he ambassador mentioned the word
"marriage," the queen began to smile significantly, not once, but many
times; she plainly liked the topic: plainly, also, her thoughts were
not turning in the direction of any English husband; she spoke of her
rank, and of her unwillingness to {p.039} condescend to a subject;
Courtenay, the sole remaining representative of the White Rose except
the Poles, was the only Englishman who could in any way be thought
suitable for her; but she said that she expected the emperor to
provide a consort for her, and that, being a woman, she could not make
the first advances. Renard satisfied himself from her manner that, if
the Prince of Spain was proposed, the offer would be most entirely
welcome.[88]

[Footnote 87: Car si elle y avoit fantasie, elle ne
laisseroit, si elle este du naturel des autres
femmes, de passer oultre, et si se ressentiroit a
jamais de ce que vous en pourriez avoir dit.--Arras
to Renard: _Granvelle Papers_, vol. iv. p. 77.]

[Footnote 88: Renard to the Bishop of Arras:
_Granvelle Papers_, vol. iv. p. 79. Renard to
Charles V., August 16: _Rolls House MSS._]

The trials of the conspirators were now resolved upon. The queen was
determined to spare Lady Jane Grey, in spite of all which Renard could
urge; but the state of London showed that the punishment of the really
guilty could no longer be safely delayed. On this point all parties in
the council were agreed. On Friday, the 18th of August, therefore, a
court of peers was formed in Westminster Hall, with the aged Duke of
Norfolk for High Steward, to try John Dudley Duke of Northumberland,
the Earl of Warwick, and the Marquis of Northampton for high treason.
Forty-four years before, as the curious remarked, the father of
Norfolk had sat on the commission which tried the father of
Northumberland for the same crime.

The indictments charged the prisoners with levying war against their
lawful sovereign. Northumberland, who was called first to the bar,
pleaded guilty of the acts which were laid against him, but he
submitted two points to the consideration of the court.

1. Whether, having taken the field with a warrant under the Great
Seal, he could be lawfully accused of treason.

2. Whether those peers from whom he had received his commission, and
by whose letters he had been