that The fyers that was made . . . merching towardes Leskes (Ligne) left feawe villages unburned in all that countrey.' At Ligne Seymour forced the Abbey, a strong castle, to surrender, and found it was garrisoned only by eighteen men and boys. After a council of war in August the army, reinforced by imperial allies, was for a time quartered at Font de l'Angle, awaiting the King of England's orders. While there, Sir John Wallop fell sick of the ague and was removed to Valenciennes, Sir Thomas Seymour taking command during his absence. In October the emperor wrote to Chapuys that Master Wallop fulfilled his duties admirably, but as to the marshal, he has shown himself colder and more difficult to meet than we should have wished; but this,' he adds, 'is merely intended for your particular ear.' Early in the next month the English army took leave of the emperor and retired into winter quarters in Calais. During the next year Henry rewarded Sir Thomas Seymour for his services in this campaign of 1543, granting him a licence for the exportation of wood and oats in the January of 1543-4, and another for the exportation of beer. In March, 'for his good, true and faithful services already given and to be given in future,' he was granted the office of keeper of the King's Park of Farleigh Hungerford, and in April he was appointed Master of the Ordnance for life. In the campaign of 1544, Seymour was present during the unsuccessful siege of Montreuil, and at the close of the campaign in the autumn of that year returned to England. The news that a French fleet had put to sea, in the autumn of 1544, in order to cut off communication between 1 It is well to note that in the Public Record Office Calendar of State Papers, England and Spain, vol. vi., from which most of this information is taken, the references to Sir Thomas Seymour are wrongly ascribed to the Earl of Hertford in the index. Boulogne and England, brought a new honour for Sir Thomas Seymour. He was appointed Admiral of the King's Navy with instructions to convey a great quantity of provisions to Boulogne. This accomplished, he was ordered to station the warships in mid-channel, and at the same time, if possible, to 'appoint a convenient numbre of the small shallopps and other small vessels to passe in the River Estaples, and there burne and bring away suche vessells of thenmies as may be there found, or do such other annoyaunce to thenmies as the tyme will serve.' On the 6th of November Seymour wrote to the Council advising that he should attack the coasts of Brittany, 'yf it shall plesse you to sende the shepes that kepe the narow sees to meett me at the Wyghte ande geve us leve to go into Brettayne I am in beleffe to sarve the Kynges Majeste well.' The king consented, but Seymour's designs were met with failure. A violent storm spoilt an intended attack on some of the enemy's ships which were lying at Dieppe and in the Seine, and, being obliged to take recourse to the open sea, his ships were so battered that the next day he reached the Isle of Wight with only part of the fleet, all the boats having been lost during the night. The king, being quick to anger, evidently conveyed his dissatisfaction at the failure of the enterprise to the admiral through the Privy Council. Thus, on the 13th of November, Seymour wrote to the Council that he had received their letters and perseve be the same that I am thowght neclegent in the accomplechement of the Kynges Heynes plesur. Yf it can be so provede, I am both worthey of ponychement and blame; and havyng don the best that in me was, I am to be exkewsed.' He then proceeds to give some account of the night at sea, and to show how impossible it had been to combat the elements. Wharfor,' he continues, 'I deseyer your Lordshepes to cawlle all the captaynes ande masteres that ware in this jorne and yf any of them be abell to say that we myght lay lenger in Dover Road, the Downes or Bollen Rode, as the wynde dede change without pottynge ourselves ande the Kynges shepes in gretter danger, then let me barre the blame; and yf we have don but as the wether wolde serve I shuld desyer your Lordeshepes to blame the wether ande lett me, with the rest in my company be exkewsede, to incorage us to serve on the see a nother tyme, rather then to blame us with out deserttes.' This manly letter and appeal to his commonsense won the king's forgiveness, for, in the following January, 1544-5, he granted Sir Thomas Seymour the manor of Water Eton in the county of Berks. The following July Sir Thomas was stationed at Dover, but by September he had joined the fleet at Portsmouth, and, on the 11th of that month, wrote to the king concerning the plague that was raging among the ships. 'Dyvers of the shippes whiche Your Majestie appointed to kepe the seas with me, Sir Thomas Seymour, are infected as it may appere by the margyne of a boke of the said shippes names being noted with a pricke against every of the said shippes.' In the following November Henry granted the admiral a house called Hampton Place, in the parish of St. Clements, without Temple Bar. During the next year he was appointed English commissioner to settle the delimitation of the territories in the Boulognais and the questions about the fortifications. Paulin, the General of the Galleys of France, was the French commissioner. Van der Delft wrote to the emperor, in December 1546, that the two commissioners had been unable to agree on the spot, and had therefore both come to England to settle about it. However, the Imperial ambassador believed rather that Paulin had arranged the coming to England 'more for the purpose of promoting the intrigue,' of which he (Van der Delft) had given information to the King of England, 'who was very glad to know of it.' There were only a few more weeks for Henry to live, and, strangely enough, there seems to be no indication of Sir Thomas Seymour's doings during those weeks in which his brother was becoming the most powerful noble in the kingdom, and was preparing to become ruler over the king to be. CHAPTER III THE UNCLES OF A KING 'Debellare pares !-occumbere pares! Perducit miseros.' 'DELIBERATE maturelye in all things. Execute quyckelye the Determynations. Do justice without respecte. Make assured and stayed wyse men mynisters under you-Maynetayne the Mynisters in their offices. Punnyshe the disobedient according to their deserts. In the King's causes give comyssion in the King's name. Rewarde the King's worthye servants liberallye and quicklye. Give your owne to your owne and the King's to the King's frankelye. Dispatche suyters shortlye. Be affable to the good and sterne to the evill. Follow advise in Counsaill. Take Fee or Rewarde of the King's onlye. Keep your Mynisters about you uncorrupte. Thus God will prosper youe. The King favour youe and all men love youe.' Such was the advice that Sir William Paget sent to his friend, the Earl of Hertford, as a New Year's gift, in one of the late years of Henry VIII.'s reign. Already, as we have seen, it was a foregone conclusion that Hertford would need this advice when Henry VIII. should die, for it was he who would inevitably be chosen Protector. And the inevitable came. The prophetic dread of Chapuys was fulfilled. The will of Henry VIII., whether genuine or not, was potent in effect, and its sixteen executors were unquestionably accepted as governors of the young king not by their right as Privy Councillors, but in their capacity |