BOOK Ridolfi, in his way thro Flanders, had held a conference with him.'98 II. The pope urged the duke of Norfolk to be of good courage, and assured him, that he would not fail him in his succor;" and, at the same time, sent Ridolfi as his envoy, with his commission and briefs, to the kings of Spain and Portugal, to produce their co-operation. 100 Pius urged Philip to give speedily the required assistance, and offered, not only all his own power, but to go in person, and to pawn all the property of the apostolic see, even its chalices and crosses, and his own garments, to support the undertaking." He recommended the Spanish king to land in England, from Flanders, a military force, under Chiappa Vitelli.102 Philip dispatched a courier express, commanding the invasion to be made; and the pope remitted to Flanders a large supply of money to accelerate the invasion.' 104 101 103 When Alva received these orders to employ Vitelli on this enterprise,' 105 he hesitated to obey them; he did not chuse that this marquis should have the honor of such a brilliant expedition, which 98 Catena, 116. 99Scrisse al duca de Nortfolc, che stesse di buono animo; certificandolo che di niun soccorso gli avrebbe mancato.' Caten. 117. Gab. 659, to the same purpose. 101 Offerendo il papa non solo tutto 'l poter suo; ma bisognando per conseguire un tanto beneficio a tutta la Christianita, d'andare in persona; impegnar tutte le sostanze della sede apostolice e calici e cruci ed ì proprii vestimenti.' Caten. 117. 102 Cat. 117. 103 Cat. 117. Gab. 659. 104 Pio, per la via di Fiandro reme ssa rossa provisione di denari.' Caten. 117. 105 We have noticed before, the presence in England of Chiappa Vitelli, the marquis of Ceton, and his dismissal in December 1509. promised to be so successful; 106 Alva, instead of Vitelli, proposed his own son to be the commander, but the king and his council refused their assent. Caten. 117. 108 Cat. 117. 107 Cat. ib. 109 Che fosse in tanta avisata Elizabetta di tutto 'l trattato da persona, il cui nome si taci fuori del regno.' Caten. 118. 110Se oltre modo il papa ne fu dolente, non e da domandare.' Catena, p. 118. Gabutius says, the pontiff's grief can be scarcely expressed by words. p.659. "El re Catholico ne pianse alla presenza del card. Alessandrino, dicendogli.' ib. 118. So Gabutius, 659. CHAP. XXVIII. BOOK and a day from Flanders, of three thousand arque II. bussiers, disembarking at the convened time near London, would have been quite sufficient, from the understanding that had been established in the Tower, at the Palace, and with the guards of Elizabeth,112 and from the numbers who were prepared to co-operate, to have fully accomplished the intended effect. The Scottish queen would then have been liberated, and made queen of England as the legitimate heir, and the Catholic religion would have been re-established in it.13 Ireland was to have been revolutionized, and, by an expedition planned, the English navy burnt which were floating in the Thames.'115 114 Such was the king of Spain's belief, from the machinations which the pope had so elaborately pursued. Who the party was that, from foreign parts, so unexpectedly communicated the plot, at the critical moment of its approaching explosion, the papal secretary purposely avoids mentioning, and by his compulsory silence implies that it was some great character, whose displeasure he was afraid to provoke by revealing the counteraction.116 112 This intimation, that the conspiracy had even reached to Elizabeth's household, shews the great peril in which, without knowing it, she was daily living. E nella torre della citta, e nel palagio, e guardia d'Elizabetta era intendimento tale.' Catena, 118. 113 Catena, 118. 114Thomas Stuckley, a noble Englishman, from the practices which he had carried on in Ireland, and taking there an armament, with 3,000 soldiers, granted him by the Spanish king, would in a few weeks have caused all the island to have revolted, alla devozione de Catholici.' Catena, 118. 115 Sending thence one of his pilots, with two ships and two armed zaure ad abrusciar, tutti i navali nella riviera della Tamisia.' Catena, 118. 116 His remarkable words are, 'by a person, fuori del regno il cui nome si tace,' ' on whose name we are silent.' p.118. As he declares XXVIII. It is probable that this secret communication, to CHAP. which Elizabeth may have owed her life, and the kingdom its preservation from another Marian reign, was that information which sir Henry Norris received from the provost marshal privately, near Paris, and dispatched in cipher to sir William Cecil." This was not immediately acted upon, all the conspirators in England to have been faithful, and places the person out of the kingdom, we must look to France or Spain for the betrayer of the iniquity; and a passage in the Memoirs of sir James Melville seems to be connected with this secret, and enables us to infer, on the authority of Mary, that it was Catherine de Medicis, who, from national jealousy of her niece, uniting both the English and Scottish crowns in herself if Elizabeth should perish by the conspiracy, made to Elizabeth the invaluable disclosure. He says, "The cardinal [de Lorraine] shewed the queen's mother how hurtful to the crown of France would the union of the isle of Britain be; and thought meet that she should advertise the queen of England to take order thereunto; which the queen mother FAILED NOT TO DO. This the queen [Mary] told me herself, complaining of the cardinal's unkindly dealing.' Memoirs, p. 239. On this happy betrayal Melville adds, Therefore I said that there was no help to be looked for out of France.' ib. 117 The coincidence did not strike me till some time after the preceding note was written, and as this History was printing; but the time and circumstances so tally, that I cannot doubt it to have been the revealing intimation mentioned and lamented by the papal biographers. It is dated from Paris, 'In haste, this 7th July 1568. The sixth of this present, about nine of the clock in the morning, I was advertised that one would speak with me, without the town betwixt Paris and Shallenton, whither if I should come, he would declare that which was of importance, and that touched the queen's majesty very near: which I did perform, and went to him forthwith. And afore I had overtaken him, finding me coming, he sent away two archers which he had in his company, himself being provost marshal. 'He wished I should advertise that the queen's majesty did hold the wolf that would devour her. And that it is conspired betwixt the king of Spain, THE POPE, and the French king, THAT THE QUEEN SHOULD BE DESTROYED, whereby the queen of Scots might succeed her majesty. Here your honor may see their fruits, whereby the trees are known. He further said, that there is an Italian, who is much conversant, and of cheerful counsel, with the earl of Arundel, as also with the Spanish ambassador, that being privily taken, could disclose much of the treason that is to be wrought against the queen's majesty. "The Italian is he to whom the duke of Alva doth send his letters of the conspiracy against the queen's majesty, as he affirmeth. The French king hath sent them captain De la Garde, with speed to prepare six gallies to aid their enterprise; wherefore he wishes that the queen's BOOK 11. from the want of those more marking particulars, which the ambassador was urged, but tried in vain at that time, to obtain: yet it remained the 'alta 118 majesty's ships were in time upon the seas, which would keep them in such fear that they would soon leave the enterprise. Thus having advertised your honor of his conference had with me, whereof he desired the queen's majesty might be advertised; which having now sent to your honor, I refer it to be related as to your wisdom shall be thought most expedient, both to the preservation of hermajesty, and weal of our countries. Lett. in Haynes' State Papers, p. 466. This secret communication from an official person like the provost marshal, of matters which could be known only to the highest authority, and yet in opposition to the king's knowlege, cannot be referred with equal probability to any other person than Catherine de Medicis, and this idea corresponds with the intimation of Mary to Melville, mentioned in the preceding note. Thus Elizabeth was indebted for her life to two persons the least likely of all to be careful for her safety. But the political paradox is not inexplicable. Mary's conduct in marrying Bothwell, and now taking Norfolk to please the pope and herself, and confederating with Spaniards, evinced a self-will in herself; and a concert with others, which would leave the cardinal Lorraine no hope of governing her; and if he did not, her aggrandizement would, under Spanish direction, be injurious to France. The same reason, with Catherine's former female jealousy and dislike of Mary, while queen of France, will sufficiently explain her interfering to save a royal heretic, who, tho heretic, was a prudent queen, that desired to live at peace with her neighbors, if not endangered by them. 118 The letter of Cecil's to Norris, in the Cabala of 13th July 1568, (p. 138,) must have been the answer to this dispatch of Norris. ‘Yesterday, Mr. Bridges came to the court; the queen herself seeing him, and knowing that you would not have sent him but with matter of some importance, commanded me forthwith to decypher your letter; which I did, and shewed her majesty. She comfortably and constantly seemed not to fear any such devilish practice: but yet she is earnest in the farther discovery of the matter, and liketh well of your advertisement. But she marvelleth that you did not advise more particularly of more special means, to know the [cipher,] for as he is described to be of the chiefest [cipher meaning counsel,] with the [cipher, apparently for the earl Arundel,] as also with [cipher for Spanish ambassador], we cannot truly hit on no man: for as there be four or five that do some time accompany the earl; so are there men of that nation: but they do resort to the ambassador; wherefore it is necessary that you speak again with the party that gave you this intelligence. If the matter be true, and shall be discovered by his means, you may promise him reward of the queen, as a princess of honor. I earnestly require you to use all the speed you can herein, and advertise as plentifully as you can to the satisfaction of her majesty: for tho her highness's words have comfort, yet it cannot be but she will rest perplexed until more certainty be had. Cabala, 138. On 25th July he expressed his desire for further information: I long much to hear touching the matter of our Italian, |