was headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, the warrant was issued for their execution. Lord Guildford suffered first; and Jane saw from a window her husband's headless trunk, as it was carried back in a cart. She died with an admirable meekness and piety; and it may be believed that a spirit, of which no earthly crown was worthy, was thus summoned to a far more glorious inheritance. Ascham, who was tutor to Elizabeth, has related an anecdote of this young lady, which shows her early piety and thoughtfulness. Going one day to the residence of her family, he found her studying Plato on the immortality of the soul, when the rest of the family were hunting in the park. When he expressed surprise that she did not join the others in their pleasure, she smiled and said, "I fancy all their sport is a shadow to the pleasure which I find in Plato. Alas! good folks, they little know what true pleasure is." When her dignity was first announced to her, she burst into tears, and expressed her sense of unfitness for it. She could scarcely be prevailed on to accept the office which her relatives forced upon her, and at last acknowledged her fault in having given way to their entreaty. This execution betokened the stern and cruel disposition which will ever be assigned to Mary in English history. She was, indeed, sincerely devout, and possessed many high and noble qualities; nor must we forget the reason she had to view the Reformation with dislike, from all the misery of which it had been made the instrument to her mother Queen Katharine and herself. With every allowance, however, her character must be viewed as an instance of the dreadful effects of that bigotry and intolerance, which have disgraced the Roman Church far more than any other in Christendom. Her first act had been to discharge the prisoners confined in the Tower during the late reign, among whom was the old Duke of Norfolk, who had languished there, with his unexecuted sentence hanging over him, ever since the death of Henry VIII. Edward Courtenay was released at the same time. This young nobleman was great grandson of Edward IV., and, like his father and grandfather, was most unfortunate. Henry Courtenay, his father, was beheaded in 1538 by Henry VIII., for correspondence with Cardinal Pole; his grandfather, William Courtenay, earl of Devon, the husband of Katharine, Edward V.'s sister, was attainted by Henry VII. He himself had passed his youth in confinement, a victim to his proximity to the crown. After his release, he acquired a degree of grace and accomplishment, which made him an ornament to the court. It is even said that he might have married Mary, if he had not neglected her for Elizabeth her sister. He died, however, at Padua, unmarried, in 1556, and thus the last descendant of the house of York, who was likely to endanger the heir of Henry VII., was removed. At the same time also were released Gardiner and Bonner, bishops of Winchester and London. These became Mary's chief advisers and agents, and by their influence, she at once subjected her sister Elizabeth to harsh treatment, and compelled her to conform to the ritual of the Roman Church, which was now every where re-established. Cranmer and Ridley, with Latimer and Hooper, the bishops of Worcester and Gloucester, were committed to prison; and Cardinal Pole, a relative of the queen, was appointed by the pope his legate in England. He was afterwards consecrated archbishop of Canterbury. Her next care was the settlement of her marriage, and, contrary to the advice even of Gardiner, her chancellor, she determined to marry Philip, prince of Spain, whose bigotry to the Roman see was well known. This choice was very unwelcome to the nation, and the English admiral is said to have fired on the Spanish fleet, though Philip was on board, because its topsails were not lowered to the ships of this nation, which even then began to regard herself as mistress of the sea. The haughtiness of Philip made him always unpopular in England, and the people attributed to his influence (perhaps more than was just) the cruelties that were practised to restore the papal system. Mary doated on her husband, though he treated her very distantly, and ere long retired to his own dominions. 1 The fires of Smithfield were soon rekindled for those who would not acknowledge the monstrous doctrine of transubstantiation. The first who suffered was Rogers, a married priest. He was brutally insulted by Gardiner and Bonner, and was denied an interview with his wife and children, who, however, met him as he was led to the stake. He suffered with great constancy, as was invariably the case with the victims in these persecutions; nor did the married clergy show less willingness to suffer for conscience' sake, than those who were single. Hooper was burnt at Gloucester, in his own diocese. The names of Saunders, Taylor, Bradford, and Philpot, are among the most memorable of those who died for their religion in this reign, in which it is computed that about 300 persons were burnt, many of them women and children. The most memorable, however, of the martyrs, from their character and station, were Cranmer, Ridley, and Latimer. They were all sent to Oxford, where they were required to dispute with a commission on the subject of the Eucharist. The behaviour of the aged Latimer was marked by the quaint and homely simplicity for which he was distinguished, while Cranmer and Ridley bore themselves with great dignity and firmness. Ridley and Latimer were first burnt in the space before Balliol college'. 'The latter exclaimed at the stake: Be of good courage, Master Ridley! we shall this day, by God's grace, light in England such a candle as I trust shall never be put out. The case of Cranmer is even more touching. He was promised his life if he would recant, and it is certain that he did sign some form of recantation, When, however, he was brought to St. Mary's church to acknowledge his error publicly, he knelt down, and with many tears bewailed his sin in thus yielding through human frailness. At the stake, he stedfastly held in the fla.nes the hand which had signed. the paper, exclaiming, "This hand hath offended; this unworthy right hand!' The effect of all these executions (and of none more than the martyrdom of Cranmer) was to alienate the people from Rome. In the death of Cranmer, who had borne his elevation with great meekness, the malice and falseness of the papists were especially seen. The only other event of much note in this reign was the loss of Calais, in a war in which Mary had been induced 8 A memorial of the three martyrs has lately been erected near the spot. to engage by her husband. She was deeply afflicted at this loss, and declared that at her death the name of Calais would be found engraven on her heart. Her health had never been strong, and she was constitutionally melancholy. Soon after her accession she had been afflicted with dropsy, and died of that complaint, Nov. 17, 1558; nor was her death much regretted even by the Romanists. CHAPTER XXVIII. ELIZABETH. Born at Greenwich. Buried at Westminster. Reigned 45 years. From a.d. 1558 to a.d. 1603. Archbishops of Canterbury. ELIZABETH was at Hatfield, in Hertfordshire, at the time of her sister's death. She had often been in great danger during the late reign, and was once even committed to the Tower. Her prudence led her to live in retirement, and employ herself in cultivating a mind which was naturally highly gifted. She learnt wisdom in the school of adversity. When the news of her accession was brought her, she fell on her knees, saying, "It is the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in our eyes. And on entering the Tower, she again gave thanks to God for the change in her condition, since the time when she was taken there as a prisoner. Her accession was hailed with joy by the whole nation; especially as she was known to be attached to the reformation of religion, which she took measures again to set on foot. Her chief adviser was the great statesman Sir William Cecil, whom she afterwards made Lord Burleigh. One of the first works which Elizabeth undertook was the issuing a commission to certain learned men to make a review of King Edward's Prayer Books, and to frame from them both a book for the use of the Church of England. The later book of King Edward was chosen as the basis of the book now adopted; but some important alterations were made in it, especially in reference to the omission of a remarkable petition in the Litany, "to be delivered from the Bishop of Rome and his detestable enormities," and the correction of the sentences used in the delivery of the Holy Eucharist to communicants, so as to bring them nearer to the ancient form, and remind the recipient more forcibly "of the dignity of that sacrament." A bill for restoring the Prayer Book, with these alterations, was brought into the House of Commons, and passed without much opposition. It met with a good deal of resistance in the House of Lords; but was at length passed under the title of "An Act for the Uniformity of Common Prayer and Service in the Church, and Administration of the Sacraments," and was to come into operation on the day of St. John the Baptist, June 24th, then ensuing. This Act had been preceded by others—some of them of a very questionable character-as tending to impoverish the remaining resources of the Church, and subject her too completely to the civil power. But the re-enactment of the royal supremacy, and the Act for Uniformity, were the tests by which the sincerity of the adherents to the papal party was to be tried. The Archbishop of Canterbury, Pole, had died within a few hours of Queen Mary. Some of the other bishoprics were vacant. Of the actual occupants of English and Welsh' sees at the time, only one, Kitchen, bishop of Llandaff, would conform. The rest, together with all the clergy who followed their example, were deprived of their sees. The emperor and other foreign princes interceded for them in vain, "That they might be restored to their offices and dignities, or that they might at least be allowed some churches in cities and great towns." But the queen replied, that "there was no reason for such an indulgence; for there was no new faith propagated in England; no religion set up but that which was commanded by our Saviour, practised by the primitive Church, and unanimously approved by the Fathers of the best antiquity." The deprived bishops, however, could not see the pro 9 The bishops of the Irish Church generally conformed [H. s. 1.] F |
