ccession, had projected to reign even after his decease; and he
imagined that his ministers, who had always been so obsequious to him
during his lifetime, would never afterwards depart from the plan which
he had traced out to them. He fixed the majority of the prince at the
completion of his eighteenth year; and as Edward was then only a few
months past nine, he appointed sixteen executors; to whom, during the
minority, he intrusted the government of the king and kingdom. Their
names were, Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury; Lord Wriothesely,
chancellor; Lord St. John, great master; Lord Russel, privy seal; the
earl of Hertford, chamberlain: Viscount Lisle, admiral; Tonstal, bishop
of Durham; Sir Anthony Brown, master of horse; Sir William Paget,
secretary of state; Sir Edward North, chancellor of the court of
augmentations; Sir Edward Montague, chief justice of the common pleas;
Judge Bromley, Sir Anthony Denny, and Sir William Herbert, chief
gentlemen of the privy chamber; Sir Edward Wotton, treasurer of Calais;
Dr. Wotton, dean of Canterbury. To these executors, with whom was
intrusted the whole regal authority, were appointed twelve counsellors,
who possessed no immediate power, and could only assist with their
advice when any affair was laid before them. The council was composed
of the earls of Arundel and Essex; Sir Thomas Cheney, treasurer of
the household; Sir John Gage, comptroller; Sir Anthony Wingfield,
vice-chamberlain; Sir William Petre, secretary of state; Sir Richard
Rich, Sir John Baker, Sir Ralph Sadler Sir Thomas Seymour, Sir Richard
Southwell, and Sir Edmund Peckham.[*] The usual caprice of Henry appears
somewhat in this nomination; while he appointed several persons of
inferior station among his executors, and gave only the place of
counsellor to a person of such high rank as the earl of Arundel, and to
Sir Thomas Seymour, the king's uncle.

But the first act of the executors and counsellors was to depart from
the destination of the late king in a material article. No sooner were
they met, than it was suggested that the government would lose its
dignity for want of some head who might represent the royal majesty,
who might receive addresses from foreign ambassadors, to whom despatches
from English ministers abroad might be carried, and whose name might be
employed in all orders and proclamations: and as the king's will seemed
to labor under a defect in this particular, it was deemed necessary to
suppl