Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/494

474 that their only desire was for an improvement in the administration. They had endeavoured again and again by gentle means to check the extravagances of the Duke of Somerset; and their supposed conspiracy was no more than a resolution to discharge the duty which his father's will had laid upon them, and to remonstrate more effectually. By the same messenger they sent a letter to Paget and Cranmer, protesting against the attitude which the Protector had assumed towards them, as likely to lead to dangerous consequences. They had intended nothing but to give advice, and, if necessary, to press their advice; and if he would now dismiss the force which he had called out, they were prepared to settle their differences with him quietly. Both Sir William Paget and the Archbishop, however, must be aware of the danger of the course on which the Protector seemed to have entered, and they desired them as they valued their duties, to use their influence for the safety of the commonwealth. At the same time they sent a courier to Herbert and Russell with explanations, and took fresh steps to prevent Somerset's proclamation for raising the country from taking effect.

The yeomen of the guard were marched to Windsor, 'the lords fearing the rage of the people, so little quieted;' and the Protector had nothing to fear, could he bring himself to relinquish the power which he had misused. The distracted state of mind into which he had fallen is curiously indicated in the letters and manifestoes