rove the reality of History, as this collection of graves and slabs
and tablets in this little church. And here were kept the Crown jewels
about which many a chapter might be written.

But to study the Tower of London one must visit it with the History of
England in hand. Hither were brought all the State prisoners: here they
were confined: here they were executed. Every tower, every stone reminds
one of sufferers and criminals and traitors and innocent victims. Do
not, however, forget that this Tower was built for the restriction of
the liberties of the people. That purpose has been defeated. The
liberties have grown beyond what could ever have been hoped while the
privileges of the Crown, which this Tower was built to protect and to
enlarge, have been restricted beyond the greatest fears of the mediaeval
kings.

18. THE TOWER OF LONDON.

PART II.

Of all the prisoners who suffered death at the termination of their
captivity in the Tower, there is none whose fate was so cruel as that of
Lady Jane Grey. Her story belongs to English history. Recall, when next
you visit the Tower, the short and tragic life of this young Queen of a
nine days' reign.

[Illustration]

She was not yet eighteen when she was beheaded, not through any fault of
her own, but solely because her relationship to the Crown placed her in
the hands of men who used her for their own political purposes. She was
the second cousin of Edward VI., Mary, and Elizabeth. Her grandmother
was the sister of Henry VIII., widow of Louis XII. of France, and wife
of Charles, Duke of Suffolk. The young King on his deathbed was
persuaded to name her as his successor. She was sixteen years of age:
she was already married to Lord Guilford Dudley, son of the Duke of
Northumberland: when she was proclaimed Queen. Nine days after the
proclamation she was a prisoner. On the 8th of July she was
acknowledged Queen by the Lord Mayor and Aldermen: on the 10th she was
taken by water from Greenwich to the Tower, and proclaimed Queen in the
City: on the 17th another proclamation was made of Queen Mary, and her
reign was over. But the Tower she was never more to leave.

On the 13th of November--after five months of suspense--she was tried
for high treason with Cranmer, her husband Lord Guilford, and her
husband's brother, Lord Ambrose. They were all four found guilty, and
condemned to death--their judges being the very men who had sworn
allegiance to her as Queen. It