On the 10th (some say the 12th) of August 1565, there were gay doings at Mr. Sergeant-Porter’s lodgings. It was Mr. Henry Knollys’s[125] wedding-day, and after the ceremony, which was graced by Elizabeth’s presence, the wedding party, freed from the restraints of court etiquette, adjourned to Keyes’s apartment, and there feasted, danced, and romped till nine o’clock at night. Among the merry company were Mrs. Lettice Knollys and the Lady Mary Grey. One can only conclude Mr. Sergeant-Porter had drunk more wine than was good for him; otherwise he was surely the veriest fool that ever lived, for immediately the wedding guests had taken leave, he and Lady Mary Grey were married by candle-light, in the presence of a certain Mrs. Goldwell, an attendant on Lady Howard (who acted as a witness of the ceremony), the Sergeant-Porter’s brother, Mr. Edward Keyes, Mr. Martin Cawsley, a Cambridge student, and “Mr. Cheyney’s man.” A priest, described at the subsequent inquiry as “a little fat old man, who wore a very short gown,” was introduced upon the scene. No one knew his name, or seems to have cared to find it out. The persons present supposed he was a Swiss Reformer in exile, “but he said the marriage service in English, and according to the Book of Common Prayer.” Remembering the doubts cast upon the marriage of her sister Lady Katherine, the Lady Mary secured plenty of witnesses to assist at the ceremony; but it seems inconceivable, and seemed so even in those days, that any sane person should have ventured to mix themselves up in such a scandalous business. Of course these witnesses promised secrecy; and needless to say, every man and woman of them broke pledge.
Within the week, Queen Elizabeth was made aware of the whole matter. Lady Howard of Effingham, and her woman, Mrs. Goldwell, were among the first “to let the cat out of the bag,” for the earliest letters on the subject of the marriage are two which passed between Lord William Howard and Secretary Cecil, the first-named mentioning[126] that “the Queen’s Grace hath taken this matter of the Lady Mary Grey’s marriage very much to heart.” Cecil, in a letter to Sir Thomas Smith, clerk to the privy council, dated August 21, thus quaintly expressed his horror and indignation: “Here,” says he, “is the most unhappy chance and a monstrous. The Sergeant-Porter, being the biggest gentleman at this Court, hath secretly married the Lady Mary Grey, the least of all the Court.” It must be admitted that Queen Elizabeth had cause for anger this time. The Lady Mary, her near kinswoman, a mere girl, secretly married to a man of barely gentle birth, a widower to boot, with seven children, and entirely dependent for his livelihood on his menial position in the queen’s own service! Had her wrath exhausted itself in legitimate upbraiding of her servant, and temporary banishment of her indiscreet cousin, there would have been very little to say against it; but Elizabeth had other and more stringent views with regard to the disposal of the Lady Mary and her fortune. She was determined, she said, with one of her usual oaths, to “have no little bastard Keyes,” succeeding to her Throne, and she was evidently resolved to ignore Master Keyes’s distant kinship with herself, which was probably at the bottom of his audacious conduct, for he felt convinced that in consideration of this connection his august cousin would eventually pardon him. It was not to be; forthwith, like an eagle on its prey, Elizabeth swooped down on the luckless pair. On August 22, not a fortnight after the marriage, Master Sergeant-Porter Keyes was consigned to the tender mercies of the warden of the Fleet Prison. All the witnesses, including the loquacious Mrs. Goldwell, were arrested, and the wretched little bride herself made over to the fearsome functionary known as “The Mother of the Maids,” whose duty was to look after the more ill-conducted of the “Virgin Queen’s” juvenile attendants, and even, when necessary, to birch them soundly. Whether Lady Mary suffered under Mother Ansell’s rod we know not; but from the 19th to the 22nd of August, she was rigorously and continuously cross-examined by the privy council as to the facts about her marriage and the state of her fortune. Where she remained during these inquiries is not clear; Guzman de Silva, the Spanish ambassador, speaking of the matter in a letter from London, says “he [Keyes] is imprisoned in the jail here and she [Mary] is incarcerated at Windsor.” It is known that the queen and the court were at that castle about this time; and it is not unlikely that the Spaniard’s statement is correct; indeed it would seem to be confirmed by a command issued by Elizabeth to William Hawtrey, Esquire, of Buckinghamshire, that “he do forthwith repair to Court, and take into his charge and custody the Lady Mary Grey, and convey her forthwith to his house, ‘The Chequers,’ without permitting her to hold conference with any one, or to have liberty to go abroad, suffering only one waiting-woman to have access to her. For Mr. Hawtrey’s charges and expenses concerning the said Lady Mary, the Queen’s Majesty will see him satisfied in reason.”
The following is Lady Mary’s own account of the marriage, as elicited during the above-mentioned examination. Copies of her statement will be found in the Record Office (State Papers, Domestic Series, Elizabeth, vol. xxxvii., No. 71), together with other documents relating to the marriage of Lady Mary Grey with Mr. Keyes. The first paper, written in Cecil’s very clear hand, contains a list of questions put to the Lady Mary; and the second, in a secretary’s exceedingly illegible scrawl, gives her answers, more or less in her own words. Asked when the marriage took place, Lady Mary answered:
“The day of the marriage of Mr. Knollys—I was married about nine o’clock at night by candlelight.”
“Where?”
“In the Sergeant-Porter’s chamber.”
“Who were present?”
“The Sergeant’s brother, the Sergeant’s son, a gentlewoman, Mrs. Goldwell, and the priest, apparelled in a short gown.” She never knew his name.
“What was he like?”