e had opened a window to false doctrines of which he had been
himself the most pernicious teacher; especially he reflected with
anguish that he had denied the presence {p.252} of his Maker in the
consecrated elements. He had deceived the living and he had robbed the
souls of the dead by stealing from them their masses. He prayed the
pope to pardon him; he prayed the king and queen to pardon him; he
prayed God Almighty to pardon him, as he had pardoned Mary Magdalen;
or to look upon him as, from his own cross, He had looked upon the
thief.[542]

[Footnote 542: Recantations of Thomas Cranmer:
Jenkins, vol. iv. p. 393.]

The most ingenious malice could invent no deeper degradation, and the
archbishop might now die. One favour was granted to him alone of all
the sufferers for religion--that he might speak at his death; speak,
and, like Northumberland, perish with a recantation on his lips.

The hatred against him was confined to the court. Even among those who
had the deepest distaste for his opinions, his character had won
affection and respect; and when it was known that he was to be
executed, there was a widespread and profound emotion. "Although,"
says a Catholic who witnessed his death, "his former life and wretched
end deserved a greater misery, if any greater might have chanced to
him; yet, setting aside his offence to God and his country, beholding
the man without his faults, I think there was none that pitied not his
case and bewailed not his fortune, and feared not his own chance, to
see so noble a prelate, so grave a councillor, of so long-continued
honours, after so many dignities, in his old years to be deprived of
his estate, adjudged to die, and in so painful a death to end his
life."[543]

[Footnote 543: Death of Cranmer, related by a
Bystander: _Harleian MSS._, 442. Printed, with some
inaccuracies, by Strype.]

On Saturday, the 21st of March, Lord Williams was again ordered into
Oxford to keep the peace, with Lord Chandos, Sir Thomas Brydges, and
other gentlemen of the county. If they allowed themselves to
countenance by their presence the scene which they were about to
witness, it is to be remembered that but a few years since, these same
gentlemen had seen Catholic priests swinging from the pinnacles of
their churches. The memory of the evil days was still recent, and
amidst the tumult of conflicting passi