Not less courageous was the behaviour of the good Sir Thomas More,
who marched willingly to the scaffold, and died cheerfully there,
rather than prove false to his conscience. When More had made his
final decision to stand upon his principles, he felt as if he had
won a victory, and said to his son-in-law Roper: "Son Roper, I
thank Our Lord, the field is won!" The Duke of Norfolk told him
of his danger, saying: "By the mass, Master More, it is perilous
striving with princes; the anger of a prince brings death!". "Is
that all, my lord?" said More; "then the difference between you
and me is this--that I shall die to-day, and you to-morrow."
While it has been the lot of many great men, in times of
difficulty and danger, to be cheered and supported by their wives,
More had no such consolation. His helpmate did anything but
console him during his imprisonment in the Tower. (4) She could not
conceive that there was any sufficient reason for his continuing
to lie there, when by merely doing what the King required of him,
he might at once enjoy his liberty, together with his fine house
at Chelsea, his library, his orchard, his gallery, and the society
of his wife and children. "I marvel," said she to him one day,
"that you, who have been alway hitherto taken for wise, should now
so play the fool as to lie here in this close filthy prison, and
be content to be shut up amongst mice and rats, when you might be
abroad at your liberty, if you would but do as the bishops have
done?" But More saw his duty from a different point of view: it
was not a mere matter of personal comfort with him; and the
expostulations of his wife were of no avail.
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