neither felicity nor adversity of this world that can appear to be great, if it be weighed with the joys or pains in the world to come.'[1]
Of five who had been sentenced, four were thus despatched. Bradford, the fifth, was respited, in the hope that the example might tell upon him. Six more were waiting their condemnation in Bonner's prisons. The enemies of the Church were to submit or die. So said Gardiner, in the name of the English priesthood, with the passion of a fierce revenge. So said the legate and the Queen, in the delirious belief that they were chosen instruments of Providence.
So, however, did not say the English lay statesmen. The first and unexpected effect was to produce a difference of opinion in the Court itself. Philip, to whom Renard had insisted on the necessity of more moderate measures, found it necessary to clear himself of responsibility: and the day after Hooper suffered, Alphonso a Castro, the King's chaplain, preached a sermon in the royal presence, in which he denounced the execution, and inveighed against the tyranny of the bishops. The Lords of the Council 'talked strangely;' and so deep was the indignation, that the Flemish ambassador again expected Gardiner's destruction. Paget refused to act with him in the council any more, and Philip himself talked more and more of going abroad. Renard, from the tone of his correspondence, believed evidently at this moment that the game of the Church was played
- ↑ Hooper to his friends: Foxe, vol. vi.
