The Best of the Bureau/The_Best_of_the_Bureau_Bureau_Development_Inc._1992.iso/dp/0006/00069.txt

Text File | 1992-08-07 | 25KB | 393 lines

$Unique_ID{bob00069}
$Pretitle{}
$Title{Makers Of History Queen Elizabeth
Chapter III. Lady Jane Grey.}
$Subtitle{}
$Author{Abbott, Jacob}
$Affiliation{}
$Subject{lady
jane
northumberland
mary
king
edward
elizabeth
power
queen
young
see
tables
}
$Date{1876}
$Log{See Royal Family*0006901.tab
}
Title:       Makers Of History Queen Elizabeth
Book:        Queen Elizabeth
Author:      Abbott, Jacob
Date:        1876

Chapter III. Lady Jane Grey.

     Among Elizabeth's companions and playmates in her early years was a young
lady, her cousin, as she was often called, though she was really the daughter
of her cousin, named Jane Grey, commonly called in history Lady Jane Grey.
Her mother was the Marchioness of Dorset, and was the daughter of one of King
Henry the Eighth's sisters.  King Henry had named her as the next in the order
of succession after his own children, that is, after Edward his son, and Mary
and Elizabeth his two daughters; and, consequently, though she was very young,
yet, as she might one day be Queen of England, she was a personage of
considerable importance.  She was, accordingly, kept near the court, and
shared, in some respects, the education and the studies of the two princesses.

     Lady Jane was about four years younger than the Princess Elizabeth, and
the sweetness of her disposition, united with an extraordinary intellectual
superiority, which showed itself at a very early period, made her a universal
favorite.  Her father and mother, the Marquis and Marchioness of Dorset, lived
at an estate they possessed, called Broadgate, in Leicestershire, which is in
the central part of England, although they took their title from the county of
Dorset, which is on the southwestern coast.  They were very proud of their
daughter, and attached infinite importance to her descent from Henry VII., and
to the possibility that she might one day succeed to the English throne.  They
were very strict and severe in their manners, and paid great attention to
etiquette and punctilio, as persons who are ambitious of rising in the world
are very apt to do.  In all ages of the world, and among all nations, those
who have long been accustomed to a high position are easy and unconstrained in
their manners and demeanor, while those who have been newly advanced from a
lower station, or who are anticipating or aspiring to such an advance, make
themselves slaves to the rules of etiquette and ceremony.  It was thus that
the father and mother of Lady Jane, anticipating that she might one day become
a queen, watched and guarded her incessantly, subjected her to a thousand
unwelcome restraints, and repressed all the spontaneous and natural gayety and
sprightliness which belongs properly to such a child.

     She became, however, a very excellent scholar in consequence of this
state of things.  She had a private teacher, a man of great eminence for his
learning and abilities, and yet of a very kind and gentle spirit, which
enabled him to gain a strong hold on his pupil's affection and regard.  His
name was John Aylmer.  The Marquis of Dorset, Lady Jane's father, became
acquainted with Mr. Aylmer when he was quite young, and appointed him, when he
had finished his education, to come and reside in his family as chaplain and
tutor to his children.  Aylmer afterward became a distinguished man, was made
Bishop of London, and held many high offices of state under Queen Elizabeth,
when she came to reign.  He became very much attached to Queen Elizabeth in
the middle and latter part of his life, as he had been to Lady Jane in the
early part of it.  A curious incident occurred during the time that he was in
the service of Elizabeth, which illustrates the character of the man.  The
queen was suffering from the toothache, and it was necessary that the tooth
should be extracted.  The surgeon was ready with his instruments, and several
ladies and gentlemen of the royal household were in the queen's room
commiserating her sufferings; but the queen dreaded the operation so
excessively that she could not summon fortitude enough to submit to it.
Aylmer, after trying some time in vain to encourage her, took his seat in the
chair instead of her, and said to the surgeon, "I am an old man, and have but
few teeth to lose; but come, draw this one, and let her majesty see how light
a matter it is." One would not have supposed that Elizabeth would have allowed
this to be done; but she did, and, finding that Aylmer made so light of the
operation, she submitted to have it performed upon herself.

     But to return to Lady Jane.  She was very strongly attached to her
teacher, and made great progress in the studies which he arranged for her.
Ladies of high rank, in those days, were accustomed to devote great attention
to the ancient and modern languages.  There was, in fact, a great necessity
then, as indeed there is now, for a European princess to be acquainted with
the principal languages of Europe; for the various royal families were
continually intermarrying with each other, which led to a great many visits,
and other intercourse between the different courts.  There was also a great
deal of intercourse with the pope, in which the Latin language was the medium
of communication.  Lady Jane devoted a great deal of time to all these
studies, and made rapid proficiency in them all.

     The Princess Elizabeth was also an excellent scholar.  Her teacher was a
very learned and celebrated man, named Roger Ascham.  She spoke French and
Italian as fluently as she did English.  She also wrote and spoke Latin with
correctness and readiness.  She made considerable progress in Greek too.  She
could write the Greek character very beautifully, and could express herself
tolerably well in conversation in that language.  One of her comparisons, a
young lady of the name of Cecil, is said to have spoken Greek as well as
English.  Roger Ascham took great interest in advancing the princess in these
studies, and in the course of these his instructions he became acquainted with
Lady Jane, and he praises very highly, in his letters, the industry and
assiduity of Lady Jane in similar pursuits.

     One day Roger Ascham, being on a journey from the north of England to
London, stopped to make a call at the mansion of the Marquis of Dorset.  He
found that the family were all away; they had gone off upon a hunting
excursion in the park.  Lady Jane, however, had been left at home, and Ascham
went in to see her.  He found her in the library reading Greek.  Ascham
examined her a little, and was very much surprised to find how well acquainted
with the language she had become, although she was then only about fifteen
years old.  He told her that he should like very much to have her write him a
letter in Greek, and this she readily promised to do.  He asked her, also, how
it happened that, at her age, she had made such advances in learning.  "I will
tell you," said she, "how it was happened.  One of the greatest benefits that
God ever conferred upon me was in giving me so sharp and severe parents and so
gentle a teacher; for, when I am in the presence of either my father or
mother, whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand, or go; eat, drink, be merry
or sad; be sewing, playing, dancing, or doing any thing else, I must do it, as
it were, in just such weight, measure, and number, as perfectly as possible,
or else I am so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened, vea, presently,
sometimes with pinches, nips, and bobs, and other ways, which I will not name
for the honor I bear my parents, that I am continually teased and tormented.
And then, when the time comes for me to go to Mr. Elsmer, he teaches me so
gently, so pleasantly, and with such fair allurements to learning, that I
think all the time nothing while I am with him; and I am always sorry to go
away from him, because whatsoever else I do but learning is full of grief,
trouble, fear, and suffering."

     Lady Jane Grey was an intimate friend and companion of the young King
Edward as long as he lived.  Edward died when he was