part of Paul III.
Yet at St. Paul's, nineteen Anabaptists--a sect whom no one
pitied--were sentenced to be burnt, and of these a man and a woman
suffered at Smithfield, and the remainder in the provinces. The next
year (1536) Hugh Latimer, as earnest and good a bishop as Fisher and
his exact opposite, preaching before Convocation, denounced abuses in
the spirit of an age which did not hesitate to call a spade a spade.
"Lift up your heads, brethren, and look about with your eyes; spy what
things are to be reformed in the Church of England."

But more dramatic and more effective than the sonorous ring of honest
Hugh's eloquence, was the sermon at the Cross (February 14, 1538) of
Bishop John Hisley, Fisher's successor at Rochester, and formerly
Prior of the Dominicans in London. His subject was an ingenious piece
of mechanism, called the Rood of Grace, from Boxley in his diocese, a
source of revenue from devotees. Now, this product of the mechanic's
art does not seem to have had any resemblance to a Rood--_i.e._, a
large cross or crucifix--but rather was shaped like a big doll; and
Hisley demonstrated to his intelligent congregation of citizens how no
inherent power, but a man standing inside, with the aid of wires,
caused the rood to bow, and move its eyes and mouth.[25]

The exposure was followed next St. Bartholomew's eve by the removal of
the Great Rood at the north door, and those of our Lady of Grace and
of St. Uncumber. This last saint is supposed to be a foreign princess
of early times, styled also in England St. Wilgeforte. A peck of oats
was a favourite offering at her shrine in St. Paul's by those who
wished for favours; and according to Sir Thomas More she owed her
popular name because wives unhappy in their union so offered in the
hope that she would _uncumber_ (_i.e._, disencumber) them of their
husbands. The disgrace of Thomas Cromwell put a temporary stop to
actions of this nature; and we find Gardiner at the Cross denouncing
both Rome and Luther. We further find Barnes, our quondam penitent,
amongst those who replied from the same famous pulpit, and likening
himself and Gardiner to two fighting cocks, only that the _garden_
cock lacked good spurs. The result was that Barnes ended his chequered
career at the stake, as did others.

=Edward VI.=--So long as Henry lived it was dangerous to uphold either
the Petrine claims or the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and
it was equally dangerous to oppo