their mothers to have been his lawful wife. This was exactly in accordance with the tyrannical spirit of Henry the Eighth. If these daughters had really been illegitimate, the next heir to the throne would have been the queen of Scotland, for she was the niece of Henry the Eighth. There was, however, another lady, called Jane Grey, an excellent lady, who was related to the king, but not near enough to give her any claim to the crown.

This good lady Jane, indeed, never wished to put in any such claim; but there happened to be a proud ambitious nobleman, the duke of Northumberland, who contrived that his son, lord Guildford Dudley, should marry lady Jane; and then he entered into a scheme to get this lady to be acknowledged the heir to the throne; and he even prevailed on the young king to declare that lady Jane should be his successor.

I ought to tell you, that this young king had a very delicate constitution; and his health was now in a very bad state, and he began to shew strong symptoms of decline ;—and this was probably the reason why the duke of Northumberland was so desirous of having lady Jane at once declared heir to the throne. The king's illness

increased, and his end seems to have been hastened by bad management. The duke of Northumberland was constantly about him he sent away the regular physician, and had the king entrusted to the care of an ignorant old woman, who declared that she could cure him. Whether this was a contrivance of Northumberland to get rid of the king, as some historians say, I will not pretend to determine. From the time, however, that the old woman was introduced, the king continued to grow worse. This, indeed, was likely enough to be the case, without one being obliged to believe the severe accusation against the duke. The king died in the year 1553, at Greenwich, where there was then a royal palace, in the sixteenth year of his age, and the seventh of his reign. His loss was lamented by all the good people in the kingdom; for so early a love of all that was excellent, did, indeed, give the best hopes of a happy and prosperous reign. I am, &c.

QUESTIONS.

In what year did Henry VIII. die?
How many children did he leave?
What were their names?

Which of these reigned first?

How old was Edward VI. when he began to reign?

What was his character?

Did he encourage the Reformation?

What does the Reformation here mean?

What three bishops are particularly mentioned as great en

couragers of the Reformation?

Did the young king take great pleasure in hearing these good men preach?

In the Roman Catholic times, had the people the Bible in their own language?

Did not the ignorance of Scripture lead to many superstitious practices?

Will making long prayers, and kneeling before the statues

of the Virgin Mary and of Saints,-or will any pains or penances we can inflict on ourselves, take away the guilt of our sins?

Who, is it, alone, that can atone for our sins?

But may we go on in the practice of sin, because Christ has atoned for our past offences?

You are aware, then, that it is the duty of one who believes in Christ to forsake sin, and to be desirous of serving God; or, as the Scripture expresses it, to be zealous of good works.

Ought we Protestants, then, who can read the Scriptures, to be very anxious to believe what they teach us, and to live according to their directions?

As the king was very young, was it not necessary that he should have guardians to manage the affairs of the nation? Who was at the head of these?

8

"What was he called?

Did Protector Somerset favour the Reformation?

And did the cause of the Reformation flourish during this young king's reign?

What two bishops, in particular, still clung to the Roman Catholic cause?

Were they sent to the Tower?

-Who was mentioned, by some persons, as the right person to reign, in case of the king's death?

Who encouraged lady Jane Grey to claim the crown?
What was now the state of the king's health?

In what year did the king die?

How old was he?

How long had he reigned?

LETTER XX.

MY DEAR BOY,

WHOEVER reads the history of Edward the Sixth, must be grieved to think that he lived so short a time; and it is still more melancholy to find that his successor was a most cruel and violent persecutor of the Protestants. This was queen Mary, his eldest sister, commonly known by the name of Bloody Mary. We saw how much good was done, in the reign of king

Edward: but we shall now see that Mary undid it all. She was a bigotted Papist, and she set herself against all the good and pious men who had been the means of bringing about the Reformation; and she encouraged all the violent and cruel people who were the enemies of the Protestants, and who were desirous of bringing the nation back again to all their old bad customs and errors. There were two bishops, Bonner, bishop of London, and Gardiner, bishop of Winchester, both Papists, and great enemies to the Reformation. I think I told you before, that these bishops had been sent to the Tower. Queen Mary set them at liberty, and they lent all the aid they could to assist her in persecuting the Protestants. Some of the best and most pious men in the nation were burnt during these cruel persecutions; five bishops, twenty other clergy, and some hundreds of people besides; and all this because they would not agree to support a religion, which, in their consciences, they believed to be full of error. You have heard of those truly pious and worthy men, bishops Ridley and Latimer. These two aged servants of God were put to death at the same time and place. When