II. 158 BOOK progresses thro the country,' and reviewed some splendid musters of his troops.159 When the queen dowager of Scotland visited his court, on being driven by tempest to Portsmouth, in her return from France, he treated her with magnificent courtesy, and great personal attentions.160 158 Journ. p. 20. p. 75, 84. 159 See a full description of one, in their different costumes, in May 1552, Strype's Eccl. v. 2. p. 584. 160 He describes these in his diary, p. 56. CHAP. XI. THE BRIEF REIGN OF QUEEN JANE, USUALLY CALLED XI. Most usurpations have been as unhappy to the CHAP. invader of another's rights, as they have been injurious to public principle, and calamitous to their abettors. The attempt of the great nobility to force lady Jane upon the throne of her elder cousins was no exception to the usual course of such transactions, either in consequences or character.' If any thing like legal right had been at all cared for in this transaction, the mother of Jane would have been the person selected. Lady Frances was the daughter of Henry's sister, and the first cousin of Edward VI.; but as she was an elderly, she was, as such, a less governable woman; and her husband, the duke of Suffolk, was a powerful nobleman himself. Her exaltation would have placed an effective sovereign on the throne, who might have become more independent of all aristocratical dictation than it was intended he should be. Therefore she was laid aside, that her young daughter Jane, only eighteen at Edward's death, might be made to assume the Some idea of the power of the chief nobility at that period may be inferred from Michele's report of his visit to England in 1557. Speaking of the gentry and barons, he remarks, There is not one of them, who, in proportion to his retinue and the facolta he possesses, has not a store of arms for a considerable number of people; so that it is said, some of them together might arm thousands. As for example, the earls of Derby, Shrewsbury and Westmoreland; but above all, the earl of Pembroke.' Ellis, New Series, v. 2, p. 222. BOOK II. crown in her stead. To give some semblance of legality to this selection of the daughter in preference to the parent, lady Frances was compelled or persuaded to relinquish her hereditary precedency in favor of her eldest child.2 Grand-daughter of Henry's beautiful sister,' lady Jane grew up with a person and countenance that pleased the gazing eye; and by the care of her parents had been led to that extensive classical education which the old king's love of literature had made the taste, and the delight of all his family. Never did the female mind more fairly, yet unassumingly, assert its equality to our own, in the attainment and use of both the dead and living languages, and in the comprehension and enjoyment of their richest compositions, than at this period of their emulous cultivation. We have the knowlege and authority of one of the ablest judges, in our venerable Ascham, to justify our admiration of this distinguished girl, for her talents and acquisitions, when we find him describing her to his friend Sturmius as mastering, at the age of 2 This dereliction is stated by Heylin, p. 151, and others; but I have not met with any formal act of such a cession. 3 See Hist. Henry VIII. v. 1, p. 133-5. Heylin's description of Jane is exaggerated. Born with those attractions which seat a sovereignty in the face, yet was her mind endowed with more excellent charms. Modest, and mild of disposition, courteous of carriage, she was also of such an affable deportment as might intitle her to the name of queen of hearts, before she was designed for queen over any subjects.' Hist. p. 148. Sir Tho. Chaloner, who knew her well, thus intimates her beauty both of form and mind: Ore placens Veneris: Palladis arte placens. Culta fuit: formosa fuit. Divina movebat Sæpe viros, facies: sæpe loquela, viros.' His Elegy or Deploratio, in Strype's Eccl. v. 3, Ap. 190. XI. sixteen, both the profundity of Plato, and the elo- CHAP. quence of Demosthenes, and as being fond of the learned works of his German correspondent. It is more extraordinary still to read, that calling unexpectedly the year before at her father's seat at Leicester, when she was only fifteen, he found her in her chamber reading for her amusement the celebrated Phædon in Greek, and so understanding it as to excite his highest admiration." She had then also obtained the power, not only of writing but of speaking Greek, and offered to correspond with him in Greek, if he would write to her in that language from the imperial court, to which he was departing." But these invaluable acquirements did not satisfy her. In her seventeenth year she began to study Hebrew; and this venerable tongue she not only learnt, but was led by it to its 4 * Ascham's lett. of 21 Aug. 1551, 'Lectissimæ virgini: tui semper, quod ego novi, et tuorum studiosissimæ. Cujus est cultior animus doctrina Platonis et eloquentia Demosthenis, quam fortuna illustrior.' p. 41. 5 Ut mihi ipsi summam admirationem injiceret.' Asch. Ep. 34. With as much delight as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in Boccace.' Asch. Schoolm. p. 37. Her master was Dr. Elmer, whom Ascham highly praises for his 'humanitatem, prudentiam, usum et rectam religionem,' as well as for his knowlege in Greek and Latin. This letter is the best authority which remains, for the age of Jane. It is dated the 14 December 1550, and he says she was in her 15th year. 'Annum nata est decimum quintum.' p. 34. She was therefore born about 1535, and not 1537, as some of her biographers make her. 6 He tells Sturmius, I expect daily her Greek letters: When they come, I will immediately send them to you.'ib. 34. On 18 January 1552, he wrote to her from Augustæ, in which he reminds her that he had seen her reading sedulously Divinum Divini Platonis Phædonem Græce;' and that she had promised him to write 'Græcas literas,' which he had agreed to shew his friend Sturmius, and he urges her for them. p. 237, 8. 7 So she wrote to Bullinger in 1552, and asked his advice and assistance. Hebraicari jam incipienti mihi.' Lett. ap. Nicolas Mem. App. p. 5. Ellis, Second Series, v. 2, p. 183. In this letter she quotes the Hebrew of part of Proverbs, c.11, v. 14. He gave her the suggestions she desired; and in her reply, she assures him, ad Hebraicæ linguæ studium, eam ingrediam viam, quam mihi fidelissime monstras.' Nic.11. II. related dialect of Chaldee, and to the kindred, but far more difficult language of Arabia. These attainments surprise us, as they display a determined and persevering ardor of continued study, which, from the natural moveability of its material organization, and from the counteraction of other habits or inclinations, can be so rarely united with the youthful frame. Lady Jane revealed the secret of her rare acquisitions to her literary visitor. The severity of her parental education in the manners of stately etiquette, had made her find in her milder tutor, and in her elaborate studies, a grateful relief." Youth It is from sir Tho. Chaloner that we learn this extraordinary fact of this extraordinary young noblewoman: Quis putet? Hæc Arabum, Chaldaica verbà, Deplor. p. 191. Latimer's Seven Sermons on the Pater Noster were preached before her mother at Grymstorpe, in 1552. 9 "Her 9 Ascham thus inserts her account to him in her own words. parents, the duke and duchess, with all the household gentlemen and gentlewomen, were hunting in the park. I asked her, why she should lose such pastime? Smiling, she answered me, All their sport in the park is but a shadow to the pleasure that I find in Plato. Alas! good folk! they never felt what true pleasure meant.' And how came you, madam, to this deep knowlege of pleasure? and what did chiefly allure to it, seeing not many women, and but very few men, have attained thereunto? I will tell you,' quoth she, and tell you a truth which perchance you will marvel at. One of the greatest benefits that ever God gave me is, that he sent me so sharp and severe parents, and so gentle a schoolmaster. For, when I am in presence of either father or mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand, or go; whether I eat, drink, be merry or sad; whether I be sewing, playing, dancing, or any thing else, I must do it, as it were, in such weight, measure, and number; even so perfectly as God made the world; or else, I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, yea, presently, sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs, and other ways which I will not name for the honor I bear them, so without measure misordered, that I think myselfin hell, till time come that I must go to Mr. Elmer. He teacheth me so gently, so pleasantly, with such fair allurements to learning, that I think all the time nothing while I am with him. When I am called from him I fall a weeping; because whatsoever I do else but learning, is full of grief, trouble, fear, and whole misliking unto me. Thus my book hath been so much my pleasure, |