he had still the best of the game. But Suffolk and Northampton, the least able of the council, were, nevertheless, the only members of it on whom he could rely. To whom but to himself could he trust the army which must meet Mary in the field? If he led the army in person, whom could he leave in charge of London, the Tower, and Lady Jane? Winchester and Arundel knew his dilemma, and deliberately took advantage of it. The guard, when first informed that they were to take the field, refused to march. After a communication with the Marquis of Winchester, they withdrew their objections, and professed themselves willing to go. Northumberland, uneasy at their conduct, or requiring a larger force, issued a proclamation offering tenpence a day to volunteers who would go to bring in the Lady Mary.[1] The lists were soon filled, but filled with the retainers and servants of his secret enemies.[2]
The men being thus collected, Suffolk was first thought of to lead them, or else Lord Grey de Wilton;[3] but Suffolk was inefficient, and his daughter could not bring herself to part with him; Grey was a good soldier, but he had been a friend of Somerset, and the Duke had tried hard to involve him with Arundel and Paget in Somerset's ruin.[4] Northampton's truth could have been
- ↑ Grey Friars' Chronicle.
- ↑ 'Ille impigre quidem, utpote cujus res agebatur, proponit magna stipendia; conducit militem partim invitum partim perfidum; constabant enim majori ex parte satellitia nobilium qui secreto Mariæ favebant.'—Julius Terentianus to John ab Ulmis: Epistolæ Tigurinæ, p. 243.
- ↑ Renard to Charles V.: Rolls House MSS.
- ↑ Ibid.
