Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/459

 THE R WOLF I CONSPIRACY. 445 sailed thus on all sides, taken by surprise and without time to raise a force for her defence, Elizabeth would be taken in a net. The Catholic religion would be restored from the Orkneys to the Land's End, and the Queen of Scots, as Sovereign of the whole island, would dispose as she pleased of the life and person of her oppressor. In such rhetorical fashion Eidolfi prearranged the campaign. Doubtless there were elements of hope in what he said, and the conquest of England was of supreme importance for the security of the Nether- lands ; but the silent Duke formed no favourable opinion of the messenger, whatever attention he might pay to the message itself. He knew England too well to. be- lieve that the enterprise would be so easy. He had learnt something of the toughness of Protestantism; he had a solid respect for established governments, with a distrust equally deep of noisy explosive insurrections. Bidolfi too could not hold his tongue. He was so vain of the part which he was playing that he told his secrets to Chapiii Yitelli and the Spanish generals. He struck Alva as too great a fool to have been trusted on a serious errand of such magnitude, and half doubted whether he was more than a spy of Cecil. The letters of which he was the bearer however were genuine ; the Queen of Scots' pretensions were a reality ; Conde de Derby que eonfina con la Wallia y son todos Catolicos : suc- cede desto que a la Reyna Isabel se le cierra el paso de poder ir 5. hacer dano a la dicha Reyna de Escocia.' MS. endorsed de Roberto Ridolfi. April, 1571 : Simancas,