Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/317

1540.] to be heir to the crown. These five were declared by Act of Parliament guilty of high treason; their trial was dispensed with; they were sentenced to death, and the bill was passed without a dissentient voice. This was on the first of June. It was the same week in which the Tower seemed likely to be the destiny of Tunstall and Gardiner; the struggling parties had reached the crisis when one or the other must fall. The religious condition of the country is well described by Marillac in a letter, written on the 1st of June, to Montmorency:—',—A few days since the Dean of the Chapel Royal and the Bishop of Chichester were conducting the service in state at Westminster Abbey, when they were arrested, and sent to the Tower for treason, and before night their goods were seized and confiscated.'Lord Cromwell, I hear from a credible quarter, says that other bishops are about to follow. I did not learn their names, but we may presume them to be those who lately shook Cromwell's credit, and brought him nearly to his ruin. However that be, things are now at a pass when either Cromwell's party or the Bishop of Winchester's party must fall; and although they are both high in favour and authority with the King their master, fortune will most probably turn in favour of Cromwell. The Dean of the Chapel, the Bishop of Winchester's best friend, is struck down; the Archbishop of Canterbury, his greatest adversary, has been deputed to preach in the Bishop's place at St Paul's, and has begun to argue against his doctrines in the same pulpit where the Bishop preached in Lent. Doctor Barnes, who was lately imprisoned, is likely to be soon released at the intercession of the Germans; and another doctor, named Latimer, who last year surrendered his See rather than subscribe to the Six Articles, is recalled, and will shortly be replaced upon the bench.'So great is the inconstancy here, and so lightly opinion changes.'The state of religion continues most unfortunate. The bishops are divided, and hate one another. The people know not what to believe; for those who are inclined to the reformed views are called heretics; those who adhere to the old faith are charged with Papistry and