native vigour of 

 mind, and who had been much improved by j 

 adversity, having been kept in prison during the ! 

 whole reign of her sister. The court of France, 

 backed up by English Roman Catholics, professed 

 to consider the Queen of Scots, who was descended 

 from the eldest sister of Henry VIII. and had re- 

 cently been married to the Dauphin, as the Queen 

 of England. Under these circumstances, Elizabeth 

 found no chance of safety except in restoring and 

 maintaining the Protestant religion in her own 

 country, and in seeking to support it in all others 

 where the people were favourable to it. The 

 supremacy of the crown in the church was restored 

 by act of parliament, though not the title of Head 

 110 



of the Church. The Oath of Supremacy declared the 

 queen to be the supreme ruler in things ecclesi- 

 astical and spiritual as well as temporal ; while the 

 A ct of Uniformity forbade the use by a clergyman 

 of any other Prayer-book than that of Edward, 

 which was now, with some alterations, restored ; 

 and punished with a fine those who absented 

 themselves from church. The Scottish nation 

 being now engaged in a struggle with their Regent, 

 Mary of Guise, in behalf of Protestantism, Eliza- 

 beth gladly acceded to a proposal made by the 

 nobles of that country, and sent a body of troops, 

 by whose assistance the Reformed religion was 

 established (1560). In bringing about this change, 

 the chief native leaders were James Stewart a 

 natural son of King James V. and John Knox, 

 who had once been a friar, but was now a Prot- 

 estant preacher. About this time, Mary of Guise 

 breathed her last. The young queen, reckoned 

 the most beautiful woman of her time, and who 

 had married Francis II. of France, returned to 

 Scotland on his death, in 1561. 



The change of religion in Scotland was of a 

 more decisive kind than it had been in England. 

 The clergy were placed on a footing of perfect 

 equality ; they were all of them engaged in 

 parochial duties, and only a small part of the 

 ancient ecclesiastical revenues was allowed to 

 them. In imitation of the system established at 

 Geneva, their general affairs, instead of being 

 intrusted to the hands of bishops, were confided 

 to courts composed of themselves and lay elders. 

 What was of perhaps still greater importance 

 while a large part of the ancient revenues was 

 absorbed by the nobles, a very considerable portion 

 was devoted to the maintenance of parish schools, 

 under the express control of the clergy. These 

 institutions disseminated the elements of learning 

 more extensively over this small and remote 

 country than it had ever been over any other part 

 of the world. 



Queen Mary, having little power in her own 

 country, was obliged to govern by means of her 

 natural brother, James Stewart, whom she created 

 Earl of Moray, and who was the leader of the 

 Protestant interest in Scotland. Personally, how- 

 ever, she was intimately connected with the great 

 Catholic powers of the continent ; and became a 

 party, in 1564, to a coalition formed by them for 

 the suppression of Protestantism all over Europe. 

 She had never yet resigned her pretensions to the 

 English throne, but lived in the hope that, when 

 the Catholics succeeded in everywhere subduing 

 the Protestants, she would attain that object. 



A succession of unfortunate events threw Mary 

 into the hands of Elizabeth. In 1565, she married 

 her cousin, Lord Darnley, and by that means alien- 

 ated the affections of her brother and chief min- 

 ister, the Earl of Moray, as well as of other Protes- 

 tant lords, who raised a rebellion against her, and 

 were obliged to flee into England. Soon after, 

 the jealousy of Darnley respecting an Italian 

 musician named Rizzio, who acted as French 

 secretary to the queen, united him in a conspiracy 

 with the banished Protestant noblemen for the 

 murder of that humble foreigner, which was 

 effected under very barbarous circumstances, 

 March 9, 1566. Mary, who was delivered, in 

 the succeeding June, of a son, James, afterwards 

 James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, with- 

 drew her affections entirely from her husband. 



