inadversion and some censure. It was remarked that the greater part of them were new men; and the chief council consisted of those who had been about him in his last illness. But what next was disclosed was still more extraordinary. The executors, when assembled in the Tower on the day of the young king's proclamation, declared that "they were resolved not only to stand to and maintain the last will and testament of their master, the late king, and every part and parcel of the same, to the uttermost of their powers, wits, and cunning, but also that every one of them present should take a corporal oath upon a book, for the more assured and effectual accomplishment of the same." But now it was announced that the Privy Council, for the better dispatch of business, had resolved to place the Earl of Hertford at their head. This was so directly in opposition to the will, which had invested every member of the council with equal power, that it was received with no little wonder. The fact was that Hertford, who, before the old king's death, had determined to seize the supreme power during the minority of his nephew, had secured a majority in the council, who, as we shall soon find, had their object to attain. Wriothesley was the only one who stood out. He assured them that such an act invalidated the whole will. But he argued in vain, and, finding it useless, he gave way; and thus Hertford was now proclaimed protector of the realm and guardian of the king's person, with the understood but empty condition, that he should attempt nothing which had not the assent of a majority of the council.
However much astonished or chagrined, the courtiers expressed their unanimous approbation; the new Protector expressed his gratitude, and Edward, pulling off his cap, said, "We thank you heartily, my lords all; and hereafter in all that you shall have to do with us for any suit or causes, ye shall be heartily welcome." Thereupon the lords expressed their entire content, and the public announcement of the appointment of Hertford was received with transports of joy by all who were attached to the new doctrines, or who sought to improve their fortunes at the expense of the Church.
Great Seal of Edward VI.
And now came the next remarkable development, that which had made so many of the council ready to support the pretensions of Hertford. There was a clause in the king's will requiring the council to ratify every gift and perform every promise which he had made before his death. When the meaning of this clause was inquired into, it was asserted that Paget, Herbert, and Denny were in the king's confidence on the subject; and, on being interrogated, as of course it was arranged, they stated that the king had not only had this clause inserted in his will, but that he had solemnly reiterated this injunction to those in attendance upon him, while he lay on his deathbed. By a letter of Paget's, which is preserved in Strype, we perceive that Hertford had, before the king's death, promised him, and no doubt others, their proper rewards for assisting his intentions on the protectorate. "Remember what you promised me in the gallery at Westminster," he says, writing to Hertford, "before the breath was out of the body of the king that dead is; remember what you promised me immediately after, devising with me about the place which you now occupy."
Accordingly, when Paget, Denny, and Herbert were interrogated, they stated that the clause related to certain honours and rewards that Henry intended to bestow on these worthy executors. Paget declared that when the evidence appeared against the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Surrey, the king, who used oft to talk in private with him alone, told him that he intended to bestow their lands liberally; and since, by attainder and other ways, the nobility were much decayed, he intended to create some peers, and ordered him to write a book of such as he thought merited. Paget said that he himself then proposed to Henry that the Earl of Hertford should be made a duke, and that several other persons whom he named should be ennobled: and that others who were peers, should be raised to a higher rank. He added, that he suggested that they should divide amongst them the lands of the Duke of Norfolk, but that the king liked it not, but made Mr. Gates bring him the books of that estate, which being done, he ordered Paget "to tot upon
