DURING the last years of Queen Mary's reign, Lady Catherine Grey, the younger sister of the unfortunate Lady Jane, had been residing, under the care of the Duchess of Somerset, Lord Hertford's mother, at her seat of Hanworth. Lord Hertford, who frequently visited Hanworth, formed an attachment to Lady Catherine; but as concealment was necessary from his mother, to whose charge she was in fact confided, almost in the position of a prisoner, it was to his sister, Lady Jane Seymour, and to her only, that he made known the state of his affections. The Duchess, perceiving, as he afterwards expressed it, "familiarity and good will between them, did often admonish him to abstain from Lady Catherine's company." To these warnings he replied that "young folks, meaning well, might well accompany together, and that both in that house, and also in the court, he trusted he might use her company, being not forbidden by the Queen's Highness's express commandment." Beyond this remark, he never avowed to his mother, or to any of his or Lady Catherine's relations (except his sister), the secret understanding that subsisted

Soon after the accession of Queen Elizabeth, Lady Catherine Grey and Lady Jane Seymour were both of them placed about the Queen's person, and in waiting upon Her Majesty at Hampton Court.

Lord Hertford, being at that time confined by indisposition to his house in Channon Row, Westminster, wrote to his sister to ask her assistance in forwarding his suit with her friend, and "to feel her disposition for marriage with him." Lady Jane executed this commission faithfully, but Lady Catherine declined to give any positive answer, till the Queen should come to Westminster. As soon as the removal of the Court took place, Lord Hertford obtained an interview with Lady Catherine, in his sister's private apartments; and there, in her presence, he made a direct proposal of marriage. Lady Catherine answered, " that, weighing his long suit and good will borne to her, she was content to marry him, the next time that the Queen's Highness should go abroad and leave her and Lady Jane behind her." They plighted their faith "by giving one to the other their hands," Lady Jane being present throughout the interview; and it was agreed that their marriage should take place secretly at Lord Hertford's house in Channon Row; but as the opportunity depended on the movements of the Queen, no day could be fixed. Lady Jane, however, undertook that a clergyman

The opportunity occurred shortly before Christmas of the year 1560, when the Queen went to Eltham to hunt. Within an hour after her departure, Lady Jane Seymour and Lady Catherine Grey quitted the Palace, and, descending the orchard stairs, proceeded along " the sands " at low tide to the back of the Earl's house in Channon Row. They had not been able to give him previous warning; but as he knew they only waited for the opportunity of the Queen's departure, which was generally known to those about the Court, he was ready to receive them. The Minister with whom Lady Jane had previously agreed for the purpose, was quickly summoned, and brought with him the Book of Common Prayer. Lord Hertford and Lady Catherine Grey were then married, "with such words and ceremonies, and in that order, as it is there set forth, he placing a ring containing five links of gold on her finger, as directed by the Minister."

This clergyman's name was unfortunately never ascertained by either Lord Hertford or Lady Catherine, though both afterwards affirmed they should know him again if they saw him, and agreed in describing him as "a man of middling stature, fair complexion, auburn hair and beard, and middle age, dressed in a plain long gown of black cloth faced with 'budge,' and a falling collar to the same, such a one as the ministers used when they came out of Germany." The ceremony

Whether Lord Hertford thought that by absenting himself awhile on the Continent, any suspicions would be avoided, or that he had other reasons, he resolved, soon after the marriage, to ask the Queen's leave to go abroad. Lady Jane, to whom alone he confided this intention, imparted it in confidence to her sister-in-law, and the sight of his passport, which soon after accidentally met Lady Catherine's eye, left no doubt of his intention; which was, as she afterwards expressed herself, "of no small grief and trouble unto her."

But a greater cause of anxiety now arose; and she was obliged to impart to Lady Jane and to her husband her fears that she was likely to become a mother. Lady Jane,

On the 19th of March, 1560-1, Lady Jane Seymour unfortunately died at the early age of nineteen. Unsupported by the presence of her husband, or comforted by the affection and counsels of her friend and sister-in-law, Lady Catherine found herself in a few months reduced to the humiliation of confessing that which could no longer be concealed, and of bearing alone the brunt of the Queen's displeasure. "About six days before Lord Hertford's departure beyond the seas, he did conceive and devise a writing with his own hand in parchment, sealed and signed with his own hand," of which the object was to secure to his wife 1000L. per annum in case of his death. This writing he had delivered into her hands, but no other person was privy to the transaction. It certainly showed some consideration for her; but Lord Hertford's conduct in originally seeking her hand in secret, in risking the safety of his young sister, by imposing on her the dangerous responsibility of making the arrangements for their marriage, and still more in his

It was in the beginning of August that Lady Catherine determined to declare the whole truth to Mrs. St. Lo, a lady of the Queen's privy chamber, afterwards notorious as " Bess of Hardwick." Her confidence was received with friendly sympathy by that lady, who wept bitterly on hearing her tale, and expressed her sorrow "that the Queen's Majesty had not been privy thereunto." The following night (August 10th) Lady Catherine, acting under Mrs. St. Lo's advice, resolved on trying to interest the compassion of Lord Robert Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, already in great favour with the Queen. She visited his bedside (he was ill at the time), and, telling him her story, implored his services, to obtain the Queen's mercy. He consented to intercede with the Queen. But neither the sympathy of Mrs. St. Lo, nor the good offices of Lord Robert, availed with the hard nature of Elizabeth. Lady Catherine was at once committed to the Tower, and there closely examined by the Lord Treasurer and others, respecting the circumstances of her marriage. On the 21st of September her first child was born.

Whether Lord Hertford was immediately informed of her imprisonment, does not appear; but as she acknowledged, in one of her examinations, that she had acquainted her husband by letter of the certainty of

On the 5th September he was committed to the Tower, and on the 12th examined before the Lord Treasurer. On the 13th February, 1561-2, both he and Lady Catherine were again examined before Commissioners; and on the 12th of May, in the Bishop of London's Palace; the result being that the marriage was declared null and void. This commission was composed of Parker Archbishop of Canterbury, Grindal Bishop of London, Sir William Petre, and some others.

A decision which could only be grounded on the difficulty of procuring timely evidence of the truth of their statements, was not likely to affect the sentiments of the parties themselves respecting the validity of their marriage; and after a time, by persuasion or corruption of their keepers, the doors of their prison were no longer secured against each other, and the birth of a second child rekindled the anger of Elizabeth. A double fine was imposed on Lord Hertford, and their imprisonment was made so much stricter, that there is reason to suppose

Many letters and petitions were addressed both to Sir William Cecil and to the Queen, in behalf of Lady Catherine, by her uncle, Lord John Grey of Pirgo, and by herself, but the only mercy extended to her and her husband, was during the time when the plague raged in London, and when a thousand in a week were said to die of that malady. Then, in the month of August, 1563, Lord Hertford was delivered (but in the condition of a prisoner) to the custody of his mother, and Lady Catherine to that of her uncle, Lord John Grey, at Pirgo, where she was ordered to be maintained at the expense of her husband.

In January, 1565-6, and again in April, 1566, Anne, Duchess of Somerset, addressed letters to Sir William Cecil, praying for the release of her son, begging his helping hand "to end this tedious suit," and urging "how unmeet it is this young couple should thus wax old in prison, and how far better it were for them to be abroad, and learn to serve Her Majesty."

These appeals were fruitless; and the following year death released the ill-fated Lady Catherine from the sorrows and humiliations to which she had been so heartlessly subjected. She had been for some time in the custody of Sir Owen Hopton, and died at his country house, Cockfield Hall, in Yoxford, Suffolk. There is an account preserved of her last hours which contains some pathetic details of the resignation and courage,

When it is remembered that, at the time of her persecution of this unhappy young lady, Elizabeth was but twenty-five years of age, and had herself so recently endured the bitterness of imprisonment, we cannot but wonder at the severity and harshness which disfigured her naturally noble nature, and led her to actions of cruelty and tyranny unworthy of so great and illustrious a Queen.