n these and other accusations, at any rate, he was confined in the
Tower, impeached, and found guilty; his own brother's name
being--unnatural and sad to tell--the first signed to the warrant of his
execution. He was executed on Tower Hill, and died denying his treason.
One of his last proceedings in this world was to write two letters, one
to the Princess Elizabeth, and one to the Princess Mary, which a servant
of his took charge of, and concealed in his shoe. These letters are
supposed to have urged them against his brother, and to revenge his
death. What they truly contained is not known; but there is no doubt
that he had, at one time, obtained great influence over the Princess
Elizabeth.

All this while, the Protestant religion was making progress. The images
which the people had gradually come to worship, were removed from the
churches; the people were informed that they need not confess themselves
to priests unless they chose; a common prayer-book was drawn up in the
English language, which all could understand, and many other improvements
were made; still moderately. For Cranmer was a very moderate man, and
even restrained the Protestant clergy from violently abusing the
unreformed religion--as they very often did, and which was not a good
example. But the people were at this time in great distress. The
rapacious nobility who had come into possession of the Church lands, were
very bad landlords. They enclosed great quantities of ground for the
feeding of sheep, which was then more profitable than the growing of
crops; and this increased the general distress. So the people, who still
understood little of what was going on about them, and still readily
believed what the homeless monks told them--many of whom had been their
good friends in their better days--took it into their heads that all this
was owing to the reformed religion, and therefore rose, in many parts of
the country.

The most powerful risings were in Devonshire and Norfolk. In Devonshire,
the rebellion was so strong that ten thousand men united within a few
days, and even laid siege to Exeter. But LORD RUSSELL, coming to the
assistance of the citizens who defended that town, defeated the rebels;
and, not only hanged the Mayor of one place, but hanged the vicar of
another from his own church steeple. What with hanging and killing by
the sword, four thousand of the rebels are supposed to have fallen in
that one county. In Norfolk (where th