Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/458

REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 56. thods. The threat of the Anjou marriage, if it did not alarm him as much as it alarmed the Queen of Scots, was a formidable possibility, and to prevent the chance of it was worth the sacrifice of his pride. He was in this humour when Bidolfi arrived at Brussels to lay before him the message of the Queen of Scots and Norfolk. His plan for the invasion was as simple as on paper it seemed most promising. Eight thousand Spanish troops could be collected at Middle- burg. They could be silently embarked in the trans- ports with which the necessities of Alva's army kept the harbour crowded, and with a fair wind they would be across the Channel in a night. Six thousand would land at Harwich, two thousand would make North to Aberdeen. The Eastern counties were ready to rise ; Norfolk and the Spanish ambassador would fly from London raising the country as they went ; the Catholic noblemen in Scotland and the North would rise at the same moment ; and two armies, each swelling like an avalanche, would advance by forced marches upon Lon- don. Lord Derby, according to Ridolfi, had under- taken to bring into the field the whole force of Lan- cashire and Cheshire. Shrewsbury was in the secret, and had pledged himself to protect the Queen of Scots till the army from Scotland came to her rescue. 1 As- 1 ' El otro ejeroito que viniese de Escocia vendria siguiendo de mano en mano para juntarse con los amigos que se levantaran, y de pasada llevar consigo la lleyna de Escocia, la per- sona de la qual se puede tener por cierta, porgue assi la promete quien la tiene en guarda [underlined in the original], llevantandose tin ejercito de la parte de Norfolk y por opposite de la parte hacia el Canal de Ir- landa, llevantandose todo el pays del