A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX 



the crown by his will to Lady Jane. The lords of the council then 

 performed their homage, swearing to support her to the death, ' whilst 

 I having heard all this, remained as stunned, and out of myself.' Be- 

 wildered and full of foreboding, surrounded by those she hated and 

 feared, yet unable, a girl of sixteen, to withstand their will, Lady Jane fell 

 to the ground, wept, lamented the death of the king, swooned and 

 submitted. 189 The next day she was conducted to Westminster and then 

 to the Tower, as much a prisoner then, as the gorgeous procession swept 

 down the river, as when, the nine days' reign at an end, she was at the 

 mercy of Queen Mary. 190 



All the lords and ladies near London flocked in to see the coronation, 

 but the popular feeling in Middlesex ran very strongly against North- 

 umberland. As he rode out through Shoreditch a few days later on his 

 mission to fetch Mary from Newmarket he remarked to one who rode 

 near him ' The people press to see us, but not one sayeth God spede 

 us.' m When, as Mary's prisoner, he again passed through the place, ' all 

 the people reviled him and called him traitor and heretic.' m Mary's 

 triumphant entry took place on 30 July. The last miles of her progress 

 through Middlesex were thronged with crowds, whose enthusiasm left 

 no doubt as to the popularity of her cause. The Princess Elizabeth rode 

 out from Somerset House to meet her sister, and at Whitechapel the 

 mayor and aldermen delivered up the sword of the City to the new 

 queen. 193 



It was fortunate for Sir Thomas Wroth that he was not one of 

 those who suffered for the attempt to oust Mary from the throne. He 

 must have been acquainted with the whole scheme, as he was in atten- 

 dance on Edward VI till the last, 194 and signed the letters patent limiting 

 the crown to Lady Jane Grey, but fortunately for himself he took no 

 active part in the rebellion. He was sent to the Tower on 27 July, but 

 was very soon released. In January, 1553-4, when Suffolk was medi- 

 tating the second rising, Wroth was urged to join, but he prudently 

 refrained. Bishop Gardiner proposed his arrest, 195 but Wroth escaped, 

 probably through the influence of his son-in-law, Lord Rich, and he 

 spent the remainder of Mary's reign abroad, mostly at Frankfort and 

 Strasburg. 196 



In February, 1553-4, the queen's intended marriage with Philip 

 of Spain brought about the rebellion of Wyatt and the men of Kent. 197 

 On the night of Shrove Tuesday (6 February) the insurgents crossed the 

 Thames at Kingston, intending to pass quickly through southern 

 Middlesex and to gain an entrance to the City in the early morning. 198 



189 Strickland, Tudor Princesses, 144 ; Tytler, Engl. under Edw. VI and Mary, ii, 188. 



190 Strickland, Tudor Princesses, 144 ; Howard, Life of Lady Jane Grey, 435. 



111 Chron. of the Grey Friars (Camd. Soc.), 58 ; Chron. of Queen Jane (Camd. Soc.), 8. 

 "* Chron. of the Grey Friari (Camd. Soc.), 8 1. '" Ibid. 



M Edward died in his arms ; Literary Remains of Edw. VI, cxcix. 



m Wroth was one of the witnesses against Gardiner for the latter's sermon at St. Paul'i in July, 

 1548. 



" Diet. Nat. Biog. Macfyn's Diary (Camd. Soc.), 54. 



'" Grafton, Chron. (1809), 538. 



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