Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/108

 92 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 63. a prisoner, but was obliged to communicate with the council, and received orders to send him up at once. The sympathy which protected him in the country did not extend to London. He was brought into July 22. the city in his lay disguise, wearing cap and feather, buff jerkin, and velvet hose, his feet tied under his horse's belly, and his arms pinioned behind his back. A placard was fastened on his head, with the words, ' Campian, the seditious Jesuit.' He was led along through a yelling crowd to the Tower gate, where Sir Owen Hopton received him, and his lodging for the night was ' Little Ease ' a narrow cell at one end of the torture chamber, underground, entirely dark, where he could neither stand nor lie at length. The next day the council directed that some better lodging should be provided for him. Neither the Queen nor Leicester had forgotten the brilliant youth who had flattered them at Oxford. The Earl sent for Campian ; and being introduced into a private room, he found himself in the presence of Elizabeth herself. She wished to give him a chance of saving himself. She asked whether he regarded her as his lawful sovereign. The relaxation of the Bull allowed him to say that he did. She asked whether he thought that the Bishop of Home could lawfully excommunicate her. A distinct declaration of loyalty, a frank repudi- ation of the temporal pretensions of the Pope, were all that was required of him. He would not muke either. He said that he was no umpire between parties so far above him, he could not decide a question on which the