Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/497

 1584.] THE BOND OF ASSOCIATION. 4 8i Princess,' the ambassador cynically remarked, 'who can act any part she pleases.' 1 ' Monsieur is dead,' wrote Walsingham. 'Melancholy doth so possess us as both public and private causes are at a stay for a season.' 2 The affected sorrow was rudely interrupted. Francis Throgmorton, after first confessing the conspiracy, then denying it, then acknowledging it again, and throwing himself on Elizabeth's mercy, had been tried and executed. On the back of his punishment a book had appeared in London, written by one of the seminary priests, comparing the Queen to Holofernes, and exhort- ing the ladies of the palace to furnish a Judith among them ; and while search was being made for the author and publisher, the teaching received a practical com- mentary in the assassination, completed at last, of the Prince of Orange. Three attempts had been made since the failure of Jaureguy, again instigated by Philip, or Philip's emis- saries. An Italian, Pietro Dordogno, tried it in the preceding March; a Flushing merchant repeated the experiment in April, both with ill-success; a French officer who had been taken prisoner by the Spaniards obtained his liberty by promising to do it, and himself sent word to the Prince to be on his guard. The theory of the Catholics was that Orange was the chief cause of 1 ' Avcc plusieurs aultres tek propoz, selon qu'elle est Princesse qui se peult et sjait composer et transformer comme il luy plaist. ' Mauvissiere au Roy, 28 Juillet: TEULET, vol. iii. 2 Walsingham to Davison, June 17 27 : MSS. Scotland. VOL. XI. 31