--which in the son of
such a father is rather surprising.

CHAPTER XXX--ENGLAND UNDER MARY

The Duke of Northumberland was very anxious to keep the young King's
death a secret, in order that he might get the two Princesses into his
power. But, the Princess Mary, being informed of that event as she was
on her way to London to see her sick brother, turned her horse's head,
and rode away into Norfolk. The Earl of Arundel was her friend, and it
was he who sent her warning of what had happened.

As the secret could not be kept, the Duke of Northumberland and the
council sent for the Lord Mayor of London and some of the aldermen, and
made a merit of telling it to them. Then, they made it known to the
people, and set off to inform Lady Jane Grey that she was to be Queen.

She was a pretty girl of only sixteen, and was amiable, learned, and
clever. When the lords who came to her, fell on their knees before her,
and told her what tidings they brought, she was so astonished that she
fainted. On recovering, she expressed her sorrow for the young King's
death, and said that she knew she was unfit to govern the kingdom; but
that if she must be Queen, she prayed God to direct her. She was then at
Sion House, near Brentford; and the lords took her down the river in
state to the Tower, that she might remain there (as the custom was) until
she was crowned. But the people were not at all favourable to Lady Jane,
considering that the right to be Queen was Mary's, and greatly disliking
the Duke of Northumberland. They were not put into a better humour by
the Duke's causing a vintner's servant, one Gabriel Pot, to be taken up
for expressing his dissatisfaction among the crowd, and to have his ears
nailed to the pillory, and cut off. Some powerful men among the nobility
declared on Mary's side. They raised troops to support her cause, had
her proclaimed Queen at Norwich, and gathered around her at the castle of
Framlingham, which belonged to the Duke of Norfolk. For, she was not
considered so safe as yet, but that it was best to keep her in a castle
on the sea-coast, from whence she might be sent abroad, if necessary.

The Council would have despatched Lady Jane's father, the Duke of
Suffolk, as the general of the army against this force; but, as Lady Jane
implored that her father might remain with her, and as he was known to be
but a weak man, they told the Duke of Northumberland that he must take
the command himself.