186

IIISTORY OP ENGLAND.

chap, menace divines of venerable age and dignity with all the bar-- 16S8- ’ barities of Lollard’s Tower. *

Agitation Before the day of trial the agitation had spread to thepublic farthest corners of the island. From Scotland the Bishopsmimi. received letters assuring them of the sympathy of the Presby-terians of that country, so long and so bitterly hostile to pre-lacy.** The people of Cornwall, a fierce, bold, and athleticrace, among whom there was a stronger provincial feelingthan in any other part of the realm, were greatly moved bythe danger of Trelawney, whom they reverenced less as aruler of the Church than as the head of an honourable house,and the heir through twenty descents of ancestors who hadbeen of great note before the Normans had set foot on Englishground. All over the county the peasants chanted a ballad ofwhich the burden is still remembered:

“And shall Trelawney die, and shall Trelawney die?

Then thirty thousand Cornish boys will know the reason why.”

The miners from their caverns reechoed the song with a varia-tion:

“Then twenty thousand under ground will know the reason why.”*'*The rustics in many parts of the country loudly expresseda strange hope which had never ceased to live in their hearts.Their Protestant Duke, their beloved Monmouth, would sud-denly appear, would lead them to victory, and would treaddown the King and the Jesuits under his feet, f

The ministers were appalled. Even Jeffreys would gladlyhave retraced his steps. He charged Clarendon with friendlymessages to the Bishops, and threw on others the blame ofthe prosecution which he had himself recommended. Sunder-land again ventured to recommend concession. The lateauspicious birth, he said, had furnished the King with anexcellent opportunity of withdrawing from a position full ofdanger and inconvenience without incurring the reproach of* Johnstone, June 18.1688; Evelyn’s Diary, June 29.

** Tanner MS.

*•* This fact was communicated to me in the most obliging mannerby the Reverend U. S. Hawker of Morwenstow in Cornwall.

+ Johnstone, June 18.1688.