Amongst the many cruel actions of which the odium has been cast upon Gardiner is the mournful tragedy of Lady Jane Grey. This poor girl was a victim to the political intrigues of an unscrupulous and ambitious party, and she paid by the sacrifice of her life, and that of her husband, Lord Guilford Dudley, for her brief and unwilling reign.
Sir Thomas Wyatt and Sir Peter Carew were the originators of a deep-laid and formidable plot, by which Mary and her sister were to be deprived of their rights of inheritance. They flattered the ambition of the Duke of Suffolk by suggesting that his daughter-in-law should ascend the throne, and thereby succeeded in implicating him and his children so completely in their projects that the heads of all ultimately fell upon the scaffold.
The alarm occasioned to the Queen and her adherents by the discovery of this plot was, no doubt, considerable; but against Gardiner is brought the grave charge of having fomented this panic, rather than having endeavoured to allay it.
But for his influence, the deaths of the principal conspirators, Wyatt and Carew, would have sufficed, and have been deemed a sufficient sacrifice. Many others amongst those who suffered in connection with the attempt might have been spared; but the Bishop is reported to have said:
"We may shake off the leaves and lop the branches, but if we do not utterly destroy the root, the hope of hereticks, we do nothing."
Amongst the many nooks and corners of this ancient Inn of Gray's, the little chapel must not be forgotten. Within its tranquil precincts all things speak of the past, for little has been changed therein for many generations.
Small and unpretentious as it is, few can enter this tiny place of worship without experiencing some emotion, without giving some thought to the many great and illustrious men--lawyers, Churchmen, and statesmen, now long numbered with the dead--who have knelt here for prayer and praise.
Centuries have elapsed since they have passed away, but their noble deeds and writings are still remembered and cherished.
Happily for England, this great race is not extinct. Some of those who now assemble within these walls have already made for themselves illustrious names--names that will be honoured and revered when they, in the fulness of time, depart; but others come here in sorrow, and perchance remorse, for many a promising but wasted life.