arrangement.[1] The judges, when they produced the document, again protested that it was worthless, and they must have signed as a form; Cecil, after long refusal, wrote his name at last at the King's desire; but insisting, as he did it, that he signed only as a witness. Many, perhaps, like Montague, saved their consciences with an intention of resisting afterwards when the King should have died. Some signed, it can hardly be doubted, with a deliberate intention of deceiving and betraying the Duke of Northumberland. Winchester, Bedford, and Cheyne continued their opposition, notwithstanding their apparent compliance; and were insisting in council, two days after, on the necessity of maintaining the original Act of Succession.[2]
Cranmer, though he headed the list, was the last who subscribed on the 21st of June. The Archbishop, who had been on bad terms with the Duke since Somerset's death, was among the latest to be informed of his project. He, of all men, had most to fear from the accession of the daughter of Queen Catherine; but Northumberland knew his disposition too well to seek his confidence or expect his support;[3] he had been informed only as soon as his outward concurrence became necessary. On learning the Duke's intentions, he went
- ↑ Lord Paget, for instance, is separated from the peers, and appears between Sir Anthony St Leger and Sir Thomas Wroth.
- ↑ Scheyfne to Charles V., June 23.
- ↑ 'The Duke never opened his mouth to me to move me; nor his heart was not such towards me, seeking long time my destruction, that he would ever trust me in such a matter, or think that I would be persuaded by him.'—Cranmer to Mary: Strype's Life of Cranmer.
