REIGNED FIVE YEARS AND FOUR MONTHS.

From 6th July, 1553, to 17th November, 1558.

THE reign of Mary was the most disastrous of any in the annals of England, both from the sufferings of her Protestant subjects, and the troubles and losses sustained by the nation at large. The cause is too plainly recorded to be mistaken. It was her determination, at all events, and by every means in her power, to bring back popery, and to tolerate no other religion; to obtain this end, even the most obvious suggestions of prudence, as well as the clearest rights of her subjects, were unhesitatingly sacrificed. The cruel proceedings against the Protestants are the most prominent events of this reign: they have been faithfully related by those who were eye-witnesses, and recorded by writers who were living at the time. But these events were overruled for good, by causing a just abhorrence of a reli

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gion which acted upon such principles, and manifested such fruits. Whenever popery has endeavoured to regain the ascendency, these facts have been brought forward, and the result has been salutary; England still remains a Protestant nation. But the lapse of time, with the change of habits, causes the impression to be less vivid it is now asserted, that the alterations in society have affected even popery, though it declares itself unchangeable, and we are told that such events could not happen at the present day.

It is therefore important to refer to the general his tory of Mary's reign. This has been too much lost sight of, from the horrid prominence of the persecu tions which form the most striking events of that period. The sufferings of the Protestants are recorded minutely in various publications; they must never be forgotten: but the reflecting reader will find a lesson from the polity of the unhappy queen, equally instructive as to the principles of popery, and perhaps more useful at the present day. The principles of popery are, and must be, unchanged. They teach the necessity of ruling the consciences of men, by forcing them to adopt a system of implicit belief and slavish action, directly opposed to the plain declarations of Holy Scripture. This, it will be seen, was the aim of Mary; this, it cannot be denied, is the object of popery now; this, we learn from Scrip ture, will be its constant effort, till it is broken and consumed by the power of the Most High.

It will be seen, that the cruelties inflicted on the Protestants were the necessary results of such principles. If, then, the principles remain the same, have we reason to believe that the nature of men is so far changed, that the same causes would not produce similar results? Upon this, happily, we are not now called to speak; but we ought not to view with indifference any attempt to coerce or persecute under the guise of religion: whatever name or form such proceedings may assume, they are popery.

When the brief resistance to her accession had ended,

Mary proceeded slowly towards London. Northumberland, and the other prisoners, were carried to the Tower on July 25th, 1553, where lady Jane was a prisoner, though so lately there as a queen. On August 3rd, Mary made her entry at Aldgate, with a splendid train. On her arrival, she was met by her sister Elizabeth, with a numerous body of attendants; they rode together to the Tower: the younger sister, handsome in person, and commanding in demeanour, appeared to advantage, contrasted with the diminutive figure and forbidding aspect of Mary, who was, however, received by the people with loud acclamations. It is evident, whatever some recent historians may say, Henry and his family were popular with the English nation.

On her arrival, Mary released the four principal state prisoners of the last reign; the duke of Norfolk, the duchess of Somerset, Courtney, the son of the late marquis of Exeter, and Gardiner, the bishop of Winchester. She at once received the latter to her favour, as her prime minister. Her attachment to popery was soon shown. On August 8th, the late king was buried at Westminster, when Cranmer used the Protestant service for the burial of the dead. But Mary, on the same day, caused a mass of requiem to be performed before her in the Tower, for the repose of his soul.

One of the first measures of her reign was the trial and condemnation of Northumberland, who was beheaded on August 22nd, with two knights, Gates and Palmer; and then the headless bodies of the two great dukes who ruled England during the last reign, laid before the altar in Tower chapel, by two headless queens of the preceding monarch. A striking instance how slippery such exalted stations are! The duke's execution was delayed a few days, to allow him to manifest his return to popery. He probably thereby hoped to escape death, but was disappointed. In addition to a declaration against the Reformation, it is to be remarked that, when on the scaffold, he expressly declared that the act for which he died, the attempt

to alter the succession, was not so much his own deed as that of others.

Several of the leading Protestants had, by this time, been committed to the Tower; among them was Ridley, bishop of London, who was charged with treason, for having preached a sermon at Paul's Cross on one of the Sundays of queen Jane's reign, in which he stated, in strong terms, the evils that must ensue if Mary obtained the crown. Room was thus made for Bonner to return to the see of London. Bourne, his chaplain, preached_before him at Paul's Cross on the 13th, extolling Bonner, and speaking in disparagement of the late king, and of the Reformation. The audience, who well knew Bonner, and the cruelties of popery, were excited to a tumult by these statements; a dagger was hurled at the preacher-one proof among many others that the mass of the people were not attached to their ancient superstitions, which popish historians falsely assert. Bradford, a Protestant prebendary of St. Paul's, came forward to quiet the people, and enabled the preacher to take shelter in St. Paul's school. The former was committed to the Tower, on the unfounded charge that he had raised the tumult, which, in fact, he quelled! It was evident that every pretext against the Protestants would be seized.

Mary took an early opportunity to declare her regard for popery. On August 18th, she issued a proclamation, declaring that she was of the religion she had professed from her infancy; but she added, that none of her subjects should be compelled to adopt it, till that course was resolved on by common consent; meanwhile, all preachers were forbidden to preach and explain Scripture without license. From this document it was evident that popery would be re-established, as soon as the parliament could be induced to consent.

The men of Suffolk, on this, sent a deputation to the queen, with an address reminding her of her promises; they were roughly treated, and told that the members must obey the head. One of them, a gentleman named

Dobbe, was put in the pillory three times. Many other proceedings showed that papists would be favoured, while the Protestants were put down: even those personally active in behalf of Mary were set aside, while papists who had assisted Northumberland, till the efforts of the Protestants placed Mary in her present situation, were favoured.

Cranmer was ordered to keep at home. A false report being spread that he was ready to say mass, he wrote a declaration, stating his firm adherence to the Protestant faith, offering that he, with Peter Martyr, would publicly defend the doctrines set forth in the late reign, and show that they were strictly in accordance with the word of God. Cranmer allowed bishop Scory to take a copy of this document; thus it got abroad: all the scriveners or public writers in London were employed to meet the eagerness of the people to obtain copies. This declaration came forth at a seasonable moment. Cranmer was thereby carried further than most expected his natural timidity would have allowed him to go; while so open a declaration against the queen's proceedings in religion, had particular force and power from one who so long resisted the attempt to set aside the succession. The queen's displeasure was excited against the archbishop; but he was enabled firmly to stand to the declaration he had made, only expressing regret that it had gone forth before it was quite finished, avowing his intention to have affixed it with his signature on the doors of St. Paul's. The council, on this bold avowal, caused him to be committed to the Tower, where others were continually sent; among them were several of the nobility.

Many Protestant ministers, finding themselves turned out of their cures, hastened to leave England. The first public celebration of mass, in a parish church, was in London, on August 23rd, at St. Nicholas Coleabby. The priest who thus showed his haste to return to popery had married during the late reign: he now sold his wife to a butcher. So notorious was his infamous