kindled, that the firework
might be set on fire for to break in pieces the same hollow shot,
whereof the smallest piece hitting any man would kill or spoil
him."--Stow, _Chronicle_, p. 584.

[373] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 237.

[374] _State Papers_, Vol. I. p. 446.

[375] Ibid Vol. II. p. 253.

[376] Lord Thomas Fitzgerald to Lord Leonard Grey: _State Papers_, Vol.
II. p. 273.

[377] The Lord Leonard repayreth at this season to your Majesty,
bringing with him the said Thomas, beseeching your Highness most humbly,
that according to the comfort of our words spoken to the same Thomas to
allure him to yield him, ye would be merciful to the said Thomas,
especially concerning his life.--The Council of Ireland to Henry VIII.:
_State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 275.

[378] _State Papers_, Vol. II. p. 274.

[379] The conditions promised to Napoleon by the captain of the
_Bellerophon_ created a similar difficulty. If Nana Sahib had by any
chance been connected by marriage with an English officer, and had that
officer induced him to surrender by a promise of pardon, would the
English Government have respected that promise?

[380] It were the worst example that ever was; and especially for these
ungracious people of Ireland.--Norfolk to Cromwell: _State Papers_, Vol.
II. p. 276.

[381] Ibid.

[382] Ibid. The duke, throughout his letter, takes a remarkably
businesslike view of the situation. He does not allow the question of
"right" to be raised, or suppose at all that the government could lie
under any kind of obligation to a person in the position of Fitzgerald.

CHAPTER IX.

THE CATHOLIC MARTYRS.

[Sidenote: State of England in the summer of 1534.]

While the disturbance in Ireland was at its height, affairs in England
had been scarcely less critical. The surface indeed remained unbroken.
The summer of 1534 passed away, and the threatened invasion had not
taken place. The disaffection which had appeared in the preceding year
had been smothered for a time; Francis I. held the emperor in check by
menacing Flanders, and through French influence the rupture with
Scotland had been seemingly healed. In appearance the excommunication
had passed off as a _brutum fulmen_, a flash of harmless sheet
lightning, serving only to dazzle feeble eyes. The oath of succession,
too, had been taken generally through the country; Sir Thomas More and
Bishop Fisher having alone ventured to refuse. The pope had been abjured
by th