Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/309

I570-] EXCOMMUNICATION OF ELIZABETH. 295 Thus it was agreed between the Bishop and Don Guerau that no concessions however extravagant should be refused. When the Queen of Scots' foot was on her own soil they would crumble to pieces of themselves. After parting from the ambassador) the Bishop ventured to the lodgings of the young Lord Southamp- ton, one of the intended leaders of the insurrection, for with him too there was much to arrange and explain. It happened that Southampton's house was one of those on which Cecil was keeping a watch. This nobleman had been notoriously favourable to the enterprise of the Northern Earls, and in fact he had been on the edge of declaring for them. After his defeat in the council, Cecil had redoubled his private vigilance, and the Bishop of Ross was seen stealing at midnight from the door. He had started by daybreak for Chatsworth ; the information came too late for his detention ; but the Queen's suspicions were violently reawakened, if indeed they had ever really slept. The preparations in the Scheldt had alarmed her also ; and almost at the same moment came the unwelcome news that Lord Morley, Lord Derby's son-in-law, whose loyalty had been hitherto unquestioned, had withdrawn without leave from England, and had gone to Brussels to the Duke of Alva, A letter which he wrote to the Queen when he was beyond her reach did not tend to reassure her. A todo ello viene muy a proposito la pasada de la Mag d de la Reyna N ra Scnora.' Descifrada de G. D'Espes &. su Mag d . Londres, 12 de Junio, 1570: MSS. Simancas.