Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/257

 1582.] TltE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. i^i at the seminary at Rome, there was a youth of unusual promise, named Crichton. The Pope, to whom he was introduced, had talked often to him of the prospects of his country ; and confounding, as many others did, the Scotch nobility with the Scotch nation, Crichton had assured his Holiness that the heretics were but a miser- able handful of base people, who, but for the help of the Queen of England, would have been long since trampled oxit. The Pope sent him to London to remain there under Father Parsons' orders, but with an under- standing that if an opportunity offered itself, he was to go to Scotland, and tell the Catholic leaders that if they could recover the King, and re-establish the faith, he would undertake that, either by himself or by Spain, they should be protected from the interference of the Queen of England. The Queen of Scots, the English Catholic Lords, and the Jesuits were now acting cordially together." Mendoza was in all their secrets ready to use them if the present aspect of affairs remained un- changed ; ready to fling them over, if Philip and Eliza- beth were inclined to make up their quarrels and meanwhile feeding their enthusiasm with vague ex- pectations of help. Crichton was selected to carry the message of the six noblemen to Scotland. The Jesuits hunted always in couples, and Parsons assigned him one of the Oxford converts, named Holt, who had been a Fellow of Oriel. Crichton travelled as an itinerant dentist, 1 with Holt as his servant. Holt fell ill on the 1 ' Sacamuelas.' VOL. XI. 16