1553.

AN. DOM. in a very great fear that he would have struck them1. Called to the Court again, by a letter of the fourteenth of the same month, they found the King more earnest in it than he was before; requiring them, with a sharp voice and a displeased countenance, to dispatch the book, according to the Articles delivered to them; and telling them that he would have a Parliament shortly to confirm the same. When nothing else would serve the turn, answer was made, that his commandment should be obeyed; upon condition that they might be commissionated so to do by his Majesty's warrant, under the Great Seal of England, and have a general pardon for it when the deed was done.

13. Not daring longer to resist, and having made as good provision as they could for their own indemnity, they betook themselves unto the work, digested it in form of law, caused it to be engrossed in parchment, and so dispatched it for the Seal to the Lord Chancellor Goodrick, sufficiently prepared beforehand not to stick upon it. But then appeared another difficulty amongst the Lords of the Council: some of which, not well satisfied with these proceedings, appeared as backward in subscribing to the instrument, before it went unto the Seal, as the great lawyers had done at the first, in being brought to the employment. But such was the authority which Dudley and his party had gained amongst them, that some for fear, and some for favour, did subscribe at last :-a zeal to the reformed religion prevailing in it upon some; a doubt of losing their church-lands more powerfully over-swaying others; and all in fear of getting the displeasure of that mighty tyrant, who by his power and practices carried all before him. The last that stood it out was Archbishop Cranmer. Who, being sent for to the Court, when all the Lords of the Council and most of the Judges of the realm had subscribed the instrument, refused to put his hand unto it, or to consent to the disherison of the late

1 It was not the first time that Montague had been terrified by the "vultus instantis tyranni." The story is well known, how, when he was Speaker of the House of Commons, and a difficulty was made about granting a supply, Henry VIII. sent for him, and "laying his hand on Montague's head, who was then on his knees before him, he said, 'Get my bill passed by to-morrow, or else to-morrow this head of your's shall be off."-Hume, iv. 397.

154

1553.

King's daughters. After much reasoning of the case, he re- AN. Doм.
quires a longer time of deliberation; consults about it with
some of the most learned lawyers, and is finally sent for by the
King: who, having fully set his heart upon the business, did
use so many reasons to him in behalf of religion, and plied
him with such strong persuasions in pursuance of them, that
at the last he suffered himself to be overcome by his impor-
tunities, and so subscribed it with the rest1. Only Sir James
Hales, one of the Justices of the Common Pleas, carried the
honour of a resolute and constant man-not only from those
of his own rank, but even from all the Lords of the Council,
and almost all the peers of the realm to boot; who, being a
man observed to be both religious and upright, did very
worthily refuse to subscribe, and was afterwards as unworthily
requited by Queen Mary for it2.

14. Yet, notwithstanding all these rubs, the project was
driven on so fast by the hasty Duke, that by the one and
twentieth of June, the letters patent were made ready to
pass the Seal; which was about a fortnight before the death of

1 Godwin, Ann. 165; Strype, Cranm. ii. 420-2, Ed. Eccl. Hist. Soc. The instrument is printed in Strype's Appendix, No. 68.

2 Hayward, 326*. "In the meanwhile [at the beginning of Mary's reign] many men were forward in erecting of altars and masses in churches. And such as would stick to the laws made in King Edward's time, till others should be established, some of them were marked, and some presently apprehended; among whom Sir James Hales, a Knight of Kent and Justice of the Common Pleas, was one; who, notwithstanding he had ventured his life in Queen Mary's cause, in that he would not subscribe to the disinheriting of her by the King's Will, yet for that he did, at a Quarter-sessions, give charge upon the Statutes made in the time of King Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth, for the Supremacy and Religion, he was imprisoned in the Marshalsea Compter and Fleet, and so cruelly handled and put in fear, by talk that the Warden of the Fleet used to have in his hearing, of such torments as were in preparing for heretics, or for what other cause God knoweth-that he sought to rid himself out of this life, by wounding himself with a knife, and afterward was contented to say as they willed him: whereupon he was discharged. But, after that, he never rested till he had drowned himself in a river, half a mile from his house in Kent.”—Fox, vi. 394-5. Comp. vi. 710-717, where the story of Judge Hales is more fully told. Hasted states that at the time of his suicide he was on a visit to his nephew at Thanington, near Canterbury.— Hist. of Kent, iii. 584.

1553.

AN. DOM. the King. During which interval, he had another game to play: which was the getting into his power the Princess Mary; whom, of all others, he most feared, as the most likely person to destroy his whole contrivance. For well he knew that, if she stood upon her right, as no doubt she would, she was not only sure of a strong party in the realm, who still remained in good affections to the Church of Rome; but that her party here would be backed and countenanced by her alliances abroad, who could not but prefer and support her interess against all pretenders. He therefore must make sure of her, or else account all void and frustrate which was done already. And, that he might make sure of her, he so prevailed that letters were directed to her, in the King's name, from the Lords of the Council-willing her forthwith to resort to the King; as well to be a comfort to him in his sickness, as to see all matters well ordered about him1. The Lady, suspecting no lurking mischief, addressed herself with all speed to the journey; expressing great joy, that either her company or her service should be esteemed needful to the King. But as she was upon the way, and within half a day's journey of the Court, she received advice both of the King's desperate estate and of the Duke's designs against her: whereupon she returned in haste to her house at Hunsdon2, where in a very short time she heard the sad news of her brother's death; who died upon the sixth of July, as before was said. Which being the same day of the month on which King Henry had taken off the head of Sir Thomas More3, for his adhesion to the Pope, the interess of Queen Katharine Dowager and the Princess Mary gave an occasion unto those of the Romish party to look upon it as a piece of Divine retribution, in taking away the life of his only son on the same day also.

Proceedings for establishing her as Queen.

15. Two days the death of the King was by special order kept so secret that it was known to very few about the Court. And it concerned them so to do: partly in expectation of the coming of the Princess Mary, whom they knew to be upon the way; and partly to make sure of the city of London, the favour and fidelity whereof was of great importance for the 1 Hayward, 327.

2 Edd. Heyl. "Hoveden."

3 Thuan. I. xiii. c. 1. (Tom. 1. p. 439).

1553.

carrying on of the design'. But understanding by their espials AN. Doм.
that the Princess Mary was retired-a message was sent on
Saturday, the 8th of July, to Sir George Barns, the Lord
Mayor of London, requiring him, in the name of the Lords of
the Council, to give his attendance at the court, and bring with
him six of the principal aldermen, six merchants of the staple,
and as many of the company of merchant-adventurers. No
haste was wanting on their parts; and, coming at the time
appointed, they were privily informed by some of the council
(but in the name of all the rest) that the King was dead, and
that he had declared by his letters patents, under the great
seal of England, subscribed by all the Lords of the Council and
almost all the peers of the realm, that his cousin the Lady
Jane Gray was to succeed him in the crowns of England and
Ireland, as the most true, certain, and undoubted heir of all
his dominions. Which being signified unto them, it was no
hard matter to obtain their consent to that which they were
not able to deny. And so, upon a promise of their best assist-
ance to promote the cause, and to keep secret the King's
death until further order, they were dismissed unto their
houses.

16. It is an ancient custom of the Kings of England, immediately on the death of their predecessors, to provide their lodgings in the Tower2; taking possession, as it were, by that royal fortress, of the rest of the kingdom; and from thence passing in a solemn and magnificent manner through the principal streets of London to their coronation. According to which ancient custom, the lodgings in the Tower being fitted and prepared for the Queen's reception, the Lords of the Council 1573 passed over from Greenwich on Monday, the 10th of the same [155] month. A letter had been brought the night before from the Princess Mary, who had received advertisement of her brother's death', notwithstanding all their care and diligence in labouring to conceal it from his nearest servants; which made them meet the earlier and in greater numbers, to return an answer thereunto. The Princess knew her own right, and the wrong which

3 In the numbering of the old editions, pp. 155-6 are omitted, and pp. 159 160 are doubled.

4 By a note from the Earl of Arundel.-Lingard, vii. 111.

[HEYLYN, II.]

C

AN. DOM. was intended to her; both which she signified unto them in these following words:

1553.

Letter of
Mary to the
Council.

"MY LORDS,

"WE greet you well; and have received sure advertisement that our dearest brother the King, our late Sovereign Lord, is departed to God's mercy. Which news, how woeful they be unto our heart, he only knoweth, to whose will and pleasure we must and do humbly submit us and our wills. But in this so lamentable a case, that is to wit, [now] after his Majesty's departure and death,-concerning the crown and governance of this realm of England, with the title of France, and all things thereto belonging, what hath been provided by Act of parliament, and the testament and last will of our dearest father, besides other circumstances advancing our right, you know, the realm and the whole world knoweth: the rolls and records appear, by the authority of the King our said father, and the King our said brother, and the subjects of this realm. So that we verily trust that there is no good true subject that is, can, or would pretend to be ignorant thereof: and of our part, we have of ourselves caused, and, as God shall aid and strengthen us, shall cause, our right and title in this behalf to be published and proclaimed accordingly. And albeit this so weighty a matter seemeth strange, that our said brother dying1 upon Thursday at night last past, we hitherto had no knowledge from you thereof;—yet we consider your wisdom and prudence to be such, that, having eftsoons amongst you debated, pondered, and well weighed this present case, with our estate, your own estate, the common wealth, and all our honours, we shall and may conceive great hope and trust with much assurance in your loyalty and service; and therefore for the time interpret and take things not to the worst, that ye yet will, like noble men, work the best. Nevertheless we are not ignorant of your consultations to undo the provisions made for our preferment; nor of the great bands and provisions forcible wherewith you be assembled and prepared: by whom and to what end God and you know; and nature cannot but fear some evil. But be

1 Holinshed, iii. 1066, and Heylyn read "the dying of our said brother."

2 Edd. 1, 2, "hands."