After acquainting him with the perfect state of Edward's health, he says he is desired by the King to tell him,

"That his mynd and love, notwithstanding your absens, is towards your lordship as mouche as to any man within Ingland; also his Grace willid me to wrytt to your Lordship dissierring yow, as your Lordship has willed him to do, if he lak any monny, to send to your Lordship. His Grace dessiers you, if you conveniently may, to let him have summ monny; I askid his Grace, whatt summ I shuld wrytt to your Lordship for; his Grase wold name no summ, but as it pleasid your Lordship to send him; for he determines to gyve it "The King's away, but to home he wooll not tell me as yet." Majesty dissiers your Lordship to send him this monny as shortly as you can; and by cause your Lordship may credit me the better, his Grace has wrytten in the beginning of my letter himself."-P. 75.

Edward wrote,

"I commende me to you, my Lord, and praie you to credit this writer, EDWARD."

The Marquis of Dorset, in his examination, admitted,

"That the Kinges Majesty hath divers tymes made his mone unto hym, sayng that my unkle off Somerset deyleth very hardly with me, and kepyth me so strayt, that I cane not have mony at my wylle: but my Lord Admyrall both sendes me mony and gyve me mony;"

and that nobleman

Spak thys wordes, my Lord C[linton] beyng behynd me, Iff I be thys usyd, they speak off a blak parlament, by Godes presyous sole, I wol make the blakest parlament that ever was in Ingland. To whom my Lord Clinton] answered yff you spek such wordes Lord uterly and ondo your selffe; who then stayng you shall lose my hys moyll turnyd to my Lord Clynton saying I wold you shuld knowe by Gode's precyus sole I may beter lyve without him, then he without me. Well sed, my Lord, who so ever shall go about to spek evyll of the Quene, I wyll tak my fyste from the first ears to the loest."-Pp. 75, 76.

The correspondence between Seymour and the Marquis of Dorset, though extremely curious, has been frequently printed. Dorset's testimony tends chiefly to establish that Seymour had seduced him to his interests by the promise that his daughter Lady Jane Grey should marry the King; and had questioned him in a very suspicious manner about his power in the country, and the situation of his houses. There can be no doubt that the Marquis was a man of very weak understanding, and that Seymour had actually bribed him to allow Lady Jane to remain in his house and under his protection; a monstrous fact, which, unless it stood on the authority of her father himself, would not receive a moment's credence.

But Dorset was not the only nobleman who suffered himself to be influenced by presents. The Marquis of North

ampton confessed that he had received from him" certain specialties of good value, and otherwise in store and plate showed me mych frendship and kyndnes ;" and this too on an occasion when he had inquired into the extent of his estate, and the number of his retainers and tenants; "a discourse" which, he does not deny, arose from his "supposing for diverse causes that I was not contented and pleasid, as he knew well enough the cawse why he shuld think so."

Northampton's evidence also shows the jealousy which the Protector entertained of his brother's designs upon the Princess Elizabeth; for he says that Seymour told him " he was credibly informed that my Lord Protector had sayd he wolde clappe him in the Tower if he went to my Lady Elizabeth,” and added, in reply to a remark of Northampton's,

"There was no woman lyving that he went abowte to marye; but he sayd he wolde shortly go home to hys howse, at which tyme he sayd he wolde aske my Lord Protector, whyther he wolde commande hym any service to my Lady Elizabeth, for he wolde take Hattefylde in his waye homewarde, and by thys meanys, he said, he shoulde feale my lord his brother's meaning towards hym; for he thowght thereby my Lord Protector wolde breke with hym in the matter, and then he said he wolde be playne with hym."-P. 80.

The Earl of Rutland asserted that the Admiral advised him

"To make myche of the gentyllmen in my contry, but more of syche honest and wellthy yemen, as were rynglederes in good townes; for he seyd as for the Jentyllmen ther is no great trust to be to them; but for the other, makyng myche of them, and sumtymes dynyng lyk a good fellowe in on of ther howses, I showlde by that jentyll enterteynment alure all ther good wylles to go with me, whether I wolde leade them."-P. 82.

Though he opened his designs very freely to the Earl, they only extended to depriving his brother of the office of Protector, and of placing the royal authority in the King's hands. He remarked, "I wold not disyre my lord my brother's hurte, marry, I wolde wyche he shwold rule, but a cheve counseler."

Harrington's testimony wholly clears Seymour from any treasonable intentions, though he complained that he was not admitted to a share of the power which his brother monopolized. The interrogatories which were to be put to him are inserted, but the only answer to them is a denial that he had conferred with any person excepting the Earl of Rutland about a change in the government of the King's person, and then only "upon occashon of talk of the Kyng's Magyste's towardness,

whom I sayed wold be man thre yeres before onny chyld levyng;" an observation on the precocity of his understanding, which every memorial of him that exists, and more particularly his extraordinary Journal, fully corroborates. In a letter to the Protector the next day, Lord Seymour relates a conversation that he had with the king, which is too interesting to be omitted, since it shows the singular prudence of the prince in not pledging himself as to his future conduct. He says that he had since remembered,

"That when I came first to Hamptoun Court with your Grace out of Wylshere on nyght as the Kyng's Mageste walked in the gallery, I began to sey unto his Grace, that sene I sa hyme last, he was growen to be a goodly gentyllman, and trusted that within three or four yeres he shuld be rewler of his own thyngs; whareunto his Highnes sayed nay. I marvelled thar at to my self, and began to nomber his yeres, and sayed, within this four yeres his Grace shuld be sixteen yere old, and sayed, that I trusted be that tyme his Grace shuld helpe his men hymself, wyth such thyngs as fell in his Grace's gyft, or lek wordes in effect; whare at his Grace sayed nothing. And then I fell in other talke of other materes, but what I remember not."-Pp. 87, 88.

Tyrwhit frequently communicated his observations on Elizabeth's behaviour to the Protector, to whom he made such reports as his honourable office of spy upon the Princess's household imposed upon him: but they are of slight value.

At the request of the Protector, Elizabeth, in a letter to him, dated at Hatfield on the 28th January, 1549, related what had taken place between her and Lord Seymour. Her narrative, besides confirming what Tyrwhit had before stated, merely tends to exculpate Katherine Ashley from the charge of having advised her to marry him: the conclusion is not a little remarkable,

"Thes be the thinges wiche I bothe declared to Master Tirwit, and also wherof my conscience berethe me witnis, wiche I wold not for al earthely thinges offende in any thinge; for I knowe I have a soule to save, as wele as other fokes have, wherfore I will above al things have respect unto this same. If there be any more thinges wiche I can remember, I wil ether write it my selfe, or cause Master Tirwit to write it. Master Tirwit and others have told me that ther goeth rumers abrode, wiche be greatly bothe agenste my honor and honestie (wiche above al other thinkes I esteme), wiche be these: that I am in the Tower, and with childe by my Lord Admiral. My Lord, these ar shameful schandlers, for the wiche, besides the grete desire I have to see the Kinge's Majestie, I shall most hartely desire your Lordship that I may come to the court after your first determination, that I showe may self there as I am 1." P. 90.-From the original.

my

A letter on the subject of her reputation occurs in Mr. Ellis's Original Letters, First Series, vol. ii. p. 157, dated on the 21st of February, 1549. The Council had,

But we have already approached so near to the bounds within which this article must be confined, that we have only space for the most extraordinary of the depositions: these relate to the Lord Admiral's amorous conduct towards the Princess Elizabeth. It was before observed, that he has been charged with wishing to obtain possession of her person, with the view of compelling her to consent to marry him; and the following statements afford some grounds for the idea. For any indelicacy which the fastidious may find in them, we are of course no otherwise responsible than for placing them in our pages if, however, such documents were rejected, there would be an end to any successful inquiry into historical events, into personal character, and more especially into the manners of former ages. The individual to whom they refer is one of the most renowned in the English annals; and it would be absurd to confine such curious notices of her early life to the few people who possess the rare and expensive volume in which they are to be found.

:

The cofferer of her Highness's house, Thomas Parry, stated that Mrs. Ashley, of whose concern in this memorable business we shall adduce striking evidence, told him

"How that my Lady Somerset hadd fownde great faults with her, for my Lady Elizabeth's goyng in a nyght in a barge upon Themes, and for other light partes; whereuppon she shuld say to the said Mrs. Asheley then, she was not worthy to have the governance of a king's daughter, and many other things, wherefore she durst not speke of thes matters; and so fell agane in praysing the Admirall. Then I chaunced to say to her, that for all that, I hadd harde moche evill reporte of the Lord Admirall, that he was not onely a very covetouse man, and an oppressor, but also an evill jelowse man; and how cruelly, how dishonorably, and how jelowsly he hadd used the Quene. Tushe, tushe, quoth she, that is no matier, I know him better than ye do or those that so reporte him; I know he will make but to moche of her, and that she knowes well ynough. And as for that jelowsy of my Lord Admirall I will tell yow: as he came upon a tyme up a stayres to see the Quene, he met with a grome of the chambre upon the stayres with a cole basket, comyng out of the chambre, and bicause the dore was shytt, and my lord without, he was angry, and pretended that he was jelowse. By my faithe, quoth I, all the world speke evill of him, for all this. No no, quoth she, I

it appears, promised to punish any one she might point out who had slandered her, but which she declined, "because it was her own cause," and that "shulde be a briding of a ivel name of me that am glad to ponesse them, and so get the ivel wil of the people, wiche thinge I wolde be lothe to have." She suggested to Somerset and the Council, however, that if they would "sende forthe a proclamation in to the countries that they refraine ther tonges, declaringe how the tales be but lies, it shulde make bothe the people thinke that you and the Counsel have great regarde that no suche rumors shulde be spreade of anye of the Kinges Majesties sisters."

wold wishe her to none before him, for all that. I do remembre also she told me that the Admirall loved her but to well, and had so done a good while, and that the Quene was jelowse on hir and him in so moche that one tyme the Quene suspecting the often accesse of the Admirall to the Lady Elizabeth's Grace, cam sodenly upon them wher they were all alone (he having her in his armes), wherfore the Quene fell out bothe with the Lord Admirall and with her Grace also. And hereupon the Quene called Mrs. Ashley to her, and told her fansy in that matier; and of this was moche displesure. And it was not long, before they partid asondre ther famylies; and as I remembre this was the cause why she was sent from the Quene; or ells that her Grace partid from the Quene; I do not perfectly remembre wether of both she seid, she went of herself, or was sent awaye. Why, quoth I, hath there bene such famyliarytie betwene them? And with that he sighed and said, as I remembre, I will tell you more another tyme; and all this, as I remembre, was on twelf eve last that she told me thes thyngs, and at the same tyme that she told me that he myght compasse the cownsell if he wold. I remembre she said more, that if the King's Majestie, that dede is, had lyved a litell longer she should have bene his wief. But after that she hadd told me the tale of the fynding her Grace in his armes, she semed to repent that she hadd gone so farre with me as she did; and prayed me in ony wise that I wold not disclose these matters: and I said I wold not: and agayn she prayed me not to open yt, as ever she myght do for me, for her Grace shuld be dishonored for ever, and she likewise undone. And I said I wold not; and I said I had rather be pulled with horses thene I wold; or such like words."-P. 96. From the original, written and signed by himself.

which

Remarkable as these statements are, they are exceeded by the" confession" of Mrs. Katherine Ashley herself, upon t comment is unnecessary.

"What familiaritie she hath knowen betwixt the Lord Admirall and the Lady Elizabeth's Grace?

"She saith at Chelsy incontinent after he was maried to the Queene he wold come many mornyngs into the said Lady Elizabeth's chamber before she were redy and sometyme before she did rise. And if she were up, he wold bid her good morrow and ax how she did, and strike hir upon the back or on the buttocks famylearly, and so go forth through his lodgings, and sometyme go through to the maydens and play with them, and so go forth. And if she were in hir bed he wold put open the curteyns and bid hir good morrow, and make as though he wold come at hir: and she wold go further in the bed, so that he could not come at hir. And one mornyng he strave to have kissed hir in hir bed: and this examynate was there and bad him go away for shame. She knoweth not whither this were at Chelsy or Hanworth. At Hanworth he wold likewise come in the mornyng unto hir Grace; but as she remembreth, at all tymes, she was up before, savyng two mornyngs, the which two mornyngs the Quene came with hym: and this examynate lay with hir Grace; and thir thei tytled my Lady Elizabeth in the bed, the Quene and my Lord Ad