during the reign of the youthful Edward, he had so craftily attained to,
and which he foresaw, would, on the accession of Mary, from whom he had
little to expect, either on the side of friendship or protection, be
wrested from him. By the will of Henry VIII., as well also as by an Act
of Parliament, the ladies Mary and Elizabeth had been pronounced as
heirs to the crown; this claim, however, he hoped to overrule, as the
statutes passed by Henry, in the twenty-eighth year of his reign,
declaring their illegitimacy, had never been repealed. By the will of
Henry, the lady Jane had also been placed next in succession after the
Princess Elizabeth, in total exclusion of the Scottish line, the
offspring of his sister Margaret, who had married James IV. of Scotland.

The day on which this important event took place is not exactly known;
but it is generally supposed to have been towards the close of the month
of May, in the year 1553, before the lady Jane had attained her
seventeenth year. The nuptials were solemnized with great magnificence
at Durham House, the then princely residence of the Earl of
Northumberland, who appears to have been particularly earnest in their
conclusion, as they were celebrated but two months previous to the death
of Edward VI., who at that time "lay dangerously sicke,"[2] and being
unable to attend, sent costly presents as marks of his approval. Three
other marriages, also, appear to have taken place at the same time, as
recorded by the chronicler Stow.[3]

[Footnote 2: Stow's _Summarie of the Chronicles of England_, p. 245.]

[Footnote 3: Lord Gilford, the Duke of Northumberland's fourth son,
married Lady Jane, the Duke of Suffolk's daughter, whose mother being
then alive, was daughter to Mary, King Henrie's sister, which was then
married to the French king, and after to Charles, Duke of Suffolke. Also