Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/440

REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 56. and before the opening scatter such of the Commons as had arrived, so to end the Anjou marriage and all other troubles at a single blow. 1 The scheme was perhaps not impracticable. The Court suspected nothing. The Bishop of Ross talked it over with the Catholic leaders. Arundel, Lumley, Worcester, Southampton, Montague, and several others, were ready. Lord Derby's sons had come up with some hundreds of Lancashire gentlemen, and were eager for any desperate enterprise. Young Talbot had arranged a plan for the simultaneous escape of the Queen of Scots ; relays of horses were provided, and a ship was in readiness at Liverpool to carry her to the Isle of Man till the struggle in England should be over. 2 Nothing how- ever could be done without Norfolk, and Norfolk was one of those unlucky conspirators who wait always for a better opportunity. The Bishop of Ross laid the design before him, and showed him the promises of his of the Bishop of 1571 : MURUIN. 1 Confession Ross, October, Barker's Confession : Ibid. 2 Several projects had been formed to get her out of Sheffield, some details of which were discovered by the Earl of Morton on his way back to Scotland. ' She would feign herself ill for two or three days and then be taken down-stairs to see the dancing.' She was to dance herself, affect to faint, and be carried to her room. One of her women, dressed like her, would take her place on the bed, while she, in the disguise of a page, would escape from a postern. If this failed, she Avas to go hunting, one of her ladies representing her, and she again as a page. A Scot was to come in post with a pretended commission from Elizabeth to speak with her. He would address him- self to the lady, who when he retired would direct the page to wait upon him : or ' She should cut her hair, blot her face and body with filth as though she was a turnbroach of the kitchen, and so convey herself forth on foot lo some place where horses should be provided for her.' Morton to Cecil, April 7 : MtiS. QUEE^ OF SCOTS