pitate fondness, began openly to show how tired | the charges of the council, Seymour admitted he was become of her, and to resume his old gal- that about Easter, 1547, he had said to one of lantries, before many months had elapsed. In the royal attendants, "that if he might have the the meanwhile he had taken advantage of his king in his custody as Mr. Page had, he would opportunities to commence practising upon the be glad; and that he thought a man might bring young mind of his royal nephew. The object of him (the king) through the gallery to his (Seyambition which, in the first instance at least, he mour's) chamber, and so to his house; but this, had proposed to himself, seems to have been, to he said, he spoke merrily, meaning no hurt." He wrest from his brother the one of his two great owned also that, having some time after heard offices which gave him the custody of the royal that, when there, was formerly a lord-protector person, though it is probable enough that, if he in England, the government of the king's person had succeeded in that, he would not have been was put into other hands, "he had thought to long in making an attempt to get into his hands have made suit to the parliament house for that the government of the kingdom also. It is charged purpose, and he had the names of all the lords, against him by the council that, after he had and totted them whom he thought he might have agreed and given his consent in writing to the to his purpose, to labour them; but afterwards appointment of his brother as "governor of the communing with Mr. Comptroller at Ely Place, king's majesty's person, and protector of all his being put in remembrance by him of his assentrealms and dominions, and subjects;" he had ing and agreeing with his own hand that the "attempted and gone about by indirect means to lord-protector should be governor to the king's undo this order," and to get the government of the person, he was ashamed of his doings, and left king into his own hands;—that, "by corrupting off that suit and labour." These, it is to be rewith gifts and fair promises, divers of the privy membered, are not his own words under his own chamber," he had gone about to allure the king hand, but merely those put into his mouth by the to condescend and agree to the same, his "most persons sent to examine him, in their report to heinous and perilous purposes;"-that he had the council of what he said. He further acknow"for that intent," with his own hand, written a ledged that he had drawn up the letter, or "bill," letter in the king's name, which he had given to as he calls it, to be laid before the House of Comhis majesty to copy and sign, and which he in- mons, and had proffered it either to the king or tended to have delivered personally to the House Cheke, he forgot which. This had been done, of Commons; "and there," it is added, "with after having "caused the king to be moved by your fautors and adherents before prepared, to Mr. Fowler, whether he could be contented that have made a broil, or tumult, or uproar, to the he should have the governance of him as Mr. great danger of the king's majesty's person, and Stanhope had." What answer he had got either subversion of the state of this realm;"-that he to this suggestion, or to his proposal that the had spoken to "divers of the council, and laboured king should sign the letter, he professed not to with divers of the nobility of the realm, to stick remember. To the charge of giving money to the and adhere" to him for the attainment of his king, and to those about him, he said that at purposes; that he had said openly, that [if he Christmas, 1547, he had given to Mr. Cheke £40, were crossed in his designs] he would make "whereof to himself £20, the other for the king, that the blackest parliament that ever was in to bestow where it pleaseth his grace amongst his England; that "the king's majesty being of servants." He had also given some money-he those tender years, and as yet, by age unable to did not remember how much-to the grooms of direct his own things," the admiral had gone the chamber. To Fowler, he admitted that he about to instil into his grace's head, and to per- had given money for the king since the beginning suade him to take upon himself the government of the parliament then (February, 1549) sitting, and managing of his own affairs;-that he had to the amount of £20. "And divers times, he fully intended to have taken his majesty's per- saith, the king hath sent to him for money, and son into his own hands and custody;-that he he hath sent it. And what time Mr. Latimer had corrupted with money certain of the privy hath preached before the king, the king sent to chamber to persuade the king to "have a credit him to know what he should give Mr. Latimer; towards" him, "and so," the article proceeds, and he sent to him by Fowler £40, with this "to insinuate you to his grace, that when he word, that £20 was a good reward for Mr. Latilacked anything, he should have it of you, and mer, and the other he might bestow amongst his none other body, to the intent he should mislike servants." These confessions made it apparent his ordering, and that you might the better, enough that he had sought to gain an ascendency when you saw time, use his king's highness for over the king by supplying him with pocketan instrument to this purpose." In a sort of money, of which it appears that his majesty was answer which was wrung from him to part of kept very bare by my lord-protector. But the most curious evidence upon this point, as well as upon some of the other charges brought against Seymour, is supplied by the Burghley Papers. Here we have, in the first place, the testimony of the king himself, given in several statements drawn up and subscribed by himself. Edward, as both men and children will do when in similar eircumstances, may be supposed to soften what was blameable in his own part of the business as much as possible, even if in so doing he should be led to bear a little hard upon his unfortunate uncle; but the true state of the case may be easily gathered from his self-exculpatory detail. After an account of his refusing to write some letter at Seymour's request, his majesty proceeds: "At another time, within this two year at least, he said, ye must take upon you yourself to rule, for ve shall be able enough, as well as other kings; and then ye may give your men somewhat, for your uncle is old, and I trust will not live long. I answered, it were better that he should die. Then he said, ye are but even a very beggarly king now; ye have not to play, or to give to your servants. I said, Mr. Stanhope had for me. Then he said he would give Fowler money for me; and so he did, as Fowler told me. And he gave Cheke money, as I bade him; and also to a bookbinder, as Balmain can tell; and to divers others at that time, I remember not to whom." In another paper, Edward speaks of Seymour as trying to prejudice him against the protector, by representing the expedition to Scotland, in which he was then engaged, as a very foolish and wasteful business. "At the return of my lord, my uncle," he goes on, "the lord-admiral said I was too bashful in mine own matters; and asked me why I did not speak to bear rules, as other kings do. I said I needed not, for I was well enough. When he went into his country he desired me, that if anything were said against him, I should not believe it till he came himself." That Edward, however, was not a mere passive recipient in these money dealings with his uncle, appears from another paper in this collection, being a letter written by the king's command, in June, 1547, to the lord-admiral, by Fowler. After conveying to Seymour some warm expressions of reard from his nephew, who had desired him to say, "that his mind and love, notwithstanding your absence, is toward your lordship as much as to any man within England "-the writer proceeds: "Also his grace willed me to write to your lordship, desiring you, as your lordship has willed him to do, if he lack any money to send to your lordship. His grace desires you, if you conveniently may, to let him have some money. I asked his grace what sum I should write to your lordship for; his grace would name no sum, but as it pleased your lordship to send him, for he determines to give it away, but to whom he will not tell me as yet." "The king's majesty," it is added, in a style of some importunity, "desires your lordship to send him this money as shortly as you can; and because your lordship may credit me the better, his grace has written in the beginning of my letter himself." The paper accordingly has the following words written by Edward in his own hand, and with his name subscribed :-"I commend me to you, my lord, and pray you to credit this writer." To this we may subjoin, from the same repository, a part of the testimony of the Marquis of Dorset, afterwards Duke of Suffolk, who was examined principally touching another of the charges brought against Seymour-his undertaking to marry the king at his own will and pleasure, and endeavouring to seduce the marquis to his interests by a promise that Edward should be united to his daughter, the Lady Jane Grey. Dorset declares, "that the king's majesty hath divers times made his moan unto him, saying, that my uncle of Somerset dealeth very hardly with me, and keepeth me so strait that I cannot have money at my will; but my lord-admiral both sends me money and gives me money." These revelations illustrate the characters both of the king and Somerset, as well as the doings of the lord-admiral. Intimation of Seymour's practices was given. to his brother, while he was in Scotland in September, 1547, by Paget, who had previously remonstrated with the admiral on the course he was pursuing. It is uncertain whether there was any reconciliation between them before the parliament met in November; but soon after matters were brought to a crisis, by the lord-admiral's project of inducing the king to write the letter recommending his appointment as governor of the royal person. Burnet's narrative would seem to imply that the letter had been actually copied and subscribed by the king; but this is inconsistent both with what the admiral is made to say in his answer to the charges of the council, and with Edward's own account. When the council discovered what he was about, they sent some of their members to confer with him in his brother's name, and to urge him to proceed no farther; but he refused to listen to them; and he paid as little regard to an order of the council, which was then issued, summoning him to appear before them. When they passed a resolution. however, that he should be sent to the Tower, and deprived of all his offices, he deemed it pru dent to make his submission; and, for the present, the affair ended by a seemingly perfect reconciliation being effected between the two brothers. In the course of the following year the admiral was gratified by a grant of a large addition to his revenues from the crown. But neither this bribe nor the escape he had made drew Seymour from the path of his restless ambition. We have seen, that before the end of this same year he had again begun to practise upon the king and the persons about his majesty by secret gifts of money. For some time, however, he restrained his bold and haughty temper so far as not to commit himself in any direct attempt to upset his brother's power. While he was thus lying in wait for what the course of events might produce, his wife, the Queen-dowager Catherine, died, at Sudley Castle, on the 5th king's majesty's person, and peril of the s the same." The evidence contained in the ley Papers, if it does not completely susta charge, at least supplies a very interesti remarkable chapter in the biography of th Elizabeth. It should appear that Se whatever were his designs upon the princ in his interest, or at any rate as favoural posed to him as he could desire, no less nient a personage than her highness' gov a Mrs. Catherine Ashley. Thomas Par cofferer of the princess' household, relates RUINS OF SUDLEY CASTLE.-From Lysons' Antiquities of Gloucestershire. versation he had with th in which she admitted to h even the Duchess of Somer found great fault with he my Lady Elizabeth's goin night in a barge upon T and for other light parts had told her, in consequen she was not worthy to ha governance of a king's da On the subject of the cou by the admiral to the pr "I do remember also," says "she told me that the a loved her but too well, an so done a good while, and th queen(Catherine Parr) was j on her and him, in so muc one time the queen, suspecti often access of the admiral day of September, 1548, seven days after hav-| Lady Elizabeth's grace, came suddenly upor ing given birth to a daughter. From some ex- when they were all alone, he having her pressions that fell from her in her last hours, a arms, wherefore the queen fell out both wi suspicion arose that she had been poisoned, or lord-admiral and with her grace also. And otherwise made away with by the act of her hus- upon the queen called Mrs. Ashley to her band; but we are not entitled, from anything told her fancy in that matter; and of thi that is known of Seymour, to think it probable much displeasure." At this time, it appear that he could be guilty of so black a crime as princess was living with the queen-dowager this; and the circumstances, as far as they have immediately after the above incident, she come down to us, do not lend any countenance removed of her own accord, or was sent to a surmise which the partiality of some mo- But Mrs. Ashley may be allowed to spea dern writers to the memory of the one brother herself, at least in so far as her somewhat na seems chiefly to have inclined them to adopt expressed details will bear to be quoted. I against the other. 'Confession," in which of course she con as little as possible against herself, she state at Chelsea, immediately after he was marri the queen, the admiral used frequently to into the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before sh ready, and sometimes before she was out of If she were up, he would slap her familiar the back or on the hips; "and if she were in bed, he would put open the curtains and bid good morrow, and make as though he would at her; and she would go further in the be that he could not come at her. And one mor he strave to have kissed her in her bed." this last and some other instances of bold "It is objected, and laid unto your charge," say the council, in one of their articles exhibited against the lord-admiral, "that you have not only, before you married the queen, attempted and gone about to marry the king's majesty's sister, the Lady Elizabeth, second inheritor in remainder to the crown, but also, being then let (hindered) by the lord-protector and others of the council, sithence that time, both in the life of the queen continued your old labour and love, and after her death, by secret and crafty means, practised to achieve the said purpose of marrying the said Lady Elizabeth, to the danger of the Mrs. Ashley professes to have been duly shocked, | who held an office in his establishment, stated to and to have rebuked the admiral as he deserved. the council that he and others of his friends had Other instances of the admiral's audacity are given, but these may serve as sufficient specimens. Mrs. Ashley admits she had reason to suppose that the queen was jealous of the familiarity betwixt her husband and the princess; and "she saith also, that Mr. Ashley, her husband, hath divers times given this examinate warning to take heed, for he did fear that the Lady Elizabeth did bear some affection to my lord-admiral; she seemed to be well pleased therewith; and sometimes she would blush when he were spoken of." Elizabeth also makes her "Confession" among the rest; but it relates merely to what had passed between her and Mrs. Ashley after the queen's death, on the subject of the lord-admiral's wish to marry her, and, as might be expected, contains nothing to her own disadvantage. She maintains that Mrs. Ashley never advised the marriage except on condition it should prove agreeable to the protector and the council. In a letter, however, which she wrote from Hatfield to the protector in January, 1549, while the proceedings against Seymour were in progress, she mentions a circumstance which we should not otherwise have knownnamely, that rumours had got abroad that she was "in the Tower and with child by my lordadmiral." These imputations she declares to be "shameful slanders," and requests that, to put them down, she may be allowed to come immediately to court. It appears, however, that all these examinations gave her no little disturbance and alarm, though, young as she was-only entering upon her sixteenth year-she bore herself, in the delicate and difficult position in which she was thereby placed, with a wonderful deal of the courage and politic management that she evinced on so many occasions in her after life. The lord-admiral's renewal of his pretensions to the hand of Elizabeth after the death of his queen, seems to have at once brought matters to another open quarrel between him and his brother. The Marquis of Northampton, one of the persons whom he had sought to seduce to a participation in his designs, relates in his examination, or confession, that Seymour had told him "he was credibly informed that my lord-protector had said he would clap him in the Tower if he went to my Lady Elizabeth. These threats, and the obstacle that presented itself to his schemes in the clause of the late king's will, which provided that, if either of the princesses should marry without the consent of the council, she should forfeit her right of succession, roused all the natural impetuosity and violence of his temper, and drove him again to intrigues and plots, and other measures of desperation. One Wightman, 2 earnestly dissuaded him "from writing of such 1 Articles of High Treason, &c., 12-18. 2 Ibid. 29. But neither this bribe nor the escape he had made drew Seymour from the path of his restless ambition. We have seen, that before the end of this same year he had again begun to practise upon the king and the persons about his majesty by secret gifts of money. For some time, however, he restrained his bold and haughty temper so far as not to commit himself in any direct attempt to upset his brother's power. While he was thus lying in wait for what the course of events might produce, his wife, the Queen-dowager Catherine, died, at Sudley Castle, on the 5th king's majesty's person, and peril of the state of the same." The evidence contained in the Burghley Papers, if it does not completely sustain this charge, at least supplies a very interesting and remarkable chapter in the biography of the great Elizabeth. It should appear that Seymour, whatever were his designs upon the princess, had in his interest, or at any rate as favourably disposed to him as he could desire, no less convenient a personage than her highness' governess, a Mrs. Catherine Ashley. Thomas Parry, the cofferer of the princess' household, relates a con RUINS OF SUDLEY CASTLE.-From Lysous' Antiquities of Gloucestershire. day of September, 1548, seven days after having given birth to a daughter. From some expressions that fell from her in her last hours, a suspicion arose that she had been poisoned, or otherwise made away with by the act of her husband; but we are not entitled, from anything that is known of Seymour, to think it probable that he could be guilty of so black a crime as this; and the circumstances, as far as they have come down to us, do not lend any countenance to a surmise which the partiality of some modern writers to the memory of the one brother seems chiefly to have inclined them to adopt against the other. "It is objected, and laid unto your charge," say the council, in one of their articles exhibited against the lord-admiral, "that you have not only, before you married the queen, attempted and gone about to marry the king's majesty's sister, the Lady Elizabeth, second inheritor in remainder to the crown, but also, being then let (hindered) by the lord-protector and others of the council, sithence that time, both in the life of the queen continued your old labour and love, and after her death, by secret and crafty means, practised to achieve the said purpose of marrying the said Lady Elizabeth, to the danger of the versation he had with this lady, in which she admitted to him that even the Duchess of Somerset had found great fault with her "for my Lady Elizabeth's going in a night in a barge upon Thames, and for other light parts," and had told her, in consequence, that she was not worthy to have the governance of a king's daughter. On the subject of the court paid by the admiral to the princess, "I do remember also," says Parry, "she told me that the admiral loved her but too well, and had so done a good while, and that the queen (Catherine Parr) was jealous on her and him, in so much that one time the queen, suspecting the often access of the admiral to the Lady Elizabeth's grace, came suddenly upon them when they were all alone, he having her in his arms, wherefore the queen fell out both with the lord-admiral and with her grace also. And hereupon the queen called Mrs. Ashley to her, and told her fancy in that matter; and of this was much displeasure." At this time, it appears, the princess was living with the queen-dowager; but, immediately after the above incident, she either removed of her own accord, or was sent away. But Mrs. Ashley may be allowed to speak for herself, at least in so far as her somewhat naïvely expressed details will bear to be quoted. In her "Confession," in which of course she confesses as little as possible against herself, she states that at Chelsea, immediately after he was married to the queen, the admiral used frequently to come into the Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she was ready, and sometimes before she was out of bed. If she were up, he would slap her familiarly o the back or on the hips; "and if she were in her bed, he would put open the curtains and bid her good morrow, and make as though he would come at her; and she would go further in the bed, so that he could not come at her. And one morning he strave to have kissed her in her bed." At this last and some other instances of boldness |