Jane Seymour

“ To the party that had hoped to make use of her, Jane Seymour was thus, to some extent, a disappointment; [177] but her placid submissiveness, which made her a bad political instrument, exactly suited [Pg 299] a husband so imperious as Henry; and from a domestic point of view the union was successful. During the summer Jane shared in her husband’s progresses and recreations, but as the months rolled on and no hope came of offspring, ominous rumours ran that Jane’s coronation would be deferred until it was proved that she might bear children to the King ”

“ Throughout the year 1561, the young couple exchanged regular, though secret, visits either at Westminster Palace or at Cannon Row. Lady Katherine, in her examination, said that, from the time of the marriage onwards to the death of Lady Jane Seymour, “considering herself as the earl’s wife, in her own heart, she was often in his company at sundry times by means of Lady Jane Seymour and a woman, her own maid, Mrs. Leigh, who was now gone from her. This woman never [169] was bade to do it, but she would, of herself, if she saw my Lord and her [Katherine] whisper together, go out of the way.” ”

“ As this light deepened and grew stronger within the room, a counterpane of purple velvet sweeping over the bed began to glow, as if the grapes above were red, and had been shaken during the night over the lovely girl who lay in an unquiet slumber beneath it. The counterpane was disturbed and lay in purple waves over the bed—for the Lady Jane Seymour had started up more than once during the morning, and after gazing wildly about in the dim light, sunk to her pillow again, in that state of unquiet drowsiness, which is neither wakefulness nor repose. ”

“ Queen Catherine's second husband, Lord Thomas Seymour of Sudeley, purchased Lady Jane's wardship of her parents soon after he became a widower, and she stayed with him at Hanworth or Seymour Place till his fall in January 1548–9. He had promised Lady Jane's father that he would assist him in marrying the girl to her cousin, the young king. But Seymour's brother, the protector Somerset, was planning a union between Edward VI and his own daughter Jane, while he destined Lady Jane for the hand of his son, the Earl of Hertford. ”

“ But you are not going yet neither, and therefore we'll leave the discourse on't till then, if you please, for I find no great entertainment in't. And let me ask you whether it be possible that Mr. Grey makes love, they say he does, to my Lady Jane Seymour? If it were expected that one should give a reason for their passions, what could he say for himself? He would not offer, sure, to make us believe my Lady Jane a lovelier person than my Lady Anne Percy. I did not think I should have lived to have seen his frozen heart melted, 'tis the greatest conquest she will ever make ”

“ Perhaps this had recommended her to Henry. Whether he had himself ever seriously thought of dismissing Anne and inviting Jane Seymour to take her place is very dubious; nor has anyone a right to suppose that under such conditions Jane Seymour would have regarded such a proposal as anything but an insult. How soon after the detection of Anne's crime the intention was formed is equally uncertain. [8] Every person at home and abroad regarded it as obvious that he must marry some one, and marry at once. ”

“ Having contrived to get rid of one wife when he was tired of her, Henry saw no reason why he should not dispose of his second for the same cause. Therefore, when he took a fancy to wed Jane Seymour, maid of honour to Anne, he thought no shame to accuse the queen of all sorts of crimes. One day the booming of the Tower guns told that the Traitors' gate leading down to the Thames had been opened, and Anne, whose life had been passed in pleasure and gaiety, stepped out of the barge ”

“ How strange is the will of God, that of two so beautiful and excellent, Jane should perish on the scaffold, and Catherine waste her best days in prison! Yet methinks they must have been both happy even in their misfortunes, both suffering for those they loved."
"'Twas a sad trial and test of affection," said William Seymour.
"Yet one that any woman would take who truly loves," replied Arabella.
"Ay, that is the point," he answered, looking down. "Such love may, to her who feels it, compensate for all suffering, and, to him who possesses it, repay the sacrifice of all, even of life itself. ”

“ I answered, remembering her words.
"Your mother found excuses for every one, so tender was her heart; and your Aunt Jane is not to be blamed if she is ice instead of flesh and blood," he replied.
"Please, Job, leave Aunt Jane in the quietude of her farm for a while. The die is cast, and nothing can change it now," Mr. Seymour broke in, good-naturedly. "Come, Constance, let us have dinner served here, where we can have the evening to ourselves—and make haste, for we are starving," he added, putting his arm about her as she turned to leave the room. ”

“ In Seymour’s household, naturally concerned in his fortunes, the projected marriage was a subject of anxious debate; and it was recognised by its members that their master was playing a perilous game. In a conversation between two of his dependants, Nicholas Throckmorton and one Wightman, both shook their heads over the risk he would run should he attempt to carry his plan into effect. ”

“ Queen Jane Seymour gave birth to Prince Edward, afterwards Edward VI, on October 12, 1537, and died twelve days later. There is no evidence that hear death was brought about in the way narrated in the ballad.
No. 30. Farewell, Nancy
Version with tunes are given in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society (volume i, p. 130; volume ii, pp. 99 and 298) ; and in Joyce’s Ancient Irish Music (No. 93) .
See also “William and Nancy’s parting,” in Garret’s Newcastle Garlands (volume ii) .
The tune, a remarkably fine one, is in the Æolian mode, and was sung to me by a woman, seventy-four years of age. ”

“ It was a strange arrangement; the more so that it was evidently concluded before the marriage of the late King’s widow to Seymour, a man one would imagine to have been in no wise fit to be entrusted with the sole guardianship of the little girl. But Dorset was ambitious; the favour of the King’s uncle, with the possibility of securing the King himself as a son-in-law, was not lightly to be forgone; and the sacrifice of Jane was made, not for the last time, to her father’s interest. ”

“ Soon after the death of King Henry, it occurred to Sir Thomas Seymour, the Lord Admiral, that it would be a wise move to obtain the guardianship of so valuable a personage as Lady Jane Grey, and he at once sent a messenger to ask the Marquis of Dorset for the transfer of the girl to his care, sending word that this would be a great chance for Lady Jane, who being, so said Seymour, "the handsomest lady in England," could then doubtless be married to the young King Edward Sixth, through the Admiral's influence. ”

“ But we are anticipating, and must return to the early years of Edward Seymour. He was educated both at Oxford 22and Cambridge; and afterwards joining his father at Court, entered the army, and also distinguished himself greatly in France, and was knighted for his services in 1525. On his return to England he was appointed Esquire to the King, and was one of the challengers in the tilt-yard of Greenwich, when Henry kept his Christmas there. On the King’s marriage with his sister Jane, Edward Seymour was created Viscount Beauchamp, with other grants and honours, and in 1537, Earl of Hertford. ”

“ Elizabeth was, however, nearer to the throne, and was, beside her few additional years, better suited to please his taste than the quiet child who dwelt under his roof.
As it proved he was destined to further his ambitious projects neither by marriage with Jane nor her cousin. By the middle of January the Protector had struck his blow—a blow which was to end in fratricide. Charged with treason, in conspiring117 to change the form of government and to carry off the person of the King, Seymour was sent on January 16 to the Tower—in those days so often the ante-room to death. ”

“ We do not hear of a single voice raised in Seymour’s defence. The common people, when Somerset in his turn had fallen a victim to jealousy and hate, made no secret of their sorrow and their love; but the nobles who had been his brother’s supporters were silent and cowed, or went to swell the number of his accusers.
124 By March 20 hope and fear were alike at an end. A Bill of Attainder had been brought into the House of Lords, after an examination of the culprit before the Council, when his demand to be confronted with his accusers had been refused. ”

“ Catherine, probably, died from her confinement, but Seymour lost no time in attempting to improve his misfortune. Elizabeth had been removed from his house; she was now living at Hatfield with an establishment of her own, and Seymour reverted to his original intention of marrying her. First, however, it was necessary for him to keep his hold on Lady Jane Grey. Somerset wanted to marry this lady to his own son Lord Hertford (or so the Admiral affected to fear) . On the Queen's death, Lady Dorset naturally considered his house no longer a proper residence for her daughter ”

“ Katherine Parr’s lover, 14, 15, 17; opposes his brother, 64; obtains Lady Jane’s custody, 66, 67, 68; is suitor to Elizabeth, 70, 71; marries Katherine Parr, 72-7, 81, 82, 83 seq.; relations with Elizabeth, 88-91; his wife’s death, 96 seq.; again Elizabeth’s suitor, 108 seq.; in the Tower, 117, 122, 123; trial and execution, 124, 125 — See Somerset Shaxton, Nicholas, 40 Shrewsbury, Earl of, 242 Sion House, Lady Jane at, 213 seq. Somerset, Duchess of, 82, 83, 136, 255 — Edward Seymour, Duke of, at first Earl of Hertford, 13; rivalry between him and Surrey, 50 seq. ”

“ The last condemnation in England occurred in 1712, when a woman in Hertfordshire, Jane Wenham, was found guilty by a jury, but was reprieved at the representation of the Judge; another trial occurred in 1717, but the accused were acquitted. In Scotland the Sheriff-depute of Sutherland passed sentence of death on a woman (though apparently illegally) in 1722, who was consequently strangled and burnt. Ashton indeed states (p. 192) that the last execution in Ireland occurred at Glarus, when a servant was burnt as a [Pg 222] witch in 1786. ”

“ The dowager lady Seymour, a weak woman, but indulgent parent, was easily prevailed on by her lovely daughter, to choose London for her place of residence; and when Sir Henry married, their visits to Deane Hall, which had never been frequent entirely ceased. Miss Seymour meantime took every advantage of the opportunities her new line of life afforded. She cultivated with assiduity and success every brilliant accomplishment, and was admired even more than her own vanity, and her mother's blind partiality, had taught her to expect. ”

“ They went to Niagara and Trenton, they went to Newport and Saratoga, to the White Mountains and Montreal; and Mrs. John Seymour was a meteor of fashionable wonder and delight at all these places. Her dresses and her diamonds, her hats and her bonnets, were all wonderful to behold. The stir and excitement that she had created as simple Miss Ellis was nothing to the stir and excitement about Mrs. John Seymour. It was the mere grub compared with the full-blown butterfly,—the bud compared with the rose. Wherever she appeared, her old admirers flocked in her train. ”

“ Besides--I hope I may be forgiven for plotting and planning for you--but I have always hoped that you would become the wife of John Seymour."
"His wife," sobbed Eleanor. "Oh, mamma, John Seymour's nobody."
"Nobody!" echoed the indignant lady. "Lord John Seymour nobody!"
"But I don't like him, mother."
"Ugh!" growled Mrs. Seymour. "Listen. I have not accepted the proposals of this Mr. Marlborough; but I have not rejected them. I must say he seems liberal enough and rich enough; proposing I don't know what in the way of settlements: but these low-born people are often lavish. ”

“ As far as we can gather from the rather confused accounts, sir Thomas Seymour, Katharine Parr's old lover, a man as greedy and ambitious as he was handsome, had taken advantage of Henry's affection for him to try to win the heart of the princess Elizabeth, not long before the king's death. As she was at that time living at Hertford, under the care of a vulgar and untrustworthy governess, Mrs. Ashley, it would have been easy for Seymour to ride to and fro without anyone in London being the wiser. ”

“ I offer'd you a heart verbally, and you said 'No!' I writ this ere wollentine, and you returns it vith a big 'No!'
“O! Molly your 'No's,' is more piercinger and crueller than your heyes. Me! to be used so:—Me! as refused the vidder at the Coal Shed! (to be sure she wore a vig and I didn't vant a bald rib!) Me!—but it's o' no use talking; von may as vell make love to a lamp-post, and expect to feed von's flame vith lights! But adoo to life; this 'ere rope, fix'd round the 'best end o' the neck' will soon scrap me, and ven I'm as dead as mutton, p'r'aps you may be werry sorry. ”

“ She feared herself at that moment--she feared to be left alone with him she loved the best, at a time when her thoughts were all in confusion--when her bosom was full of emotion, lest she should say or do something rashly that could never be recalled. In another instant, however, Seymour was by her side; but he, too, was agitated; and though she had hidden, under her gay speeches to Sir Harry West, the struggling sensation within her, she could do so no longer, with her lover by her side. ”