ledgments were open and unreserved; and Cromwell laid his
letter before the king, adding his own intercession that the matter might
be passed over. Henry consented, expressing only his grief and concern that
Sir Thomas More should have acted so unwisely.[691] He required,
nevertheless, as Cromwell suggested, that a formal letter should be
written, with a confession of fault, and a request for forgiveness. More
obeyed; he wrote, gracefully reminding the king of a promise when he
resigned the chancellorship, that in any suit which he might afterwards
have to his Grace, either touching his honour or his profit, he should find
his Highness his good and gracious lord.[692] Henry acknowledged his claim;
his name was struck out of the bill, and the prosecution against him was
dropped.

Fisher's conduct was very different; his fault had been far greater than
More's, and promises more explicit had been held out to him of forgiveness.
He replied to these promises by an elaborate and ridiculous defence--not
writing to the king, as Cromwell desired him, but vindicating himself as
having committed no fault; although he had listened eagerly to language
which was only pardonable on the assumption that it was inspired, and had
encouraged a nest of fanatics by his childish credulity. The Nun "had
showed him not," he said, "that any prince or temporal lord should put the
king in danger of his crown." He knew nothing of the intended insurrection.
He believed the woman to have been a saint; he supposed that she had
herself told the king all which she had told to him; and therefore he said
that he had nothing for which to reproach himself.[693] He was unable to
see that the exposure of the imposture had imparted a fresh character to
his conduct, which he was bound to regret. Knowingly or unknowingly, he had
lent his countenance to a conspiracy; and so long as he refused to
acknowledge his indiscretion, the government necessarily would interpret
his actions in the manner least to his advantage.

If he desired that his conduct should be forgotten, it was indispensable
that he should change his attitude, and so Cromwell warned him. "Ye
desire," the latter wrote, "for the passion of Christ, that ye be no more
quickened in this matter; for if ye be put to that strait ye will not lose
your soul, but ye will speak as your conscience leadeth you; with many more
words of great courage. My Lord, if ye had taken my counsel sent unto you
by your brothe