Perth.
Replies to Minor Queries.
_List of English Sovereigns_ (Vol. v., p. 28.).--The principal reason
why the names of the Empress Matilda, King Henry junior, and Queen Jane
(Grey or Dudley), are not inserted in the lists of English sovereigns,
as J. J. S. suggests they should be, arises from the fact of the periods
of their supposed reigns being concurrent with those of other monarchs,
and our constitution recognising one only at a time. The name of Queen
Jane has, however, found a place in some recent lists; following that
given in Sir Harris Nicolas's _Chronology of History_ (edit. 1833, p.
330.), where he states that her nominal reign extended from the 6th to
the 17th July, 1553. Appended to _The Chronicle of Queen Jane and Queen
Mary_ (printed for the Camden Society), I have given a list of all the
public documents or state papers known to be extant which bear date in
the reign of Queen Jane, and the last is a letter of the Privy Council
to Lord Rich, dated the 19th July; this extends the period two days
longer than in the _Chronology of History_, and was certainly the last
public document that recognised Jane's authority. Only one _private_
document so dated has been discovered. It is a deed relating to the
parish of St. Dunstan's in Kent (dated 15th July), which was
communicated by Mr. Hunter to the _Retrospective Review_, N. S. vol. i.
p. 505. But an act of parliament of the 1st March, 1553-4, legalised all
documents that might be so dated from the 6th of July to the last day of
the same month (_Nicolas_, p. 316.). Among our historians, Heylin, in
his _History of the Reformation_, has apportioned a distinct division of
his narrative to "The Reign of Queen Jane."