Lord of the manor of Birmingham; a man, who of all others the least
deserved that honor; or rather, deserved the axe for being so.
Some have asserted, "That property acquired by dishonesty cannot
prosper." But I shall leave the philosopher and the enthusiast to settle
that important point, while I go on to observe, That that the lordship
of Birmingham did not prosper with the Duke. Though he had, in some
degree, the powers of government in his hands, he had also the clamours
of the people in his ears. What were his inward feelings, is uncertain
at this distance--Fear seems to have prevented him from acknowledging
Birmingham for his property. Though he exercised every act of ownership,
yet he suffered the fee-simple to rest in the crown, 'till nine years
had elapsed, and those clamours subsided, before he ventured to accept
the grant, in 1546.
As the execution of this grant was one of the last acts of Henry's life,
we should be apt to suspect the Duke carried it in his pocket ready for
signing, but deferred the matter as long as he could with safety, that
distance of time might annihilate reflection; and that the King's death,
which happened a few weeks after, might draw the attention of the world
too much, by the importance of the event, to regard the Duke's conduct.
The next six years, which carries us through the reign of Edward the
Sixth, is replete with the intrigues of this illustrious knave. He
sought connections with the principal families: He sought honours for
his own: He procured a match between his son, the Lord Guildford Dudley,
and the Lady Jane Gray, daughter of the Duke of Suffolk, and a
descendant from Henry the Seventh, with intent of fixing the crown in
his family, but failing in the attempt, he brought ruin upon the Suffolk
family, and himself to the block, in the first of Queen Mary, 1553.
Though a man be guilty of many atrocious acts that deserve death, yet in
the hour of distress humanity demands the tear of compassion; but the
case was otherwise at the execution of John, Duke of Northumberland, for
a woman near the scaffold held forth a bloody handkerchief and
exclaimed, "Behold the blood of the Duke of Somerset, shed by your
means, and which cries for vengeance against you."
Thus Northumberland kept a short and rough possession of glory; thus he
fell unlamented; and thus the manor of Birmingham reverted to the crown
a second time, the Duke himself having first taught it the way.
Birmingham continued two years in the crown, 'till the third of Queen
Mary, when she granted it to