And so at last they were left to welcome the grandest cargo that had ever reached the English shores. The merchants and captains who had brought over this carefully-hidden store of English New Testaments were glad enough to get them out of their hands; and Sir Miles, and the rector and curate of All Hallows, were ready enough to do the work of actual labourers, and lift and haul the heavy packages, until all were stored in a place of safety.
A few parcels of napery had been put up at "The Golden Fleece" for him to take home; but the strong mules that had been bought to carry back his London purchases, carried New Testaments for the most part, and these were to be hidden in a secure hiding-place in his own house, until it should be seen what the authorities were likely to do when some of the copies were sold in the open market, as it was intended they should be. A good many London merchants were ready to take copies to sell privately among friends; for some of these who had been educated at Colet's school were heartily tired of the Church and its teaching as they knew it, and ready to risk something for the sake of a purer faith and worship. Many were not without hope that the King and Cardinal, too, would also favour the new departure. But whatever hopes were based on the Cardinal's remaining neutral—at least in this "Quarrel of Friars," that was bound to follow, sooner or later,—were very quickly dashed.
It had been arranged with Master Garrett, the curate of Honey Lane, that as soon as he had disposed of some of the books in London, he should take a parcel of them to Oxford, and also send a trusty messenger with some to Cambridge. The secret was therefore obliged to be entrusted to several people, and, as might have been expected, the Cardinal's spies soon scented it, and then went in search of the treasure. They managed to trace it to Master Garrett's house, but by that time he was at Oxford, and most of the books either securely hidden, or in the hands of those who would value such a treasure. There were, however, enough found for a bonfire to be made of them, and the Cardinal read enough to fill him with rage and disappointment, especially when he heard that the poison, as he chose to consider it, had been taken to Oxford—his own Oxford, where he had spared no pains to secure that learned and enlightened men should be gathered to teach in the halls of his own college.
No time was lost in sending the necessary authority to seize all who were known to be favourers of this onslaught upon the authority of the Church; and it may be imagined what the Cardinal's feelings were when he heard that Master Clark, John Fryth, and eight others of his own college had been arrested, and New Testaments found in their possession. Magdalen, Corpus Christi, and St. Mary's, all furnished a contingent to this noble army; but he heard to his chagrin that his own college had been a hot-bed of heresy for a long time. This filled the Cardinal with such rage that all were thrown into prison and treated with the utmost rigour. Sir Miles Paton heard of it, and rode in hot haste from Woodstock, hoping and believing he would be able to arouse a public display of feeling on behalf of the prisoners, such as he had seen that May-day at Westminster, so that the authorities would be compelled to release them.
But alas, his words only aroused little interest. A few shrugged their shoulders, and said they were very sorry; but public protest, such as an illegal tax would have raised, was out of the question.
He was almost heart-broken as he went about from one to the other, trying to enlist their sympathy, for he saw in this apathy of the people themselves, a sure precursor of the persecution of those who would dare to do the right in the face of King and Cardinal.
In vain he told them that the balance of English liberties trembled, and if the scale went down on the wrong side now—if they would not speak up for God and conscience now—so surely would they lose that civil liberty,—that right for which they had contended again and again in recent years.
But he might as well have preached to the dead. At the time of trial two only of the prisoners were released, and the rest sent back to their foul prison, where, in a few months, evil smells and want of food did their deadly work, and four of them died, Clark among the number.
Strong as he was, the Cardinal did not dare to go further in his persecution, even of priests, until he saw what the temper of the people at large was likely to be. He knew as well as his old secretary, that if the voice of the people made itself heard, he dare not persecute the servants of God; but they suffered these men to die in the prison without protest, and for a generation English liberty, civil and religious, was lost, and England passed through such a reign of terror under her despots as has not been equalled in Europe since, not even by that better known terror that desolated France a hundred years ago. She knew not the time of her visitation; she refused to listen to the voice of those who would have led her into the path of peace, liberty, and progress. She chose darkness rather than light, and only through the mighty struggles and sore sufferings of a few of her heroic children in after years, could she regain the treasure she allowed to slip through her nerveless fingers in this fateful year, 1526.
Sir Miles Paton returned to his home after his unavailing efforts to befriend the prisoners, almost wishing that his own work on earth was done. But he remembered there were those at home who would need his care more than ever now, and for their sakes he resolved to be cautious and keep his Testaments hidden for the present. He could guide his household and his tenants on the law of the new learning and the new commandment given by Christ, and with this he must be content for the present, he decided. And although the monks only half-believed in Sir Miles and Lady Paton being true to the Church, they could prove nothing against them, and Sir Miles was allowed to carry on his work at Woodstock until brighter days dawned.