Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/615

 1 585.] THE BOND OF ASSOCIA TION. 599 upon it, with, the companion Act against the Jesuits, which, he opposed in the House of Lords, showed him that England was no safe place for disloyal noblemen. He wrote at length to Elizabeth, confessing himself a Catholic. He complained of the malice of his enemies, and alluded to the ends of his father and grandfather. He told her that for the sake of his soul, which was in peril among heretics, he felt obliged to retire to the Continent. Knowing that she would refuse him per- mission, he left his letter to be given to her when he was gone. A vessel was waiting for him in a creek somewhere in Sussex. He embarked and had pro- ceeded half a mile to sea, but the Government April, had received notice of his intended flight. An armed boat lay in wait for him, and he was taken and brought back to the Tower. Again he declared most , solemnly that he had been guilty of no disloyalty. The Queen ' was pleased to receive' his protestations of in- nocence. Throgmorton's confession however, he was told, had been confirmed by an intercepted letter of Mendoza, who had named him as the expected leader of a re- bellion. His ' falling away in religion/ his conduct in Parliament, the intimacy of Lady Arundel with the Pagets, and his attempt to steal out of the realm, were circumstances tending, all of them, strongly to confirm the suspicions of him, and he was invited to regard his present restraint rather as favourable and gracious deal- ing than as severity. 1 1 Words to be used to the Earl of Arundel, April, 1585. Walsing- bam's hand : MSS. Domestic.