Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 23.djvu/213

Grey London early in 1601. The queen, aware of the bitter hatred subsisting between him and Southampton, seems to have personally warned each of them to keep the peace, but, in spite of the warning, Grey (in January 1600-1) assaulted Southampton while on horseback in the street, and was committed to the Fleet prison. Essex was deeply affronted by this insult to his friend. It confirmed him (he afterwards declared) in his resolve to forcibly remove from the queen's councils all his personal enemies. Grey was quickly released, and on 8 Feb. 1600-1 acted as general of the horse in the 'little army' sent out to suppress Essex's and Southampton's rising (Letters of Sir Robert Cecil, Camd. Soc. 67). On 19 Feb. he sat on the commission which tried Essex and Southampton at Westminster, and condemned them to death. When at the opening of the trial his name as commissioner was read out in court by the clerk, Essex, according to an eye-witness, laughed contemptuously and 'jogged Southampton by the sleeve.' In May 1602 Grey returned to the Low Countries, but he was disappointed at the little consideration shown him by the leaders of the States General. He attributed his neglect to Sir Francis Vere's jealousy, and came home in October much embittered against Vere. Early in 1603 Elizabeth granted him lands worth 500l. a year 'to hold him up a while longer,' according to Chamberlain.

On the death of Elizabeth (24 March 1602-3) Grey attended the hasty meeting of the council, at which it was resolved 'to maintain and uphold King James's person and estate,' and the proclamation thereupon issued bore Grey's signature. According to one account of the proceedings of this meeting, Grey, 'like a zealous patriot, stood up and desired that articles might be sent to the king for the reservation of the liberties and 'fundamental laws of the kingdom;' but Sir; John Fortescue alone supported Grey's motion (cf. Wharton MS. in Bodl. Libr. lxxx. f. 439, quoted in, ii. 474). Grey obviously did not view James's accession with equanimity. A casual meeting with his enemy Southampton, who had been lately released from the Tower, in the audience-chamber of Queen Anne at Windsor in June 1603, seems to have intensified his dislike of the new regime. He complained of the Scotchmen crowding to court in search of office. His friend, George Brooke, Lord Cobham's brother, who was similarly discontented, had fallen in with William Watson, a secular priest, Sir Griffin Markham, and other catholics, who were plotting to seize the king, and obtain from him promises of toleration for the catholics by personally intimidating him. Grey's pronounced puritan opinions could not have allowed him to sympathise with the aims of these conspirators, but he allowed Brooke to introduce him to Markham and his allies, and seems to have assented to the desirability of forcing on James's notice a petition for general toleration. Grey was clearly not so enthusiastic as his colleagues wished; he did not conceal his dislike of their religious views, and he afterwards declared that he contemplated disclosing their designs to the government. Watson, on the other hand, proposed to his catholic friends that Grey should be induced to take the chief part in the projected seizure of the king's person, and that they should be at hand to rescue James from Grey's hands so that they might pose as patriotic catholics, and gain increased influence in the country and at court. Before the day (24 June 1603) for the attack arrived Grey announced his refusal to take any part in it. By that time the government knew all, and the conspirators fled without attempting anything. Grey seems to have hurried to Sluys, but he was arrested there in July, and was brought prisoner to the Tower of London (July). When interrogated by the lieutenant of the Tower (3 Aug.), he denied any traitorous intention, but in a letter to his mother he wrote that he had come within 'danger of law' through investigating the aims of the catholics in the interest of James I. Coke drew up an `abstract of treasons' in which Grey was stated to have engaged to bring together a hundred gentlemen of quality for the purpose of seizing the king. The plot in which Grey was involved was known as the `Bye' or `Priest's' plot. Another plot, known as the Main or Cobham's plot, had been tracked out at the same time, with the result that Cobham [see Brooke, Henry (d.1619) (DNB00), d. 1619] and Raleigh were arrested soon after Grey, Markham, and their friends. The government tried to identify the two conspiracies, but Grey was undoubtedly innocent of all complicity with Cobham and Raleigh. Nevertheless Grey and Cobham were tried together at Winchester (18 Nov.) before a court composed of thirty-one peers, presided over by the chancellor. Grey made a spirited defence, which occupied the best part of the day, and referred to the patriotic services of his ancestors. He was condemned to death, and on 10 Dec. he and Cobham and Markham were taken to the scaffold. But after each had made a declaration of innocence, a reprieve was announced, and they were taken once again to the Tower of London. Grey had haughtily declined to beg for his life, but after his return to the Tower he wrote to thank the king for his clemency,