y, the offending judges Cholmley
and Montague, with many others, followed in the few next days.
Montague had protested to the queen that he had acted only under
compulsion, but his excuses were not fully received. Lady
Northumberland {p.029} went to Newhall to beg for mercy for her
sons, but Mary refused to admit her.[68]

[Footnote 67: Renard to Charles V.: _Rolls House
MSS._ Baoardo. _Grey Friars' Chronicle._]

[Footnote 68: Renard to Charles V.: _Rolls House
MSS._]

In general, however, there was no desire to press hard upon the
prisoners. Few had been guilty in the first degree; in the second
degree so many were guilty, that all could not be punished, and to
make exceptions would be unjust and invidious. The emperor recommended
a general pardon, from which the principal offenders only should be
excluded, and Mary herself was as little inclined to harshness. Her
present desire was to forget all that had passed, and take possession
of her power for the objects nearest to her heart. Her chief
embarrassment for the moment was from the overloyalty of her subjects.
The old-fashioned lords and country gentlemen who had attended her
with their retainers from Norfolk, remained encamped round Newhall,
unable to persuade themselves that they could leave her with safety in
the midst of the men who had been the ministers of the usurpation.[69]

[Footnote 69: Ibid.]

Her closest confidence the queen reserved for Renard. On the 28th of
July she sent for him at midnight. On the 2nd of August he was again
with her, and the chief subject of her thoughts was still the funeral.
"She could not have her brother committed to the ground like a dog,"
she said. While her fortunes were uncertain, she allowed Renard to
promise for her that she would make no changes in religion, but "she
had now told the lords distinctly that she would not recognise any of
the laws which had been passed in the minority,[70] and she intended
to act boldly; timidity would only encourage the people to be
insolent;" "the lords were all quarrelling among themselves, and
accusing one another; she could not learn the truth on any point of
the late conspiracy; she did not know who were guilty or who were
innocent; and, amidst the distracted advices which were urged upon
her, she could not tell whether she could safely venture to London or
not; but outward acquiescence i