THE PROCESSION SHUNNED.

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ten in another place, whither this sentence will send us sooner than we should by the course of nature have come."

And Latimer: "I thank God most heartily that he hath prolonged my life to this end, that I may in this case glorify God by that kind of death."

The next day a great church procession took place, which the three Bishops were required to witness. When Latimer was summoned, he supposed that the time of his execution had arrived, and desired the constable who watched him to make a quick fire around the stake. When brought to the spot where he met the procession, he ran as fast as his old bones would carry him to one Spencer's shop," refusing to behold a spectacle which he regarded as idolatrous.

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The Bishops now returned to their separate places of confinement, being allowed no opportunities of communicating with one another. Cranmer and Ridley appealed to the council against their sentence, but Latimer, believing resistance hopeless, quietly submitted. He passed a great portion of his time in reading and devotional exercises, remaining so long upon his knees that he could

not rise without the assistance of his servant, Bernher.

The old father wrote but little during his confinement. A brief note of thanks from his prison has been preserved by Fox, and possesses a touching interest. It is addressed to Mrs. Wilkinson, of Soper Lane, London, widow.

"If the gift of a pot of water shall not be in oblivion with God, how can God forget your manifold and bountiful gifts, when he shall say unto you, 'I was in prison, and you visited me?' God grant us all to do and suffer while we be here as may be his will and pleasure. Amen.

"Yours in Bocardo,

"HUGH LATIMER.”

Bocardo was the common jail of Oxford. The building was taken down in 1771.

The Queen was bent on procuring the restoration of the property alienated in her father's and brother's reigns, to the Church. The attempt was met by a stubborn resistance on the part of the present holders. It was in vain that the monarch set the example by restoring property which had been attached to the crown.

THE UNPOPULAR MARRIAGE.

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She was, however, more successful in abolishing the use of the Liturgy and restoring the public service to the usages of Henry the Eighth's day. The political abuses of Edward's reign had weakened the attachment of a large portion of the people to the Protestant cause, and they acquiesced in the spiritual change in the hope of temporal relief.

The Queen's zeal, however, soon outran the acquiescence of her subjects. To strengthen the Roman Catholic canse, as well as secure to herself a powerful alliance, she, greatly to the aversion of her people, married Philip, son and heir of the Emperor Charles the Fifth. The popular opposition to the alliance broke forth in a movement known as Wyat's rebellion. It was suppressed with difficulty, but its suppression left the Protestants at the mercy of the government. Parliament, at the instance of Gardiner, re-enacted the old statute of Henry the Fourth against the Lollards, known as the Act De Heretico Comburendo. The execution of the law was placed in the hands of the Bishops.

An arrangement was next made with the Pope, by which he abandoned all claim to the appropriated Church lands, and Eng

land returned under his sway. The submission of the nation was formally received by his legate, Cardinal Pole, and absolution solemnly granted. Parliament repealed all acts opposed to the Church of Rome. The Queen believed the movement was genuine, and would be permanent. It was seen by the nation to be but a matter of temporary expediency. Her hopes of offspring deceived only herself. Elizabeth was already ardently lorged for as her successor, and Elizabeth kept aloof as much as she dared from the Roman Catholic worship, and was believed to be a Protestant.

During the progress of these measures, the Queen received addresses in which, in allusion to the child to which she said she was shortly to give birth, her flatterers blasphemously parodied the salutation of Gabriel. She was to bear one who was forever to establish the true faith in England. The poor Queen little anticipated the prefix which her name was to hold in her country's annals, a title in sadder and harsher contrast to the sweet and sacred association identified with the name, than any which has been connected with any other Mary known in history.

CHAPTER XIV.

JOIN ROGERS-TIE COURAGE OF THE MARTYRS-RIDLEY AND LATIMER'S TRIAL-FOX-THE BISHOP

OF LIN

COLN'S APPEAL-THE CATHOLIC CHURCH-THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER AND HIS BOOK-ACCUSATION-PROTEST -SPIRITUAL PRESENCE.

G

ARDINER lost no time in putting the re

vived statutes in execution. They were passed in December, 1554. John Rogers, his first victim, was burnt February 4, 1555, at Smithfield; Bishop Hooper suffered at Gloucester on the 8th; and Rowland Taylor on the same day at Aldham Common.

The court had hoped that the fear of death would induce the Reformers to recant, and a pardon was therefore provided, to be offered at the last moment on this condition. They had also hoped that if the martyr remained firm, the spectators would be so terrified at his torments and death, that from fear of a