XXVII. from the want of money: and withdrawing in Scot- CHAP. land, effected nothing by this insurrection." But it occasioned the duke of Norfolk to be placed in ward, from suspicion; and some others, with Ridolfi, to be imprisoned; but Elizabeth being unable to find out the secrets of the conspiracy, they were all set at liberty, excepting the duke." With this narrative of Catena, and its counterpart in Gabutius, the relation of the Spanish biographer of the pontiff substantially corresponds." The Domi 93 This is the account of Catena, literally translated, p. 115, and of Gabutius, p. 659. "Catena, 116. Gabutius, 659. Fuenmayor's statement is, that the pontiff, by Ridolfi,' offered abundant succors of men and money, which excited not only the Catholics, but even the Puritans and Protestants, tho of contrary opinions, that they might satisfy their hatred in the disturbances.' That Pius caused the king of Spain to enter into the league, for the greater security of his estates:' that he managed to draw into the conspiracy (de meter en la conjuracion) the French Catholics, proposing to them the liberty of a queen, who was once of France, and descended from French blood.' That he made the duke of Norfolk the head of the conspiracy (Cabeça de la conjuracion) promising to him, with the marriage of Mary, the kingdom of England, because to her as a great grand-daughter of Henry VII. it belonged, and not to the illegitimate daughter of Henry VIII. who was possessing it.' That Ridolfi carried the pope's bull of excommunication and deprivation to England, and dispersed there many copies of it, and that two zealous Catholics fixed it on the doors of the prelate of London.' That Elizabeth ‘laid her hands on some of the principal lords and on the duke, but without having more than some little suspicions; but the earl of Nortbulan [Northumberland] impatient of more delay, put himself in arms with 12,000 men, fearing to be put under restraint if he waited, and hoping that his example would be followed.' That ⚫ the earl, without fighting any other enemies than hunger and the want of money, retired out of the kingdom, not having produced any other effect than the declaration of his mind and that of his followers.' 'The earl published, that the causes of his movement were the defence of the true religion, and the restitution of the antient system; from which the queen took up the Catholics more openly, and also Ridolfi; but the wonderful secrecy and patience of the conspirators (de los conjurados) preserved him, and nothing was found out against him or others. At this time Pius sent 150,000 ducats for their succor; half for the earl to maintain himself on the frontiers there, and the other part for the duke [Norfolk], whose apprehension raised a great stir.' Fuenmayor, p. 111, 112. MOD. HIST. VOL. IV. II. BOOK nican historian is still more diffusely accordant;" and thus all the four contemporary authorities concur to authenticate to us this singular, and we would hope, in the Vatican at least, unusual conspiracy of murder and rebellion, which brought to death and ruin some of the noblest families both in England and Scotland, who were deluded to abet it, and to attempt its execution. We have also the pope's letter to the duke of Alva, urging him to support the English insurgents," and reminding him how easily 96 Pollini describes the pope's sending the bishop of Mondovi with large sums of money to Mary (p. 456,) and that he ordered some respectable persons in England, who knew his holy thoughts, (son santi pensieri) to negotiate with the greatest possible secrecy.' p. 457. And it pleased his holiness, for the prosecution of this enterprise, to make use of the labor and diligence of M. Roberti Ridolfi, a Florentine gentleman, who living at London under color of mercantile occupations, and desiring to employ his time in the service of the holy see, exerted himself singularly to the satisfaction of the pontiff. but secretly, in moving and raising into insurrection the minds of this nation; negociating with dexterity on the part of our lord, this most important undertaking, and of the greatest danger; treating not only with Catholics, but also with many heretics among the principal Protestants, who from divers causes would easily rise up against that queen.' p. 458 This plot appearing to have in every part the good foundation of a happy success, the pontiff exerted himself more than ever to advance it, and solicited the king Philip to give aid to the good Catholics of England; persuading also the court of France to do the same,' p. 458. The signor Ridolfi had so dexterously managed the affair, that the greater part of the nobility united together, and chose the duke of Norfolk for their head, and intended, with the knowlege and consent of both parties, to give him the queen of Scotland for his wife, not that they were in love with each other, as some credulous writers say, but that the plot might have the greater success.' p. 459. He then describes Felton and a Spanish chaplain of Tarragona, fixing up the pontiff's bull (p. 456;) and the rebellion of the earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland with 12,000 men; but that many other Catholics did not join them, because the excommunication of Pius V. had not been juridically and solemnly published; whence it did not appear to them that they were absolved from their allegiance: And Pius soon after dying, they did not know that the plot would be renewed by his successor, Gregory XIII.' p. 466. He mentions the arrest of the duke of Norfolk, Ridolfi, and others, and the liberation of all but the duke. p. 467. 6 97 This letter to duke Alva is dated from Rome, 4 Feb. 1570 Lett. 'ie V. p. 130. He tells his dear son' that he is receiving every XXVII. he might do it, and that they would fail if he did CHAP. not assist them." Another letter of the pontiff's appears among those which have been printed,100 in which he himself recognises the stimulating activity of Ridolfi, with the co-operation of the French ambassador, to make the nobility oppose their queen, and stop the progress of the Reformation in France; 101 and what is still more striking to us, the perfidious and traitorous management of a part of Elizabeth's cabinet and nobility in parliament, to prevent her from aiding the French Protestants in their struggles, in the expectation and condition that Charles IX. would on his part support them in making Mary of Scotland, as their lawful sovereign, the queen of England, 102 which his ambassador, in day the most detailed and certain news of the movement excited in England by the Catholics of that kingdom against the heretics, and contra illam, quæ se pro Angliæ regina gerit.' ib. He will not even in a private letter call her queen, tho she was at least queen de facto. 98 The nearness of England enables you, in the country where you are commanding [Flanders,] in a thousand ways to give succors to the English Catholics. We intreat your nobleness with all the earnestness we can use, to neglect nothing for that purpose, and to try every means to contribute to preserve the force of the faithful, and to augment and to sustain it.' ib. 131. "If they remain unassisted by those who can succor them, it is to be feared that they will be overwhelmed by their enemies, or will disperse of themselves; but if they be supported, we may hope that they will succeed in re-establishing the Catholic religion in England.'ib.131. 100 This epistle is dated from Rome, under the fisherman's seal, 15 Dec. 1571, and is addressed to Catherine de Medicis, the queenmother. p. 133–141. 101 He intreats her not to be diverted from the good intentions she has shewn of assisting the English nobility, and the partisans of the queen [Mary.] In the sole view of saving her and the other Catholics, many noblemen of England, at the instigation of the bishop of Motta, and at the request of Robert Ridolfi, have opposed themselves to the perverse projects of that perfidious woman [Elizabeth,] and sometimes openly, sometimes secretly, have succeeded in keeping France from being devoured by such a dreadful conflagration.' Lett. p. 134, 5. 102 The best witness of what we advance is the bishop of Motta, to whom Ridolfi announced, on the part of the principal great men, that the French king might repose entirely on their good dispositions toward BOOK 11. his name, had promised them.103 The pope remonstrates against their being abandoned by the French king, and urges him to discuss leisurely the best means of transferring the crown from Elizabeth to Mary." Pius promises to send without delay the succors which he was to contribute, and strenuously solicits his bargained co-operation.105 104 We have not the correspondence of the duke of Norfolk with the Scottish queen; by marriage with whom he was, thro the success of this conspiracy, to him; that they would use all their exertions as they really had done, that she, who is called queen of England, should not shew herself the declared enemy of France; that they counteracted her whenever she had shewn an intention of doing so, and would have resisted her attempt by the most vigorous measures. For this they had required only one condition, and this was, that the French king should on his side equally succor them, and take up without reserve the cause of the queen of Scots, their lawful sovereign.' Lett. p. 135. 103 ، This promise,' adds Pius, ‘ had been made and announced to the English nobility, in the name of his Most Christian Majesty, by the bishop of Motta. They were told that they should be aided in all their enterprises; at first, by favoring their projects to excite troubles in the state, and then by sending 2000 men into Scotland. They had been urged to organize an army in England, as a beginning of the execution of these designs; but this had been abandoned when the king had gained his end, and had made peace with the admiral.' ib. 136. Cecil notices in his diary, that the bishop of Rheims was sent by the French king, in September 1568, to move Elizabeth not to intermeddle between him and his subjects. Murdon, p. 765. I have found the actual notice of this bishop of Motta, in Cecil's dispatches to Norris. On 28 Oct. 1568, he wrote, 'I hear that LA MOT is on his way at Calais to come hither.' Cabala, 144. So on 16 November 1658 : ، On Sunday last, LA Mor was presented by M. de la Forest, the former ambassador.' ib. 144. This fixes the chronology of what Pius mentioned. 104 You ought to fulfil firmly those engagements for which you have given pledges. If you satisfy the great on this point, you may afterwards discuss at leisure by what means the queen of Scotland may be most easily made to succeed to this kingdom, and to conclude with her an offensive alliance, to the great advantage of the Catholic religion.' Lett. ib. 140. 105 We will not suffer the succors that depend upon us to be in the least retarded; and we have already assembled a great part of them. We have nothing more to wait for but the prompt execution of your majesty's intentions. The bishop of St. Papoul will confer with you verbally on the sequel, and will treat more largely, in our name. with your majesty on this subject, and on every other that concerns the interests of the kingdom.' ib. 140. XXVII. displace the royal mistress, who was consulting and CHAP. trusting him as one of her chief cabinet ministers, and to put himself on her throne. But some letters to him from Mary at this juncture have come down to us. They contain many intimations, which corroborate what we have already stated; but also declare that the duke had, since he had been put in restraint, discovered danger enough to be springing around him, from his treacherous tho carefully concealed plottings, to make him more cautious and backward than his tempting and eager lady.' 106 At the end of January 1570, she expressed her own courageous spirit, and her desire to be governed by him.107 She evinces that a mutual contract had passed between them,108 and uses the 106 Lord Hardwicke has printed them in his State Papers, from a transcript in Dr. Forbes' collection, vol. 1. p. 189-195. That Mary at this time, 1750, had soliciting agents from all the conspiring and hostile powers against Elizabeth, is acknowleged by her confidential ambassador, the bishop of Ross. The queen my mistress had written oft times during the winter preceding, and had sent sundry special gentlemen and servants of her own to the princes beyond the seas; and especially sir George Berkley, her master of household, to the king of France; Mr. John Hamilton to the duke of Alva, for advertising the king of Spain; and Mr. Henry Ker, one of her secretaries, to Rome, who, with the assistance of the bishop of Dunblane, did likewise accomplish his message to the pope.' Ross' Negot. And. 3. p. 93. He says Hamilton remained two years with Alva, p. 122, and then accompanied 'two of his well-experimented captains, a Spaniard and an Italian, to espy the country, and take experience of the ports, havens, roads, and best landing places upon the sea coast; and on the other part, he had caused search diligently the coast of England right against Flanders.' ib. 123. 107 Mine own lord! I wrote to you before, to know your pleasure, if I should seek to make any enterprise. If it please you, I care not for my danger. But I wish you would seek to do the like, for if you and I could escape both, we should find friends enough; and for your lands, I hope they should not be lost; for, being free and honorably bound together, you might make such good offers for the countries, and the queen of England, as they should not refuse.' Hardw. p. 190. 108 Our fault were not shameful. You have promised to be mine, and I, yours. I believe the queen of England and country should like of it. By means of friends, therefore you have sought your |