[64] Dr. Dee, who was born in 1527, was a man of superior attainments, and a clever mathematician. He took his degree as Master of Arts in 1548 at Cambridge. Being suspected as a sorcerer, he left England in the same year, but returned in the reign of Edward VI, who took a great fancy to him. Under Mary, he was imprisoned for attempting the queen’s life by witchcraft. After Elizabeth ascended the throne, he became such a favourite with her that she sent her own doctors to him when he was ill; and she also despatched him to investigate the recently discovered American territory. In 1583 he went to live in Bohemia with a Polish nobleman, who was likewise suspected of necromancy, and the two succeeded in imposing on a great many people on the Continent. Dee eventually returned to England, was made Chancellor of St. Paul’s Cathedral, and died at Mortlake in 1608. He possessed a magic mirror in which Elizabeth placed great faith and which she frequently consulted.
[65] See for particulars of the life of Amy Robsart, Mr. George Adlard’s interesting volume, Amye Robsart and the Earl of Leycester, John Russell Smith, London, 1870. Mr. Adlard had not access to the Simancas Papers, and was therefore not aware of the rumours rife in London at the time of the unfortunate lady’s accident or murder. Amy Robsart did not, as Scott tells us, belong to a Devonshire family, but to a very ancient Norfolk house.
[66] The scheme is succinctly recounted in a letter from Sir Thomas Challoner, then English ambassador at Madrid, to Cecil, which will be found in the State Papers (Foreign Series) for the reign of Elizabeth. “King Philip II,” he says, “is so jealous of the anticipated power of France, by the alliance of young Francis the Dauphin with the Queen of Scotland, and her claims to the Crown of England, that he positively contemplates stealing Lady Katherine Grey out of the realm, and marrying her to his son, Don Carlos, or some other member of his family, and setting up her title against that of Mary Stuart, as the true heiress of England. Lady Katherine will probably be glad to go, being most uncomfortably situated in the English court with the queen, who cannot well abide the sight of her, and neither the duchess her mother nor her step-father love her, and her uncle cannot abide to hear of her, so that she lives, as it were, in great despair. She has spoken very arrogant and unseemly words in the hearing of the queen and others standing by. Hence it is thought that she could be enticed away if some trusty person speak with her.”
[67] It will be remembered that these events took place late in 1558, or early in 1559, before Lady Frances’s death.
[68] Durham House, Strand, at one time the town residence of the Bishops of Durham, was ceded to the famous Duke of Northumberland; and Lady Jane Grey was married, and Lady Katherine betrothed, in the private chapel. It afterwards passed into the possession of the Archbishops of York, under Mary, and was finally leased by Elizabeth to the Spanish Embassy. The name of Durham Place and Durham Court, Strand, until lately marked the site of this at one time magnificent mansion.
[69] It was even rumoured about the court that the marriage had actually taken place in secret. Quadra, writing to the King of Spain under date November 20, 1560, says: “They say [Robert Dudley] was married to the queen in the presence of his brother and two ladies of the chamber.”
[70] Hertford mentioned at his trial that he “got up at six o’clock” on this occasion.
[71] This fashion evidently came from Germany, “froze” being an anglicized version of “frau’s.”
[72] The full text of this letter, which will be found in the State Papers for the reign of Elizabeth, is as follows:—
“Good Master Secretary,