Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/393

 1583] EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 377 formed originally with Lennox no longer seemed ad- visable. The Scotch Protestants were evidently very strong ; it was enough if for the present they could be neutralized. England was the point to strike at, and to strike at with speed. Guise's position at home was critical. The King feared him. Catherine de Medici hated him. His personal safety, as he told Mendoza, required the support of an army. Action somewhere was a necessity to him, either in France or England, and he preferred to transfer the miseries of war to a foreign country. 1 Philip, after due consideration, had decided against an over-trust in the French, and on himself sup- plying at least part of the force which was to be em- ployed. Parma could > easily spare four or five thousand men, and it had been settled that a Spanish fleet was to hold the Channel to protect the crossing. For the fleet, and for the fleet only, Guise was now waiting. All else was ready. Notice had gone round to the principal houses in the northern counties in England to be on the alert. The Queen of Scots was prepared either to fly or to defend herself. The ' principal noblemen,' Northum- berland, that is, and the Earl of Arundel, had sent word that her friends were prepared. 2 The Earl of Westmore- 1 ' Di6me el clerigo particular cucnta eu nombre de Hercules de la resolucion hecha, y juntameiite de quo a el le habia de ser fuer<ja y a su hennano, por el tcrmino con quo proeedia con ellos el Key de Francia toniar las annas en aqucl Reyno 6 en Inglatem.' Don Bernardino al Hey, 9-19 Agosto : MSS. Simancas. 2 ' Habiendo escrito la Reyna de Escocia y dado aviso los principales senores de aquel reyno que las cosas estan muy bien dispuestas, princi- palmente hacia los confines de Es- cocia, donde dcbe descender la ar- mada dc Espana, tanbien se ha hecbo resolucion que bastard que el Key Catolico embie una armada de