[217] Fleetwood to Lord Burghley.—Wright’s State Papers.

[218] Spanish Calendar, vol. ii.

[219] Fleetwood, in one of his letters to Cecil (Wright’s State Papers), gives particulars of one such. A son of Alderman Lee came and said that his brother, although a Catholic, was in perpetual prison in Spain, the reason being that Guaras having bought a ship called the _Clock_, had given to Lee £160 to man the ship and attack Flushing. Lee having failed to carry out the plan to his satisfaction, Guaras had had him kidnapped and imprisoned in Spain. Guaras, he said, had thirty or forty spies in his service, who used to sit or walk in his hall downstairs at night without a candle, until, one by one, they were led up to Guaras’ room by Dela to report what they had discovered. Guaras’ house at Dowgate, Thames Street, was on a portion of the site covered by Cannon Street Station, and was bought by the Drapers’ Company on his conviction.—Domestic Calendar.

[220] Hatfield Papers, vol. ii., and Spanish Calendar.

[221] Guaras had the incredible imprudence to write a violent, treasonable letter to Don Juan from Newgate itself, dated 14th November. Though he is a prisoner, he will continue to perform his work by the aid of friends. All has been seized, but he now sends his son, who is as zealous as himself, to Spain through France. The draft in Spanish was, of course, taken from the prisoner when he was transferred to the Tower, and is now in the Record Office.—Flanders Correspondence, iii. 101.

[222] Her great complaint against Don Juan is founded on his plots with Mary Stuart, as disclosed by the intercepted letters of his secretary, Escobedo. “Not that she is afraid of him, but she does not wish knowingly to foster a serpent in her bosom. If the King asks for proof, let him read Escobedo’s letters set down in the book above mentioned, and consider his practices through his agents with her enemy the Queen of Scots.”—Mr. Wilkes’ instructions, Foreign Calendar, 1577-78.

[223] In May, 1578, she sent Walsingham and Cobham to Orange to warn him against the French connection, and to Don Juan, to say that if the French entered Flanders she would send 20,000 men to help the Spaniards, and if they were not enough, every man in her country should go.—Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[224] Mendoza had come to England some years previously, on one of the many abortive attempts to settle the question of the seizures.

[225] The unhappy Guaras remained in prison, treated with the greatest severity, until May, 1579. Mendoza appears to have pressed his case rather languidly, unwilling to embitter national relations further for the sake of so plebeian and insignificant a person as Guaras. A wealthy brother of the latter, named Gombal de Guaras, came to London early in 1579 to try whether bribery could release the prisoner. Mendoza was furiously angry at this interference, and had nothing but scorn for Gombal’s boastful tactics on ’Change. Gombal spent large sums of money to forward the release, and notwithstanding Mendoza’s assertion that Guaras would have been released earlier but for his brother’s boasts and turbulence it is doubtful whether the poor man would ever have got out at all without his expenditure. All sorts of hard conditions were imposed upon Guaras on his release. All his debts had to be paid and his maintenance in prison; he had to leave England at once without communicating with anybody, and was never again to return. He left England a ruined man, and died in 1584 at his birthplace, Tarrazona, and later his heirs prayed unsuccessfully for repayment of the money he had disbursed in England.—Spanish Calendar, vol. ii., and Españoles é Ingleses en el Siglo XVI., por Martin Hume (Madrid, 1903).

[226] Philip, in reply to the suggestion to bribe the English ministers, orders Mendoza to send a schedule of the sums to be paid to each. When he has quite satisfied himself that they will have value for the money the latter shall be sent. “It is necessary, however, that before doing anything, we should have this information, so as not to cast our seed on stony ground, nor give money to people who will cheat us and laugh at us.”

[227] The reason given by Elizabeth for sending Guaras back to prison was that she had heard anew that he had been serving as the agent of the Irish rebels.

[228] Spanish Calendar, vol. ii.

[229] Vargas Mexia at once saw the immense importance of this declaration and wrote to Philip (13th February): “Such is the present condition of England, with signs of revolt everywhere, the Queen in alarm, the Catholic party numerous, the serious events in Ireland, and the distrust aroused by your Majesty’s fleet, that I really believe that if so much as a cat moved, the whole edifice would crumble down in three days beyond repair. If your Majesty had England and Scotland attached to you, directly or indirectly, you might consider the States of Flanders conquered, in which case you could lay down the law for the whole world.” The adhesion of Guise as Philip’s servant made all the difference.—Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. It was certainly not the case that Guise and Beton had _persuaded_ Mary to take this course. It is far more likely that she persuaded them, as she had seen for many years, as has been proved in the chapters of this book, that her only hope of effectively establishing her claim was to obtain Spanish support. Up to this time the Guises had rather obstructed this than otherwise, as they looked to Mary’s elevation to serve their own ambitions, which were not identical with those of Philip. The Duke of Guise in question was Mary’s first cousin, Henry of Lorraine, aged at this time thirty years.

[230] If we are to believe Camden, who was a fellow-student of Parsons’ at Balliol, this guise was not altogether strange to him. “He was,” he says, “a violent, fierce-natured man of rough behaviour.... When he was young the fellow was much noted for his singular impudency and disorder in apparel, going in great barrel hose, as was the fashion of hacksters in those days, and drawing also deep in a barrel of ale.” Another contemporary of his, Archbishop Abbot, who was a Fellow of Balliol, describes him as being “a man wonderfully given to scoffing, and with that bitterness which was the cause that none of the company loved him.” He was Bursar of Balliol—and of course a Protestant—until 1573, when he got into trouble over his accounts, and for this and other reasons he resigned his Fellowship. He lived abroad thenceforward until he returned, as here described, as Provincial of the Jesuits for England, having entered the Society in 1575.

[231] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[232] A few months later, when Mendoza sought audience of the Queen, to remonstrate by Philip’s orders with her about her aid to Don Antonio, Leicester and Hatton strongly opposed an audience being granted, whilst Cecil, who always advocated a conciliatory course with Spain, insisted upon Mendoza being received. “Leicester, whilst he was at supper lately, said that he would either turn me out of here or lose his life and property in the attempt; whilst Hatton, in the presence chamber in the hearing of the household, cried that he would do his best to get me expelled, for the Queen trembled every time I asked for audience. When he was asked by a friend whether this was because I spoke rudely to her, he replied: No, it was not that, for no ambassador was more courteous and respectful, but I communicated things in such a way that she trembled when she heard me.”—Mendoza to the King, 1st October, 1581, Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[233] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[234] Mendoza, writing to Philip on the 1st October, 1581, dwells upon the terrible sufferings of the Catholics, and incidentally reveals how entirely now he had identified himself with those whom the Queen’s Government held to be disaffected. Not even the gifts of friends to the imprisoned Catholics, he says, may be given to the individuals, but are divided amongst all the prisoners. “They are incarcerated with crowds of thieves, and are left to die of hunger amongst them, in order that their torment may be the greater. If any one goes to visit them he is at once arrested, and consequently most of the gifts are sent through me and are distributed by my servants, the Catholics alone receiving them. In like manner I take charge of the money sent by the Catholics who have fled abroad, and of the sums given by others for the Seminaries of Rheims and Rome.”—Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[235] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. 188.

[236] Herll to Leicester, 7th November, 1581.—Domestic Calendar.

[237] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[238] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[239] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[240] Creighton had been directed to go to Rouen on the way to Paris, in order that he might consult Parsons, who was then there to be in touch with England. The Duke of Guise was near by, at his Castle of Eu, and Lennox’s letters to him by Creighton were also delivered at the same time. Even Father Parsons at this period had not penetrated the antagonism of the views of Philip II. and Guise, though he subsequently became the leader of the purely Anglo-Spanish party opposed altogether to the interference of the French influence and the inclusion of James VI. in the plans for the subjugation of England. At this time and for a short time afterwards Parsons was in close touch with Guise.

[241] “The two Jesuit fathers who spoke to you about the Scotch affair must have been very zealous, but their having carried the matter so far as they did and communicating it to so many people may make it difficult to keep secret. In order that it may be kept as quiet as possible, you will detain the priest if he has not already started to come hither. You can tell him, as if on your own account, that in order to keep the affair quiet nothing more should be done till you hear from me. You may reply to the Duke of Lennox to the same effect, dealing with the matter in a way which will not lead them to think that you are throwing difficulties in the way for the purpose of refusing the aid they ask for, but only in order that it may all be managed on such solid foundations as to ensure success, for which we should all strive, as it is so greatly in the interests of God and the public welfare.”—Philip to Tassis, 11th June, 1582, Spanish Calendar, vol. iii. Philip’s message to Guise through Tassis, in September, is in the same tone: “You will tell him I would gladly have helped in the submission of Scotland, and still would do so if I saw really good grounds for anticipating success and a willingness on the part of the Pope to contribute such money as the case demands, as he has promised me several times. You may dexterously hint at coolness in that quarter, so that he may see that the affair is not falling through by any fault of mine.”—Ibid. To those who know Philip’s style this represents a determination to desist from participation.

[242] Mendoza had entertained several proposals for killing Orange, and it was asserted that he had been an accomplice in the present attempt. He was very indignant at the odium that this accusation brought upon him, but it is extremely likely to be true. He and Mary Stuart had nothing but praise for the crime in their letters.—Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[243] Spanish Calendar, vol. iii.

[244] Dr. Hector Nuñez writes to Burghley in August, 1582, that Mendoza, passing through Fenchurch Street in his carriage, was stoned and hooted by a group of boys playing at soldiers, and had to take refuge in Lime Street, where the Lord Mayor, Sir James Harvey, lived.—Hatfield Papers,