Disgraced, dishonour'd!--not by them, indeed, By mine own self--by mine own hand! O thin-skinn'd hand and jutting veins, 'twas you That sign'd the burning of poor Joan of Kent; But then she was a witch. You have written much, But you were never raised to plead for Frith, Whose dogmas I have reach'd: he was deliver'd To the secular arm to burn; and there was Lambert; Who can foresee himself? truly these burnings, As Thirlby says, are profitless to the burners, And help the other side. You shall burn too, Burn first when I am burnt. Fire--inch by inch to die in agony! Latimer Had a brief end--not Ridley. Hooper burn'd Three-quarters of an hour. Will my faggots Be wet as his were? It is a day of rain. I will not muse upon it. My fancy takes the burner's part, and makes The fire seem even crueller than it is. No, I not doubt that God will give me strength, Albeit I have denied him. _Enter_ SOTO _and_ VILLA GARCIA. VILLA GARCIA. We are ready To take you to St. Mary's, Master Cranmer. CRANMER. And I: lead on; ye loose me from my bonds. [_Exeunt_. SCENE III.--ST. MARY'S CHURCH. COLE _in the Pulpit_, LORD WILLIAMS OF THAME _presiding_. LORD WILLIAM HOWARD, LORD PAGET, _and others_. CRANMER _enters between_ SOTO _and_ VILLA GARCIA, _and the whole Choir strike up_ 'Nunc Dimittis.' CRANMER _is set upon a Scaffold before the people_. COLE. Behold him-- [_A pause: people in the foreground_. PEOPLE. Oh, unhappy sight! FIRST PROTESTANT. See how the tears run down his fatherly face. SECOND PROTESTANT. James, didst thou ever see a carrion crow Stand watching a sick beast before he dies? FIRST PROTESTANT. Him perch'd up there? I wish some thunderbolt Would make this Cole a cinder, pulpit and all. COLE. Behold him, brethren: he hath cause to weep!-- So have we all: weep with him if ye will, Yet-- It is expedient for one man to die, Yea, for the people, lest the people die. Yet wherefore should he die that hath return'd To the one Catholic Universal Church, Repentant of his errors? PROTESTANT _murmurs_. Ay, tell us that. COLE. Those of the wrong side will despise the man, Deeming him one that thro' the fear of death Gave up his cause, except he seal his faith In sight of all with flaming martyrdom. CRANMER. Ay.