ere his declared
enemies, and took advantage of every opportunity to decry his conduct.
The attainder and execution of his brother bore an odious aspect: the
introduction of foreign troops into the kingdom was represented in
invidious colors: the great estate which he had suddenly acquired at the
expense of the church and of the crown, rendered him obnoxious; and the
palace which he was building in the Strand, served by its magnificence,
and still more by other circumstances which attended it, to expose him
to the censure of the public. The parish church of St. Mary, with
three bishops' houses, was pulled down, in order to furnish ground
and materials for this structure: not content with that sacrilege, an
attempt was made to demolish St. Margaret's Westminster, and to employ
the stones to the same purpose but the parishioners rose in a tumult,
and chased away the protector's tradesmen. He then laid his hands on
a chapel in St. Paul's churchyard, with a cloister and charnel-house
belonging to it; and these edifices, together with a church of St. John
of Jerusalem, were made use of to raise his palace. What rendered the
matter more odious to the people was, that the tombs and other monuments
of the dead wore defaced; and the bones, being carried away, were buried
in unconsecrated ground.[*]

All these imprudences were remarked by Somerset's enemies, who resolved
to take advantage of them. Lord St. John president of the council, the
earls of Warwick, Southampton and Arundel, with five members more, met
at Ely House and, assuming to themselves the whole power of the council,
began to act independently of the protector, whom they represented as
the author of every public grievance and misfortune. They wrote letters
to the chief nobility and gentry in England, informing them of the
present measures, and requiring their assistance: they sent for the
mayor and aldermen of London, and enjoined them to obey their orders,
without regard to any contrary orders which they might receive from the
duke of Somerset. They laid the same injunctions on the lieutenant of
the Tower, who expressed his resolution to comply with them. Next
day, Rich, lord chancellor, the marquis of Northampton, the earl of
Shrewsbury, Sir Thomas Cheney, Sir John Gage, Sir Ralph Sadler, and
Chief Justice Montague, joined the malecontent counsellors; and every
thing bore a bad aspect for the protector's authority. Secretary Petre,
whom he had sent to treat with