AN. DOM. and her imprudence, were worthy of excuse; and that God and 1553-4. posterity would shew her favour1." 35. Conducted by Fecknam to the scaffold, she gave not much heed unto his discourses, but kept her eyes upon a prayer-book of her own. And, being mounted on the throne from which she was to receive a more excellent crown than any which this vile earth could give her, she addressed herself in some few words to the standers by, letting them know that "her offence was not for having laid her hand upon the crown, but for not rejecting it with sufficient constancy; that she had less erred through ambition than out of respect and reverence to her parents:" acknowledging nevertheless that "her respect was to be accounted as a crime, and such reverence to deserve a punishment; that she would willingly admit of death, so to give satisfaction to the injured state-that by obedience to the laws she might voluntarily take off the scandal which she had given by her constrained obedience to her friends and kindred :" 16 concluding finally, that "she had justly deserved this punishment, for being made the instrument (though the unwilling instrument) of another's ambition; and should leave behind her an example, that innocence excuseth not great misdeeds, if they any way tend to the destruction of the commonwealth." Which said, and desiring the people to recommend her in their prayers to the mercies of God, she caused herself to be disrobed by some of her women, who, with wet eyes and heavy hearts, performed that office, which was no more unwelcome than if it had been nothing but the preparation to the death of sleep, and not unto the sleep of death. And being now ready for the block, with the same clear and untroubled countenance wherewith she had acted all the rest of her tragedy, she said aloud the Psalm of Miserere mei, Deus, in 1 On the improbabilities of this account, (which does not appear in Fox, and only in part in Godwin, 175), see Nicolas, xciv. seqq. He denies altogether that Lady Jane wrote any epigram or sentence on her husband, and considers that the evidence preponderates against her having written any on herself. He believes that the only writing on this occasion consisted of some words inscribed, at the request of Sir J. Brydges, in a book of devotions, which is preserved in the British Museum. 2 Thuan. xiii. 4, (T. 1. p. 450); Godwin, 175, (but both less fully). the English tongue1, and so submitted her pure neck to the AN. DOM. executioner. 1553-4. deeds naming 36. Touching the bonds, recognizances, grants, convey- Validity of ances, and other legal instruments, which had been made in her as Queen. the short reign of this Queen, a doubt was raised amongst our lawyers whether they were good and valid in the law or not. The reason of which scruple was, because that interval of time which passed betwixt the death of King Edward, on the 6th of July, and the proclaiming of Queen Mary in all parts of the realm, was in the law to be esteemed as a part of her reign, without any notice to be taken of the interposing of the Lady Jane; in the first year of whose reign the said bonds, recognizances, grants, &c. had their several dates. And thereupon it was enacted in the following parliament2, that "all statutes, recognizances, and other writings whatsoever, knowledged or made by or to any person or persons, bodies politic or corporate, being the Queen's subjects, since the 6th day of July last past, until the 1st day of August then next following, under the name of the reign of any other person than under the name of the said Queen's Majesty, with the style appropriated or united to her Majesty's imperial crown, shall be as good and effectual in the law, to all intents, purposes, constructions, and meanings, as if upon the making thereof the name of the said Queen Mary, with her style appropriated, had been fully and plainly expressed in the same." With a proviso notwithstanding, that "all grants, letters patents, and commissions made by the said Lady Jane, to any person or persons whatsoever, should be reputed void and of none effect." Which proviso seems to have been added, not only for making void of all such grants of the crown-lands as had passed in the name of the said Queen Jane-(if any such grants were ever made) but for invalidating the commission granted to the Duke of Northumberland for raising arms in her behalf: the pleading whereof, though it could not be allowed for his indemnity when he stood at the bar, might possibly have raised some reproach or trouble to his peers and judges, if the integrity of their proceedings had been called in question. 37. Such was the end of the short life, but far shorter reign, of the Lady Jane: her reign but of nine days, and no 1 Holinshed, iv. 22. 21 Mary, Sess. 2, c. 4. 1553. 44 THE HISTORY OF QUEEN JANE. AN. DOM. more; her life, not twice so many years as she reigned days. Such was the end of all the projects of the two great Dukes for her advancement to the crown, and their own in hers. To which as she was raised without any blows, so she might have been deposed without any blows, if the axe had not been more cruel on the scaffold than the sword in the field. The sword had never been unsheathed: but when the scaffold was once erected, and the axe once sharpened, there followed so many executions after one another, till the death of that Queen, that, as her reign began in the blood of those who took upon them the pursuit of this lady's title, so was it stained more foully in the blood of such as were martyred in all parts for her religion. To the relation of which executions, deaths, and martyrdoms, and other the calamities of that tragical and unprosperous reign, we must next proceed. OF CHURCH and STATE IN ENGLAND, During the Life and Reign OF QUEEN MARY. Heb. 11. 35, 36, 37. 35. Some of them were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better Resurrection. 36. And others had triall of cruel mockings and scourgings; yea moreover of bonds and imprisonment. 37. They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword ; they wandred about in Sheep-skins and Goat-skins, being destitute,ufflicted, tormented, &c. Vell. Paterc. Lib. 2. [c. Ixviii.] Hujus temporis fortunam ne deflere quidem quispiam [quisquam] satis dignè potuit; [adeo] nemo exprimere verbis potest. Tantum Relligio potuit suadere malorum. [Lucret. de Rerum Nat. i. 95.] LONDON, Printed for H. Twyford, T. Dring, J. Place, and |