dawn of her existence, after she had been proclaimed heiress of the realm, came the young motherless Elizabeth, who had been roused from her sweet slumbers of infant innocence, and arrayed in robes of state, to perform the part assigned to her in the ceremony. In this procession Elizabeth, borne in the arms of the aspiring Seymour, (brother to the queen,) with playful smiles carried the chrysom for the son of her, for whose sake her mother's blood had been shed on the scaffold, and herself branded with the reproach of illegitimacy. And there the earl of Wiltshire, the father of the murdered Anne Boleyn, and grandfather of the disinherited Elizabeth, made himself an object of contemptuous pity to every eye by assisting at this rite, bearing a taper of virgin wax, with a towel about his neck. How strangely associated seem the other personages who met in this historical scene! how passing strange, in the eyes of those before whom the scroll of their after life has been unrolled, it is to contemplate the princess Mary joining Cranmer, (afterwards sent to the stake in her reign,) who was associated with his enemy the duke of Norfolk, all as sponsors in this baptismal rite! The font of solid silver was guarded by sir John Russell, sir Nicholas Carew, sir Francis Bryan, and sir Anthony Browne in aprons, and with towels about their necks. The marchioness of Exeter1 carried the child under a canopy, which was borne by the duke of Suffolk, the marquess of Exeter, the earl of Arundel, and lord William Howard. The prince's wet-nurse (whom he afterwards called 'mother Jack," from her name 1 This unfortunate lady, the wife of the king's cousin-german, was condemned afterwards to death for no crime, and (after the execution of her husband) suffered an imprisonment in the Tower till the accession of Mary. The dowagermarchioness of Dorset was at first appointed, in the names of king Henry and queen Jane, to carry the prince at his baptism. It is probable she had no mind to give any more gold basins to royal godchildren, for she had already made that costly present to the princess Elizabeth. Therefore she excused herself on account of the plague having broke out at Croydon, returning “as many thanks as her poor heart can think, that it hath pleased his grace to appoint me, so poor a woman, to so high a place as to have borne my lord prince to his christening, which I should have been as glad to have done as any poor woman living: and much it grieveth me that my fortune is so evil, by reason of the sickness here, in Croydon, to be banished your grace's presence. Written at Croydon, the 14th day of October."-State-Papers. 2 Her portrait by this name is extant among Holbein's original drawings. of Jackson,) walked near to her charge, and after her came the queen's domestics, among whom was the midwife. While his attendants were making the royal infant ready in the traverse, (which was a small space screened off from the rest of the chapel,) Te Deum was sung. The ceremonial was arranged for the lord William Howard to give the towel, first to the lady Mary, lord Fitzwalter to bear the covered basins, lord Delawar to uncover them, and lord Stourton to give the towels to Cranmer and the duke of Norfolk. After the prince was baptized, his style was thus proclaimed by Garter: "God, in his Almighty and infinite grace, grant good life and long to the right high, right excellent, and noble prince Edward, duke of Cornwall and earl of Chester, most dear and entirelybeloved son of our most dread and gracious lord Henry VIII.” The lady Mary gave her godson a cup of gold, by lord Essex; Cranmer gave him three great bowls and two great pots, which were borne by the father of Anne Boleyn. The duke of Norfolk presented a similar offering. In the returning procession, the princess Elizabeth was led away by the princess Mary, her sister. The train of the infant princess,—for, though but four years old, she had a train,—was carried by the lady Herbert, sister of a future queen, Katharine Parr. The heir of England was borne back in solemn state, with trumpets sounding before him, to his mother's chamber, there to receive her blessing. There is a grand staircase at Hampton-Court leading direct from the chapel-royal to a fine archway, forming an entrance from the third landing to the queen's private suite of lodging-rooms. The archway has been recently restored, after being long defaced and walled up: it coincides in every point of architecture with the chapel and the entrances to Wolsey's hall. It communicates with a corridor, called in the tradition of the palace the 'silver-stick gallery,' where chamberlains and other court officers used to wait. At this entrance the trumpet-flourishes announced the return of the infant prince from his baptism in the neighbouring chapel. King Henry had remained seated by the queen's pallet during the whole of the baptismal rite, which, with all its tedious parade, took up two or three hours, not being over till midnight. What with the presence of king Henry,-rather a boisterous inmate for a sick chamber; what with the procession setting out from the chamber, and the braying of the trumpets at its entrance when it returned, (the herald especially notes the goodly noise they made there); and, in conclusion, the exciting ceremonial of bestowing her maternal benediction on her newly baptized babe, the poor queen had been kept in a complete hurry of spirits for many hours. The natural consequence of such imprudence was, that on the day after she was indisposed, and on the Wednesday so desperately ill, that all the rites of the Roman-catholic church were administered to her: the official statements are still extant, and prove how completely mistaken those writers are who consider Jane Seymour as a Protestant. Equally mistaken are those who affirm that she died, either directly after the birth of Edward VI., or even two days afterwards: the fact is, she lived nearly a fortnight. In a circular, which is the first instance of a royal bulletin, minute accounts are given of the queen's health; to which is added, "Her confessor hath been with her grace this morning, and hath done that which to his office appertaineth, and even now is about to administer to her grace the sacrament of unction. At Hampton-Court this Wednesday morning,' eight o'clock." Nevertheless, the queen amended, and was certainly alive on the 24th of October, as this letter, from sir John Russell to Cromwell, indubitably proves : "SIR, "The king was determined, as this day, to have removed to Esher; and because the queen was very sick this night, and this day, he tarried; but tomorrow, God willing, he intendeth to be there. If she amend, he will go ; but if she amend not, he told me, this day, he could not find it in his heart; for, I assure you, she hath been in great danger yesternight and this day. Thanked be God, she is somewhat amended; and if she 'scape this night, the fyshisiouns be in good hope that she be past all danger. "Hampton-Court, the 24th of October." She did not live over the night; for the amendment mentioned was but the rally often occurring before death. “The departure of queen Jane was as heavy to the king as ever was heard tell of. Directly she expired, the king withdrew himself, as not to 1 Supposed to be Oct. 17.-State-Papers, vol i. p. 572. be spoken to by any one. He left Hampton-Court for Winc sor, part of his council remaining to order her funeral." In a despatch from the council to the ambassador of France, the death of the queen is clearly attributed to having been suffered to take cold and eat improper food. This agrees perfectly with a statement in Leland's genealogy of prince Edward, published in 1543, and written nearly at the time of her death. "On Thursday, October 25, she was embalmed; and waxchandlers did their work about her. The next day, Friday 26th, was provided, in the chamber of presence, a hearse with twentyfour tapers, garnished with pensils and other decencies. Also, in the same chamber, was provided an altar for mass to be said, richly apparelled with black, garnished with the cross, images, censers, and other ornaments; and daily masses were said by her chaplains and others. This done, the corpse was reverently conveyed from the place where she died, under a hearse covered with a rich pall of cloth of gold, and a cross set thereupon; lights were burning night and day, with six torches and lights upon the altar all divine service time. All ladies were in mourning habits, with white kerchiefs over their heads and shoulders, kneeling about the hearse all service time in lamentable wise, at mass forenoon and at dirige after." An English ballad is extant, which, dwelling on the elaborate mourning of queen Jane's ladies, informs the world, in a line of pure bathos,"In black were her ladies, and black were their fans." A watch of these ladies, with the princess Mary at their head as chief mourner, was kept nightly in the queen's chamber round the royal corpse till the last day of October, when the bishop of Carlisle, her almoner, entering in pontificalibus, assisted by the sub-dean and the bishop of Chichester, performed all ceremonies, as censing with holy water, and attended the removal of the coffin, with great state and solemnity, to Hampton-Court chapel. Here the ceremonies were renewed, day by day, till November 12th, when the queen's funeral procession set out from Hampton to Windsor for interment in St. George's chapel, which was done with all the pomp and 1 Herald's Journal, Cottonian MSS. 2 State-Papers, vol. i. p. 573. 3 Herald's Journal, MSS. Cottonian, Nero, c. x. In majesty possible. The corpse of Jane Seymour was put on a car of state, covered with a rich pall, and over it was placed her wax statue, exactly representing her in her robes of state, the hair flowing on the shoulders; a crown of state on the head, a sceptre of gold in the right hand, the finger covered with rings of precious stones, and the neck with ornaments of jewels; the shoes and hose of gold cloth. The head rested on a pillow of gold cloth and gems, and the car was drawn by six horses. The princess Mary paid all the duty of a daughter to her friendly step-mother, by attending as chief mourner.1 every instance the rites of the ancient church were performed. "I have caused," writes sir Richard Gresham, from the city, to Cromwell, " 1200 masses to be said for the soul of our most gracious queen. And whereas the lord mayor and aldermen were lately at Paul's, and there gave thanks unto God for the birth of our prince my lord, I do think it convenient that there should also be at Paul's a solemn dirge and mass, and that the mayor and aldermen should pray and offer for her grace's soul." 266 Jane was interred in the midst of the choir at St. George's chapel: an epitaph was composed for her, comparing her, in death, to the phoenix, from whose death another phoenix, Edward VI., took existence. Bishop Godwin affirms that these lines were engraved on the stone which covered the place of interment : : "Phoenix Jana jacet nato phoenice; dolendum, 'Here a phoenix lieth, whose death It is to be lamented much, The world at once ne'er knew two such.' Two queens of Henry had been previously consigned to their last repose. Katharine of Arragon was buried as his brother's widow, and not as his wife. As to Anne Boleyn, her poor mangled corpse was not vouchsafed, as far as her unloving spouse was aware, the religious rites bestowed on the remains of the most wretched mendicant who expires on the highway 1 Lodge's biographies. It is likewise evident from her privy-purse expenses. 2 State-Papers, vol. i. p. 574. |