Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/445

1538.] to read the prayer for the King in the Church-service. The Archbishop put him in confinement. Lord Leonard Grey immediately set him at liberty. The 'stations' which had been closed were reopened. The pardoners resumed their trade, and were not to be checked; and the Archbishop wrote to Cromwell, imploring that he might be supported or else be allowed to resign.

The conservative reaction in England which, two years later, overthrew the Privy Seal, was gaining strength at the time; and the deputy, it appeared, possessed the confidence of the Duke of Norfolk and his friends, and looked to their support. George Paulet had told him that Cromwell was on the edge of destruction, and he, perhaps, believed himself safe in acting on the expectation. But a clearer brain than belonged to Lord Leonard Grey was required to tread safely the narrow ridge which divided reaction from treason. The deputy was encouraged to oppose the semi-Lutheran Protestants; he dared at last to countenance the Romanists. The home Government had nominated a Dr Nangle to the Bishopric of Clontarf. The Pope, in opposition, appointed one of the Bourkes of Clanrickard. Nangle was expelled from the See; and the deputy, though ordered to prosecute the intruder under the Statute of Provisors, left him quietly in possession. Following the same policy, he had come to an open rupture with Lord Ormond and his son, and as he advanced further along his perilous road his Irish