lady Katharine Howard,-we must pronounce him guilty of sacrilege.-And finally,-when we find, that, notwithstanding the undoubted rights of the princesses Mary and Elizabeth, he yet, on the death of their royal brother, strove to exclude both from the throne, and to place lady Jane Gray upon it,we must admit the justice of the verdict, and pronounce him guilty both of ingratitude and high

treason.

Still, the sentence, which, after he had been pardoned for his treason, condemned him to the flames for heresy, was execrable. His firmness under the torture, to which it consigned him, has seldom been surpassed. It presents an imposing example, and we then willingly forget what history records against him. But, when we read, in the Biographia Britannica, that "he was the glory of "the English nation, and the ornament of the Re"formation," his misdeeds rush on our recollection: We are astonished at the effect of party spirit, and the intrepidity of the biographer.

CHAP. XV.

THE FIRST MEASURES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH.

1558.

THE commencement of the Reformation in England, in the reign of Henry the eighth; its progress in the reign of Edward the sixth; and its interrup

tion in the reign of Mary, have been mentioned. Some account will now be given of its completion, in the reign of Elizabeth. We shall therefore attempt to present the reader, with a general view of her first measures. Under this head, we shall endeavour to give a succinct account, I. Of her being proclaimed queen of England, and her progress to London: II. Of her coronation: III. Of the division of the nation at this time into a catholic and a protestant party: IV. The subdivision of the latter into Lutherans: V. Zuinglians: VI. And the successors of these, the Calvinists, or Puritans: VII. Of the preference given by the queen to the protestant party: VIII. Of her notifying to Paul the fourth, her accession to the throne, and the manner in which the intelligence was received by him: IX. And of the more conciliatory proceedings of Pius the fourth, his immediate successor.

XV. 1.

The first measures of Queen Elizabeth.

QUEEN Mary died on the 17th November 1558. She was succeeded by her sister Elizabeth, the only child then living of Henry the eighth; Ferdinand of Austria, being at this time Emperor; Henry the second, king of France; Philip the second, king of Spain; and Paul the fourth, filling the Roman See.

At the moment of Mary's decease both houses of parliament were sitting. Information of the event being brought to the house of lords, they

sent a message to the house of commons requesting their attendance. When the members arrived, the lord chancellor Heath, archbishop of York, announced the event to them. He observed, that the succession to the crown belonged, of right, to the princess Elizabeth; and that she should be instantly proclaimed queen of England. The preclamation was immediately made by the king at

arms.

The news of her election reached Elizabeth at Hatfield. On the 29th, she proceeded to London, attended, says Heylin, by a great and royal train; and an infinite concourse of people expressing their feelings by loud acclamations, and every other demonstration of joy. She delighted them by the affability of her manner, and the share which she seemed to take in the general sentiment. At Highgate, she was met by all the bishops: from Bonner, as a man of blood, she turned with disgust: the others she received courteously, and permitted them to kiss her hand. At Bishopsgate she was met by the lord mayor and all the city companies. Thus escorted, she reached the Tower. At her entrance into it," she rendered," says Heylin, "her most humble thanks to Almighty God, for "the great change in her condition, in bringing "her, from being a prisoner in that place, to be "the princess of her people; and now, to take

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possession of it as a royal palace, in which, before, "she had received so much discomfort." Immediately on the decease of Mary the lords assembled in council had given orders for the stopping of all

ports and havens, in order that no intelligence of the event might be carried out of the realm; but finding so general a concurrence of the people in favour of Elizabeth, they removed the embargo.

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XV. 2.

Her Coronation.

ON the 13th of January 1559, she made her triumphant passage," says Dr. Heylin, "through "London to her palace at Westminster. Having "offered a prayer, she mounted in her chariot with "so clear a spirit, as if she had been made for that

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day's solemnity; entertained all the way she "went with the joyful shouts and acclamations of "God save the Queen, which she repaid with such 66 a modest affability that it drew tears of joy from "the eyes of some, with infinite prayers and thanksgivings from the hearts of all.

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"But nothing more endeared her to them than "the accepting a Bible, neatly gilt, which was let down to her from one of the pageants representing Truth. With both her hands she received "the book, which she pressed and laid to her "bosom, (as the nearest place unto her heart),

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giving the greater thanks for that, than for all "the rest which plentifully had that day been "bestowed upon her; and promised to be diligent "in the reading of it. By which, and many other "acts of popular piety, with which she passed away "that day, she did not only gain the hearts of them "that saw her, but they that saw her did so

"magnify her most eminent graces, that she found "the like affection in the hearts of all others also."

On the following morning, with the like magnificence and splendor, she was attended to the church of St. Peter in Westminster. She was crowned by Doctor Owen Oglethorpe, bishop of Carlisle, according to the form, and took the oath prescribed by the Roman pontifical. The other catholic prelates declined assisting at the ceremony. Three bishops, ordained in the reign of Edward the sixth, and the friends of the Reformation, were then alive; but "those bishops," as doctor Heylin "remarks, were at that time deprived of their sees,-(whether justly or unjustly could not then "be questioned)-and therefore not in a capacity "to perform that service. Besides there being, at "that time, no other form established for a coro"nation than that, which had much in it of the "ceremonies and superstition of the church of "Rome; she was not sure that any one of those "three bishops would have acted in it without such "alteration and omissions, in the whole course of "that order, as might have rendered the whole "action questionable among capricious men; and

therefore, finally, she thought it more conducible "to her reputation among foreign princes to be "crowned by the hands of a catholic bishop, or "one at least that was accounted as such, than if it "had been done by any of the other religions."