Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/597

1555.] suffered to have counsel or advocate at home, should produce witness and appoint counsel at Rome; God must needs punish this shameless lying.'

Silence would perhaps have been more dignified; to speak at all was an indication of infirmity. As soon as the reading was finished, the Archbishop was formally arrayed in his robes, and when the decoration was completed, Bonner called out in exultation:

'This is the man that hath despised the Pope's Holiness, and now is to be judged by him; this is the man that hath pulled down so many churches, and now is come to be judged in a church; this is the man that hath contemned the blessed Sacrament of the altar, and now is come to be condemned before that blessed Sacrament hanging over the altar; this is the man that, like Lucifer, sat in the place of Christ upon an altar to judge others, and now is come before an altar to be judged himself.'

Thirlby checked the insolence of his companion. The degradation was about to commence, when the Archbishop drew from his sleeve an appeal 'to the next Free General Council that should be called.' It had been drawn after consultation with a lawyer, in the evident hope that it might save or prolong his life, and he attempted to present it to his judges. But he was catching at straws, as in his clearer judgment he would