Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/69

 1572.] THE DUKE OF NORFOLK. 49 the axe, the scaffold, the masked headsman, and six feet of earth in the chapel of the Tower. 1 This is the judgment of a traitor/ he said, ' and I shall die as true a man as any that liveth.' He heat his breast wildly. ' Do not ask for my life/ he cried, ' I do not desire to live. My Lords, as you have put me out of your company I trust shortly to be in better company ; only I beseech you intercede with the Queen for my children and for payment of my debts. God knows how true a heart I bear to her Majesty, how true a heart to my country, whatever this day has been falsely objected to me. Farewell, my Lords.' 1 He was led away from the bar. The High Steward broke his rod, and the trial was over, and a loud cry rose from the crowd, ' God save the Queen/ It was expected that the resolution which had brought Eliza- beth so far would have carried her on to the conclusion, and that the execution would not be postponed beyond the usual time. The Duke evidently was without hope : face to face with death, he though t no more of the creed to which he had told the Pope he was secretly devoted, and he de- sired that John Foxe, the martyrologist, his old teacher, might prepare him for his end. Lord Burghley considered that hesitation would be extremely dangerous. ' No better hope could be given to the evil/ he said, ' than to see justice forborne against the chief offenders in so perilous an enterprise. It would be imputed to fear, to lack of power in the Queen's hand by God's ordinance/ 1 Skipwith to Burghley, January 1 7 : MSS. Domestic. VOL. X. 4