Menace, as usual, was but partially effectual. At length, in the midst of the general stir and excitement of the spring and summer of 1539, while the loyal portion of the country was still under arms, and the government felt strong enough for the work, we trace the progress of special commissions through the counties where the irregularities had been the greatest, partly to sift to the bottom the history of the Marquis of Exeter's conspiracy, partly to administer discipline to gangs of rogues and vagabonds. Sir Thomas Blunt and Sir Robert Neville went to Worcester and Kidderminster. At the latter place ten felons were hanged.[491] Sir Thomas Willoughby, with Lord Russell and others, was sent into the south and west, where, "for wilful murders, heinous robberies, and other offences," Willoughby wrote to Cromwell, that "divers and many felons suffered." In Somersetshire four men were hanged for rape and burglary. In Cornwall, Kendall and Quintrell were hanged, with confederates who had acted under them as recruiting agents for Lord Exeter. Other details are wanting; but a general tone of vigour runs through the reports, and the gentlemen had so far taken warning from the last proclamation, that the commissioners were able to conclude: "I assure you, my lord, in every of these same shires there hath been a great appearance of gentlemen and men of worship who have endeavoured themselves, with much diligence in executing the king's precepts and commandments."[492] Sir Thomas Wriothesley, who either accompanied the commission, or was in Hampshire independently of it, took advantage of a quarter sessions in that county to stimulate these symptoms of improvement a little further. [Sidenote: Sir Thomas Wriothesley gives advice at a quarter sessions in Hampshire.] [Sidenote: Three abbots fall under suspicion.] [Sidenote: The Abbots of Colchester and Reading.] [Sidenote: The Abbot of Glastonbury.] [Sidenote: Layton and Pollard are commissioned to examine the charges against the Abbot of Glastonbury.] [Sidenote: The abbot's rooms are searched.] [Sidenote: He is sent to the Tower.] [Sidenote: The abbey plate and jewels had disappeared.] [Sidenote: General tendency in the monks to plunder.]