288 HISTORY OF KING HENRY VII. 



him in some place, which, by means of the priest s 

 death soon after, could not be known. Thus much 

 was then delivered abroad,, to be the effect of those 

 examinations ; but the king, nevertheless, made no 

 use of them in any of his declarations ; whereby, as 

 it seems, those examinations left the business some 

 what perplexed. And as for Sir James Tirrel, he 

 was soon after beheaded in the Tower-yard for other 

 matters of treason. But John Dighton, who, it 

 seemeth, spake best for the king, was forthwith set 

 at liberty, and was the principal means of divulging 

 this tradition. Therefore this kind of proof being 

 left so naked, the king used the more diligence in 

 the latter, for the tracing of Perkin. To this pur 

 pose he sent abroad into several parts, and especially 

 into Flanders, divers secret and nimble scouts and 

 spies, some feigning themselves to fly over unto 

 Perkin, and to adhere unto him; and some under other 

 pretences, to learn, search, and discover all the cir 

 cumstances and particulars of Perkin s parents, birth, 

 person, travels up and down ; and in brief, to have a 

 journal, as it were, of his life and doings. He fur 

 nished these his employed men liberally with money, 

 to draw on and reward intelligences ; giving them 

 also in charge, to advertise continually what they 

 found, and nevertheless still to go on. And ever as 

 one advertisement and discovery called up another, 

 he employed other new men, where the business did 

 require it. Others he employed in a more special 

 nature and trust, to be his pioneers in the main 

 countermine. These were directed to insinuate 



