Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/276

256 of power. His precautions in withholding such parts of the will of the late King as he desired to conceal prevented the nation from being aware generally of the extent to which he had transgressed it. He was Edward's uncle; he had the art of popularity, and the factions opposed to him were disheartened and disunited. His virtual sovereignty was submitted to, it would seem, without outward complaint or opposition. Only he was bound to remember that jealous eyes were ever on the watch upon power illegitimately obtained; that, as he had taken the Protectorate on his own responsibility, so, for such errors as he might fall into, he would be called on to give a strict account. At the very outset he was not without warning that he was on dangerous ground. His new commission was countersigned only by seven of his co-executors. The names of all the rest, and among them that of the Earl of Warwick, were significantly withheld.

If Somerset was ambitious, however, it was only (as he persuaded himself) to do good. He commenced his administration with a prayer, in which he spoke of himself as called to rule by Providence; in which he described himself as a shepherd of God's people, a sword-bearer of God's justice; in which he asked prosperity, wisdom, and victory for the great things which God was to enable him to do. Nevertheless, such language was