Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/368

348 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 60. Westmoreland, Lord Morley, the Archbishop of Cashel, the JSTortons, and the priests who had been at Douay. ' If he could be of use in Spain, Chapin Vitelli would introduce him to the King, and he could obtain an ap - pointment in the Palace. ' There/ he went on, ' if you like to employ me, I will obtain intelligence of all that goes forward, and of any plot against England. I will deal as circumspectly, as wisely, as faithfully as I would crave at God's hands to receive my soul into his mercy. And therefore, though your Honour has no acquaintance with me, yet mistrust me not. For, by the living God, if your Honour will cause to be made there in England, a cer- tain lingering poison, and send it hither by a trusty messenger to me, not letting him know what it is, but forge some other matter, and let me have command- ment from your Honour to whom I shall give it, and therewith you shall try me what I am, for the ^service of the Queen's Majesty and my country. And doubt not, but I will handle it secretly as reason requires for my own safety ; what letters your Honour writes to me, I will tear them in pieces for fear of afterclaps, and I trust your Honour will do so by my letters/ l The open cruelties of Philip II. have not stained his reputation so deeply as his employment of assassins ; the blackest spot in Alva's scutcheon is his recom- mendation of the murder of Elizabeth : but public men rarely sink below the average of the morality of 1 Edward Woodshawe to Burghley, September 3, 1574 : MSS. Flanders