Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/173

1553.] the day that Mary set her foot upon the throne the gates of the Tower would open; Norfolk and Gardiner would return to the council, and the conservative lords to the Court. The lips of those that he had oppressed would be opened. Somerset's murder would rise in judgment against him. He knew too well 'the dead men's bones and all uncleanness' which lay concealed behind the fair surface of his godly professions. Was there, then, any hope that the succession could be changed? The fanatics dreaded Mary as much as Northumberland dreaded her. However moderate might be her policy, the best which they could look for would be toleration. They would lose their supremacy, and the privilege of forcing their opinions upon others. The Duke might rely, therefore, on them and on their leaders among the bishops. But the ultra-faction was numerically small and unless he could strengthen his hands with more influential support, his chances were nothing. It was possible for him, however, to work upon many of the laity with the phantom of reaction, which, under the mildest form, had its terrors for those to whom, by grant or purchase, the estates of the Church had fallen. It was possible to work upon the superstition of the King, who had been made bitter against his sister by the collision into which he had been forced with her. The weak Duke of Suffolk could be led away by the prospect of a crown for his daughter; and there were others among the new-made lords whose influence, if not fortune, depended on the continuance in power of the revolutionary party. Above all Northumberland had