Lady Jane Grey to the throne, in order to
exclude the Princess Mary, whose accession he knew very well would bring
all his greatness to a very sudden end.

The Earl of Northumberland was at this time the principal minister
of the young king. The protector Somerset had fallen long ago.
Northumberland, whose name was then John Dudley, had supplanted him, and
had acquired so great influence and power at court that almost every
thing seemed to be at his disposal. He was, however, generally hated by
the other courtiers and by the nation. Men who gain the confidence of a
young or feeble-minded prince, so as to wield a great power not properly
their own, are almost always odious. It was expected, however, that his
career would be soon brought to an end, as all knew that King Edward
must die, and it was generally understood that Mary was to succeed him.

Northumberland, however, was very anxious to devise some scheme to
continue his power, and in revolving the subject in his mind, he
conceived of plans which seemed to promise not only to continue, but
also greatly to increase it. His scheme was to have the princesses'
claims set aside, and Lady Jane Grey raised to the throne. He had
several sons. One of them was young, handsome, and accomplished. He
thought of proposing him to Lady Jane's father as the husband of Lady
Jane, and, to induce the marquis to consent to this plan, he promised to
obtain a dukedom for him by means of his influence with the king. The
marquis agreed to the proposal. Lady Jane did not object to the husband
they offered her. The dukedom was obtained, and the marriage, together
with two others which Northumberland had arranged to strengthen his
influence, were celebrated, all on the same day, with great festivities
and rejoicings. The people looked on moodily, jealous and displeased,
though they had no open ground of displeasure, except that it was
unsuitable to have such scenes of gayety and rejoicing among the high
officers of the court while the young monarch himself was lying upon his
dying bed. They did not yet know that it was Northumberland's plan to
raise his new daughter-in-law to the throne.

Northumberland thought it would greatly increase his prospect of success
if he could obtain some act of acknowledgment of Lady Jane's claims to
the crown before Edward died. An opportunity soon occurred for effecting
this purpose. One day, as he was sitting by young Edward's bedside, he
turned the conversat