Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/409

 IS83-1 EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 393 that gentlemen should be directed by priests.' 1 The longer the invasion was postponed the more these di- visions widened, and with them grew also the peril of discovery. Towards the end of 1583 an account of the plot was sent in to Walsingham, so accurate that it must have been furnished by some one who knew every part of it. The King of Scots, some informant said, was secretly practising with the Duke of Guise and the Jesuits for the invasion of England ; whether the descent would be first in England or in Scotland was uncertain, but he gave in a catalogue of the English confederates, and the names of the Earls of Cumber- land, Rutland, Northumberland, Arundel, and the Pagets, agree accurately with the lists of de Tassis. He mentioned Charles Paget's coming to England, as well as his interview with the Earl of Northumberland. 2 A little after a warning came that Lord Morley was about- to leave England, to be out of harm's way in some expected convulsion. 3 Lord Morley went with- out permission asked or given, and so far confirmed the story ; and one more, Sir Edward Stafford, who had succeeded Cobham as Ambassador at Paris, heard a rumour there that England was to be invaded through Scotland, and that the dockyard and ships at Chatham would be set on fire at the same time. 4 1 Miscellaneous notes in 1582, 1583, scattered through the Domes- tic MSS. of those years, and through the collection referring to the Queen of Scots. MS. endorsed ' Extracts from B.'s letters,' August and September, 1583 : MSS. MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS. s Ibid. 4 Stafford to Walsingham, Octo- ber 27 November 6 : MSS. Franoe.