Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/59

1551.] whither he was followed immediately after by the Duchess, Lord Arundel, Sir Thomas Arundel, Paget, Grey, Stanhope, Partridge, and many more. Vane escaped across the river, and hid himself in a stable at Lambeth; but he was betrayed, or discovered, in a few hours.

Palmer now enlarged his evidence. The gendarmerie, he said, were to have been assaulted on the muster-day by Somerset's retinue and Sir Ralph Vane's two thousand footmen; the cry of liberty was to have been raised in London; and, in case of failure, the conspirators were to have fallen back on Poole or the Isle of Wight. Another witness supported this part of the story; and here, it is likely enough, that it was true. The banquet, it was further said, where the Lords were to have been killed, was to have been held at the house of Lord Paget.

The next step was to send the usual circulars to the magistrates, informing them of the near escape of the King and commonwealth from conspiracy; and letters to the same effect were sent to Pickering and Chamberlain, to lay before the Courts of Paris and Brussels. Henry affected to believe—Northumberland being in the interests of France; the Regent Mary, perhaps for the same reason, scarcely cared to conceal her incredulity.