marriage. Rejoice in Christ, as I do. Follow | goodness, to deliver me, sorrowful wretch (for the steps of your master Christ, and take up your cross lay your sins on his back, and always embrace him. And as touching my death, rejoice as I do (good sister) that I shall be delivered of this corruption, and put on incorruption. For I am assured, that I shall for losing of a mortal life, win an immortal life, the which I pray God grant you, and send you of his grace to live in his fear, and to die in the true Christian faith, from the which (in God's name) I exhort you that you never swerve, neither for hope of life, nor for fear of death. For if you will deny his truth for to lengthen your life, God will deny you, and yet shorten your days. And if you will cleave unto him, he will prolong your days to your comfort and his glory to the which glory God bring me now, and you hereafter when it pleaseth him to call you. Fare you well, good sister, and put your only trust in God, who only must help you.

whom thy son Christ shed his precious blood on the cross) out of this miserable captivity and bondage, wherein I am now. How long wit thou be absent? For ever? Ob Lord, hast thou forgotten to be gracious, and hast thou shut up thy loving kindness in displeasure? Wilt thou be no more intreated? Is thy mercy clean gone for ever, and thy promise come utterly to an end for evermore? Why doest thou make so long tarrying? shall I despair of thy mercy O God? Far be that from me. I am thy workmanship created in Christ Jesus: give me grace therefore to tarry thy leisure, and patiently to bear thy works; assuredly knowing, that as thou canst, so thou wilt deliver me, when it shall please thee, nothing doubting or mistrusting thy goodness towards me: for thou knowest better what is good for me than I do : therefore do with me in all things what thou wilt, and plague me what way thou wilt. Only in the mean time arm me I beseech thee with being girded about with verity, having on the thy armour, that I may stand fast, my loins breastplate of righteousness, and shod with the shoes prepared by the gospel of peace; above all things taking to me the shield of faith, wherewith I may be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and taking the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit, which is thy most holy word: praying always with all manner of prayer and supplication, that I may refer myself wholly to thy will, abiding thy pleasure, and comforting myself in those troubles that it shall please thee to send me: seeing such troubles be profitable for me, and seeing I am assuredly persuaded that it cannot be but well all that thou doest. Hear me mercifulFather for his sake, whom thou wouldest should be a sacrifice for my sins: to whom with thee and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory. Amen.

After these things thus declared, it remaineth now, coming to the end of this virtuous lady, next to infer the manner of her Execution, with the words and behaviour of her at the time of her death.

O LORD, thou God and Father of my life, hear me poor and desolate woman, which flyeth unto thee only, in all troubles and miseries. Thou O Lord art the only defender and deliverer of those that put their trust in thee: and therefore I being defiled with sin, encumbered with affliction, unquieted with troubles, wrapped in cares, overwhelmed with miseries, vexed with temptations, and grievously tormented with the long imprisonment of this vile mass of clay my sinful body: do come unto thee (O merciful Saviour) craving thy mercy and help; without the which so little hope of deliverance is left, that I may utterly despair of any liberty. Albeit it is expedient, that seeing our life standeth upon trying, we should be visited sometime with some adversity, whereby we might both be tried whether we be of thy flock or no, and also know thee and ourselves the better: yet thou that saidest thou wouldest not suffer us to be tempted above our power, be merciful unto me now a miserable wretch I beseech thee: which with Solomon do cry unto thee, humbly desiring thee, that I may neither be too much puffed up with prosperity, neither too much pressed down with adversity: lest I being too full, should deny thee my God, or being too low brought should despair, and blaspheme thee my Lord and Saviour.against the queen's highness was unlawful, and O merciful God, consider my misery best known unto thee, and be thou now unto me a strong tower of defence I humbly require thee. Suffer me not to be tempted above any power, but either be thou a deliverer unto me out of this great misery, either else give me grace patiently to bear thy heavy hand and sharp correction. It was thy right band that delivered the people of Israel out of the hands of Pharaoh, which for the space of 400 years did oppress them, and keep them in bondage. Let it therefore likewise seem good to thy fatherly

The Words and Behaviour of the lady Jane upon the Scaffold.

FIRST when she mounted upon the scaffold, she said to the people standing thereabout: Good people, I am come hither to die, and by a law I am condemned to the same. The fact

the consenting thereunto by me: but touching the procurement and desire thereof by me or on my behalf, I do wash my hands thereof in innocency before God, and the face of you, good Christian people, this day: and therewith she wrung her hands, wherein she had her book. Then said she, I pray you all good Christian people, to bear me witness that I die a true Christian woman, and that I do look to be saved by no other mean, but only by the mercy of God in the blood of his only son Jesus Christ: and I confess, that when I did know

—and others, for High Treason

lady Jane, and with her also the lord Guilford Dudley her husband, one of the duke of Northumberland's sons, two innocents in comparison of them that sat upon them. For they did but ignorantly accept that which the others had willingly devised, and by open proclamation consented to take from others and give to them. And not long after the death of the lady Jane upon the 21st of the same month, was Henry duke of Suffolk her father also beheaded at the Tower Hill, the 4th day after his condemnation: about which time also were condemned for this conspiracy many gentlemen and yeomen, whereof some were executed at London and some in the country. number of whom was also lord Thomas Gray, brother to the said duke, being apprehended not long after in North Wales and executed for Sir Nicholas Throgmorton very the same.

the word of God, I neglected the same, loved myself and the world, and therefore this plague and punishment is happily and worthily happened unto me for my sins: and yet I thank God of his goodness, that he hath thus given me a time and respite to repent and now, good people, while I am alive, I pray you assist And then kneeling me with your prayers. down, she turned her to Fecknam, saying: Shall I say this psalm ? and he said, Yea. Then said she the psalin of Miserere mei Deus in Eng, lish, in most devout manner throughout to the end, and then she stood up, and gave her maiden mistress Ellen her gloves and handkerchief, and her book to master Bruges, and then she untied her gown, and the hangman pressed upon her to help her off with it, but she desiring him to let her alone, turned towards her two gentlewomen, who helped her off therewith, and so with her frowes, paaft and neck-hardly escaped. erchief, giving to her a fair handkerchief to knit about her eyes.-Then the hangman kneeled down and asked her forgiveness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the straw: which doing, she saw the block. Then she said, I pray you dispatch me quickly. Then she kneeled down, saying: Will you take it off before I lay me down? and the hangman said, No, madam. Then tied she the handkerchief about her eyes, and feeling for the block she said: What shall I do? where is it? where is it? One of the standers by guiding her thereunto, she laid her head down upon the block, and then stretched forth her body, and said: Lord, into thy hands I commend my spirit, and so finished her life.

In the

Further Particulars respecting the lady Jane

Grey.

LADY Jane Grey was daughter of Henry Grey, marquis of Dorset, by Frances Brandon, daughter of Mary, dowager of France, younger daughter of Henry 7th, and sister to Henry 8th She was born in 1537, at Bradgate-hall, Leicestershire, and from her very infancy shewed great quickness and comprehension of mind. Under Harding and Aylmer, her father's chaplains, she improved herself in the various branches of learning; and became such a proficient in lan-' guages, that she spoke and wrote with astonishing facility, the French, Italian, Latin, and it is said the Greek; and was well skilled in HeTo these high acbrew, Arabic, and Chaldee.

Certain pretty Verses written by the said lady quirements in literature, were united great

Jane with a pin.

Non aliena putes homini, quæ obtingere possunt:
Sors hodierna mihi, tunc erit illa tibi.

Jane Dudley.

Deo juvante, nil nocet livor malus :
Et non juvante, nil juvat labor gravis.

Post tenebras spero lucem.

Certain Epitaphs written in commendation of
the worthy lady Jane Gray.

De Jana Graia Joan. Paikhursti Carmen.
Miraris Janam Graio sermone valere?
Quo primum pata est tempore, Graia fuit.

In historiam Junæ. I. F.

Ta, quibus ista legas incertum est lector, ocellis.
Ipse equidem siccis scribere non potni.
De Jana, D. Laurentii Humfredi decastichon.
Jana jacet sævo non æquæ volnere mortis,

Nobilis ingenio, sanguine, martyrio.
Ingenium Latiis ornavit fœmina musis,
Fomina virgineo tota dicata choro.
Sanguine clara fuit, regali stirpe creata,
Ipsaque Regina nobilitate throno.

Bis Graia est, pulchrè Graiis nutrita camœnis,
Et prisco Graiûm sanguine creta ducum.
Bis Martyr, sacræ fidei verissima testis:
Atque vacans regni crimine, Jana jacet.

Thus the 12th day of February was beheaded

beauty, the mildest manners, and the most cap-
tivating virtues of humility, benevolence and
modesty. Regardless of the pleasures and fri-
volous occupations of the great, she sought for
gratification in reading and in meditation, and
she observed to her tutor, Ascham, who found
her reading Plato while the rest of the family
were hunting in the park, that the sport which
they were enjoying, was but a shadow com-
pared to the pleasure which she received from
The alliances of her fa-
the sublime author.
mily, however, and their ambition, were too
powerful to suffer her to live in her beloved se-
clusion. No sooner was the declining health of
the 6th Edward perceived by his courtiers, than
Dudley, duke of Northumberland, prevailed
upon the unsuspecting monarch, to settle the
crown on his relation, lady Jane, whose attach-
iment to the Reformation was indubitable; and
to pass over his sisters Mary and Elizabeth.
When this was effected, the artful favourite
married his son Guilford Dudley to the future
queen, and thus paved the way to the elevation
But while
of his own family to the throne.
others rejoiced in these plans of approaching
greatness, Jane alone seemed unconcerned, and
when, at last, on Edward's death, she was hail-
ed as queen by her ambitious father-in-law,
Northumberland, she refused the proffered dig-

nity, till the authority of her father the dule of Suffolk, and the entreaties of a husband whom she tenderly loved, prevailed upon her reluctantly to consent. She was as usual, conveyed to the Tower, preparatory to her coronation, and she was proclaimed queen in the city, and honoured with all the marks of royalty. This sunshine of prosperity, was, however, but transitory; her rival Mary proved more powerful, and the kingdom seemed to espouse her cause with such loyalty, that Northumberland and Suffolk yielded to the popular voice, and lady Jane, after being treated as queen for a few days, descended again, and with exultation, to privacy. But misfortunes accompanied her fall. She saw her father-in-law and his family; her own father and his numerous adherents, brought to the Tower, and at last expire under the hand of the executioner, and she herself, together with her husband, were to complete the bloody tragedy.

The Compilers of the Biographia Britannica, who have taken great pains in collecting and arranging from the several historians of the time, the particulars relating to this most excellent person, conclude their account of her in these words:

opinion of the judges, who had over-ruled their plea; that what they did was in obedience to the supreme authority then subsisting: but whatever hopes lady Jane and her husband might entertain, whatever ease they might en joy, were quickly taken away by an unhappy event, which it was impossible for them to foresee, and in which it is not so much as pretended that either of them had the least hand. There was a great spirit raised in the nation against the queen's marriage with Philip of Spain; and upon this a general insurrection was concerted, which, if it had been executed with any degree of that prudence shewn in the planning of it, or rather if the Providence of God had not interposed, could scarce have failed of succeeding; sir Tho. Wiat of Kent, a man of a great estate and a greater influence, managed those who were afraid, under colour of this marriage, the kingdom would be deliver ed up to a foreign prince and his partizans. Sir Peter Carew, in Cornwall, dealt with such as were desirous of seeing the princess Elizabeth upon the throne, and in the arms of Courteney, whom the queen had lately restored to the title of Devonshire, and the duke of Suffolk, to whom danger had in vain preach"Lady Jane, and her husband the lorded discretion, and who could not learn loyalty Guilford Dudley, remaining still in confine- even from mercy, made use of that great inment, were, on the 3rd of Nov. 1553, carried terest which his large estates gave him, though from the Tower to Guildhall, and with arch- he held them by the queen's favour, to mislead bishop Cranmer and others arraigned and con- her subjects from their duty, and to take up victed of high-treason before judge Morgan, arms against her person. What the real view who pronounced on them sentence of death, of this design was even time has not discoverthe remembrance of which afterwards affected ed; but by rashness, and misintelligence of him so far, that he died raving. From this those at the head of it, all miscarried. The time the unfortunate lady Jane, and her no duke of Suffolk, with his brothers lord John less unhappy husband, lived in the very shadow and lord Tho. Grey, were in arms, and with a of death, and yet not without some gleams of body of three hundred horse presented themcomfort. For in the month of December, the selves before the city of Coventry, in which marquis of Northampton, who in the same they had a strong party; but the queen having cause had fallen into the like circumstances, sent down the earl of Huntingdon, he secured was pardoned and discharged; and at the that place, and Suffolk finding his design aborsame time the strictness of their confinement tive, and his people dropping away, retired, mitigated, by permission granted to take the with as many as he could keep about him, to a air in the queen's garden, and other little in-house of his in Leicestershire, where, having dulgences, that would however have been so distributed what money he had to those who many acts of cruelty, if the queen had then were the companions of his fortune, he advised intended what she afterwards thought fit to them to shift for themselves, trusting to the inflict. But this, by the consent of our best promises of one Underwood his park-keeper, historians, is allowed to be altogether impro- who undertook to conceal, and who is suspectbable; and that there are good reasons to be-ed to have betrayed him to the earl of Hunlieve the queen would have spared lady Jane, since she had already pardoned her father who was much more guilty, and that she would have extended her mercy to lord Guilford Dudley as well as to his elder brothers. However, in the first parliament of her reign, an act was passed for establishing the validity of such private contracts, as were dated during Jane's nine days administration, with a proviso, that all public acts, grants of lands, or the like, if any such there were, should be void. Another act likewise passed for confirming the attainders of Northumberland, Canterbury, and the rest, who had been convicted of high treason, which perhaps was thought necessary, to confirm the

tingdon, by whom himself and his brother lord John being apprehended, were carried to Coventry, and after some stay there, sent to London, under a guard, where they did not arrive until the 10th of Feb. and were then committed to the Tower, out of which the duke never came but to his trial and to his death. This weak and ill managed business gave the ministers an opportunity of persuading the queen, that her safety could be no otherwise provided for, than by putting lady Jane and her husband to death: to which, a learned prelate assures us, the queen was not wrought without much difficulty; and it is very remarkable, that Sanders makes the very same obscrvation, so that

her body. Her fate was universally deplored, | vorces from Catharine of Arragon, and Anne even by those who were best affected to queen Mary; and as she is allowed to have been a princess of great piety, it must certainly have given her much disquiet to begin her reign with such an unusual effusion of blood; and, in the present case, of her near relation, one formerly honoured with her friendship and favour, who had indeed usurped, but without desiring or enjoying, the royal diadem, which she assumed, by the constraint of an ambitious father and an imperious mother; and which, at the first motion, she chearfully and willingly resigned. This made her exceedingly lamented at home and abroad, the fame of her learning and virtue having reached over Europe, so as to excite many commendations, and some express panegyrics in different nations and in different languages. But whereas, some of our own writers seem to doubt whether she was with child or not at the time of her decease, and foreigners have improved this into a direct assertion, that she was five months gone, it seems to be improbable, since there were at that time so many busy and inquisitive people, that if the fact had been true it must have been known, and would have been perpetually repeated in those pieces that were every day sent abroad, in order to exasperate the nation against the queen and her ministers. On the twenty-first of the same month, the father of queen Jane, Henry Grey duke of Suffolk, lost his head upon Tower-hill: neither was the jealousy excited by king Edward's appointment, and their nearness in blood to the royal line, so fully extinguished by the blood of so many victims, but that it revived in the succeeding reign, and proved a new source of disquiet to the sad remains of this unhappy family. We have treated this article the more largely, because hitherto, excepting Heylin, none of our historians have represented the public and private life of this admirable person with any tolerable degree of distinctness; but have been content to hurry over her short possession of the crown, as if it had been an ordinary insurrection, and to speak of her death in general terms of compassion, with an exaggeration of some and a suppression of other circumstances, so as to put it out of the power of the reader to form a just notion of the whole transaction."

The following curious Document, together with the Introduction, is taken from the Somers' Tracts, 4th Col. vol. 1. p. 174:

The INSTRUMENT, by which Queen JANE was proclaimed Queen of England, &c. setting forth the Reasons of her Claim, and her Right to the Crown.

[Whoever reads the latter part of the life of Henry 8th, will soon be convinced, that he left the succession of the crown so disputable, that it could only be owing to the hand of Providence, that the nation had not, for ever after, been distracted with contrary claims.-Ilis di

Bullen; the Acts of Parliament confirming those divorces; other subsequent Acts, which seemed to repeal what the first had ordained; the power given to the king, to appoint his successors, and to place them in what order he pleased; and his last Will itself, so embroiled the affair of the succession, that it was left full of obscurity and contradiction. For as the makers of these new laws were not swayed with justice and equity, and calculated, merely to gratify the ambition and schemes of a prince, who would have taken vengeance on those that should act in opposition to his directions, it was not possible to act in such emergencies according to the ancient laws and customs of the realm.-He, after cohabiting with Catharine of Arragon 18 years, and having several children by her, obliged the archbishop of Canterbury to pronounce him divorced from her, and his marriage with her to be null and void; but not before he had contracted a second marriage with Ann Bullen, of which he also grew weary; and, accusing his second queen of adultery, he ordered her to be beheaded, after he had been also publicly divorced from her.-His next step was to obtain an act of parliament, 1536, to confirm both these divorces, and to declare Mary and Elisabeth, the children of these two marriages, illegitimate, and incapable of succeeding to the crown, without his special will and appointment. But in an act, made in 1544, Mary and Elisabeth were declared successively to inherit the crown after Edward, still allowing the king to impose conditions on these two princesses, without which they could have no right to succeed. And Henry made his last Will and Testament in the same manner; by which preferring Edward to be his immediate successor, he left it as his opinion, that his daughters were illegiti mate. Thus far the succession was much disturbed; but what still conduced to embroil it more, was the not mentioning, in his Will, the issue of Margaret queen of Scotland, Henry's eldest sister, and placing the children of his younger sister, Mary, queen dowager of France, and duchess of Suffolk, next to his daughter Elisabeth. And,-To compleat this confusion of claims to the crown, Edward 6th confirmed the act, which declared Mary and Elisabeth illegitimate; abrogatet, by his own authority, the act which gave his father power to settle the succession, and, by his own Will, excluded Mary, Elisabeth, and the queen of Scotland from the throne, and conveyed the crown to of the duke of Northumberland, who was Jane Grey, by the importunity and ambition known to hold Edward's council in subjection; and therefore whatever methods were taken before, or after the young king's death, to secure and settle Jane on the throne, and the drawing up and put lishing the following proclamation, must be looked upon as the act and deed of the said duke, and not to be ascribed to the council. This was the state of affairs, when Edward 6th was removed by death, and