rich to be merciful to the poor and to comfort and relieve them by
charitable works. The sermon so impressed the boy that he founded St.
Thomas's--St. Bartholomew's Hospital, in Smithfield, where a few years
later the martyrs were to suffer at the stake under his ruthless sister
Mary--and Christ's Hospital, which we all know as the "Bluecoat" school,
where Charles Lamb, and Coleridge, and Thackeray and many another
learned man spent their schooldays. But the boy-king did yet more. In
eighteen towns of England he founded the famous Grammar Schools which
"throw a lustre over the name of Edward," although he did not live to
see the fruit of his noble thought.

FOOTNOTES:

[43] Memorials, 464.

[44] "Memorials of Westminster Abbey." p. 81.

[45] Memorials. p. 81.

[46] Leland. p. 324.

[47] (Froude. Vol. V. p. 441.)

CHAPTER VI

MISS ELIZABETH RUSSELL.

On the 27th of October, 1575, there was a grand christening at
Westminster. The tiny baby, wrapped in a mantle of crimson velvet, was
carried with royal pomp into the Abbey. Some of the most splendid and
famous personages of the day attended to do honor to the child, and the
queen's majesty was godmother.

Who was this baby? Why was all this display and ceremony expended on an
infant only five days old?

The little girl was of noble birth. She was daughter of John, Baron
Russell, second son of the Earl of Bedford, one of that famous family
which has given England some of her best statesmen for hundreds of
years. Her mother was a daughter of Sir Anthony Cooke, of Gildea Hall in
Essex, "a man of the ancient equanimity and worship," well known for
his goodness and learning. Sir Anthony brought up his daughters to
follow in his own footsteps. They were noble and accomplished
gentlewomen and learned withal, for they could write easily in Greek,
Latin and Italian, as well as in their own tongue. One of them, Mildred,
married Sir William Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, Queen Elizabeth's
famous councillor and adviser. Anne was wife of Sir Nicholas, afterwards
Lord Chancellor Bacon, whose son was the great philosopher, Francis
Bacon, Lord Verulam. Elizabeth, Lady Russell, the mother of our "child
of Westminster," had been married before to Sir Thomas Hobby, ambassador
to France. And when he died in 1566, Queen Elizabeth wrote a letter full
of affection and esteem to his widow. In this letter she praises the
dead Sir Thomas; and then goes on:

And for you