[330] The young Earl of Rutland, one of his wards, especially at this time seems to have occupied much of his attention. He was sent with Lord Buckhurst’s embassy to France to congratulate Charles IX. on his marriage with Elizabeth of Austria, and at every stage of the journey a correspondence was kept up between them, the Secretary being solicitous for the lad’s welfare and good treatment even to the smallest detail. In the State Papers, Domestic, of 20th January 1571, there is a curious document in Cecil’s handwriting, headed “Directions for a Traveller,” laying down for Lord Rutland’s guidance strict rules for his conduct whilst abroad.
[331] Mary to the Bishop, 8th February 1571 (Cotton MSS., Caligula, c. xi.).
[332] Hatfield Papers and State Trials.
[333] Spanish State Papers, Elizabeth.
[334] That this possibility was ever present to the minds of Elizabeth’s advisers, is seen by the constant warnings on the subject by Cecil’s agents in Flanders, and by Walsingham. In one of Cecil’s statements as to the advantages and disadvantages of the Queen’s marriage with Anjou (Foreign State Papers, 14th January 1571), he enters on the contra side the possibility that, in the case of there being no issue, the King-consort might shorten the Queen’s life and marry Mary Stuart. The confessions of the men who were to murder Burghley in connection with the Ridolfi plot are at Hatfield.
[335] Details of all the examinations and the letters are at Hatfield. Burghley alleged that Bailly was a Scotchman. His claim to be considered a servant of the Queen of Scots was merely a technical one, although on his tomb in a church in a suburb of Brussels he is called a secretary of the Queen, which he certainly was not, and there is a bas-relief of her execution. This has led on several occasions to the incorrect assertion that Charles Bailly was present at the scene represented. He lived for many years in Flanders in the pay of Spain; and, at least on one occasion (1586), he took part in a Spanish attempt to foment a Catholic invasion and revolution in Scotland.
[336] The Pope had sent by Beton, early in the year, as much as 140,000 crowns to Mary Stuart, which she received through Ridolfi. (Examination of Ross: Hatfield.)
[337] The conspiracy included also a design to assassinate Burghley himself. (See the confessions of Edmund Mather, the proposed murderer, and Kenelm Berney, January 1572. Hatfield State Papers, part ii.).
[338] The cipher letter from Hickford will be found in Harl. MSS., 290.
[339] Examination of the Duke (Hatfield; in extenso in Murdin).