65S 



ENGLAND. 



Dcttbof 

 Edward V 



Claimants 

 to the 



lection*, the intrigues and menaces of Northumber- 

 land prevailed. 



After this settlement of the crown upon the heirs of 

 the Duchess of Suffolk, the young king's health visibly 

 declined every day. Hy the advice of Northumberland, 

 supported by an act of the council, hi*, physicians were 

 dismissed, and an ignorant old woman entrusted with 

 the care of his health. I'nder her management, his 

 worst symptoms rapidly increased, anil he expired at 

 drecnwieh, in the Itith vc:ir of his nge, and the 7th 

 uf his reign. He possessed great mildness of disposi- 

 tion, united with a sagacity far above his yean ; and 

 bad made attainments in learning which astonished all 

 with whom he conversed. Amidst the struggles for 

 power among his ministers, he was merely the instru- 

 ment of their mutual resentments and intrigues ; but 

 he never signed the orders of execution against any par- 

 ty, without tears in his eyes. His young mind was 

 deeply tinctured with the principles of sound religion; 

 and his many virtues rendered him an object of tender 

 affection to his subjects, who had soon rcas-on to la- 

 ment the short duration of his promising reign. 



By the decease of Edward, there were four female 

 claimants to the crown ; Mary, the eldest daughter of 

 Henry VIII. by Catharine of Spain, and the first in 

 succession by her father's will, but whose declared il- 

 legitimacy had never been repealed ; Elizabeth, Hen- 

 ry's second daughter by Anne Boleync, who had also 

 been declared illegitimate, but whose attachment to 

 Protestant principles might otherwise have rendered 

 her more acceptable to the nation ; Mary, Queen of 

 Scotland, descended from Henry's eldest sister, whose 

 legitimacy could not be questioned, but who had been 

 passed over in Henry's will ; and Jane drey, the daugh- 

 ter of Henry's youngest sister, whose mother, by that 

 monarch's will, came next to his own daughter, end 

 who, by the will of the late king, had been preferred 

 before them on the ground of their illegitimacy. The 

 Jitle of Mary, however, always e.-teemed the most na- 

 tural and just, had been by her father's will rendered 

 legal and parliamentary ; and during the whole of Ed- 

 ward's reign, she had be^-n uniformly regarded as his 

 lawful successor. The Protestants, indeed, had reason 

 to dread the effects of her religious prejudices ; but the 

 general hatred entertained against the Dudleys, coun- 

 terbalanced this ground of objection. Mury, also, had 

 the policy to promise to her adherents, that she would 

 make no change in the laws of Edward respecting re- 

 ligion ; and her pretensions were thus the more readi- 

 ldy Jane Jy admitted by the nation at large. Northumberland, 

 Grey placed nevertheless, resolved to enforce the will of the late 

 king in favour of his daughter-in-law ; and having fail- 

 ed in his schemes to bring the two elder princesses into 

 Ins power, caused Lady Jane to be proclaimed queen. 

 Ignorant of the previous political transactions, attach- 

 ed to elegant literature, and satisfied with enjoying the 

 affections of a husband deserving of her esteem, her 

 heart hat! never opened to the allurements of ambition, 

 and she resisted, as criminal and hazardous, her pro- 

 posed elevation to the throne ; but, overcome by the 

 inlreaties of her relations, she submitted at length, in 

 opposition to her own judgment and wishes. In the 

 mean time, the partizans of Mary were daily increas- 

 ing. Lord Hastings, who had been sent to oppose her 

 claims, revolted to her side with -4OOO men ; Northum- 

 berland himself was deserted by his soldiers on their 

 march ; and the council, whom he had treated as his 

 prisoners, hastened, upon his departure from London, 

 to declare agairut him. Suffolk, who commanded in 



History. 



the Tower, finding resistance fruitless, opened the gates 

 to the friends of Mary ; and Lady Jane drey, resign- ' "Y~^ 

 ing the crown, which she had held only ten Jays, glad- 

 ly returned to that private station which she had i.< 

 desired to leave. Northumberland, despairing of suc- 

 cess, joined with ap]iarent satisfaction in the procla- Mary pra- 

 mation of Mary at Cambridge ; and she soon entered claimed am 

 Ix>ndon with the most sensible expressions of loyal at- " knolr - 

 tachment on the part of her subjects. Northmnber- JJ^J^ 

 land was immediately arrested, capitally convicted, and 

 soon after executed, together with .Sir John ( iat. 

 Sir Thomas Palmer, two infamous instruments of hi, 

 ambitious and tyrannical measures. Sentence was, at 

 the same time, pronounced against Lady Jane divy 

 and her husband Lord duilford; but, without any pre- 

 sent view of putting it in execution. Their youth and 

 innocence (neither of them having reached their 1 7th 

 year) pleaded sufficiently in their behalf; and Mary 

 wa.s desirous, in the beginning of her reign, to acquire 

 popularity by the appearance of clemency. No other 

 blood was at this time shed ; and a general" pardon, with 

 a few exceptions, was granted to those v\ ho had been 

 concerned in the late enterprize against the rights of 

 the sovereign. But the joy arising from the succession 

 of the lawful heir, and from the gracious demeanour of 

 the queen in her first proceedings, was soon clouded 

 by apprehensions of her hostile designs against the re- 

 formed religion. Gardiner, Bonner, Tonstal, and the 

 other bishops, who had been imprisoned in the last 

 reign, were reinstated in their sees ; and Holgate, 

 Archbishop of York, Bishops Coverdale, Ridley, Hoop- 

 er, and Latimer, were tin-own into prison. On pre- 

 tence of discouraging controversy, all the preachers 

 were silenced, except such as should receive a particu- 

 lar license ; which, it was clearly foreseen, would be 

 granted only to the Catholics. Cranmer having pub- 

 lished, in strong terms, a contradiction of a report that 

 lie had promised to read the mass before the Queen, 

 was thrown into prison, and condemned for high trea- 

 son in having concurred with the friends of Lady Jane 

 Grey ; but he was reserved for a more cruel punish- 

 ment. The foreign Protestants hastened to leave the 

 kingdom; and many useful arts and manufactures which 

 they had introduced, were lost to the nation. A par- 

 liament was assembled, in which those who hesitated 

 to comply with the court religion declined to serve, 

 and which consisted therefore of members favourable 

 to Mary's designs. Their jealousy, however, was ex- 

 cited by her proposed marriage with Philip, King of 

 Spain; and, having remonstrated in strong terms against 

 so dangerous a measure as a foreign alliance, for this 

 act of presumption they were instantly dissolved. The 

 new laws regarding religion were in die mean time 

 openly put in execution by the government. The mast 

 was every where established; the marriages of the cler- 

 gy prohibited ; and nearly one half of their number 

 deprived of their livings. In addition to the discon- 

 tents excited by these violent and sudden changes, the 

 intended Spanish match produced a more general ap- 

 prehension for the liberty and independence of the na- 

 tion. To obviate all objections, the articles of marriage 

 were drawn as favourable as possible for the interest 

 and security of England ; but as it was naturally con- 

 cluded that ;tll conditions would soon be violated when- 

 ever it suited the emperor's views, the publication of them 

 gave no satisfaction to the people. The nation became 

 so alarmed by the terror of Spanish tyranny, that a ge- 

 neral rebellion was threatened, and there needed only 

 encouragement from some foreign power, or the ap- 



