A Child's History of England.152

CHAPTER 30 ENGLAND UNDER MARY

The Duke of Northumberland was very anxious to keep the young King's death a secret, in order that he might get the two Princesses into his power. But, the Princess Mary, being informed of that event as she was on her way to London to see her sick brother, turned her horse's head, and rode away into Norfolk. The Earl of Arundel was her friend, and it was he who sent her warning of what had happened.

As the secret could not be kept, the Duke of Northumberland and the council sent for the Lord Mayor of London and some of the aldermen [高级市政官], and made a merit [干了件好事] of telling it to them. Then, they made it known to the people, and set off to inform Lady Jane Grey that she was to be Queen.

She was a pretty girl of only sixteen, and was amiable, learned, and clever. When the lords who came to her, fell on their knees before her, and told her what tidings [news] they brought, she was so astonished that she fainted. On recovering, she expressed her sorrow for the young King's death, and said that she knew she was unfit to govern the kingdom; but that if she must be Queen, she prayed God to direct her. She was then at Sion House, near Brentford; and the lords took her down the river in state [国礼] to the Tower, that she might remain there (as the custom was) until she was crowned. But the people were not at all favourable to Lady Jane, considering that the right to be Queen was Mary's, and greatly disliking the Duke of Northumberland. They were not put into a better humour [mood] by the Duke's causing a vintner [葡萄酒商] 's servant, one Gabriel Pot, to be taken up for expressing his dissatisfaction among the crowd, and to have his ears nailed to the pillory [枷], and cut off. Some powerful men among the nobility declared on Mary's side. They raised troops to support her cause, had her proclaimed Queen at Norwich, and gathered around her at the castle of Framlingham, which belonged to the Duke of Norfolk. For, she was not considered so safe as yet, but that it was best to keep her in a castle on the sea-coast, from whence [where] she might be sent abroad, if necessary.

The Council would have despatched [dispatch:派遣] Lady Jane's father, the Duke of Suffolk, as the general of the army against this force; but, as Lady Jane implored [恳求] that her father might remain with her, and as he was known to be but [only] a weak man, they told the Duke of Northumberland that he must take the command himself. He was not very ready to do so, as he mistrusted the Council much; but there was no help for it, and he set forth with a heavy heart [心情沉重地出发], observing [be present without participating actively] to a lord who rode beside him through Shoreditch at the head of the troops, that, although the people pressed [拥挤] in great numbers to look at them, they were terribly silent.

And his fears for himself turned out to be well founded. While he was waiting at Cambridge for further help from the Council, the Council took it into their heads [有了如此之想法] to turn their backs on Lady Jane's cause, and to take up [become interested in] the Princess Mary's. This was chiefly owing to the before-mentioned Earl of Arundel, who represented [describe] to the Lord Mayor and aldermen, in a second interview with those sagacious [精明得] persons, that, as for himself, he did not perceive the Reformed religion to be in much danger - which Lord Pembroke backed [支持] by flourishing [做大动作] his sword as another kind of persuasion. The Lord Mayor and aldermen, thus enlightened [被启迪], said there could be no doubt that the Princess Mary ought to be Queen. So, she was proclaimed at the Cross by St. Paul's, and barrels of wine were given to the people, and they got very drunk, and danced round blazing bonfires - little thinking, poor wretches [不幸的人], what other bonfires would soon be blazing in Queen Mary's name.

六级/考研单词: princess, notify, mayor, merit, gray, amiable, astonish, faint, sorrow, pray, dislike, humour, nail, potent, noble, proclaim, necessity, dispatch, farther, reform, flourish, sword, thereby, enlighten, blaze, wretched