Several persons attended on Lady Jane in the Tower, among them Elizabeth Tylney,[262] “a beautiful young woman of good birth,” Lady Throckmorton, wife of Sir Nicholas Throckmorton, and “Mrs. Ellen.” Some light has been thrown upon the identity of the last-named lady by Lady Philippa de Clifford, Lady Jane’s cousin, whose curious account of her unhappy kinswoman’s last hours was published in Brussels in 1660; from this we learn that “Mrs. Ellen, an elderly woman,” was Lady Jane’s nurse. There were also two waiting-maids, and a lad, in the suite of the Princess, as we glean from The Chronicles of Queen Jane and Queen Mary. Thus she was no “solitary prisoner,” but served by gentlewomen, and in comparative comfort. We must, therefore, dismiss the old idea that Lady Jane Grey was ever relegated to a “dungeon deep,” to pine in darkness and in loneliness. That she was not fed on bread and water is proved by the Privy Council records, from which we learn that ninety-five shillings a week was allowed for her maintenance whilst in captivity, and twenty shillings for each of her attendants, six in number—a very handsome allowance in those days, and equivalent, in modern coinage, to about fifteen times the amount.
It must be clearly understood that Lady Jane was never even formally arrested, as were Henry VIII’s Queens. No armed guard took her captive, after the reading of a solemn warrant. She was simply detained in the Tower,[263] partly as a hostage for the good behaviour of her father, and partly to prevent her being once more the tool of those who might attempt to place her on the throne, and make her the figure-head of a politico-religious party. Northumberland and his followers had claimed honours for her which rightly belonged to Mary, and when Mary gained the upper hand, “Jane the usurper” had, ipso facto, to be kept in retirement.
There is no trace of any independent movement on Guildford’s part, during the nine days of his wife’s reign, except to assist his mother in pushing his “claim” to the throne. Either he sulked, because Jane had refused to make him King Consort on the day following her entry into the Tower; or else Northumberland advised him to keep out of the way as much as possible, so as to escape the blame of having taken an active part in the usurped administration. Be this as it may, we have no news of his doings, from the first day or two of the nine days’ reign, until after its termination, when he was parted from his wife, and sent to the Beauchamp Tower, whither, on the 25th July, his brothers, Lord Warwick and Lord Ambrose Dudley, followed him, to be joined the next day by Lord Robert Dudley.
Jane’s peaceful seclusion was of very short duration. On the day following her deposition (20th July), the Marquis of Winchester, Lord High Treasurer,[264] came to ask for the return of the Crown Jewels and other articles delivered to her on the second day of her Queenship. A parcel or so was missing, it would seem, and Winchester, when he commanded Jane to restore the Crown Jewels, desired she should also make good the alleged deficiency. Astonished at this demand, she declared she knew nothing of the missing articles, but agreed to give up all the money she had in her possession, and on 25th July she consigned to the Treasury an extraordinary assortment of coins—angels of the reign of Edward VI, gold coronation medals of Henry VIII and Edward VI, some shillings and half shillings, as well as some deteriorated coinage of Edward VI, of no value. The whole of her available assets did not amount to more than £541, 13s. 2d. The missing valuables, it would appear, had not been returned two months later, or else Queen Mary had not been informed of their receipt, for on 20th September she writes to Winchester requesting him immediately to order Lady Jane to give up the jewels and “stuffs,” which had been delivered to her “on July 12th,” and which were still missing. The inventory of these mislaid “stuffs” includes a most curious assortment of odds and ends, which one would think it hardly worth Queen Mary’s while to reclaim. First we have a large leather box, marked with Henry VIII’s broad arrow, containing “two old shaving cloths, and thirteen pairs of old leather gloves, some of them worn.” Another “square coffer” missing, and described as being covered with “Naples fustian,” contained a collection of old Catholic prayer books, rosaries, and other odds and ends, which had probably remained among the Tower stores since Katherine of Aragon had last kept court there, and which were, needless to say, of no use to Lady Jane Grey! The first article in this collection is the half of a broken ring of gold, perchance some forgotten love-token. Then comes “a book of prayers, covered with purple velvet, and garnished with gold. A primer [or Catholic prayer book] in English. Three old halfpence in silver, seven little halfpence and farthings. Item, sixteenpence, two farthings and two halfpence. A purse of leather with eighteen strange coins of silver. A ring of gold with a death’s head. Three French crowns, one broken in two. Item, a girdle of gold thread. A pair of twitchers [tweezers] of silver. A pair of knives in a case of black silk. Two books covered with leather. Item, a little square box of gold and silver with a pair of shears [scissors] and divers shreds of satin. A piece of white paper containing a pattern of gold damask.” The third coffer was “Queen’s jewels,” and contained chains of gold studded with rosettes of pearl and other valuables. The fate of this curious collection of gewgaws is unknown. About the same time, Winchester made an exploration of the contents of Guildford’s pockets, which resulted in the discovery that he possessed exactly £32, 8s., in the debased coinage of Edward’s reign. Miss Strickland, in mentioning this incident, says: “Thus the prisoners were left entirely without the means of bribing their gaolers.” This is not the case, for Lady Jane appears to have made a will (which may still be in existence, though for the time being it has disappeared) in which she left certain jewels, clocks, and valuables to her sisters, her women, and her servants, and, strange to relate, a gold cup or chalice to Queen Mary. Wherefore we may conclude she was allowed to retain the articles brought her from Westminster Palace, some of which served, no doubt, to decorate her apartment in the Tower. We possess no record, unfortunately, of the sort of food provided for the prisoner and her husband; we can only guess at its nature by consulting the bills of fare, still extant, provided for the Duchess of Somerset during her imprisonment in the Tower: from the fact of the prices of the various dishes being appended, we may conclude that the wealthier political prisoners were allowed to pay for their meals. Her Grace’s bill for “dynner” was as follows:—
“Mutton stewed with potage viijd. Beef boiled viijd. Veale, rost xd.” “Suppr” consisted of:— “Slyced beef vjd. Mutton rost viijd. Bred xd. Bere viijd. Wyne viijd.”
| “Mutton stewed with potage | viijd. |
| Beef boiled | viijd. |
| Veale, rost | xd.” |
| “Suppr” consisted of:— | |
| “Slyced beef | vjd. |
| Mutton rost | viijd. |
| Bred | xd. |
| Bere | viijd. |
| Wyne | viijd.” |
“Wood, coills (coals) and candull by the weke,” cost “xxd.”
In the meantime, the Council had retired to Westminster, whence, as is generally believed, it sent Northumberland orders to disband his army and await Mary’s pleasure before returning to London; the herald who bore this order being commissioned to proclaim, in certain places en route, that if the Duke refused to submit he should be arrested as a traitor. Before this, as we have said (on the 19th instant), the Earl of Arundel and Lord Paget had been dispatched to offer the Council’s homage to Mary, bearing with them the following letter—a good specimen of the barefaced hypocrisy practised on Lady Jane. “Our bounden duties most humbly remembered to your most excellent majesty, it may like the same to understand, that we your most humble, faithful, and obedient subjects, having always (God we take to witness) remained your Highness’s true and humble subjects in our hearts, ever since the death of our late sovereign Lord and Master, your Highness’s brother, whom God pardon; and seeing hitherto no possibility to utter our determination herein, without great destructions and bloodshed, both of ourselves and others till this time, have this day proclaimed in your city of London, your majesty to be our true natural sovereign, liege Lady and Queen, most humbly beseeching your Majesty to pardon and remit our former infirmities, and most graciously to accept our meaning which have been ever to serve your Highness truly, and it shall remain with all our powers and forces to the effusion of our blood. These bearers, our very good lords, the Earl of Arundel and Lord Paget, can and be ready now particularly to declare, to whom it may please your excellent Majesty, to give firm credence; and thus we do and shall daily pray to Almighty God for the preservation of your most royal person long to reign ... from your Majesty’s city of London this ... (19th) day of July, the first year of your most prosperous reign.” This letter needs no comment; Paget’s treachery towards his late patron is particularly diabolical. He seems to have behaved throughout with Mephistophelian cunning and falseness. There is something absolutely Satanic in the hypocritical manner in which this letter asserts that the Council had hitherto had no opportunity to express its “determination” in the matter of Mary’s right to the Crown—this in the hope of leading Mary to think it had been acting under compulsion! If Jane’s friends had succeeded in establishing her on the throne, and Mary had been killed or driven out of the country, these Councillors, the latter’s “most humble, faithful, and obedient subjects,” would, no doubt, have rallied about her rival—provided always it paid them so to do; Mary being victorious, they saved their necks and kept their positions by embracing her cause. Like the Vicar of Bray, no matter who was King, or what were the social and religious conditions of the country, these gentlemen were resolved to cling to their offices, and accommodate their opinions and actions to those of the party in power.
It was about this time that Mary received another abject document of the same sort—the already quoted “Submission” or apologia of Cecil, whose conduct throughout had been as tortuous as that of any of Eugene Sue’s Jesuits.
A previous chapter has touched upon the singular intrigues of the Commissioners in Brussels, who conveyed Diego Mendoza’s acclamation of Guildford, as King of England, to the Council. We must now relate the sequel. On the 20th July, these gentlemen followed up their letter of the 15th, by another, stating that they had vainly endeavoured to obtain an interview with the Emperor, who was exasperated by what had happened in England, and had even refused to receive Mr. Shelley, the bearer of the Council’s letter of the 12th July. His Imperial Majesty held that Jane’s assumption of the Crown would lead to trouble with France; Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, at this time consort of the Dauphin of France, having a claim to the English throne prior to that of Lady Jane. He does not seem to have approved—or else he feigned disapproval—of Mary Tudor’s succession, but desired the matter should be settled by Parliament in accordance with the will of the English nation. Within a few days, probably, the Commissioners, hearing of Jane’s downfall, and realising their own danger, promptly submitted—like the Council at home—to Mary, and enclosed the letter brought by Shelley in one of their own dated 29th July to the Council at Westminster, “for that it hath pleased God to call my Lady Mary her grace to the State and possession of the realm, according to the King’s majesty her father’s last will and the laws of the realm.” Not quite sure, however, as to what has taken place, they ask the Council to let them have all news to date, and desire to know “her majtys pleasure what we should do, wherunto we shall conform ourselves most willingly according to our most bounden duty.... Sir Philip Hoby, etc., to the Council.”[265] In spite of their forethought, Hoby and Morysone were recalled by an order of 5th August, their place at Brussels being taken by Dr. Wootton, Bishop of Norwich; and the fact that in the said order they are described as “Mr.” Hoby and “Mr.” Morysone suggests that they were in dire disgrace. Most likely their letter about Guildford rankled in Mary’s mind! Their attempt to shelter themselves behind a show of loyalty, at all events, was not as successful as that of the Council at home, but they richly deserved any punishment their duplicity received; for, like the rest of the Janeite conspirators, they supported her cause as long as it seemed likely to profit them, and abandoned it, as if it were plague-stricken, directly the tables were turned.