Great Britain -- History -- Mary I, 1553-1558; Mary I, Queen of England, 1516-1558
of this world that can appear to be great, if it be weighed with the
joys or pains in the world to come."[447]
[Footnote 447: Hooper to his friends: Foxe, vol.
vi.]
Of five who had been sentenced, four were thus despatched. Bradford,
the fifth, was respited, in the hope that the example might tell upon
him. Six more were waiting their condemnation in Bonner's prisons. The
enemies of the church were to submit or die. So said Gardiner, in the
name of the English priesthood, with the passion of a fierce revenge.
So said the legate and the queen, in the delirious belief that they
were chosen instruments of Providence.
So, however, did not say the English lay statesmen. The {p.197}
first and unexpected effect was to produce a difference of opinion in
the court itself. Philip, to whom Renard had insisted on the necessity
of more moderate measures, found it necessary to clear himself of
responsibility; and the day after Hooper suffered, Alphonso a Castro,
the king's chaplain, preached a sermon in the royal presence, in which
he denounced the execution, and inveighed against the tyranny of the
bishops. The Lords of the Council "talked strangely;" and so deep was
the indignation, that the Flemish ambassador again expected Gardiner's
destruction. Paget refused to act with him in the council any more,
and Philip himself talked more and more of going abroad. Renard, from
the tone of his correspondence, believed evidently at this moment that
the game of the church was played out and lost. He wrote to the
emperor to entreat that when the king went he might not himself be
left behind; he was held responsible by the people for the queen's
misdoings; and a party of the young nobility had sworn to kill
him.[448]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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