Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/220

 but supported the rebellion and boldly ex-communicated the queen the catholics would have answered to the call as one man. Rome has always moved slowly, but Rome was preparing to move now. On 25 Feb. 1570 Pope Pius V issued the bull, 'Regnans in Excelsis,' excommunicating Elizabeth by name, and absolving her subjects from any oath of allegiance that might have been taken to her at any previous time. She had been upon her throne eleven years and three months when this famous sentence was passed, and the importance of the event at the time can hardly be exaggerated. The news was soon known in England, but the bull was not published till 15 May. Then it was found in the morning nailed to the Bishop of London's palace gate, in defiance of queen, parliament, and all the powers that be. John Felton, the poor wretch who had dared to do the deed, was soon taken and soon hung, glorying in the act with his last breath. And yet the immediate effect of the sentence of excommunication was almost absurdly small. In London people were more scornful than in any other way concerned, and when the parliament assembled in April 1571 it proved much more protestant than had ever been known before. There were loud complaints against the laxity with which the laws against the papists had been carried out, and one act, which had passed both houses, though it was aimed at the catholic lords, was too much for the queen in her present mood to give her assent to, and it dropped. But though Elizabeth could be tolerant of beliefs she did not share in, or considerate to a whole order whom it was policy to conciliate, she had no pity for persons, whether high or low, who provoked her anger or vengeance. The treacherous capture of John Storey and his execution this year is an instance of her relentless severity where only a single person had to suffer; and the fate of the Duke of Norfolk seems to be best explained by looking upon it as an easy way of getting rid of a timid imbecile who could be sacrificed without any inconveniences being likely to follow, while, if he were allowed to live, he might prove troublesome as an instrument in abler hands.

When Mary Stuart had been two years in England, it seems that Elizabeth had grown tired of keeping her, and would have been glad to be rid of her, if only she could have seen her way to release her. There were some who boldly urged that the Gordiun knot would be best unravelled by the executioner's sword; but little was to be gained by that when across the border there was still the little prince, James VI, with at least as good a title to the English crown as his mother's, and who in the hands of the politicians would be a better card to play than Mary Stuart had ever been.

Exactly at this juncture came in another of those complications which make the problems of this reign so intricate, and the course of the chief actors so difficult to explain. Hitherto deliberate plots for the assassination of an English sovereign had very rarely been dreamt of. Now, for the first time, we hear the whisper of such base conspiracies. It was when the Ridolfi plot was growing and miscreants in high places half over Europe were suggesting this or that scheme for the overthrow of the queen of England that we first hear of a design for compassing her murder. The ruffian who volunteered to do the deed was no common bravo, but a man of high birth, and an officer who had served with energy under Alva in the Netherlands. This was Chapin Vitelli, marquis of Cretona; he had been sent over in October 1569 to negotiate for the restitution of the treasure which Elizabeth persisted in keeping in her own custody. It is not improoable that even thus early he intended on his own responsibility to carry out the assassination, for he set out with a suite of sixty gentlemen, of whom only five were permitted to proceed further than Dover. From the first the man was regarded with suspicion, and he was dismissed in December, having effected nothing. But when the Ridolfi plot was not only advancing to maturity but seemed likely to result in a real rebellion, Vitelli was once more to the fore. Two months later the Ridolfi plot had been discovered, the Duke of Norfolk was again in the Tower, and on 2 June following (1572) he suffered on the scaffold. For the credit of Elizabeth it should be noted that to the last she shrank from signing the warrant for the execution, and did so only under much pressure, not only of her council but of her parliament. The Ridolfi plot had shown that the sympathies of a large section of the nobility were catholic; then plot meant murder, and had scarcely been discovered in its fulness when it was found that Don Gueran, the Spanish ambassador, had hired another band of cutthroats to assassinate Cecil, and Northumberland was at large across the border. Nevertheless when the parliament presumed to express an opinion as to what her next step ought to be, and strongly urged the stern necessity of getting rid of the difficulty of Mary Stuart by bringing her to the block, Elizabeth forbade them to proceed with their bill of attainder; and when both houses persisted in passing a measure which rendered Mary incapable of succeeding to the throne in the event of her surviving the queen 