dom. It was one of that nobleman's favourite designs to marry Edward to Mary, the young queen of Scots, so that the two kingdoms might be governed by one king. The Scots were not inclined to favour this project, so Somerset invaded Scotland with a large army, and defeated the Scots with great slaughter at Pinkie, near Edinburgh, on the 10th of September, 1547. But this rough mode of wooing made the Scots more averse than ever to the match, and the young queen was sent to France, where she married the Dauphin. When Somerset returned from Scotland he found that his brother, Thomas Seymour, Lord High Admiral, had been plotting against him, the Admiral was immediately sent to prison, and was afterwards condemned and executed.

But Somerset did not hold office much longer. The nobles, at the head of whom was Dudley, Duke of Northumberland,

accused him of high treason, and he was executed on Tower Hill, on the 22d of January, 1552.

On the death of Somerset, Northumberland was made Protector, and very soon began to form schemes for obtaining supreme power. The young King for some time past had been declining in health; and Northumberland, who never left him, persuaded him to make a will, by which he excluded his half-sisters, Mary and Elizabeth, and left the kingdom to his cousin, the Lady JANE GREY (grand-daughter of Mary Tudor, the sister of Henry VIII.), who had been married to Lord Guildford Dudley, the Duke's son.

Edward now grew rapidly worse, and died at Greenwich, on the 6th of July, 1553, in the sixteenth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign, to the deep regret of the nation.

MARY.

1554-1558.

Two days after Edward died, the Duke of Northumberland caused Lady Jane Grey to be proclaimed queen. This lady, who was about the same age as her cousin, Edward VI., was very clever and accomplished. When she was informed of her new dignity, she fainted away, and refused the crown, saying, that she had no right to it while her cousins, MARY and ELIZABETH, were alive. But her father and mother begged her so earnestly to become queen, that she at last consented. When she heard that Mary had determined to assert her claim to the crown, she immediately retired to her own house. But Mary sent both her and her young husband to the Tower, where after keeping them close prisoners for eight months with

out allowing them to see each other, they were cruelly beheaded: neither of them were seventeen years of age at the time of their execution. The people were very angry with Mary for putting to death these two young and innocent persons. Duke of Northumberland was also arrested, and with several of his followers was condemned and executed.

The

Mary was thirty-eight years of age when her brother died. She had been brought up a strict Roman Catholic. She believed that all other religious opinions were not only false, but wicked, and that all who held them ought to be punished. She looked with horror on the changes which her brother had made; and as soon as she was seated on the throne she proceeded to undo all that he had done. She caused Archbishop Cranmer to be imprisoned; she for

bade the reading of the Scriptures in the English language, and took measures for bringing the country once more under the power of the Pope. Her principal advisers in these matters were Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, and Bonner, Bishop of London.

So fierce was Mary's hatred of the Pro

testant religion, that she ordered some of those who professed that faith to be burnt alive. The first that suffered was a good man named Rogers, remarkable for his piety and learning. He was burnt in Smithfield. The pious and learned Bishop Ridley and the good old Bishop Latimer were burnt at Oxford. Latimer was eighty-five years of age when this sentence was executed. He was firm and cheerful to the last. He said to Ridley, "Brother, be of good cheer; we shall this day light such a candle in England as by God's grace shall never be extinguished." Bishop Hooper was burnt in