A letter was sent to the princess Mary declaring queen Jane (Lady Jane Grey) to be the sovereign. Tliis letter was signed by many persons, and among them by Cranmer, whose zeal for the Protestant cause must have blinded him to the danger of the enterprise. On the 9th of July, 1558, the chief officers of the state swore allegiance to Jane ; on the 20th we find many of those who had been zealous in her cause *'• impatient to send in their submissions to Mary." On the same day an order was sent by Mary to Northumberland to disarm. The hopes of the Protestants were now at an end, as queen Mary's unshaken attachment to the Ro- man Catholic creed was universally known. Gardiner was released and made chancellor, and a commission was formed to degrade and imprison Protestant prel- ates and ministers on the charges of treason, heresy, and matrimony. In the beginning of August Cranmer was summoncHi before the council ; and in September, with Latimer and Ridley, was committed to the Tower. In March, 1554, he was removed, with bishops Latimer and Ridley, to prison at Oxford, where was renewed the controversy respecting the Lord's Supper, which, by the queen's desire, was named the subject for dis- cussion. On the 18th and 19th of April the discussion was held ; and on the 28th the accused were brought
to St.Mary*8, where it was declared thai, wdees tibij would turn, they were obstinate heretics, and no laa- ger members of the Churcli. Cranmer then re|died, '* From this your judgment and sentence I aptpeal te the Just judgment of the Almighty, trosting to be pff»> ent with him in heaven, for whose presence in tfae altar I am thus condemned," and he waa xemsved again to prison. It was soon discovered that the tri- bunal before which Cranmer had been tried was mC competent to decide the case. The p<^ iBsiied a frecii commission, and on the 12th of Septembv, 1565, th» primate was examined by Brokea, fiie biabop of Gloa- cester, and two civilians, Martin and Stoiy. B^ot these proceedings, Cranmer was summoned to Uffem within eighty days befbre the pope at Borne: thai must have been a mere fiction of pepel law, as H vm impossible for Cranmer to obey. On the 29th at Ko* vember the eighty days had elapeed, and on tbe -kb of December he was excommunicated and deprived of his bishopric A letter fh>m the pope <Paal JX), bearing date the 14th of November, affirming hhn tD be contumacious because *'he took no care to ap. pear" at Rome when cited, and dedaring him goiltr of heresy and other enormities, finally commanded fab excommunication. On the 14th of Febmary Cramna was degraded. In a few days after this his fortitode gave way ; he forsook his principles and wrote a »• cantation. It was of no avail towards the preserva- tion of his life. On the 20th «f March, the eve of his execution, he was visited by Dr. Cole, and Oao- mer stated that he remained firm in the Catholic ttsik as he had recentiy professed it, an answer that hat been considered equivocaL On the following day be was led to St.Maiy*s church, where, after an exhorta- tion by Dr. Cole, Cranmer finished his private devo- tions and then solemnly addressed the people, openlj profossmg his faith, and at length declaring, ** Now I come to tiie great thing that troubleth my ooasdeBce more than any other thing that I ever said or did id my life, and that is the setting abroad of writings ooB' trary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and writ for fear of death, and to save my life, if it might be ; and that is all such bills which I have written or signed with mine own hand since my degradation, wherein I have written "many things untrue. And forasmuch as my hand offended in writing contrary to my heart, therefore my hand shall first be punished, for, if I may come to the fire, it sliall be first burned. And as for the pope, I refhse him as Christ*s eneaj and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine.*' The as- sembly was astonished ; they had supposed that be would have confirmed and not retracted his recanta- tion. He was hurried away to the stake, where he stood motionless, holding up his right hand, and ex- claiming, until his utterance was stifled, "This no- worthy hand ! Lord Jesus, receive my spirit !"
Cnuimer*4 diligence and application were onnsaal; he was deeply read in theology and canon law, and was fismiliar with Hebrew, Greek, and Latin, as wdl as French, German, and Italian. His reservatioa re- specting the oaths which he swore when apptnnted archbishop, his subserviency to Henry YIII in annul- ling his marriages, his share in the condemnation of some heretics, his conduct at the disgracing of Bonner and Gardiner, and the want of courage whidi made him recant after his condemnation, are great Uots oo his character. But, though his conduct on these ecca* sions was marked by want of firmness, it cannot be denied that Cranmer was sincere, mild, and moderste, and, for the most part, a firm man ; nor is it to be fbr- gotten that persecution was the policy of all religiooi parties at this period. " Cranmer was neither fooL knave, nor demigod. He lived in an age when nus had need of all the tact they could muster, and be proved himself prudent and learned. He was one of those useful persons who sometimes acquire inflnence by the very absence of striking and ardent qnalitiei—