Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/49

 iS8i.] THE JESUIT INVASION-. 33 means of getting rid of Lennox. Huntingdon flung such vile suggestions from him with scorn, and desired only to see his mistress take the place that belonged to her at the side of the Protestants of Scotland. ' Perhaps you will think I would have England make war with Scot- land/ he wrote. ' No, no ; not so. Nor above all things can I consent to murder. Absit. Accursed be he, say I, that either deviseth or executeth any such device : for non est faciendum malum ut inde veniat bonum ; but if that you desire in the name of your sovereign cannot be obtained, as I look it will not, why may not some of the nobility, advised and assisted by England, say to the King, Your Grace is young, you cannot judge of your own State, and we therefore pray you not to lean to the advice of one only. Why may not such a course be taken to encounter Lennox ? And then if he reply with harquebuz and not with reason, then let the nobility say he must put up his forces and submit to hearken to what is fit for the King and country. If he will not yield to this let them disarm him, and to this I wish my Sovereign to give aid.' l It was to no purpose, and Randolph was soon forced to own that he had been mistaken, and ' that nothing now could save Morton's life.' Had there been hopes otherwise, the discovery of his negotiations with Sir Robert Bowes would have sealed his fate. ' No councillor dared open his mouth for him. All his friends were appalled ; courage and stomach quite overthrown.' The mask was thrown 1 Huntingdon to Randolph, Marcli 24 : MSS. Scotland. VOL. xi. 3