"TUDOR. ROSE"
[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] .
SIR,—Without entering into any discussion of the accuracy or inaccuracy of incidents and characters .represented in Tudor Rose, I venture to protest against Mr. Stevenson's statement, that to say Lady Jane Grey was " the nearest approach to a saint that the Anglican Church has produced," is.a " pre-
posterous assertion." .
Different meanings are no doubt- attached to the word "saint," which in the Roman Catholic Church is. strictly applicable only to men and women, such as in recent times, Joan of Arc, and Sir Thomas More, whose claims to -4` saint- ship" have been definitely recognised in decrees of canonicity, issued by the Holy See ; but in Protestant countries, the term is used in a more general sense, and. applied to those who have led exceptionally holy lives, and as far as man can judge, have "followed the example of our Saviour Christ, and been made like unto Him," both in word and deed. In this second sense, surely the nine days queen" was unques- tionably a saint.
On Whitsunday, .1553, when she was not quite seventeen, she was given in marriage to Lord Guildford Dudley.; six weeks later Edward VI died ; her brief .reign began - •and ended ; and on February 12th, 1554, she was beheaded inthe Tower, meeting . death with the unflinching courage of innocence. Her farewell message to her sister, Lady, Catherine Grey, written on a blank page of a Greek Testathent on: the last night of her earthly life, is, I think,- in itself onniviaeing evidence of "a meek and quiet spirit," which St. Peter says " is in the sight of God of great price."—! am, Sir, &e.,
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