HENRY THE EIGHTH had made a will,appointing a council of sixteen to govern the kingdom for his son while he was under age (he was now only ten years old),and another council of twelve to help them.The most powerful of the first council was the EARL OF HERTFORD,the young King's uncle,who lost no time in bringing his nephew with great state up to Enfield,and thence to the Tower.It was considered at the time a striking proof of virtue in the young King that he was sorry for his father's death;but,as common subjects have that virtue too,sometimes,we will say no more about it.
There was a curious part of the late King's will,requiring his executors to fulfil whatever promises he had made.Some of the court wondering what these might be,the Earl of Hertford and the other noblemen interested,said that they were promises to advance and enrich THEM.So,the Earl of Hertford made himself DUKE OF SOMERSET,and made his brother EDWARD SEYMOUR a baron;and there were various similar promotions,all very agreeable to the parties concerned,and very dutiful,no doubt,to the late King's memory.
To be more dutiful still,they made themselves rich out of the Church lands,and were very comfortable.The new Duke of Somerset caused himself to be declared PROTECTOR of the kingdom,and was,indeed,the King.
As young Edward the Sixth had been brought up in the principles of the Protestant religion,everybody knew that they would be maintained.But Cranmer,to whom they were chiefly entrusted,advanced them steadily and temperately.Many superstitious and ridiculous practices were stopped;but practices which were harmless were not interfered with.
The Duke of Somerset,the Protector,was anxious to have the young King engaged in marriage to the young Queen of Scotland,in order to prevent that princess from making an alliance with any foreign power;but,as a large party in Scotland were unfavourable to this plan,he invaded that country.His excuse for doing so was,that the Border men-that is,the Scotch who lived in that part of the country where England and Scotland joined-troubled the English very much.But there were two sides to this question;for the English Border men troubled the Scotch too;and,through many long years,there were perpetual border quarrels which gave rise to numbers of old tales and songs.However,the Protector invaded Scotland;and ARRAN,the Scottish Regent,with an army twice as large as his,advanced to meet him.They encountered on the banks of the river Esk,within a few miles of Edinburgh;and there,after a little skirmish,the Protector made such moderate proposals,in offering to retire if the Scotch would only engage not to marry their princess to any foreign prince,that the Regent thought the English were afraid.But in this he made a horrible mistake;for the English soldiers on land,and the English sailors on the water,so set upon the Scotch,that they broke and fled,and more than ten thousand of them were killed.It was a dreadful battle,for the fugitives were slain without mercy.The ground for four miles,all the way to Edinburgh,was strewn with dead men,and with arms,and legs,and heads.Some hid themselves in streams and were drowned;
some threw away their armour and were killed running,almost naked;
but in this battle of Pinkey the English lost only two or three hundred men.They were much better clothed than the Scotch;at the poverty of whose appearance and country they were exceedingly astonished.
A Parliament was called when Somerset came back,and it repealed the whip with six strings,and did one or two other good things;
though it unhappily retained the punishment of burning for those people who did not make believe to believe,in all religious matters,what the Government had declared that they must and should believe.It also made a foolish law (meant to put down beggars),that any man who lived idly and loitered about for three days together,should be burned with a hot iron,made a slave,and wear an iron fetter.But this savage absurdity soon came to an end,and went the way of a great many other foolish laws.
The Protector was now so proud that he sat in Parliament before all the nobles,on the right hand of the throne.Many other noblemen,who only wanted to be as proud if they could get a chance,became his enemies of course;and it is supposed that he came back suddenly from Scotland because he had received news that his brother,LORD SEYMOUR,was becoming dangerous to him.This lord was now High Admiral of England;a very handsome man,and a great favourite with the Court ladies-even with the young Princess Elizabeth,who romped with him a little more than young princesses in these times do with any one.He had married Catherine Parr,the late King's widow,who was now dead;and,to strengthen his power,he secretly supplied the young King with money.He may even have engaged with some of his brother's enemies in a plot to carry the boy off.On these and other accusations,at any rate,he was confined in the Tower,impeached,and found guilty;his own brother's name being-unnatural and sad to tell-the first signed to the warrant of his execution.He was executed on Tower Hill,and died denying his treason.One of his last proceedings in this world was to write two letters,one to the Princess Elizabeth,and one to the Princess Mary,which a servant of his took charge of,and concealed in his shoe.These letters are supposed to have urged them against his brother,and to revenge his death.What they truly contained is not known;but there is no doubt that he had,at one time,obtained great influence over the Princess Elizabeth.