ollowed arrest, examination before Justice D'Oyley, a march to
London with twelve guards,[419] examination in the Gatehouse,
imprisonment in the Tower. Thereafter went forth the mandate to arrest
Edward Arden, his wife, Francis Arden, of Pedmore, his brother,
Somerville's wife and sister, and the priest, Hugh Hall. Sir John
Conway, his wife's grand-uncle, was also commanded up to London, and
seems to have been confined for a time. Examinations, probably under
torture, followed fast on each other. John Somerville, Edward Arden, his
wife and brother, and the priest, Hugh Hall, were tried, found guilty,
and condemned to the traitor's death. Hugh Hall is said to have turned
Queen's evidence, but I have found no proof of it. Somerville and Arden
were carried forth from the Tower on December 19, 1583, to Newgate, in
preparation for their execution on the morrow; Somerville was found two
hours afterwards strangled in his cell; Edward Arden suffered the full
penalty of the law December 20, 1583.[420] Robert of Leicester had his
revenge. Mrs. Arden and Francis[421] seem to have suffered a term of
imprisonment, and then to have been released.

This first noble victim of the tyrannical Royal Commission was praised
by all the writers of his time, and pitied by all Europe. Burleigh lived
to be ashamed of his part in his death; and in his "Life" one can still
read in the index "On the Case of Arden" an explanation which has been
excised from the text.

It is more than probable that the active part that Sir Thomas Lucy took
in his arrest told more on the fortunes and feelings of young
Shakespeare than the fabulous deer-stealing story. The touching tragedy,
to which Froude has given but little attention or study, is given in
full detail in the State Papers. The _traitor's_ lands, of course, fell
to the Queen, and were granted to Edward Darcy.[422] But Robert
Arden,[423] "who was a prudent person" (doubtless fortified by his
brother-in-law's interest, and his own knowledge of the law), by virtue
of an entail executed on his marriage got back by degrees most of his
father's lands. He found, however, every tree in his parks had been cut
down by Darcy, who seems to have been a difficult person to deal with,
as may be gathered from Simon Arden's petition (p. 185); this Robert
lived to a great age, dying on February 27, 1635. His son and heir, Sir
Henry, who had been born April, 1580, had predeceased him in 1616.[424]
He had married Dorothy