Page:The Queens of England.djvu/423

 MARY THE FIRST. 381 mounted on a white horse, richly caparisoned, and was attired in a dress of violet-colored velvet. At the city gate she dis- missed her troops, consisting of no less than three thousand men ; and the lord mayor, with a body of gentlemen in splen- did habiliments, and attended by the civic guard, composed her escort. Mary first halted at the Tower, there to remain until the, late king had been consigned to. the tomb; and the first sight that presented itself to her on entering the portal was the melancholy one of all the state prisoners, women as well as men, who had been confined there during the reigns of the last two monarchs. Among them were many of high note, and some whose lives were only saved by the death of Edward. Mary betrayed considerable emotion as she looked on these prisoners, and immediately commanded that they should be restored to liberty. Many of them were appointed to places of high trust in the royal household, and the bishops were rein- stated in their sees. The funeral of Edward, which was con- ducted with all becoming splendor, being over, Mary issued a proclamation, recommending her subjects to refrain from angry disputations on religious subjects, and holding out a promise of toleration to those whose creeds accorded not with her own. It is probable that, had Mary been left to the dic- tates of her own conscience, she might have fulfilled this pledge ; but her privy council had those among its members who were little disposed towards toleration, and who, urged on by bigotry, used their baleful influence to turn her from the milder and wiser course she was at first inclined to adopt. The cases were neither few not unfrequent in which the merciful interference of Mary rescued victims from the wrath of her privy council, and rarely was it denied by her if entreated. The first step taken by Mary in violation of the promise of tol- eration was the prohibition of public reading of the Scrip- tures, or preaching of the curates, except by such as were licensed by her ; and this gave a foretaste of what might be afterwards expected. A bigoted sovereign is sure to corrupt the religious principles of a great portion of her subjects, and to divide them into two classes, hypocrites and martyrs. Those who court favor will be ready to adopt her creed, and those who conscientiously adhere to their own expose themselves to obloquy, if not to persecution. Northumberland and his com- panions in rebellion were brought to trial a few days after Mary ascended the throne, and he and two of his -followers