Stray Leaves from English History, A.D. 1570-85 [pp. 346-357]

346 STRAY LEAVES FROM ENGUSIl HISTORY. [Dec.,
STRAY LEAVES FROM ENGLISH HISTORY A.D. 157076.
"Can it be that there is no bright reversion beyond the stars for those who nobly think
and br~veIy die?"
BEFORE enteflng upon the forgotten or misrepresented incidents of English history I must remark that the most terrible
peri~~d in the history of the Tower, and that which has been most
deliberately falsified, even to the present time, from sectarian
motives, was that of the reign of Elizabeth. Amongst the
historical records of the Tower of London there are many
matters which possess a special interest for Catholics. To the
old English Catholic families every apartment, every little nook
or corner, in those historic buildings has deep and lasting
memories-" half sunshine, half tears." Not always a prisonhouse, for centuries the kings and queens of England. resided
in the Tower at certain periods of the year. The romantic King
Stephen kept court there at Whitsuntide; also Henry III., Ed.
ward, IV., Henry VI., and later sovereigns. Amongst its captives were such men as Bishop Fisher and Sir Thomas More;
likewise the Countess of Salisbury, who was horribly despatched with the axe; and from the Tower the beautiful Lady
Bulmer was sent to the flames in Smithfield. She died grandly.
I have come here," says Lady Bulmer, "to die for the olden
religion of England. I have nothing to regret; and I rejoice
and thank my God that I am given an opportunity of offering
up my life for the true faith of Jesus Christ."
The execution of Margaret Clitheroe is the most horrible incident in the reign of Elizabeth; yet the English reader is kept
in utter ignorance of the rack and Toppclifl's "new mode of torture." Mrs. Clitheroe was executed at York.
In after-years the story of Tutbury and Fotheringay "frequently made Queen Elizabeth tremble." So writes Lady Southwell. Elizabeth in old age had a strong presentiment that her
remains would be dishonored after death. Her pictures were removed from the place where they were to be seen in her~i[etime.
King James "would not permit any mourning to be, got up for
her." He also released from the Tower several ladies who were
imprisoned for twenty and thirty years for tbe "rights of conscience. The members of the ducal house of Norfoik were in