291 Griffet says: “Le duc de Suffolck fut le premier à découvrir lui-même tous les secrets de la conspiration. Il écrivit sa confession, & la fit remettre à la Reine, en implorant sa clêmence; & il déclara, que les conjurés ne se proposaient rien moins que de mettre Elisabeth sur le trône.” There can be no mistaking the meaning of this statement.

292 Renard, in a dispatch of the 8th February, as given by Griffet, says indeed that “Jeanne de Suffolck, dont elle [Mary] avait épargné les jours, contre l’avis de l’Empereur Charles-Quint, fut sacrifiée à la nécessité d’ôter aux rebelles, & aux ennemis du Gouvernement, une idole qu’ils étaient fâchée de n’avoir pas maintenue sur le trône. Son mari fut exécuté le même jour.”

Besides, Gardiner says that Suffolk himself bewailed “with impatient dolours not only his own woe, but the calamity his folly had brought on his daughter.” Godwin, however (Rerum Anglicarum Henrico VIII, Edwardo VI et Maria, Annals, p. 217), throws the blame of Jane’s troubles more on her mother than on her father: “Hunc exitum habuit Iana, majorum titulis illustris fœmina, sed virtute et ingenii nobilitate longe illustrior, quæ dum Virtici et imperiosæ matris ambitioni obsequitur ... funestum sibi reginæ sumpsit.”

The consensus of historians, nevertheless, lays the blame on Suffolk’s ill-advised attempt at rebellion. Bishop Burnet, writing in 1680 (History of the Reformation, vol. ii. 437) says: “Indeed the blame of her death was generally cast on her father rather than on the Queen, since the rivalry of a crown is a point of such niceness, that even those who bemoaned her death most could not but excuse the Queen, who seemed to be driven to it, rather from considerations of State, than any resentment of her own.... He [Suffolk] would have died more pitied for his weakness, if his practices had not brought his daughter to her end.”

293 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 50.

294 Machyn tells us (p. 55) that “The xij day of February was made at every gate in Lundun a new payre of galaus [gallows] and set up ... the xiiijth day of February were hangyd at evere gatt and plasse: in Chepe-syd vj; Algatt j, quartered; at Leydyhall iij; at Bysshope-gatt one, and quartered; Morgatt one; Crepullgatt one; Aldersgate one, quartered ...” and so forth, giving a total of about forty-eight, three being hanged at Hyde Park Corner, but none at Tyburn.

295 Fuller says he was “earnest yet modest.” Feckenham had been imprisoned by Henry VIII for his adherence to papal supremacy, until Sir Philip Hoby, whom we have seen advocating a Protestant monarch, “borrowed him out of the Tower.”

296 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary, p. 54.

297 This allusion to a possible inheritance by Lady Katherine of her father’s possessions, does not, as Miss Strickland thinks, “prove that the insurrection of Suffolk was intended to replace Jane on the throne.” “If,” says that writer, “it had been in favour of any other heiress or heir, it is not likely that the Lady Jane would have rested under the attainder and surrendered the means of her subsistence to increase her younger sister’s portion. Moreover, if Jane had been the sovereign of England, she would scarcely have claimed a third portion of her father’s inheritance.” As a matter of fact, what Jane wrote proves nothing; Lady Katherine, had Suffolk kept out of political strife, would, after Jane, have inherited his fortune, which was confiscated at his arrest. Jane simply penned this sentence to make the contrast stronger between the mutability of the things of this world, and the unchangeability of that better land to which she knew she was hurrying.

298 This is an allusion to the parable of the foolish virgins.

299 British Museum, Harleian Collection, No. 2342.

300 This declaration of her intention of praying for her father in the next world suggests a survival of some Roman Catholic ideas in Jane’s theology; and one cannot imagine that it would have been exactly approved by the more extremely Protestant of the Reformers.

301 This book was either mentioned to Florio, or seen by him, for he has translated these three touching sentences into Italian in his Historia di Giana Graia.

302 It is said that Jane scratched some verses on the walls of her apartment with a pin, but, although numerous devices inscribed by the unfortunate persons who have at different times been the inhabitants of the Tower were discovered in divers parts of it some years ago, during alterations, not the slightest trace of these verses were found. This does not, however, prove that they never existed, and as they are constantly attributed to Lady Jane, we have thought it best to reprint them here:—

This has been thus translated:—

These lines are also paraphrased as follows:—

The following is also said to have been written by Jane in like manner:—

Which has been translated in two ways:—

Or:—

In the Beauchamp Tower, in that room which was occupied by Northumberland, the name “Jane” appears twice, cut into the wall. It has been said that this was the work of Lord Guildford Dudley, but it is more probable that it was carved by Northumberland, his faithful wife’s name being Jane.

303 The Protestant chaplains appointed under Edward VI had at this time been replaced by Benedictine monks.

304 The Bulwark Gate marked the boundaries of the County of Middlesex and the Tower precincts.

305 “The monday, being the xij of Februarie, about ten of the clock, ther went out of the Tower to the scaffolde on Tower Hill, the lord Guildforde Dudley, sone to the late Duke of Northumberland, husbande to the lady Jane Gray, daughter to the Duke of Suffoke, who at his going out tooke by the hande sir Anthony Browne, maister John Throgmorton, and many other gentyllmen, praying them to praie for him, and without the bullwarke Offeley the sheryve receyved him and brought him to the scaffolde, where, after a small declaration, having no gostlye father with him, he kneeled downe and said his praiers, then holding upp his eyes and handes to God many tymes, and at last, after he had desyred the people to pray for him, he laide himselfe along, and his hedd upon the block, which was at one stroke of the axe taken from him.”—The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary.

306 It has been stated that this additional horror was commanded by Queen Mary herself, but the charge is absolutely without foundation. Sharon Turner, amongst others, was of opinion that “the meeting with the bleeding body was purely accidental.”

307 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary says: “Guildford’s carcass was thrown into a carre, and his hed in a cloth, he was brought into the chappell within the Tower, wher the Lady Jane, whose lodging was in Partridge’s house, dyd see his ded carcass taken out of the cart, as well as she dyd see; him before a lyve going to his death, a sight to hir no lesse than death.”

308 “The Lord Guildford Dudley’s dead carkas lyin in a carre in strawe was againe brought into the Tower at the same instant that my Ladi Jane his wyfe went to her death within the Tower, which myserable sight was to her a duble sorrowe and griefe.”

309 He is said to have been of almost gigantic height, and very powerful.

310 This little volume, which purports to give an account of the last days of Lady Jane Grey, is quoted by Burke in his Tudor Portraits, the Lady Philippa de Clifford being there described as the author and as a cousin of Lady Jane Grey, who certainly had no first cousin of this name; but among the English Benedictine nuns who took refuge at Mechlin in the early part of the seventeenth century there is a mention of a Philippa de Clifford, but of which branch of the Clifford family it is difficult at this period to ascertain. That the little volume exists there can be no doubt, as a copy of it was seen by the author at Brussels a few years ago. It was written in French and apparently from notes in the possession of its author, who, although a Catholic, says nothing disparaging of Lady Jane’s faith. Its authenticity, like that of another little volume on the same subject quoted elsewhere, also published in Belgium, must be taken with considerable caution. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a sort of fashion was started in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy for the writing of apocryphal memoirs of popular heroes and heroines: and as Lady Jane Grey was a great favourite with the Protestants, both at home and abroad, she has been the heroine of several of these volumes, most of which are founded upon the famous letter to Queen Mary, quoted by Pollino. They must not, however, be disparaged as entirely worthless, for some of them undoubtedly contain details that have been handed down during many generations. In the British Museum will be found a curious little volume called The Diary of Lady Mary Grey, which also contains a number of very amusing details concerning that unlucky lady which have all the appearance of being absolutely true. Similar monographs exist on the lives of Anne Boleyn, and especially of Mary Stuart; all of these purport to be written by attendants or persons who have derived their information from original sources now lost. I am assured that in the Dutch libraries there are several contemporary pamphlets on Lady Jane Grey written in the Dutch language; and there are also one or two in the Swiss Libraries—in the main they all bear a strong resemblance one to the other, but differ in matters of detail. Lady Philippa tells us, for instance, that the headsman of Lady Jane was a man of exceptional stature; and this is confirmed by other writers whose work could not have been known to the author of the pamphlet in question. For lists of the Benedictine nuns at Mechlin, etc., amongst whom was Lady Philippa, see in the Brussels Archives: No. 11205, Prevost; Les Refugiés Anglais et Irlandais en Belgique à la suite de la Reforme Anglaise établie sous Elizabeth et Jacques I. Gand: Messager des Scénes Historiques, 1865. Also: Gachet, Catholiques Anglais et Ecossais Pensionnaires du Duc d’Alve. Bruxelles, 1850.

311 As Lady Jane’s “neckerchief” had been taken off before, one can but suppose that she meant to ask the headsman if he would cut her head off as she knelt with her body upright, as was sometimes done, and not with her head on the block. “Before I lay me down” may be a mistake for, “Without that I lay me down.” We may add that there is no mention in any contemporary record of Jane’s hands having been tied: probably she held them clasped in the attitude of prayer.

312 An old book, entitled, The Ende of the Ladie Jane Dudlie on the Scaffulde, which was printed at Antwerp in 1560, says her last words were, “I die in peace with all people; God save the Queen.” It is more probable, however, that the pious Lady Jane used the religious ejaculation printed above.

313 The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen Mary thus describes Lady Jane’s last moments: “By this tyme was ther a scaffolde made upon the grene over agaynst the White Tower for the saide Lady Jane to die upon.... The saide Lady being nothing at all abashed, neither with feare of her own deathe, which then approached, neither with the ded carcase of her husbande, when he was brought into the chapell, came forthe the Lieutenant leading hir, in the same gown wherein she was arrayned, hir countenance nothing abashed, neither her eyes mysted with teares, although her two gentlewomen, Mistress Elizabeth Tylney and Mistress Eleyn wonderfully wept, with a boke in hir hand, whereon she praied all the way till she came to the saide scaffolde, whereon when she was mounted, this noble young ladie, as she was indued with singular gifts both of learning and knowledge, so was she as patient and mild as any lamb at her execution.” Here the chronicler describes her gift of the book to Brydges, etc., and continues, “Forthwith she untied her gowne. The hangman went to her to have helped her therwith, then she desyred him to let her alone, turning towards her two gentlewomen, who helped her off therwith, and also her frose paste and neckercher, geving to her a fayre handkercher to knytte about her eyes. Then the hangman kneled downe, and asked her forgiveness, whom she forgave most willingly. Then he willed her to stand upon the strawe, which doing she sawe the block. Then she sayd ‘I pray you despatche me quickly.’ Then she kneled downe saying, ‘Will you take it off before I lay me downe?’ And the hangman answered her, ‘No, madame.’ She tied the kercher about her eyes. Then feeling for the block, saide, ‘What shal I do, where is it?’ One of the standers by guyding her thereunto, she layde her head downe upon the block, and stretched forth her body, and said, ‘Lord, into Thy handes I commende my spirite,’ and so she ended.”

314 Historians are very apt to speak of the famous French Ambassador de Noailles, as one person, whereas in reality there were two Ambassadors of this name, the first of whom was Antoine de Noailles, the son of Louis and Catherine de Pierre-Bussiere, who entered diplomacy when he was quite a young man and continued in the service until his death, which took place in his fifty-ninth year. His tomb can still be seen at Noailles, where his ancestors are buried. His wife, Jeanne de Gontault de Biron, is not, however, buried with him, although her heart was placed in his coffin.

The second Ambassador to our Court of this illustrious family was François de Noailles, brother of the last named, who was born on 2nd July 1519. He was a very zealous Catholic and extremely pious. He entered the Church when he was only twelve years of age, to eventually become Bishop of Acqs in 1556. His extraordinary ability for diplomatic intrigue led the King, Henry II, to send him to various countries on sundry diplomatic missions, even at the same time as his brother, and he first appeared in England on the occasion of Mary’s victory over the rebels in 1553. He remained in England altogether about two years, and his dispatches are frequently confounded with those of his brother. François de Noailles died in 1560.

Both brothers were greatly opposed to the policy of Queen Mary, and thought her unnecessarily harsh and cruel. On more than one occasion they were very outspoken to her, especially in the matter of the extraordinary number of executions which took place immediately after the quelling of the Wyatt insurrection; and they both appear to have thought that she made her own unpopularity by her bigotry, and her abject subservience to the wishes of her husband.

315 Noailles was certainly not present at the execution in the Tower. He gives, however, a very concise account of it, including her speech. His version of the tragedy follows that of Foxe very closely.

316 Peter Derenzie states that “the corpse was interred in the Chapel of St. Peter-ad-Vincula within the Tower, close by that of her husband, Lord Guildford Dudley, and between the decapitated bodies of Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard, without any religious ceremony.”

317 See Zurich Letters (Parker Society), pp. 154, 515, 686.

318 Francis, Earl of Huntingdon, having ridden out of London against Mary in company of Northumberland, was arrested at Cambridge on 19th July and conveyed to the Tower of London a day or two later. He was indicted with Lady Jane and the others, but was released before the following January, by which time he had so completely re-established himself in the Queen’s favour that he was given the command of Her Majesty’s troops sent into Leicestershire against Suffolk, whom he brought back to the Tower a prisoner.

319 Foxe’s Acts and Monuments, vol. ii. p. 1467.

320 It is strange and significant that both in his prayer and in his request for haste, Suffolk should have acted exactly as his daughter had done!

321 Did the Duchess of Suffolk cause her husband’s head to be removed to his own house, which stood on the site now occupied by the buildings adjacent to this Church? The mansion in question had been the convent of the Order of Religious known as the Poor Clares, or in Latin, Sorores Minores (from which “Minories” has been formed) and was given to Suffolk by Edward VI. The Church known as Holy Trinity was the convent chapel. It is not altogether improbable that the Duchess had the head brought there; on the other hand, Suffolk’s will may have contained a request that it should be placed in the chapel.

322 See Machyn, pp. 56, 64.

323 What was to have been the ending of this sentence? Was the chronicler going to add that the head was removed from the Tower after decapitation? Perhaps, after all, the head in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Minories, is that of Thomas Grey, and not of the Duke of Suffolk; its resemblance to the latter’s portrait arising from a mere family likeness, common to all the brothers.

324 The writer is of opinion that Adrian Stokes was a son or near relation of John Stokes, the Queen’s brewer, who supplied the Suffolks with beer and wine, as appears in the household accounts of the Duke of Suffolk. This John Stokes was a notability in his way, and his funeral, which must have been a costly function for those days, is recorded by Machyn (p. 177) in the following terms: “The vj day of November [1558] was bered at sent Benettes at Powlles Warff master John Stokes the queen’s servand and bruar [brewer], with ij whytt branchys and x gret stayffes-torchys and iij gret tapurs; and x pore men had rosett gownes of iiijs. the yerd [four shillings the yard], and xvj gownes, and cottes of xijs. [coats of eleven shillings] the yerd.”

325 Vide Notes and Queries for 1855, vol. xii. p. 451.

326 The entire family of the Duke of Northumberland and his Duchess was as follows:—

Henry, killed at the Siege of Boulogne in the thirty-fifth year of Henry VIII, aged nineteen.

Thomas, who died when two years old.

John, who bore the title of Lord Lisle and Earl of Warwick during his father’s life. He adopted a martial life, acting as Lieutenant-General during Somerset’s expedition into Scotland. He married, in June 1550, Anne Seymour. He was sentenced to death at the same time as his father, was pardoned, and died at Penshurst, in Kent, ten days after his release from the Tower, in 1554.

Ambrose was born about 1528. He was tried, together with Lady Jane Grey and her husband, in 1553, was pardoned and released in October 1554, and died in 1590, being created Earl of Warwick in the fourth year of Elizabeth.

Robert, who was born about 1532, having proclaimed Jane Queen at King’s Lynn, was sent to the Tower. He was condemned to death on 22nd June 1554, but was released and pardoned in October 1554. He was created Earl of Leicester by Elizabeth, and became famous in her reign.

Guildford Dudley, husband of Lady Jane Grey.

Henry, who was tried at Guildhall with his brothers Ambrose and Guildford in 1553, but liberated. He was killed at the battle of St. Quentin, in 1555.

Charles, who died aged four years.

The daughters of Northumberland were—

Mary, who married Sir Henry Sidney, Lord Deputy of Ireland, etc., and was the mother of Sir Philip Sidney. Catherine, the second daughter, who married the Earl of Huntingdon, died in 1620, aged seventy-two.

Margaret, the fourth daughter, died at the age of ten.

Frances, fourth daughter, died as an infant.

Temperance, the fifth daughter, died at seven years old.

Of all these daughters, the only one who came into intimate contact with Lady Jane was Lady Mary, who, it will be remembered, fetched the Lady Jane to Sion from Chelsea, on the memorable occasion when she received the homage of the Council.

327 Cheke continued to travel on the Continent until 1556, when, being invited by Lord Paget and Sir John Mason to go and see them in Brussels in a friendly way, he was suddenly taken prisoner en route by the Provost Marshal, on the road between Antwerp and Brussels, blindfolded, tied, flung into a waggon, taken to the nearest port, and conveyed by sea to the Tower of London, “being taken as it were by a whirlwind,” as he says himself. The excuse given for his arrest was that he had overstayed the leave of absence granted by the royal licence, having endeavoured to establish himself abroad. In the Tower he submitted to the Roman Catholic Church. He was later released and granted extensive lands; but he died in September 1557, after, so it is said, a partial return to Protestantism. He is buried in St. Alban’s Church, Wood Street, under a monument bearing some verses by Dr. Haddon.

328 The remainder of the actors in the drama are soon disposed of. The end of Judge Morgan we have already mentioned. Feckenham was imprisoned for twenty-three years under Elizabeth, and died in Wisbeach Jail. Aylmer, once Jane’s tutor, was, on the other hand, extremely fortunate. He fled at the coming of Mary, taking refuge in Switzerland, whence he wrote a reply—entitled An Harborowe for Faythfull and True Subjects—to Knox’s Blast. He returned to England at Elizabeth’s accession; became Archdeacon of Lincoln in 1562, Bishop of London in 1576, and died in 1594. Ascham remained in England during Mary’s reign, protected, despite his ardent Protestantism, by Gardiner. He died in December 1568. The treacherous Lord Paget was restored to office under Mary, and appointed Lord Privy Seal.