THE PRIVATE CHARACTER OF QUEEN ELIZABETH

CHAPTER I

THE SEYMOUR AFFAIR. SCANDAL AT THIRTEEN

T

HE chastity of Elizabeth seems to have been the subject of gossip when she was only thirteen years of age, and, while it would appear that no charge was seriously made by any one adequately informed, still we are not at liberty to omit the occurrence, accompanied by a necessary word of her previous history. Further, as the Seymour Affair, as we term it, was the first great turning point of the girl's life, and discovers, as nothing else can in so confined a space, her mind, training, character and the very foundations of her success as a sovereign, the reader will not regret the pages devoted to it—indeed, he cannot understand the Great Queen at all if he omit these details.

In the Seymour Affair, fate made Elizabeth the leading character in one of the most daring intrigues ever recorded, with no less than her reputation for personal purity, the throne of England and the very life of herself and the first man she could have loved, for the stakes. We shall look in vain through all the pages of history for the record of so educative an experience in the life of any other girl of thirteen. She was two years older when the headsman put an end to the story, and it had made her from a girl into a woman who knew men, and women, and the world.

It will be recalled that when Elizabeth was only two years of age, her mother, Anne Boleyn (pronounced Bullin) was

beheaded by her husband, Henry VIII., and that he had for a long time been paying court to Jane Seymour, whom he married within twenty-four hours after he had killed her predecessor. At about the same time he had Elizabeth declared illegitimate, and, thus disqualified, unable to succeed to the throne. Henceforth, so far as Henry and his Court were concerned, Elizabeth was an outcast, without even sufficient clothing, banished to a relative of her mother some thirty miles from London.

We do not know that Jane Seymour ever showed interest in the forlorn, motherless girl; but more may be said in favour of Jane's three successors in the affections of Henry VIII., Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Katherine Parr, and especially of the last, who became Queen when Elizabeth was nine. A year later, however, the little girl was in the deepest discredit, for what reason we cannot discover, and for twelve months she was altogether forbidden the Court and the sight of her father or of his sixth queen.

On the 28th of January, 1547-Elizabeth was thirteen the previous 7th of September-her father died, and she became a member of the household of the widowed Queen, Katherine Parr. Jane Seymour's son, a lad of ten, ascended the throne as Edward VI., dominated by his mother's people, chief among whom were her brothers, Edward and Thomas Seymour.

Edward made himself Duke of Somerset, chief controller alike of the State, and, as Lord Protector, of the person of the young monarch. Thomas became a baron and Lord High Admiral. Both suddenly became very wealthy, but quarrelled over the spoils, and Thomas devised a scheme that he hoped would redress the balance: to marry the King's sister, the thirteen-year-old Elizabeth.

From this vantage point he had every chance of success, especially if Elizabeth, whose rights to the succession had been restored, should come to the throne-a very probable event. So the Admiral proposed to Elizabeth, some thirty days after her father's death. That by thus bringing her into his conspiracy he endangered her life was nothing to him. His ultimate intentions are made clear by the fact that some four days after he was rejected by Henry's daughter, he was paying addresses to Henry's widow, to whom he proposed with such charm and ardour that Katherine, who had already buried

three husbands, seems to have been led to the altar thirty-four days after the death of her last! The bridegroom proceeded to celebrate this success by renewing his attentions to the girl who had so recently refused him, and who was now a guest in his house at Chelsea.

Seymour has come down to us with the reputation of exceptional beauty, and from what we know of his character we cannot doubt that he proposed to take full advantage of his attractions and the opportunities of continuous propinquity to get Elizabeth irretrievably into his power. He habitually ran into her room in the morning, whether or not she were still in bed. Upon these occasions he might be in his night apparel or dressing-gown. If she were about the room, he seems to have slapped her playfully, or, if she had not left her couch, he would pretend to get under the covers. At other times, when she heard him coming, she would run to her women, and then return with them to engage in a sort of hide-and-seek.

It seems clear that the girl was never alone with Seymour upon any of these occasions, and that her attendants saw to it that there was no real danger for her. Her governess, however, Katherine Ashley, determined to forestall any misunderstandings, and threatened to inform the Council.

Seymour laughed and acted the part of the innocent big brother, which might have disposed of the matter for all time had his character not been notorious; but the agitated governess, who well knew the danger she herself would run in the event of any contretemps, took the story to the lady most interested, the Admiral's new wife, who, while saying that she saw no harm in the proceedings, thereafter accompanied her spouse upon these pleasant visits, except upon one occasion when she appears to have been too tardy, for by the time she reached Elizabeth's apartment, Katherine, to quote her own words, found her husband" having her (Elizabeth) in his arms.' There was, however, no greater guilt than these words exactly state; but the young lady went to live elsewhere, although she and her former hostess remained upon the best of terms until the death of the latter, three months later.

Thus freed, the Admiral again sought marriage with the princess, whose affections would appear to have been really intrigued; but she was now more wary and circumspect, and

although he had gained the active aid of her cofferer (steward) Parry, of Katherine Ashley, her governess, who was a distant relative through her husband who was of the Boleyn family, and of some others of Elizabeth's household, he seems to have been unable even to see her before the Protector threw him, his chief supporters, and all of his friends in the entourage of Elizabeth, including Ashley and Parry, into the Tower, while the princess, treated as one of the conspirators, was confined to Hatfield, under the charge of a representative of the King's Council, Sir Robert Tyrwhit, and his wife.

The surest legal machinery in the control of the Throne was set in motion against the Lord High Admiral, namely a Bill of Attainder, one of Henry VIII.'s murderous inventions. The proceeding was for the Throne to introduce a Bill in Parliament declaring the accused guilty. After three readings the Bill was declared passed, and the axe completed the incident. There was no trial of any description. The accused was not permitted to make any defence, and the arrangement worked so smoothly that in two years alone its author had little difficulty in applying it with entire success to at least thirty gentlemen whom the bluff monarch decided should no longer be of the earth earthy.

In the case of the Lord High Admiral, the House of Lords passed the Bill the day it was presented, the attempted alliance with Elizabeth being one of its most prominent clauses supporting the charge of High Treason.

Then, having deprived Elizabeth of every friend and adviser, Somerset sought to entrap her into testimony that would incriminate the Admiral by proving a contract of marriage with her. The task was delegated to Tyrwhit, under the constant direction of the Protector, and they were not lacking in diligence. Every conceivable device was adopted; Tyrwhit threatened and cajoled; a formal commission took her evidence and put her under severe cross-examination; but all in vain.

Then Tyrwhit tried a false letter. It was to be shown to the princess with great apparent danger to himself which might induce her to confide further in him as a true friend. We have his report of his success. The first sentence covers the matter : "Plesyth yt yowr Grace to be advertysed, that I hav shewed my Lady your Letter, with a grett Protestacyone that I wold