Note 310 — Chapter XX · THE SUPREME HOUR!

This little volume, which purports to give an account of the last days of Lady Jane Grey, is quoted by Burke in his Tudor Portraits, the Lady Philippa de Clifford being there described as the author and as a cousin of Lady Jane Grey, who certainly had no first cousin of this name; but among the English Benedictine nuns who took refuge at Mechlin in the early part of the seventeenth century there is a mention of a Philippa de Clifford, but of which branch of the Clifford family it is difficult at this period to ascertain. That the little volume exists there can be no doubt, as a copy of it was seen by the author at Brussels a few years ago. It was written in French and apparently from notes in the possession of its author, who, although a Catholic, says nothing disparaging of Lady Jane’s faith. Its authenticity, like that of another little volume on the same subject quoted elsewhere, also published in Belgium, must be taken with considerable caution. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries a sort of fashion was started in England, France, Belgium, Germany, and Italy for the writing of apocryphal memoirs of popular heroes and heroines: and as Lady Jane Grey was a great favourite with the Protestants, both at home and abroad, she has been the heroine of several of these volumes, most of which are founded upon the famous letter to Queen Mary, quoted by Pollino. They must not, however, be disparaged as entirely worthless, for some of them undoubtedly contain details that have been handed down during many generations. In the British Museum will be found a curious little volume called The Diary of Lady Mary Grey, which also contains a number of very amusing details concerning that unlucky lady which have all the appearance of being absolutely true. Similar monographs exist on the lives of Anne Boleyn, and especially of Mary Stuart; all of these purport to be written by attendants or persons who have derived their information from original sources now lost. I am assured that in the Dutch libraries there are several contemporary pamphlets on Lady Jane Grey written in the Dutch language; and there are also one or two in the Swiss Libraries—in the main they all bear a strong resemblance one to the other, but differ in matters of detail. Lady Philippa tells us, for instance, that the headsman of Lady Jane was a man of exceptional stature; and this is confirmed by other writers whose work could not have been known to the author of the pamphlet in question. For lists of the Benedictine nuns at Mechlin, etc., amongst whom was Lady Philippa, see in the Brussels Archives: No. 11205, Prevost; Les Refugiés Anglais et Irlandais en Belgique à la suite de la Reforme Anglaise établie sous Elizabeth et Jacques I. Gand: Messager des Scénes Historiques, 1865. Also: Gachet, Catholiques Anglais et Ecossais Pensionnaires du Duc d’Alve. Bruxelles, 1850.