Page:The Queens of England.djvu/391

LADY JANE GREY. 351 and made a snatch at the crown : he fell, and many of his family with him ; yet we find his grandson, Robert Dudley, by his handsome exterior, captivating Queen Elizabeth, and made Earl of Leicester. When we read of the unprincipled deeds of Leicester, of the atrocious murder of his wife, and other acts which deserved a halter, we have only to remember the- stock whence he sprung, and our astonishment ceases. It was now the evil fortune of Lady Jane Grey to fall the sacrifice to the base ambition of Dudley, the son of the ex- tortioner. The times had favored the upward flight of many meaner birds of prey. The minoritv of the king had allowed them to get into his council ; and once there, they conferred on each other estates and the very highest titles with a lavish hand. By such means Dudley, the son of a man of such evil fame, stood in the royal presence clothed with the ancient dignity of the dukedom of Northumberland. The time was fast approaching for him to develop the full audacity of his nature. He began to cast his eyes on the innocent beauty of Lady Jane Grey, and to plan how he might by her mount even to the throne itself, if not for himself, yet for his family. The king's health was delicate ; Mary, his sister, was a catholic ; there was only Elizabeth betwixt Lady Jane and the crown if a protestant was to wear it. The temptation was too great for a man who had never shrunk from any crime which stood in the path of his aggrandizement. Lady Jane was yet but fourteen, but she had made her public appearance at court in her mother's train when on the occasion of the visit of Mary, queen-dowager of Scotland, to the king at Greenwich, she shortly afterwards became the guest of the Princess Mary. Fox recites an anecdote that occurred during the visit, which conspicuously displays the quickness of Lady Jane's wit. She was invited by Lady Anne Wharton to accompany her in a walk, and passing in their road the princess' chapel, Lady Anne made the customary obeisance of a catholic to a place of worship, from the Host always being contained therein. Lady Jane, not comprehending the object of her respect, asked if the Princess Mary were in the chapel ; and was answered, "No, but that she had made her courtesy to Him that made us all." "How can He be there that made us all," ingeniously observed Lady Jane, "when the baker made him ?" "This answer," says Fox, "coming to the Lady Mary's ears, she did never love her after."