Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/459

1540.] convicted of high treason, Grey represented to the King that the country was profoundly quiet. He reduced the army, and bequeathing as a legacy to Sir William Brereton, who was left as lord justice in his absence, to trust no one of the council, or he would be undone, he sailed for England. No sooner was he gone than the quiet of which he had spoken was turned to uproar. On the 30th of April O'Connor was killing and burning on the West Marches. On the 7th of May the Wicklow freebooters were cattle-driving under the walls of Dublin. 'To be plain with your lordship,' Brereton wrote to Cromwell, 'the deputy hath left this land in marvellous evil sort and danger;' and Ormond confirming the same story, and details of Grey's late extravagances reaching the Government at the same time, the King could endure it no longer. Exasperated by disappointment, the waste of money, and the hopelessness of the whole miserable business, he determined at all events that he would know the truth. He sent Grey to the Tower, and he wrote to Ormond, Sir John Allen, and Brabazon to repair to his presence on the instant for an examination of their own and the deputy's conduct.

The tongues of Lord Leonard's enemies were instantly loosed; accusations, wise and foolish, poured in from, every side. Archbishop Brown remembered that once in Lord Leonard's presence he had called Reginald Pole a Popish cardinal, and the deputy in return had