Lady Jane Grey (person)

Before I went into Germany I came to Broadgate, in Leicestershire, to take my leave of the noble Lady Jane Grey, to whom I was exceeding much beholding. her parents, the Duke and Duchess, with all the household, gentlemen and gentlewomen, were hunting in the park. I found her in her chamber reading Phædon Platonis in Greek, and this with as much delight as some gentlemen would read a merry tale in Boccaccio. After salutation and duty done, with some other talk, I asked her 'why she would lose such pastime in the park?' smiling she answered me, 'I wisse all their sport in the park is but a shadow to that pleasure which I find in Plato. Alas! Good folk, they never felt what true pleasure meant.'

For a heartfelt appreciation of what the loss of this supremely gifted girl meant, see dannye's explication of the song Queen Jane Approximately.

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