Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 06.djvu/414

 Bromley out to the queen that if she married a catholic parliament would expect her to settle the succession to the throne, and this argument seems to have prevailed with her. In 1580 he was engaged by the queen's orders in an inquiry as to the removal of one William Crowther from the keepership of Newgate ; and several letters of his are extant on the subject. When Drake returned from his second Voyage in 1581, Bromley was one of those whose favour he hastened to secure with a present of wrought-gold plate, part of his Spanish spoil, of the value of eight hundred dollars. Bromley took his seat in the House of Lords on 16 Jan. 1582. The first business before the house being a petition of the commons for advice in choosing a speaker, the chancellor, the choice having fallen on Popham, the new solicitor-general, admonished him by the queen's orders 'that the House of Commons should not deal or intermeddle with any matters touching her majesty's person or estate, or with church government.' To this admonition the commons paid no attention, and accordingly, as soon as a subsidy had been voted, the session was closed, the chancellor excluding from the queen's thanks 'such members of the commons as had dealt more rashly in some matters than was fit for them to do.' Shortly afterwards this parliament was dissolved, having lasted eleven years. Bromley continued in favour, and on 26 Nov. of the same year was consulted by the queen upon the proposals made by the French ambassador. On 21 June 1585 the Earl of Northumberland, then a prisoner in the Tower, was found dead in his cell. Three days afterwards a full meeting of peers was held in the Star-chamber, and the chancellor briefly announced that the earl had been engaged in traitorous designs, and had laid violent hands on himself. A new parliament assembled on 23 Nov. 1585, and was opened with a speech from Bromley, announcing that it was summoned to consider a bill for the trial of Mary Queen of Scots. The bill soon passed. Bromley was at this time active in the prosecution of Babington. After his conviction and execution a court was constituted for Mary's trial. It consisted of forty-five peers, privy councillors, and judges, and the chancellor presided over it. It sat at Fotheringhay Castle, Northamptonshire, where Mary was imprisoned. Bromley arrived on 11 Oct. 1586, having dissolved parliament on 14 Sept. at Westminster as a commissioner, with the Archbishop of Canterbury and others. The court sat, and Mary at once placed a difficulty in the way of the prosecution by refusing to plead, 'she being a queen, and not amenable to any foreign jurisdiction.' There was then a conference between the queen and the chancellor but at first her firmness baffled him. 'I will never submit myself,' she said, 'to the late law mentioned in the commission.' She yielded to his urgency at length, and the trial proceeded. On 14 Oct. a sitting was held in the presence chamber, the lord chancellor as president, sitting on the right of a vacant throne, and the commissioners on benches at the sides. Mary's defence was so vigorous that Burghley, in alarm, set aside Bromley and Gawdy, the queen's Serjeant, who was chief prosecutor, and himself replied. At the end of the second day the court was adjourned to 25 Oct., at the Star-chamber, Westminster, when, the chancellor presiding, the whole court except Lord Zouche, who acquitted her on the charge of assassination found Mary guilty. On the 29th parliament met, and the chancellor announced that they were called together to advise the queen on this verdict. The commons did not long deliberate. On 5 Nov., after electing a speaker, they agreed with the lords upon an address to the queen, to be presented by the lord chancellor, praying for Mary's execution. For some time Elizabeth hesitated, but on 1 Feb. 1587 she was induced to sign the warrant. Bromley at once affixed the great seal to it, and informed Burghley that it was now perfected. The privy council was hastily summoned, and decided to execute the warrant, the queen having done all that was required of her by law. Bromley as head of the law, took on himself the chief burden of the responsibility; but probaby he expected to shelter himself behind the authority of Burghley. It is certain that he was very anxious during the trial, and was a party to the execution of the warrant only with great apprehension. The strain proved too much for his strength. Parliament met on 15 Feb., but adjourned, owing to the chancellor's illness ; and, as it continued, Sir Edmund Coke, chief justice of the common pleas, dissolved parliament on 23 March acting for the chancellor by commission from the queen. Bromley never rallied. He died on 12 April, at three, in his fifty-eighth year, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster Abbey, where a splendid tomb was erected by his eldest son. His seals were offered to, but refused by, Archbishop Whitgift. As an equity judge Bromley was regretted till the end of the reign. In spite of the temper of the age, he was free from religious bigotry, and, as a letter of his (1 July 1582) to the Bishop of Chester of the prosecution by refusing to plead, ' she pleading for Lady Egerton of Ridley, shows