arently on principle, men of extreme opinions on both
sides as canons, prebendaries, and preachers; and so great had grown the
opposition in his own chapter to the Primate's known views in the spring
of 1543, that it was evident that a crisis could not be long delayed,
especially as the clergy opposed to the prelate had the letter of the law
on their side, and the countenance of Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, all
powerful as he was in the lay counsels of the King.

Some of the Kentish clergy who resented the Archbishop's action had laid
their heads together in March 1543, and formulated a set of accusations
against him. This the two most active movers in the protest had carried to
the metropolis for submission to Gardiner. They first, however, approached
the Dr. London already referred to, who rewrote the accusations with
additions of his own, in order to bring the accused within the penal law.
The two first movers, Willoughby and Searl, took fright at this, for it
was a dangerous thing to attack the Archbishop, and hastily returned home;
but Dr. London had enough for his present purpose, and handed his enlarged
version of their depositions to Gardiner. London's disgrace, already
related, stayed the matter for a time, but a few months afterwards a fresh
set of articles, alleging illegal acts on the part of the Archbishop, was
forwarded by the discontented clergy to Gardiner, and the accusers were
then summoned before the Privy Council, where they were encouraged to make
their testimony as strong as possible. When the depositions were complete
they were sent to the King by Gardiner, in the hope that now the great
stumblingblock of the Catholic party might be cleared from the path, and
that the new Queen's ruin might promptly follow that of the Primate.

But they reckoned without Henry's love for Cranmer. Rowing on the Thames
one evening in the late autumn soon after the depositions had been handed
to him, the King called at the pier by Lambeth Palace and took Cranmer
into his barge. "Ah, my chaplain," he said jocosely, as the Archbishop
took his seat in the boat, "I have news for you. I know now who is the
greatest heretic in Kent;" and with this he drew from his sleeve and
handed to Cranmer the depositions of those who had sought to ruin him. The
Archbishop insisted upon a regular Commission being issued to test the
truth of the accusations; but Henry could be generous when it suited him,
and he never knew how soon he m