4. The young king was taught Latin and other languages. He was, as a rule, very diligent. If he were idle his teachers did not think it right to beat him because he was king, but they kept a boy who was brought up with him and called his whipping-boy. If the little king was naughty, the whipping-boy was flogged, and the king was so tender-hearted that it pained him more than if he had been flogged himself.

5. Edward kept a diary of the chief events of his reign, of his journeys, and of the questions which were brought before the council. We have many pictures of Edward VI. He had a pleasant face, but looked holloweyed and unhealthy. He wore a richly worked suit, and a cloak over it lined with ermine. He had the badge of the Garter round his knee, a gold chain round his neck, a little dagger at his side, and on his head a flat velvet cap with a white feather. It was hoped that he might live to marry a French princess. But as he came to the age of fifteen he grew weak and sickly, and slowly faded away.

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LADY JANE GREY.

1. LADY JANE GREY, one of the most learned and blameless women who ever suffered on the scaffold, was made queen against her will. The Duke of Northumberland had much influence with Edward VI., and

persuaded him, when his early death was certain, to make a will passing over all the other claimants to the throne, and giving it to Lady Jane Grey, who was descended from a sister of Henry VIII. When King Edward died she was greatly distressed, for she had been very fond of him, and she was much surprised when she was told that she was to be queen. She said that the crown belonged of right to Mary, and then to Elizabeth, and that she did not desire to ascend the throne before her turn.

2. The eastern counties rose like one man in favour of Mary, and even London gave Lady Jane no support. No sooner had Northumberland left the capital than the ministers proclaimed Mary queen, the fleet declared in her favour, and almost every county armed to fight in her cause. The duke, seeing everything lost, declared himself for Queen Mary, but this could not save him or the hapless woman whom he had dragged with him to destruction. Lady Jane Grey was thrown into the Tower with her husband, and it is possible that she would have escaped the penalty of death, if it had not been for the rebellion of her unwise friends.

3. Sir Thomas Wyat, who had been long employed in the service of the State, hearing that Queen Mary was engaged to marry Philip of Spain, headed a rising in Kent. He was offered a pardon by the queen if he laid down his arms within twenty-four hours, but this he refused. With four thousand men he marched upon London, and reached Southwark, expecting to enter the city without difficulty. Finding the bridge across the river strongly barricaded, he was compelled to march up the

Thames as far as Kingston, where he spent some time in repairing the bridge, which was broken. With six thousand men he marched again to London, and reached Hyde Park at nine in the morning. Then he passed along the Strand, his men deserting as he went. At Ludgate he expected to meet his promised friends, but found the gates shut. He fell exhausted, and was made prisoner.

4. Two days after the capture of Wyat, a message was sent to Lady Jane and her husband to prepare for death. Jane had long expected her fate, and met it without fear. Even in these last moments she was besought to change her religion, but she replied that she knew she should not be suffered to live, for the jealousy of the Government was too great. She said that she had spent her whole time in prison in preparing for death. Her husband suffered first, and as she was proceeding to the scaffold she saw his headless body brought back for burial in the Tower chapel. She showed great firmness and piety to the last, and did not for a moment give up her religion, but she owned that she had been guilty of a great sin in accepting a crown that did not belong to her. Her father, who had been concerned in Wyat's rising, was beheaded in the same month, deeply regretting the injury he had done his daughter.

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MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS.

1. MARY, QUEEN OF SCOTS, was daughter of James V. of Scotland. Her grandmother was an English princess, daughter of Henry VII. When quite young she was married to the king of France.

Just at this time the court of France was very gay, and thought of nothing but amusement. Mary's husband was young like herself, and it is not strange if she fell into foolish ways. Her husband died, having been wounded in a sport in which men clad in armour rode at each other on horseback with lances in their hands.

2. Mary came back as a widow to Scotland. She was a firm Roman Catholic, but Scotland had by this time become Protestant, and Mary was obliged to allow her subjects to do as they pleased about religion. Mary was very beautiful and attractive, accomplished, fond of music, and of every kind of pleasure. She exercised great influence over all who came near her, and they would do anything for her service. The Scotch, on the other hand, were stern and severe; they thought Mary wicked because she was light-hearted and gay, and she could not bear the coldness of manner with which she was surrounded.

3. At this time Elizabeth was queen of England. She had succeeded her sister Mary. She was a Protestant, and did not like Mary, Queen of Scots, to be so near her, because the quarrel between Catholics and Protestants was raging strongly, and the Catholics chose Mary as their head. Also, Elizabeth was vain of her beauty, and