Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/106

 o REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 63. Jerusalem, and he and his fellows were the prophets. The Protestants on their side could sing the same song. Campian, though not past middle age, could remember the martyrs at Oxford, and the burning of those four hundred mechanics at whom it pleased him to scoff. Who was to choose between the witnesses ? But the dreams of hysteria are to the dreamers the inspiration of the Almighty. He was never more brilliant, his elo- quence being subdued and softened by the sense that his end was near. Eliot Judas Eliot as he was after- wards called glided out before he had ended. A few minutes after, a servant rushed into the assembly, to say that the doors were beset by armed men. Those who are acquainted with English manor houses must have seen often narrow staircases July 1 6. piercing the walls, and cells hollowed out in the seeming solid masonry. These places were the priests' chambers of the days of the persecution, where in sudden alarms they could be concealed. Into one of them Campian and the two chaplains were instantly hurried. The entrance, scarcely to be detected by those who knew where to look for it, was in Mrs Yates's room behind the bed curtains. The constables with Eliot at their head were admitted, searched every place, and could find nothing. The magistrate who was in attend- ance apologized to Mrs Yates, and was about to with- draw his men, when Eliot, who had seen Campian there with his own eyes, and knew that no one had left the house, produced the council's warrant, and insisted on a further search. It was continued till dark,