delay, while Suffolk, Lady Jane, and her husband were confined in the Tower for the present.

Among the earliest acts of Mary's reign was the release of a number of state prisoners-Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, the old Duke of Norfolk, Tunstal, Bonner, and other prelates-measures being also taken to reinstate them in their sees. About the same time Cranmer, Latimer, Ridley, and Hooper were sent to prison; Edward's Church laws were repealed, and it was enacted that Divine service should be performed as in the last year of Henry the Eighth.

2

All this excited alarm in the minds of many of Mary's subjects, as did also her proposed marriage with Philip of Spain. A feeling of aversion to this match pervaded all classes, from the queen's ministers downwards, the prince being personally disliked for his proud and haughty bearing, and men fearing lest the country should ultimately become a province of Spain.

But Mary, urged by ambition and a real liking for Philip, determined to have her way. As the only method left to defeat the project, an open revolt was planned, and Sir Thomas Wyatt, at the head of a formidable body of Kentish men, marched upon London with the intention of seizing the queen, and placing the Princess Elizabeth on the throne. His followers, however, fell off as he advanced, and he was soon overpowered, and forced to surrender to the royal troops.

Four hundred persons are said to have been executed after this rebellion, the chief victims

being Lady Jane Grey, her husband, and her father; while Elizabeth, on suspicion of being concerned in the plot, was removed to the Tower.

And now the marriage, to which the nation so strongly objected, was consummated; and Mary became the wife of Philip, son of the Emperor Charles the Fifth, and heir to the Spanish crown. But this ill-assorted match, which sowed the seeds of discontent in the country, and cost Mary the affection of many of her subjects, was the source of nothing but misery to the unfortunate queen.

Meanwhile the necessary steps were taken, through the intervention of Cardinal Pole, to restore the supremacy of the Church of Rome, and the statutes against heretics were revived. All this was preliminary to the outburst of persecution which commenced in 1555, and for more than three years lit up the country with the flames that consumed the bodies of Cranmer, Ridley, Hooper, Taylor, and hundreds of others, at Smithfield, Oxford, and elsewhere.

During this terrible season of persecution, 288 men, women, and children were burned for their religious belief; multitudes suffered in a less degree; while more than a thousand clergymen were driven from their livings, many of them fleeing to the Continent to escape death at the stake.

Archbishop Cranmer was the most illustrious of Mary's victims. He was the main leader of the English Reformation, the distributor of Bibles, the encourager of education, the denier of the mass, the enemy of the Pope, and the adviser of Henry's

marriage with Anne Boleyn. There could be no mercy for such a man.

The condition of the country during these years of persecution was most lamentable. A series of wet and cold seasons was followed by scarcity and pestilence. Crime rapidly increased; foreign trade languished; the national defences fell into decay; and the royal navy was so impotent, that the coasts were ravaged by pirates that infested the Channel.

Above all, Calais-after having been held by England for more than two hundred years—was captured by the French. It was no real loss to the country, but it gave a terrible blow to the national pride; and Mary is reported to have said, "When I die, Calais will be found written on my heart."

Six

Gardiner was already dead, Cardinal Pole was dying, and the queen herself was sinking fast; but the persecution raged with unabated fury. days before Mary breathed her last, three women and two men were burnt in one fire at Canterbury, and the jails were filled with persons who daily expected their summons to the stake, when, to their unspeakable relief, and that of the whole nation, Mary died, on the 17th of November, 1558.

That same afternoon the bells of all the churches of London rang a joyful peal; every open space was lit up with bonfires; and the citizens set out tables in the streets, and invited the passers-by to feast and make merry in honour of Queen Elizabeth.

Suf-folk, father of Lady Jane

Grey.

2 Phil'-ip, heir of the Spanish crown, which he received the folowing year, and by which he

became the most powerful sovereign of Europe.

3 Car'-di-nal Pole, the Pope's legate or minister, an Englishman of royal blood.

EXECUTION OF LADY JANE GRÈY. SEVEN months had passed since Lady Jane's nine days' reign was over. The author of her offence had paid the penalties of his crime; and in the recent stir no man had even breathed her name.

Her youth, her innocence, her beauty, had won all hearts; even those of Father Feckenham, the Queen's confessor, and Sir John Brydges, the Queen's lieutenant. But Renard, the Spanish ambassador, called for blood, and Mary was little more than a scribe in Renard's hands.

That day, on the eve of which Queen Mary sat in her closet with her Spanish councillor, was Ash Wednesday; and Mary, on consenting that her cousin should no longer live, called to her presence Father Feckenham, whom she had just made Dean of St. Paul's and Abbot of Westminster, and bade him go to the Tower with the news that Lady Jane must die.

In obedience to the queen's commands, Feckenham brought his message of death to the lonely captive, and was startled to see her receive it with a sad and welcome smile. For it seemed to him unnatural in one so young. Then he spoke to her of her soul, of the sins of men, and of the need for repentance. But he found her calm and happy, at peace with the world and at one with God. Again he talked to her of faith, of liberty, of holiness; of the sacraments, the Scriptures, and the universal Church. But with a sweet patience, she put an end to the debate by saying that since she had

only a few hours to live, she needed them all for

prayer.

Feckenham at length retired, and Jane withdrew into the upper chamber to compose her mind; to write a farewell letter to her father, and to wait on God in prayer.

When it was known in the Tower that warrants were out, and that Jane would die on Monday morning, every one became eager to get some token from her, to catch a last word from her lips, a final glance from her eye. To Thomas Brydges, the deputy, in whose house she had lived nearly eight months, she gave a small book of devotions, bound in vellum, containing two scraps of her writing, and a few words by Lord Guilford.

On Sunday, Guilford sent to ask for a final interview; but this sad parting she declined. She bade him be of good cheer; and seeing how weak he had been, it is only right to say that the poor boy took his fate quietly like a man.

Sunday morning she spent in prayer and reading a copy of the Greek Testament, in which, observing a blank leaf, she wrote the following words to her favourite sister, Lady Catherine Grey, sad heiress of all her rights and miseries :

"I have sent you, good sister Kate, a book of which, although it be not outwardly rimmed with gold, yet inwardly it is worth more than precious stones. It is the book, dear sister, of the law of the Lord; His testament and last will, which shall lead you to eternal joy."

Closing the sacred book, she gave it to Elizabeth