Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/25

 1569-] ENGLISH PAR-PIES, a been seen that the Dacres succession had created a party among the Catholics opposed to Norfolk. The Northern nobles. Lord Dacres himself, the Earl of Northumber- land, the Earl of Cumberland, and Lord Derby's sons if not their father, the most decidedly ultramontane among the peers, objected to the Duke's elevation both on grounds of interest and from a distrust of his fitness to conduct a religious revolution. The late Duchess had been a Catholic, and most of his household were Catholics, but he was himself nominally a member of the Church of England. In their eyes therefore the proper husband for the Queen of Scots was Don John of Austria ; and as Elizabeth's consent to such an alli- ance was not to be looked for, this section of the peers contemplated open rebellion, the Queen's deposition, the restoration of the Catholic religion, and the immediate elevation of Mary Stuart to the throne. Don Guerau had communicated their views to Philip, and with the exception of the marriage with Don John, of which he said nothing, he gave a reluctant and general sanction to their enterprise. Mary Stuart, believing Philip to be a fool as well as a fanatic, had injured her shaking credit with him by professing to have discovered a plot for his murder. She had written to Don Guerau from Bolton announc- ing that the heretics considered the King of Spain the greatest obstacle to the success of the Reformation, and that certain persons about his Court had been bribed to poison him. Don Guerau sent down a servant to her to learn further particulars, but she could tell no more