Lady Earl of Hertford, a little before and de of her line. the splendid funeral, and would spread widely the knowledge of Lady Catharine Grey's proximity to the throne. It seems that the queen never liked Catharine, but that Philip of Spain thought her of so much importance that he desired to spirit her away to his country. But before the Christmas marries the of this year the ill-fated lady had destroyed for ever her chance of succeeding to the crown, and A.D. 1559, involved all her after-life in misery by contracting a clandestine marriage with the Earl of Hertford, Christmas, who had once been destined for her sister, Lady stroys the Jane. That she had married at all was bad prospects enough, that she had married clandestinely was worse; but the climax of her offence was that she had chosen for husband the nephew of Jane Seymour, supplanter of Elizabeth's mother. I do not think that Elizabeth ever swerved from the resolve that their issue should not wear her crown; whether or no she actually said, in reference to the son of Catharine and Edward Seymour, that no "rascal's son should sit in her seat," I have little doubt she determined it. Lady Catharine's offence in thus clandestinely marrying was not light according to the received maxims of the day. But the queen took a cruel revenge upon her and her husband. Not only did she fling them both into the Tower, but she had a sentence passed that no marriage had taken place between them. Meanwhile, on the 21st of September 1561, Edward, Francis A.D. 1560, the eldest of Catharine's two sons, had been born, Birth of Edward It was well for the offending couple that the Act Seymour, passed on Lord Thomas Howard's account, declar- A.D. 1561, September ing their offence treason, had been repealed; but 21. Hertford was heavily fined" for deflowering a "maiden of the blood royal." The earl and his wife persisted, and doubtless truly, that a valid marriage had passed between them, and on the 10th of February 1563 Thomas Seymour, Of Thomas Seymour, Catharine's only other child, was born. Meanwhile, A.D. 1563, on the 5th of December 1560, Mary's husband, February Francis, had died, and on the 20th of August 1561 Death of she landed in Scotland, still persisting in her claim II., King of to Elizabeth's throne. The year 1562 was marked France, by the wild conspiracy of Arthur and Edmund December5. Pole, sons of Sir Geoffrey, who, in Henry VIII.'s Mary lands time, had saved his life by denouncing his brother, A.D. 1561, Lord Montague. The rash young men (Edmund August 20. was not more than twenty-one years old) designed to of the place Mary Queen of Scots on the throne. Elizabeth spared their lives, but imprisoned them in the Tower. They pleaded, they had no intention of dethroning her, but had been misled by a prophecy that the queen would die in that year. In fact in the course of it she was attacked with small-pox, Queen's and was in great danger of her life. The council, in view of the queen's death, appears to have Division in been divided in opinion, some advocating the as parliamentary claims of Lady Catharine Grey, succession. in Scotland. Conspiracy Poles. illness same year. the council as to the ment. others those of Huntingdon, whose partisans from time to time whispered the old story of the illegitimacy of Edward IV.'s children by Elizabeth Woodville. As it appears that there were three opinions, and that the Queen of Scots was barely named, it seems probable that the third party was for Darnley, whose marriage with Mary would be regarded as the natural consequence of his sucIn Parlia- cession to the throne. The queen's late illness had made the nation more than ever anxious that the doubt as to the succession should be removed, and Parliament urged the queen's marriage and the determination by statute of her successor in default of her issue. The queen, who was then at the height of her unhappy passion for the worthless Leicester, with much difficulty eluded their importunities. Parliament had seemed to be favourable to the title of Lady Catharine, and in 1564 Hales, a clerk of the hanaper, instigated as was supposed by Sir Nicholas Bacon, published a work in favour of it. Elizabeth punished Hales with imprisonment, and Bacon with frowns. Hales' book, A.D. 1564. Lady Mary marriage, As if fate had conspired against the claims Grey's of Lady Catharine, her younger sister, the A.D. 1565, dwarfish Lady Mary, soon afterwards, in August August. 1565, absurdly parodied Lady Catharine's ro mantic marriage with the Earl of Hertford, by taking for husband the gigantic sergeant porter of the palace, Thomas Keyes. Of course they A.D. 1578, Previous. death of Catharine, were committed to prison. No child was born Death of of the marriage, and on the 20th of April 1578 Lady Mary, Lady Mary died. The gentle Lady Catharine April 20. had predeceased her. She had been released from the Tower in 1563, and died in 1567, Lady leaving behind her two sons, whose legitimacy was a.d. 1567, disputed, to uphold the claims of their mother January. as the presumptive heiress designated by Parliament and Henry VIII.'s will. These claims were not yet to be ignored. In 1566 the question of the succession had been raised in Parlia- Succession ment, and the House of Commons at least seemed question in clearly in favour of them. But more than a ment, year before Lady Catharine's death the marriage Marriage of Mary Stuart, the presumptive heiress by blood, of Mary with Darnley had taken place. In February Scots with 1565 he had obtained leave to join his father in A.D. 1565, Darnley, Scotland on the pretext of reclaiming their Scotch July 20. possessions. Parlia A.D. 1566. of the On the 20th of July 1565 the ill-starred Advantages marriage was celebrated. Yet Mary could not match. have made a more judicious match, so far as regarded her claims of succession to the English crown. Her cousin was by blood next to the throne after Mary herself and his mother; and both he and his mother were English born, so that the marriage went far to cure the defect of alien birth which attached to Mary. On the 19th of July 1566 their position was Birth of strengthened by the birth of their only child, Mary's son that James VI. of Scotland and First of England James, A.D. 19. Murder of 1566, July who was destined to wear the crowns of both kingdoms. And if the marriage of the Scottish queen and titular king had proved happy, Elizabeth would, in all probability, have been forced to acknowledge them as her presumptive heirs. But some few months before the birth of James, England and Scotland had been startled by the tidings of the slaughter of Rizzio in the presence of Mary and with the sanction of March 9. Darnley. Events still more momentous were impending. On the 9th of February 1567 Of Darnley, Darnley was murdered; on the 15th of May February 9, following, Mary married Bothwell; on the 29th Mary's of July, her son James was crowned King of Scotland, and on the 15th of May 1569 Mary Bothwell, landed on English soil at Workington. Rizzio, A.D. 1566, A.D. 1567, marriage with A.D. 1567, A.D. 1567, A.D. 1569, May 15. Her position at first. 9. She came a fugitive from her own subjects, and, worse still, labouring under a grave suspicion of having concurred in the murder of her husband, and committed adultery with the chief of his assassins. The most ardent partisans of Mary's innocence have always admitted that, at the time of Darnley's death and her marriage with Bothwell, her conduct was at least indiscreet. certainly for the moment many of those who had previously espoused her claims to the succession to the English throne turned away from her. And |