On the 13th November, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Guildford, Ambrose and Henry Dudley, with the Lady Jane, proceeded from the Tower on foot, to be arraigned at the Guildhall for high treason.[374] All pleaded guilty, Cranmer protesting that he had acted unwillingly, in deference to the authority of the officers of the Crown. Parliament confirmed their attainder, and they were condemned to death. The Archbishop appealed to the Queen, and hoped that the mercy that had been extended to so many would be shown to him.[375] Notwithstanding that the prisoners had been convicted, there was no intention on the part of the Queen to proceed to the extremity of the law. She hoped, by keeping them as hostages, to secure the loyalty of their friends, an optimistic view that was not realised. Meanwhile, every indulgence compatible with their situation was allowed to them. Both Cranmer and Ridley had the freedom of the Tower, and the Queen’s garden, in common with the Lady Jane and the others. Ridley was even sometimes invited to dine at the Lieutenant’s table. The confinement of Latimer was more rigorous. He had from the first been ordered into close prison, with his servant to attend him. Thus were matters constituted at the end of 1553. Elizabeth had remained at court for some months, in a not very enviable position, regarded by the Imperialists as the arch-enemy, and in reality the object of every plot that was floated. Her fate seemed to keep her perpetually hovering between the scaffold and the throne, to which de Noailles bade her aspire, without intending, even if he succeeded in dethroning Mary, to help her to mount it. She besought the Queen to allow her to retire to her house at Ashridge, but Mary hesitated, in giving her leave to depart, and if she had her watched, it was with good reason. Her relations with de Noailles had been discovered, and Arundel and Paget had told the Queen that the French ambassador had visited the Princess three or four times under cover of the night, in order to treat secretly of her marriage.[376] But Elizabeth denied everything, and probably the accusation regarding the ambassador’s visits was untrue. At any rate, Mary did not believe it, and took occasion to make a new act of confidence in her sister. She embraced her, and gave her two strings of large and magnificent pearls and some rich sables. On taking leave, Elizabeth entreated Mary not to believe the reports circulated to her disadvantage without hearing her. Nevertheless, de Noailles thought that it only depended on Courtenay, for her to follow him into Devon and Cornwall, where they would have a good chance of securing the Crown for themselves. He had some reason for this belief, the mayor and aldermen of Plymouth, thanks to his interference, having sent to beg him to supplicate his master to take them under his protection. They wished, they said, to place their town in his hands, and were willing to receive whatever garrison he would