very evident to the reader; it will not be amiss to notice here that already King Henry by pronouncing his marriage with Katharine incestuous, of course, rendered the offspring, the Princess Mary, illegitimate; and by the decision of Cranmer that the marriage with Anne Boleyn was "always" null and void, in consequence of her engagement to Percy, of course the Princess Elizabeth was placed in the same unpleasant position. At this time, therefore, provided Henry's unjust decisions were acquiesced in, the legitimate heir to the English crown must have been found in the person of Henry's sisters, or one of their descendants.

The Reformation at this time was gaining ground with considerable rapidity; not that there was as yet a pure Protestantism in England, for such was not the case till Henry was laid in his tomb; but the royal example of disrespect to the Pope was almost universally followed, and the people examined the religious disputes for themselves. Parliament, at the instigation of the king, suppressed all religious houses having an income of less than £200 a year; the lands, buildings, rents and all appurtenances falling into the king's exchequer, and

amounting to over a million of pounds sterling. Still later, the larger monasteries and the colleges likewise fell into the hands of Henry, who seemed never to be satisfied with his income.

The most momentous act of the century, perhaps, occurred about this time-the translation of the Holy Scriptures into the English tongue for the use of the people. Isolated copies of the Bible had for several years been very carefully circulated among the curious and learned, or those who favored the principles of the German reformers; but until now it was reckoned an offence for a layman to peruse so dangerous a book. It is said that Anne Boleyn, in Wolsey's time, possessed a copy which the prelate took away from the hands of a friend, to whom she had lent it, but which Anne coaxed Henry to oblige the cardinal to return to its owner. But now copies of the new translation were printed in Paris, and were attached by a chain to the reading-desk of every church in England, so that every man who knew how to read, could peruse the holy book.

CHAPTER III.

BIRTH OF LADY JANE GREY.-HER FATHER. HIS COUNTRY SEAT.LADY JANE'S EARLY HISTORY.-CUSTOMS OF THE AGE.--HER APPEARANCE AT COURT AS MAID TO KATHARINE PARR.-JANE SEYMOUR.-KING'S MARRIAGE.-BIRTH OF PRINCE EDWARD.-DEATH OF THE QUEEN.-HENRY MARRIES ANNE OF CLEVES.-DESERTS HER. MARRIES KATHARINE HOWARD.--HER DISGRACE AND EXECUTION.

HAVING hastily sketched the history of Henry VIII., previous to the times of Lady Jane Grey, we now come to the event of her birth, which oc curred in the year 1537. Henry, Marquis of Dorset, the father of our heroine, we have before remarked, was not a man whose character in all its shades can command our admiration; yet if we may rely upon the statements of contemporary writers, he was possessed of remarkable personal courage, and was generally quite generous, though he was troubled with fits of meanness, in one of which he treated his mother disgracefully. He was a man of some ambition, yet was much fonder of retirement and the quiet joys to be

found in the bosom of his family, than of all the brilliant shows of the capital or court. He prided himself in keeping up the dignified magnificence of the ancient nobility upon his own estate, rather than in filling a conspicuous position at court. He resided, at the time Lady Jane was born, at his seat of Bradgate, in Leicestershire. It was situated on the borders of the celebrated Charnwood forest, about four miles from the town of Leicester. The building upon the estate was large and fine, and was constructed by Lady Jane's grandfather. It was built principally of brick, was square, with four turrets at each corner, and was a very commodious building. The park attached to it was extensive, being six miles in compass, and beautiful, and was surrounded. by a high wall. On one side of the garden there ran a beautiful little stream. This stream was used to turn a mill on the family estate. The estate was of large extent, and was well wooded. Upon it there was a castle, called Groby Castle, situate about ten miles from Bradgate, which, but for the fact that it was in a ruinous condition, would undoubtedly have been the family resi. dence,--though it was originally constructed with an eye to defence from foes without, and conse

quently was hardly suited to the age. The forest of Charnwood adjoined the family residence, and was more than twenty miles in extent, and was principally owned by Lady Jane's father, which proves him to have been a man of large possessions. It was called the waste, it being entirely destitute of population. The park of Bewmanor also belonged to the Marquis of Dorset, also the Burley park. By exchange of lands with his sovereign, the marquis came into possession of an immense tract of land about Bradgate, upon which there resided but few people, and those principally his own retainers. It cannot be uninteresting to the reader to contemplate for a moment this scene of the childhood of Lady Jane Grey. For here she spent all her early years, not, as we know of, leaving it at all until her seventh year. She was completely isolated from the great world without. Her home was one of the grandest in England, yet in the bosom of a wilderness. It was in the heart of England, and for miles around there was nothing but uninhabited fields and forests. There were thousands of acres of grand old woods, and square miles of open country, upon which there were waving crops of grass and grain. The solitude would have