petual imprisonment.

He was released by Mary's accession, and was at once restored to his
see, his deprivation being regarded as invalid and Ridley as an
intruder. He vigorously restored Roman Catholicism in his diocese, made
no difficulty about submitting to the papal jurisdiction which he had
forsworn, and in 1555 began the persecution to which he owes his fame.
His apologists explain that his action was merely "official," but Bonner
was one of those who brought it to pass that the condemnation of
heretics to the fire should be part of his ordinary official duties. The
enforcement of the first Book of Common Prayer had also been part of his
official duties; and the fact that Bonner made no such protest against
the burning of heretics as he had done in the former case shows that he
found it the more congenial duty. Tunstal was as good a Catholic as
Bonner; he left a different repute behind him, a clear enough indication
of a difference in their deeds.

On the other hand, Bonner did not go out of his way to persecute; many
of his victims were forced upon him by the council, which sometimes
thought that he had not been severe enough (see _Acts of the P.C.
1554-1556_, pp. 115, 139; _1556-1558_, pp. 18, 19, 216, 276). So
completely had the state dominated the church that religious
persecutions had become state persecutions, and Bonner was acting as an
ecclesiastical sheriff in the most refractory district of the realm.
Even Foxe records instances in which Bonner failed to persecute. But he
had no mercy for a fallen foe; and he is seen at his worst in his
brutal jeers at Cranmer, when he was entrusted with the duty of
degrading his former chief. It is a more remarkable fact that, in spite
of his prominence, neither Henry VIII. nor Mary should ever have
admitted him to the privy council. He seems to have been regarded by his
own party as a useful instrument, especially in disagreeable work,
rather than as a desirable colleague.

On her accession Elizabeth refused to allow him to kiss her hand; but he
sat and voted in the parliament and convocation of 1559. In May he
refused to take the oath of supremacy, acquiring like his colleagues
consistency with old age. He was sent to the Marshalsea, and a few years
later was indicted on a charge of praemunire on refusing the oath when
tendered him by his diocesan, Bishop Horne of Winchester. He challenged
the legality of Horne's consecration, and a special act of parliament
was pa