historian writes, ‘that the King did constantly follow the reformation of the abominable Church ... incontinently renewed the old practice of rebelling again[483].’ A plan was evolved by Sir Francis Bigod and a certain John Hallam, to attack and take both Hull and Scarborough: the whole country was ready to rise again, and they anticipated an easy victory[484]. But the success of this last outbreak was very short-lived. The attempt which Hallam made against Hull failed, owing to the fact that the plot had been reported to the mayor there, and Hallam himself was captured[485]. At Scarborough Bigod was scarcely more fortunate. He had succeeded in calling out the people of the East Riding, and had harangued them; ‘Ye are deceaued by a colo_ur_ of a pardon,’ he said, ‘for it is called a pardon that ye haue, and it is none But a p_ro_clamacion.’ The commons responded to his words with a great shout, and he marched off with a large following to repair his comrade’s disaster at Hull, leaving the son of Lord Lumley with a handful of men to attack Scarborough[486]. But Lumley deserted his post, abandoning the command to two subordinates, who attempted to lay siege to the castle of Scarborough in the absence of its keeper, Sir Ralph Evers; the latter, however, soon returned, and they gave up the enterprise, only to be captured and imprisoned. Bigod’s second attempt on Hull had meantime also failed, and Bigod himself fled[487]. Meantime the Duke of Norfolk had returned into the north, no longer as a peace commissioner, but as a messenger of death and destruction[488]. Now that the tide of affairs had turned and the rebels were weakened, the King thought it at last safe to inflict the long-deferred punishment on the leaders of the revolt. It is true that Norfolk was accompanied by a few persons, who together with certain gentlemen in the north were to compose a council to aid him in carrying out a general pacification: this arrangement, however, was obviously temporary, and it was soon to be replaced by a more stable form of government. The true mission of the Duke was to do ‘dreadful execution.’ Before a permanent reorganization of the north could be attempted, it was absolutely essential that the chief rebels should be dealt with in such a way as would deter others from attempting a fresh insurrection. The situation demanded severity, and there can be no doubt that the inclination of the King tallied closely with the dictates of political expediency. Norfolk justified to the full the confidence that Henry reposed in his ruthlessness. He reported that he thought that so great a number had never before been put to death at one time, and confessed that had he proceeded by jury, not one in five would have suffered[489]. All the rebel leaders were taken and sent up to London, and by the end of July, 1537, Aske, Darcy, Hussey, Bigod, and many others had been condemned to death as traitors. Darcy at his mock trial had dared to tell Cromwell: