At Wilton too, where the Court was being held (the plague still raged in London) the new King enacted another farce. He signed the death-warrants of Cobham, Grey, and Markham: Ralegh's sentence he withheld in case more light was thrown upon his case by confessions on the scaffold. He gave special instructions that no hope of pardon should be given to any of the prisoners. He kept his intentions from his most intimate ministers. Then he assembled the council, the day after the execution was to have taken place. He began a complicated speech, which puzzled his hearers, who were expecting a messenger every moment to bring news of the execution. "He contrasted the ardent and resolute spirit of Grey with the base and cowardly nature of Cobham; and then asked if it were at all consistent with kingly justice to execute the high-spirited Grey and to spare that pitiful creature, Cobham." He went on to point out the insolence of Grey who disdained to entreat for his life; the penitence of Cobham, who begged his life with humility. And so he continued until the minds of all the men who heard him were sufficiently muddled, and ended with what Edwards well calls, the triumphant tag, "So I have saved the lives of them all." Again loud applause broke out in recognition of his clemency. But such applause, though it deafens the ears, does not last on in the hearts of men. His showily arranged mercy captivated the unthinking multitude. Wise men were not pleased that a King could stoop to such pettiness. It boded ill for the country that supreme power should be vested in a man who could behave in this manner. To them the action bore proof that the King was a little cruel man. But the people shouted for joy. The action made him popular: and when the Gunpowder Plot was dramatically discovered the following year, and the King's life was saved by a presentiment, his popularity increased a thousand-fold. Who could doubt that in very truth King James was the Lord's anointed? Only as the years went by, dark events happened. Why did the Prince die suddenly in the prime of his vigorous youth? Who was Car that he should enjoy such favour? Why was Gondomar the Spanish ambassador held in such esteem? There was the scandal of Overbury's death. Men began to wonder and fear. Men heard the bitterness spoken in Troilus and Cressida or in Timon, and the bitterness began to find an answer in their hearts. A week after the royal farce at Winchester Ralegh was removed to London: first to the Tower, then to the Fleet, and finally to the Tower, where he remained.