Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/212

 and will understand the significance of those two words 'with me;' and they who know St. Cyprian's writings will wonder how the royal maiden could have deserved to have that christian father's work, 'De Disciplina Virginum,' inflicted upon her. A letter which she wrote to her brother during this year has been preserved, in which she rashly ventured to quote 'Orace;' unfortunately the line happens to be one of the proverbs of Publius Syrus, and probably culled, according to the fashion of the day, from some commonplace book. In the spring of 1551 she appeared again in public, and twice during the month of March she rode in state through the streets of London, gladdening the hearts of the citizens by the splendour of her pageantry. On 11 Oct. the Duke of Somerset was arrested and thrown into the Tower. On 22 Jan. 1552 he was beheaded. Again Elizabeth's name is mentioned, and it is said that attempts had been made to induce her to use her influence on one side or the other, but she held herself aloof from both factions. John Dudley, now duke of Northumberland, had stepped into the place of peril and power which Somerset had filled for five years. The health of the young king was declining Elizabeth tried hard to visit her brother as he lay dying, and when the end came she found herself, equally with her elder sister, struck out of the succession to the throne so far as her brother's will and Northumberland's schemes could effect that object. Edward died at Greenwich on the evening of 6 July 1553. Elizabeth was at Hatfield, Mary was at Hoddesdon, scarce ten miles off. That same night a messenger, slipping through the doubly guarded gates of the palace, rode for his life to Hoddesdon. Mary, with the prompt decision of her race, mounted her horse, and before the morning broke she was beyond the reach of pursuit, safe under the guard of her loyal adherents, and proclaiming herself queen from Kenninghall, the castle of the Howards. Meanwhile commissioners arrived from the Duke of Northumberland to Elizabeth at Hatfield, announcing that Lady Jane Grey had succeeded to the throne, and summoning Elizabeth to court. She pleaded illness; she was unfit for the journey; she could not travel. The Duke of Northumberland and his party had enough upon their hands already; they were content to leave the princess where she was. On 10 July the Lady Jane was proclaimed queen, and made her royal entry into the Tower. On the 13th Northumberland advanced in force against Mary, but soon had to retreat in despair. On the 20th Mary was proclaimed at St. Paul's Cross amid tumultuous rejoicings, and that same day the Lady Jane was stripped of the ensigns of royalty and allowed to retire to Sion House, and Northumberland was thrown into the Tower. On the 29th Elizabeth came riding into London with a huge train, and took up her residence at Somerset House. Next day she passed through Aldgate to meet her sister, and when on 3 Aug. the queen made her triumphal entry into the city Elizabeth rode by her side, receiving her full share of the joyful acclamations of the populace. During the next few weeks she seems to have continued residing at Somerset House, though in frequent attendance on Mary. Everywhere and among all classes there was feverish excitement, political and religious. On the 8th Edward VI was buried with some pomp at Westminster. On the 22nd Northumberland was beheaded. On the 24th the old ritual was restored, and the mass sung at St. Paul's and elsewhere. But in London the feeling in favour of the gospellers was very strong, and there was much dissatisfaction at the bringing in of the old order, and especially at the restoration of Bonner to his bishopric. There is a story that Elizabeth for a while inclined to side with the protestant party, and it is said that she actually refused to attend mass at the Queen's Chapel. If it was so, it is at least strange that not a hint of this has reached us except in the letters of Renaud and Noailles. Be it as it may, she certainly appeared at mass on 8 Sept., and on the 30th, when the queen rode from the Tower through the city to her coronation, the Lady Elizabeth and the Lady Anne of Cleves followed her closely 'in another red chariot covered with cloth of silver.' She continued to attend at court. There her position was extremely dangerous; her very legitimacy was almost openly questioned, and when the Duchess of Suffolk was allowed to take precedence of her, as daughter of Mary, sister of Henry VIII, Elizabeth resented the affront and kept her chamber. All kinds of vulgar and mean cabals were made to bring her into discredit, and Paget presumed to wait upon her to inform her of a story that Noailles, the French ambassador, had actually been admitted to private conferences at night in her chamber. The slander received scarce a moment's credence; it seems to have been invented by Renaud, the emperor's ambassador, without the least shadow of foundation in fact.

The next danger was far more serious. Edward Courtenay [q. v.], son of Henry, earl of Devonshire, was of the blood royal, and had been a prisoner in the Tower for nearly fifteen years when Mary came to the throne. He