Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/473

1549.] declined to parley. He brought up the Germans with levelled matchlocks, and they threw down their arms and surrendered. In this last party were some of the ringleaders of the movement. He was urged to make an example of them; but he insisted that he must keep his promise. Either from policy or from good feeling he was disinclined to severity. 'Pitying their case,' he said, 'that measure must be used in all things;' and when the fighting was over, the executions, considering the times and the provocation, were not numerous. Ket and his brother William were soon after taken and sent to London to be examined by the council. A gunner, two of the prophets, and six more were hanged on the Oak of Reformation; and from Sir Anthony Aucher's letter, it appears that there were other prisoners whom the Protector released. In the autumn (but not till the change, which I shall presently describe, had taken place in the Government) the Kets were returned to their own county for punishment. Robert was hung in chains on Norwich Castle; William on the church tower at Wymondham. So ended the Norfolk rebellion, remarkable among other things for the order which was observed among the people during the seven weeks of lawlessness.

The rising in Yorkshire was at an end also, having from the first been of a less serious kind. There, too, a prophecy had gone abroad 'That there should no king reign in England; that the noblemen and gentlemen