Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/347

A.D. 1552.] having received presents to the value of £3,000, whereas the Marquis of Northampton had received from the French king gifts of the value only of £500.

The remainder of the summer was spent by Somerset in intriguing for the increase of his favour, which these transactions were meant to thwart. He surrounded himself with a strong body of armed men; there were secret debates amongst his friends on the possibility of raising the City in his cause, and he did not hesitate to drop hints that assassination only could free him from his implacable enemies. But whilst the irresolute Somerset plotted, Warwick acted. He secured for himself the appointment of warden of the Scottish marches, thus cutting off the danger which had lately appeared of Somerset's retreat thither. Armed with the preponderating influence which that office conferred in the northern districts, on the 27th of September or the 17th of October he was announced as Duke of Northumberland, a title venerated by the border people, and which had been extinct since the attainder of Earl Percy in 1527. In this formidable position of power and dignity, he was strengthened by his friends and partisans being at the same time elevated in the peerage. The Marquis of Dorset was created Duke of Suffolk, the Earl of Wiltshire, Marquis of Winchester, and Sir William Herbert, Baron of Cardiff and Earl of Pembroke. Cecil, Cheek, Sidney, and Nevil received the honour of knighthood.

This movement in favour of Warwick was followed by consequences of still more startling character to the Duke of Somerset. His enemies now felt on secure ground, and on the 16th of October, the news flew through London that he was arrested on a charge of conspiracy and high treason, and committed to the Tower. He had been apprised that depositions of a serious character had been made against him by Sir Thomas Palmer, a partisan of Warwick's, whereupon he sent for Palmer, and strictly interrogated him, but on his positive denial, let him go. Not satisfied, however, he wrote to Cecil, telling him that he suspected something was in agitation against him. Cecil replied with his characteristic astuteness, that if he were innocent he could have nothing to fear; if he were guilty, he could only lament his misfortune. Piqued at this reply, he sent a letter of defiance, but took no means for the security of his person. Palmer, notwithstanding his denial, had, however, it seems, really lodged this charge against him on the 7th of the month with Warwick:—That in a conference with Somerset in April last, in his garden, the duke assured him that at the time that the solemn declaration of Sir William Herbert had prevented him from going northward, he had sent Lord Gray to raise their friends there; and that after that he had formed the design of inviting Warwick, Northampton, and the chiefs of that party, and of assassinating them, either there or on their return home. That at this very moment he was planning to raise an insurrection in London, to destroy his great enemy, and to seize the direction of government. That Sir Miles Partridge was to call out the apprentices of the city, kill the city guard, and get possession of the great seal. That Sir Thomas Arundel had secured the Tower, and Sir Ralph Vane had a force of 2,000 men ready to support them.

Probably this was a mixture of some truth with a much greater portion of convenient falsehood. The duke was accordingly arrested, and the next day the duchess, with her favourites, Mr. and Mrs. Crane, Sir Miles Partridge, Sir Thomas Arundel, Sir Thomas Holcroft, Sir Michael Stanhope, and others of the duke's friends, were also arrested and committed to the Tower. The king was already brought up from Hampton Court to Westminster for greater security and convenience during the trials of the conspirators. A message was sent in the king's name to the lord mayor and corporation, informing them that the conspirators had agreed to seize the Tower, kill the guards of the City, seize the broad seal, set fire to the town, and depart for the Isle of Wight; and they were, therefore, ordered to keep the gates well, and maintain a strong patrol in the streets.

Whilst the duke was lying in prison, his nephew, the youthful king, was called upon to maintain an air of gaiety and even rejoicing at his Court, where, from the circumstances of the time and the character of the guest on whose account the festivities were held, there could not be much real pleasure. The Queen-Dowager of Scotland had been on a visit to her daughter in Paris, and on her return, through the mediation of Henry II., she obtained permission to pay her court to Edward, and continue her journey by land. The steady hostility which Mary of Guise had shown to the alliance of her daughter with Edward, and to the reforms in religion which he had so much at heart, must have rendered her anything but a welcome guest; but policy, as in all these cases, put on the face of friendship, and to oblige Henry of France, with whom Edward was contemplating a family union, he invited her to London, received her at the entrance of the great hall at Westminster, kissed her, and taking her by the hand, conducted her to her chamber. For the two days of her stay, every attention was shown; the king made her a present of a valuable diamond; the City of London presented her with 100 marks at the gates, and she was accompanied for some distance on her way by a splendid escort of ladies and gentlemen.

This piece of Royal courtesy being performed, preparations were made for Somerset's trial. Such of the persons arrested as could be induced to give evidence, were summoned before the Privy Council, and their depositions taken. Palmer, however, was the chief and the only ready witness. He repeated his account of the intended plot for raising London. If the attempt to destroy the gendarmerie had failed, he said the duke was to ride through the streets, crying, "Liberty! liberty!" to raise the apprentices, and then retire to the Isle of Wight. That he intended to have 2,000 infantry under Crane, and thus to make sure of the massacre of the guards, to seize the Royal person, and issue a proclamation for the arrest of Northumberland, Northampton, and Pembroke, on a charge of treason against the king, and of attempts to alienate his affections from his sister, Mary.

According to the king's journal, Crane confessed quite as much as Palmer asserted, and more:—That the earls were to have been assassinated in the house of Lord Paget; that the Earl of Arundel knew of the matter as well as he did, and that Sir Michael Stanhope was the messenger betwixt them. Some of the others confessed that the duke kept a guard of twenty men to prevent his arrest, and the Lord Strange confessed that the duke had moved him to persuade the king to marry his third