Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/226

REIGN OF ELIZABETH. LCH. 53. mean to disobey the Queen, he was only unwilling to attempt what without help he could not possibly accom- plish. Hunsdon, who was called on to co-operate, said plainly that before fresh work was required of the few men that were left to him, the Queen had better send some money to pay up the arrears of their wages ; and both Hunsdon and Sadler, who was still with him at Berwick, believed that there were scoundrels about Eli- zabeth who were purposely misleading her with advice which they hoped might be fatal to her. 1 Her orders being peremptory, they consulted Lord Scrope at Car- lisle. Lord Scrope, with a faint hope that Dacres might save them trouble by submission, invited him to come 1 to Cecil, February 6, from Berwick. The writer, whoever he might be, was living with Huns- don and Sadler, and was on terms of intimacy with Cecil. Another passage in his letter gives a vivid picture of the feelings with which the crisis was regarded by those who wished Elizabeth well. ' I know they shoot chiefly at the life of the Queen's Majesty, at her crown, the subversion of the Estate, and the destruction of us all that truly obey and obediently embrace Christ's sincere religion and her Highness's most godly laws. I fear her High- ness goeth daily in great danger. Oh Lord, preserve her from privy conspiracy, poison, shot, and all Papistical treacheries. I know you are maligndd, envied, and disdained at of the Papists' and rebels' faction more than any of the privy council, and surely they have sought all means to supplant you, and still will so practise; for of all men they take you for their deadliest enemy and greatest hinderer. Oh good Mr Secretary, have an eye to yourself. Bewai'e whom you trust. You know the world. All are not faithful friends that shew fairest faces. Help to overthrow the wicked conspiracy. If the heads may still remain, shortly shall the whole realm repent. Mys- terium impietatis. The Papists practice day and night. Judas non dormit, Sinon incendia miscet. Remember the counsel of Sextus Tarquinius. So long as they remain as they do, look for no quietness. And if they get liberty, look not long to live. Well warned well armed.'