Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/360

340 to find open. He had sunt his proclamation thither the day before, by a servant, and he had friends within the walls who had undertaken to place the town at his disposal.

The state of Coventry was probably the state of most other towns in England. The inhabitants were divided. The mayor and aldermen, the fathers of families, and the men of property, were conservatives, loyal to the Queen, to the mass, and to 'the cause of order.' The young and enthusiastic, supported by others who had good reasons for being in opposition to established authorities, were those who had placed themselves in correspondence with the Duke of Suffolk.

Suffolk's servant (his name was Thomas Rampton), on reaching the town, on Monday evening, made a mistake in the first person to whom he addressed himself, and received a cold answer. Two others of the townsmen, however, immediately welcomed him, and told him that 'the whole place was at his lord's commandment, except certain of the town council, who feared that, if good fellows had the upper hand, their extremities heretofore should be remembered.' They took Rampton into a house, where, presently, another man entered of the same way of thinking, and, in his own eyes, a man of importance. 'My Lord's quarrel is right well known,' this person said, 'it is God's quarrel, let him come; let him come, and make no stay, for this