Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/411

 EXPULSION OF MENDOZA. 395 the throne ; and the carcase of the Jezebel cast, as she had deserved, to the dogs, the faith of Christ would be reinstated in its old supremacy. So for ever sang the Jesuits, and many a youth was found to listen wistfully, and dream of writing his name among the chivalry of heaven by one brave shot or dagger- stroke. The Ardens of Park Hall, in Warwickshire, were among those who were waiting for the good time which was so long in coming. They kept a priest, of course his name was Hall who lived with them disguised as a gardener, and was an eloquent preacher of this kind of wickedness. Among his most attentive hearers was the son-in-law of the house, a certain John Somerville, who had married an Arden, and resided in his father- in-law's family. This young gentleman had a friend at Coventry, who had seen the Queen of Scots when she was brought thither by Lord Huntingdon in 1569, had done her a service there, and had been rewarded by a couple of gold buttons, which he wore ostentatiously in his doublet. The buttons excited Somerville's emula- tion. 1 The priest fed him with the pamphlets of Allen and Parsons and Sanders, till he had come to look on Elizabeth as the spawn of a devil and a witch. 2 He began to talk of killing her at old Arden's table, and 1 Examination of Somerville in the Tower, October 6 16, 1583: MSS. Domestic. 2 ' He admits that he was moved to that wicked resolution touching her Majesty, being moved to hatred of her by certain speeches of one Hall, a priest, which touched her Majesty, and also by certain English books, containing exhortations to that wicked enterprise.' Somer- ville's Confession, October 31 No- vember 10 : MSS. Domestic.