[642] Lettre de Courteville, Relations Politiques des Pays Bas et de l’Angleterre, p. 66.
[643] Surian to the Doge and Senate, Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. ii., 873.
[644] Ibid. The proof that this levying of troops to help Philip was not unpopular is furnished by Surian’s despatch of the 13th May 1557, in which he says: “The assistance given to the King continues, for the soldiers who are going to serve his Majesty increase in number daily, and great part of the nobility of the kingdom are preparing, some from a longing for novelty, which is peculiar to this nation, some from rivalry and desire of glory, some to obtain grace and favour with his Majesty and the Queen; and the general opinion is that upwards of 10,000 troops will pass into Flanders, although the number fixed was only 5,000. Thus, excuse can be made to the French, that there was no breach of the treaty. In addition, there will be a considerable force on board the fleet and in Calais, and on those frontiers, so that some 20,000 men will go out of England, who are to be ready in the course of this month, when the fleet likewise is to be in order, though it is not known on what day they will cross the Channel, it having perhaps not yet been fixed, and possibly it will not take place so soon, from the want of victuals, which is so great as to be almost incredible.”
[645] Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. ii., 873. Strype, iii., 358. The Queen sold Crown property equal to an annual rental of £10,000, the buyers to pay the money within fourteen days of purchase; the whole sum was placed in Philip’s hands for the prosecution of the war (Ven. Cal., 891).
[646] De Noailles, Ambassades, vol. v., pp. 256, 262, 265. Heylin, 242.
[647] Strype, Ecclesiastical Memorials, vol iii., pt. ii., p. 515.
[648] Wriothesley, Chronicle, vol. ii., p. 138. As usual, Elizabeth’s was the name conjured with. Referring to the huge conspiracy of the preceding year, when her household had not so entirely escaped the consequences as herself, Clifford, the secretary of the Duchess of Feria, says: “Hereof by many prescriptions was the Lady Elizabeth held accessory; which the Queen’s Council would have examined and chastised, but the king again protected her from this danger. It was consulted that two Catholic gentlemen should be sent to her to remain there, and observe what passed, and so were sent Sir Thomas Pope and Mr. Robert Gage. But the lady by her wary carriage, her courteous behaviour and cunning, and by her public profession of Catholic religion with shew of zeal did deceive these gentlemen. Before the year was ended, underhand she had intelligence with Mr. Thomas Stafford, who then exiled in France suddenly coming into England should title himself king (for that he was descended from the house of the dukes of Buckingham) and should marry with the Lady Elizabeth; they supposing themselves strong enough against Queen Mary. It was not long before Mr. Stafford put this in execution; for coming out of France only with forty men on 24th April, 1557, and took Scarborough Castle, with hope that either the Lady Elizabeth would send her forces to fetch him or with them to come to him herself. But when by the Earl of Westmoreland he was intercepted, sent to London and beheaded, and some others of his faction hanged, the relics of this crime remained upon the Lady Elizabeth. It was her luck that at this time King Philip had returned from Flanders into England, by whose singular favour she again escaped this plunge” (Life of Jane Dormer, Duchess of Feria, p. 89).
[649] Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. ii., 926, 940.
[650] Leti, i., xii.
[651] Ven. Cal., vol. vi., pt. ii., 940.