“Shall I say this psalm?” she asked him; and on his assenting repeated the _Miserere_ in English, before, rising again, she prepared for the end, giving her book to Bridges, brother to the Lieutenant, who stood by, and her gloves and handkerchief to one of her ladies. With her own hands she untied her gown, rejecting the aid of the executioner, and, turning to her maids for assistance, removed her “frose paast”--probably some kind of head-dress--let down her hair, throwing it over her eyes, and knit a “fair handkerchief” about them.
After kneeling for her forgiveness, the executioner directed her to take her place on the straw.
“‘Will you take it off before I lay me down?’
The handkerchief was bound about her eyes, blinding her.
“What shall I do?” she said, feeling for the block. “Where is it?”
Then, as some one standing near guided her, she laid down her head, and saying, “Lord, into Thy hands I commend my spirit,” met the blow of the executioner.
Thus died Lady Jane Grey, most guiltless of traitors; who, to quote Fuller’s panegyric, possessed, at sixteen, the innocency of childhood, the beauty of youth, the solidity of middle, and the gravity of old, age; who had had the birth of a princess, the learning of a clerk, the life of a saint, and the death of a malefactor.
Annebaut, Admiral d’, French ambassador, 33
Arundel, Earl of, 222, 236, 240, 241, 242, 247, 249-51, 253, 262, 287
Ashley, Katherine, Princess Elizabeth’s governess, 88-91, 110, 115, 116
Askew, Anne, Trial and execution of, 36-41
Aylmer, John, Lady Jane’s tutor, 143, 149, 150, 152, 154-7, 165
Berkeley, Sir Maurice, Wyatt surrenders to, 309
Bodoaro, Venetian ambassador to Charles V., 198
Bonner, Dr., Bishop of London, 32, 38, 175, 255, 256
Borough, Lord, Katherine Parr’s first husband, 19
Bridges, Sir John, Lieutenant of the Tower, 300, 310, 317, 318
Bullinger, Henry, 145-55, 161, 165, 179, 180, 211
Charles V., The Emperor, 2, 49, 176, 277, 288
Clerkenwell, Lady Jane visits Mary at, 183
Courtenay, Edward, afterwards Earl of Devonshire, 255, 275-7, 280, 290, 292-4
Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury, 7, 8-10, 59, 62, 72, 131, 133, 135, 152, 153, 174, 281, 282, 283, 284, 285
Dorset, Marchioness of, afterwards Duchess of Suffolk. _See_ Suffolk