Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/416

 400 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 66. There was still a hope that Throgmorton might re- main firm. But his fortitude was not equal to the trial. Interrogated in the gloomy cell which had rung with the screams of the Jesuits, the horrid instrument at his side, with the mute executioners standing ready to strain his limbs out of their sockets, his imagination was appalled, his senses refused to do their work. He equivocated, varied in his story, contradicted himself in every succeeding sentence. Pardon was promised him if he would make a free confession. He still held out, but he could not conceal that he had much to tell, and the times did not permit humanity to traitors to imperil the safety of the realm. The Queen gave the necessary authority to proceed with ' the pains.' ' Her Majesty thought it agreeable with good policy and the safety of her person and seat, to commit him to the hands of her learned 'council, to assay by torture to draw the truth from him.' Again he was offered pardon : again he refused, and he was handed over ' to such, as were usually appointed in the Tower to handle the rack.' x His honour struggled with his agony. ' On the first racking he confessed nothing ; ' but he could not en- counter a second trial. When he was laid again upon the frame, 'before he was strained to any purpose, he yielded to confess everything that he knew.' 2 Sitting in wretchedness beside the horrid engine, the November light faintly streaming down the tunnelled windows into the dungeon beneath the armoury, he broke his pledged 1 Throgmorton' s treason. Official narrative, June, 1584 : MSS. Do- mestic. 2 Ibid.