Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/193

1553.] found means, though she was narrowly watched, to communicate with Scheyfne, and desired him to let the Emperor know her situation, and ask his advice. On the 23rd of June, a rising was expected in London. The Protestant clergy, who were the only persons that heartily exerted themselves in the conspiracy, gave out in their pulpits that the King was dying, and that religion would be in danger from Mary. The people listened so ominously, that the guards at the gates were doubled. The Duke of Norfolk, Gardiner, and the other prisoners in the Tower, who had been allowed to walk on the leads and in the gardens, were confined to their rooms; Lord Dacres, who was leaving London, was detained, and other suspected persons were arrested; and on the 24th of June Scheyfne was told that the Duke found his embarrassments so great, that he was giving up the game. Three quarters of the country were determined to support Mary, and her friends on the council sent a message through Scheyfne to the Emperor, to say that the slightest demonstration, on his part, in his cousin's favour, would suffice to insure her accession.

In his extremity Northumberland was obliged again to appeal to France. It was now whispered at Paris that, should Mary become Queen, Charles had already destined her for Philip of Spain; and the union of England and Spain, under a common sovereign, was a danger which every French statesman felt himself called