Little Arthur's history of England

by Lady Maria Callcott

These things were not only good for the people then, but they have been of use ever since. As the English clergymen, and schools, and colleges, have had no foreign Pope to interfere with them, they have been able to teach such things as are good and useful to England. Clergymen who are married, and have families living in the country among the farmers and cottagers, may set good examples and teach useful things, by the help of their wives and children, which the clergy who were not married could never do.

And as for reading the Bible, and saying prayers in English, it must be better for us all to learn our duties, and speak of our wants to God, in the language we understand best.

For these reasons the reign of Edward the Sixth is always reckoned a very good one for England.

There were, however, some very wrong things done in it, and some unhappy ones, owing to the king’s being so very young.

I told you he was only nine years old when he came to be king. Those in whose care his father had placed him and the kingdom, allowed one of the king’s uncles, the Duke of Somerset, to become his chief guardian and adviser, and he is always called the Lord Protector Somerset.

A quarrel which Henry the Eighth had begun with Scotland was carried on by Somerset, who went himself to Scotland with an army, and beat the Scots at the battle of Pinkie; but the war did no good, and was not even honourable to England. Somerset offered to make peace if the Scottish lords would allow their young Queen Mary to marry our young King Edward, when the children were old enough, and then England and Scotland might have been one kingdom from that time.

I should tell you that the last king of Scotland, James the Fifth, was dead, and that his widow was a French lady, and ruled the kingdom, with the help of the Scottish nobles, for her little daughter, who was five years old. She and the nobles at that time were Papists, and would not allow Mary to marry the Protestant King Edward of England, but sent her to France, where she married a French prince, and was Queen of France for a little while.

When the Protector Somerset came back from Scotland, the great Lords at first seemed glad to see him; but by degrees they made the young king think very ill of him. Besides, many hated Somerset for his pride. He pulled down several churches and bishops’ palaces, to make room for his own palace in the Strand. The great building that now stands in the same place is still called Somerset House.

I am sorry to tell you that one of the Protector’s enemies was his own brother, Lord Seymour of Sudely, a very brave but bad man, who was the High Admiral of England.

Now the Admiral wished to be the king’s guardian instead of Somerset; and he was trying to do this by force. So he was seized and tried; and his own brother, the Protector, signed the order for him to be beheaded.