The Reign of Mary Tudor | Page 7

in the outward
dominion of scoundrels and in the eclipse of the hereditary virtues of
the national character, Lady Jane Grey had lived to show that the defect
was not in the reformed faith, but in the absence of all faith--that the
graces of a St. Elizabeth could be rivalled by the pupil of Cranmer and
Ridley. The Catholic saint had no excellence of which Jane Grey was
without the promise; the distinction was in the freedom of the
Protestant from the hysterical ambition for an unearthly nature, and in
the presence, through a more intelligent creed, of a vigorous and
practical understanding.
[Footnote 8: Letters of Lady Jane Grey to Bullinger: Epistolæ Tigurinæ,
pp. 3-7.]
When married to Guilford Dudley, Jane Lady had entreated that, being
herself so young, and her husband scarcely older, {p.005} she might
continue to reside with her mother.[9] Lady Northumberland had
consented; and the new-made bride remained at home till a rumour
went abroad that Edward was on the point of death, when she was told
that she must remove to her father-in-law's house, till "God should call
the king to his mercy;" her presence would then be required at the
Tower, the king having appointed her to be the heir to the crown.
[Footnote 9: Baoardo--who tells the story as it was told by Lady Jane
herself to Abbot Feckenham.]
This was the first hint which she had received of the fortune which was
in store for her. She believed it to be a jest, and took no notice of the
order to change her residence, till the Duchess of Northumberland came
herself to fetch her. A violent scene ensued with Lady Suffolk. At last
the duchess brought in Guilford Dudley, who commanded Lady Jane,

on her allegiance as a wife, to return with him; and, "not choosing to be
disobedient to her husband," she consented. The duchess carried her off,
and kept her for three or four days a prisoner. Afterwards she was taken
to a house of the duke's at Chelsea, where she remained till Sunday, the
9th of July, when a message was brought that she was wanted
immediately at Sion House, to receive an order from the king.
She went alone. There was no one at the palace when she arrived; but
immediately after Northumberland came, attended by Pembroke,
Northampton, Huntingdon, and Arundel. The Earl of Pembroke, as he
approached, knelt to kiss her hand. Lady Northumberland and Lady
Northampton entered, and the duke, as President of the Council, rose to
speak.
"The king," he said, "was no more. A godly life had been followed, as a
consolation to their sorrows, by a godly end, and in leaving the world
he had not forgotten his duty to his subjects. His majesty had prayed on
his death-bed that Almighty God would protect the realm from false
opinions, and especially from his unworthy sister; he had reflected that
both the Lady Mary and the Lady Elizabeth had been cut off by act of
parliament from the succession as illegitimate;[10] the Lady Mary had
been disobedient to her father; she had been again disobedient to her
brother; she was a capital and principal enemy of God's word; and both
she and her sister were bastards born; King Henry did not intend that
the crown should be worn by either of them; King Edward, therefore,
had, before his death, bequeathed {p.006} it to his cousin the Lady Jane;
and, should the Lady Jane die without children, to her younger sister;
and he had entreated the council, for their honours' sake and for the
sake of the realm, to see that his will was observed."
[Footnote 10: La detta maestà haveva ben considerato un atto di
Parliamento nel quale fu già deliberato che qualunque volesse
riconoscere Maria overo Elizabetha sorelle per heredi della corona
fusse tenuto traditore.--Baoardo.]
Northumberland, as he concluded, dropped on his knees; the four lords
knelt with him, and, doing homage to the Lady Jane as queen, they
swore that they would keep their faith or lose their lives in her defence.

Lady Jane shook, covered her face with her hands, and fell fainting to
the ground. Her first simple grief was for Edward's death; she felt it as
the loss of a dearly loved brother. The weight of her own fortune was
still more agitating; when she came to herself, she cried that it could
not be; the crown was not for her, she could not bear it--she was not fit
for it. Then, knowing nothing of the falsehoods which Northumberland
had told her, she clasped her hands, and, in a revulsion of feeling, she
prayed God that if the great place to which she was called was indeed
justly hers, He would give her grace to govern for his service and