"Now at Midsummer shall be three years, my Lord Darcy, I, and Sir Robert Constable, as we sate at the board, it happened that we spake of Sir Francis Bigod, (how) his priest, in his sermons, likened Our Lady to a pudding when the meat was out, with many words more; and then my Lord Darcy said that he was a naughty priest; let him go; for in good sooth I will be none heretic; and so said I, and likewise Sir Robert Constable; for we will die Christian men."--_MS. State Paper Office_, second series, Vol. XVIII. [252] "And whereas your lordship doth write that, in case the consciences of such persons as did acquit Levening should be examined, the fear thereof might trouble others in like case, the King's Majesty considering his treason to be most manifest, apparent, and confessed, and that all offenders in that case be principals, and none accessories, doth think it very necessary that the means used in that matter may be searched out, as a thing which may reveal many other matters worthy his Highness's knowledge; and doth therefore desire you not only to signify their names, but also to travel all that you can to beat out the mystery."--Privy Council to the Duke of Norfolk: _Hardwicke State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 46. [253] The list is in the _Rolls MS._ first series, 284. Opposite the name of each juror there is a note in the margin, signifying his connexions among the prisoners. [254] Compare _Baga de Secretis_, pouch X. bundle 2, and _Rolls House MS._, first series, 284. [255] Word illegible in the MS. [256] _MS._ in Cromwell's own hand: _Rolls House_, A 2, 29, fol. 160 and 161. [257] _Rolls House MS._ first series. 207. [258] _MS._ ibid. 1401. [259] Depositions relating to Lord Delaware: _Rolls House MS._ [260] _MS. State Paper Office, Domestic_, Vol. XII. [261] Ibid. [262] _MS. Cotton. Titus_, B 1, 457. [263] For instance, Sir Thomas Percy's eldest son inherited the earldom of Northumberland; unfortunately, also his father's politics and his father's fate. He was that Earl of Northumberland who rose for Mary of Scotland against Elizabeth. [264] Lady Bulmer seems from the depositions to have deserved as serious punishment as any woman for the crime of high treason can be said to have deserved. One desires to know whether in any class of people there was a sense of compunction for the actual measure inflicted by the law. The following is a meagre, but still welcome, fragment upon this subject:--