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 WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 45

of innumerable plots and was in constant danger of his life a fact which must be remembered in judging his actions.

His chief opponents were the party of Norfolk, who was scheming to marry Mary and to this end seeking the aid of Spain ; and the northern lords, who hated the " upstart " whose policy aimed at creating a national monarchy, with a consequent weakening of their authority and loss of their feudal privileges. He had also exasperated the Spaniards by his audacious seizure of a cargo of treasure on board Spanish ships which had taken refuge in English ports on their way to the Low Countries an act of violence to which, as he anticipated, they were not in a position to retaliate by war. Henceforward the Spanish Ambassador intrigued incessantly against him, but as Cecil's spies informed him of all that took place, he was able to counteract his machinations.

One of the most serious plots for his destruction was conceived in 1569, and in this, Dudley, now Earl of Leicester, Norfolk, and the chief Catholic lords were implicated. Sir Nicholas Throck- morton, a follower of Leicester, advised that Cecil should first be consigned to the Tower. "If he were once shut up," he said, " men would open their mouths to speak freely against him." The plot failed, it is said, owing to Leicester himself giving some hint of it to the Queen, who loyally supported her minister throughout this critical time. It is characteristic of Cecil that the dis- covery of this plot made no difference in his

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