Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/377

 1583.] EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. These gentlemen agreed in representing the enter- prise against England as offering no serious difficulties, and the noble families as eager to rid the country of the disgrace of heresy. On the 24th of April (May 4) Baptista de Tassis spoke of Guise as almost ready, and as endeavouring meanwhile to find some one who would do what Alya always recommended as a preliminary step, that is, shoot or stab Elizabeth. 1 Beyond the general resolution however there was still great uncertainty, and wide divergence of opinion. At a consultation at the Nuncio's house at Paris in June, the Duke of Guise announced June. Catholics, he confessed, had escaped in that way, and had afterwards be- come servants of the Government. lie denied however entirely that he had himself purchased his release by treachery. Lord Burghley, he said, had interceded for him, he knew not why. He retained and deserved the confidence of the Queen of Scots, whose most trusted instrument he ever after remained. She recom- mended him to Guise and the Arch- bishop of Glasgow. He lived at Paris, where she allowed him 30 crowns a month out of her dowry. He managed her ciphers, and corre- sponded for her with the Pope, the Nuncio in France, the English Ca- tholics at home and abroad, with Allen, Sanders, and every other per- son concerned in the conspiracies against Elizabeth. The Queen of Scots entrusted him with her deepest and darkest secrets, and though her connection with him proved fatal to her, there is no doubt of his genu- ine fidelity. Cargas contra Tomas Morgan, fecho en Brusselas en doze de Hebrcro,- 1590 ; MSS. Simaticas. 1 ' La traga en que andaba Her- cules (Guise), y que apunte a V. M. a 4 de Mayo, era un hecho violento contra esa senora." Juan Baptista de Tassis al Rey, 14 24 de Mayo : TEULET, vol. v. Three sets of con- spirators besides the Jesuits were meditating the Queen's murder at that very moment : Somerville and Arden in Warwickshire, Thomas Morgan and his friends at Paris, and a third party, whose names were unknown. See the trial of the Earl of Arundel : State Trials, vol. i. It is uncertain to whom de Tassis referred. Opposite de Tassis's words Philip wrote, ' Asi creo que lo en- tendimos aca, y con que lo hicieran ellos no fuera malo, aunque habian de prevenir algunas cosas.'