Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/33

 t$8aj THE JESUIT INVASION. i? while to Morton again, ' for fear he should think him- self forsaken and given over as a prey to Len- , i, i i -i i October. nox, sne sent a message that she did not really mean to leave things thus ; that very soon, if not immediately, she would send up ' persons of greater quality to put in execution the advice by Morton given, assuring him for the great constancy she had always found in him for the maintenance of amity between the two nations she would never see him abandoned.' * The value of the promise was now to be seen. There were persons about Elizabeth who tempted her into vacillation and betrayed her weakness. Lennox was given to understand from England that he had nothing to fear, and that he might venture safely on the next step of the revolution. Morton had till now been titular President of the Scotch council, while Angus, Mar, and others of the Protestant leaders had remained members of it also. On the departure of Sir llobert Bowes the King informed them that their services would no longer be required, while a charge was brought publicly against Morton that he had held treasonable dealings with Eng- land. Everything which he had done, all his corre- spondence with Bowes, had been discovered. Lennox knew that his own life had been in danger, and he had entirely made up his mind to take Morton's life in return. Yet he paused after the first step to see whether Eliza- beth was as weak indeed as he was given to believe. She roused herself into a passing fury. She dictated an 1 The Council to Bowes, October 7 : HfSS. Scotland. VOL. xi. 2