Not far from Abingdon, on the London road, was a house belonging to a
gentleman named Christopher Ashton. Here, on their way to and fro
between the western counties and the capital, members of parliament,
or other busy persons, whom the heat of the times tempted from their
homes, occasionally called; and the character of the conversation
which was to be heard in that house, may be gathered from the
following depositions. On the 4th of January, Sir Nicholas Arnold
looked in, and found Sir Henry Dudley there.
"Well, Sir Nicholas, what news?" said Ashton.
"None worth hearing," Arnold answered.
"I am sure you hear they go about a coronation," Dudley said.
"I hear no such matter," said Arnold. "The news that are worth the
hearing, are in such men's heads that will not utter them, and the
rest are not to be credited."[549]
[Footnote 549: Saying of Sir Nicholas Arnold: _MS.
Mary, Domestic_, vol. vii.]
"There be news come out of Flanders, as I heard from Sir Peter
Mewtas," said Ashton, laughing, to another visitor:[550] "The king has
written to the queen that he will not come hither a great while, or,
as men think, any more; and the queen was in a rage, and caused the
king's picture to be carried out of the privy chamber, and she in a
wonderful storm, and could not be in any wise quieted."[551]
[Footnote 550: The conversations with Ashton were
sometimes at his own house; sometimes at an inn by
the waterside, near Lambeth; sometimes at other
places. The localities are not always easy to make
out.]
[Footnote 551: Deposition of Thomas White: _MS.
Mary, Domestic_, vol. vii.]
"They have put me in the Tower for their pleasures," said Sir Anthony
Kingston; "but so shall they never do more."[552]
[Footnote 552: Wotton to the Queen, cypher: _French
MSS._, bundle 13. State Paper Office. Kingston was
one of the members of the House of Commons who was
imprisoned at the close of the late session, for
the freedom of his language in parliament. He was
"Vice-Admiral of the Ports about the Severn," and a
man of large influence in the Welsh Marches.]
At another time Sir Henry Peckham was alone with Ashton. {p.261}
Peckham[553] had been one of the sharers in the forfeited estates of
the Duke of Norfolk. He was obliged to relinquish his grant, with but
small compensation, and he complained of his treatment. Ashton bade
him "be of good cheer."
[Footnote 553: Younger son of Sir Edward Peckham,
Cofferer of the Household, and Member of Council
under Edward VI.]
"If you will keep my counsel," Ashton said, "I will tell you news that
will bring your land again or it be long."
Peckham promised to be secret.
"Sir Anthony Kingston," Ashton continued, "and a great many of the
western gentlemen, are in a confederacy to send the queen's highness
over to the king, and make the Lady Elizabeth queen, and to marry the
Earl of Devonshire to the said Lady Elizabeth. The laws of the realm
will bear it, that they may do it justly; and Sir Anthony Kingston
hath required me to hearken to King Henry VIII.'s will; for there is
sufficient matter for our purpose, as Sir Anthony doth tell me. I
pray, if you can, help me to it."
Peckham said it was to be had in the Rolls. Ashton did not like to put
himself in the way of suspicion by asking to see it publicly, and
begged Peckham to obtain a copy for him elsewhere.
"I will show you a token," he then said, and took out half a broken
penny; "the other half is with Sir Anthony, and whensoever I do send
this same to Sir Anthony, then will he be in readiness with ten
thousand men within three days upon receipt of this token." If Lord
Pembroke's men made resistance on the Marches, Kingston would cut them
off, and would be in London in twenty days at furthest. And "when this
is done," Ashton continued, "your father shall be made a duke; for I
tell you true, that the Lady Elizabeth is a jolly liberal dame, and
nothing so unthankful as her sister is; and she taketh this liberality
of her mother, who was one of the bountifullest women in all her time
or since; and then shall men of good service and gentlemen be
esteemed."
Peckham, who had not anticipated so dangerous a confidence, looked
grave and uneasy; Ashton said he hoped he would not betray him. "No,"
Peckham answered, and gave him his hand with his promise.
"I will tell you more, then," his friend went on; "we shall have that
will take our part, the Earl of Westmoreland, who will not come alone,
and we shall have my Lord Williams."[554]
[Footnote 554: Lord Williams of Thame, who
superintended the executions of Ridley, Latimer,
and Cranmer.]
{p.262} "That cannot be," Peckham said; "he hath served the queen
right well, and by her highness was made lord."
"I can better tell than you," Ashton answered; "the Lord Williams is a
good fellow, and is as unthankfully dealt with as you, Sir Henry. I
tell you that he is sure on our side; and Sir Henry Dudley hath spoken
with all the gentlemen that be soldiers, that be about the town, and
they be all sure ours, so that we have left the queen never a man of
war that is worth a button."[555]
[Footnote 555: Confession of Sir Henry Peckham:
_Mary, Domestic, MS._ vol. viii.]
The scene changes. Readers of the earlier volumes of this history will
remember Arundel's, in Lawrence Poultney Lane, where Lord Surrey and
his friends held their nightly festivities. Times had changed, and so
had Arundel's. It was now the resort of the young liberal members of
parliament, where the opposition tactics in the House of Commons were
discussed and settled upon. Here during the late session had met the
men whose names have been mentioned in the preceding conversation, and
who had crossed the queen's purposes; Kingston, Peckham, Ashton,
Dudley, and with them Sir John Perrot, Sir William Courtenay, Sir Hugh
Pollard, Sir John Chichester, and two young Tremaynes of Colacombe in
Devonshire, one of whom had been concerned with Wyatt and Carew. Here
also came John Daniel, in the service at one time of Lord Northampton,
who, not being in parliament, was excluded from the more private
consultations, but heard much of the general talk; "how they, with
great wilfulness, as might be perceived by their behaviour, did sore
mislike such Catholic proceedings as they saw the queen went about,
and did intend to resist such matters as should be spoken of in the
Parliament House other than liked them."[556]
[Footnote 556: Confession of John Daniel: _MS.
Mary, Domestic_, vol. viii.]
The party broke up with the dissolution. Some of them, however, came
back to London, and Daniel, one afternoon in March, was waiting for
his dinner in the public room, when a ruffling cavalier named Ned
Horsey came in, humming a catch of "Good man priest, now beware your
pallet," "and bringing out a rhyme thereto of 'Fire and faggot,' and
'helm and sallet.'"
"I desire to live no longer than Whitsuntide next," Horsey said to
Daniel; "for if I live so long, I mistrust not but my deeds shall be
chronicled."
"Tush, my boy," he went on, "be of good cheer; for when thou shalt
hear what the matter is, thou wilt take up thy hand {p.263} and
bless thee, and marvel that such young heads could ever bring such a
matter as this to pass. I tell thee, the matter hath been a-brewing
this quarter of a year at least, when thou wast in the country like a
lout. Well, well, man, we shall either be men shortly, or no men; yea,
and that very shortly, too."
"Tell me what you mean," said Daniel.
"Alas! good lout," quoth Horsey, "and do you not know, I pray you?
hath not Harry Dudley told you of it?"
"No, by the faith of a Christian man," said Daniel, "Harry Dudley told
me nothing except that he was going into France. But I pray thee, good
Ned Horsey, tell me."
"By God's blood!" said Horsey, "then I will not tell you; for we have
all taken an oath on the Testament, that no man should break it to any
man, except as told first by Harry Dudley."
Horsey went on to talk of preparations, in which Daniel had been
concerned, for an expedition to Southampton. Daniel, being a man of
property, had undertaken to provide the horses, and had deposited a
sum of money for the purpose; but, from Horsey's words, he perceived
that schemes were on foot, which, having something to lose, he had
better keep clear of. "His heart," he said, "rys in his body as big as
a loaf;" he left the table, went down into the garden, and walked up
and down an alley to collect himself; at last he ran into an arbour,
where he knelt and said his prayers.
"What, man!" said Sir John Harrington, looking in, "you are well
occupied on your knees so soon after dinner."
Daniel made up his mind that his friends were bringing him into a
fool's paradise; "as they did brew, so they should bake for him," he
thought, "and those heads that had studied it before he came to town
should work the end of it." He stole away, therefore, and crossed the
river to Southwark, where he took into his confidence a surgeon named
Blacklock. Daniel pretended a broken leg, which Blacklock pretended to
set: and thus the expedition to Southampton went off without him; the
object of it being the despatch of one of the party into France, and
the arrangement of the details of the conspiracy with the Captain of
the Isle of Wight.
The characters of the persons who were concerned in this new plot
against Mary's throne will not require much further elucidation. Sir
Henry Dudley was Northumberland's cousin--the same who had been
employed by the duke as an agent with the French court; the rest were
eager, headstrong, not very {p.264} wise young men, who, in the
general indignation of the country at the barbarity of the government,
saw an opportunity of pushing themselves into distinction. Lord
Willoughby, Lord Westmoreland, and Lord Oxford were suspected by the
queen of being unsound in religion; they had been reprimanded, and
Oxford was thought likely to lose his lands.[557] If the first move
could be made successfully, the conspirators counted on general
support from these noblemen, and indeed from the whole body of the lay
peers.
[Footnote 557: Noailles to the King of France,
March 12: _Ambassades_, vol. v.]
The plan was identical with that of Wyatt and Suffolk and Carew.
Kingston was to march on London from Wales, and the force of the
western counties was to join him on the Severn. One of the
Throgmortons, called "Long John," had been at the French court, and
made arrangements with Henry. Throgmorton returned to England, and
Henry Dudley crossed the Channel in his place. The French promised to
supply ships and money, while Dudley undertook to furnish them with
crews from among the refugees or the western privateers, as Carew had
done two years before. The Captain of the Isle of Wight, Uvedale,
undertook to betray the island and Hurst Castle to the French. Dudley
was to attack Portsmouth, where he would find the cannon
"pegged;"[558] and when Portsmouth was taken, Hampshire, Sussex, and
Kent were expected to rise.
[Footnote 558: Uvedale's Confession: _Mary,
Domestic, MS._, vol. vii.; Peckham's Confession,
vol. viii.]
Although known to so many persons, the secret was well kept. On
Dudley's disappearance, inquiries were made about him. It was
pretended that he was in debt, and had gone abroad to escape from his
creditors. Some suspicion attached to the Tremaynes, who had long been
connected with the privateers at Scilly. Strangways, the pirate,
happened to be taken prisoner, and told something to the council about
them which led to their arrest; but though the matter was "true
enough," they bore down their accuser by mere courageous audacity of
denial; and their resolution and fidelity were held up as an example
in the secret meetings of the conspirators.[559]
[Footnote 559: John Throgmorton said to Bedyll,
Derick, and me, on this wise: "Whatsoever becomes
of any of us in this dangerous enterprise, we will
here promise, that albeit, I, you, and your nannye,
every of us, by name, should accuse any of us of
this, or any part touching this enterprise, bye and
bye to revile him with most taunting and naughty
rebukes that may be devised. And thereby setting a
stern countenance, and for our couraging and better
comfort herein, he shewed us of a matter that was
most true, and accused by Strangways against two
brethren, meaning [the] Tremaynes, who being but
little men in personage, so reviled Strangways,
accusing them before your honours, that because
Strangways had no further proof but his only
saying, and they so stoutly denying it, even to the
threatening of the rack (or whether they were
anything thereto constrained or no, as he said, I
do not perfectly remember); but at length
Strangways was in effect ready to weep, and think
he had accused them wrongfully, and so they
dismissed, and Strangways much of your honours
rebuked."--Thomas White to the Council: _MS. Mary,
Domestic_, vol. vii.]
{p.265} The active co-operation of France was an essential element in
the chances of success. From France, however, it became suddenly
uncertain whether assistance was to be looked for. The English
mediation in the European war had failed, because, after Mary's
disappointment, France refused to part with Savoy; and the emperor
could not bring himself to make a peace where the sacrifices would be
wholly on his own side. But the negotiations between the principals
were never wholly let fall; the emperor had now resigned. Philip, with
an embarrassed treasury, with his eye on the English crown, and with
trouble threatening him from the Turks, was anxious to escape from the
exhausting conflict; and at the beginning of February a truce for five
years was concluded at Vaucelles, by which Henry was left in
undisturbed possession of all his conquests.
Terms so advantageous to the court of France could not be rejected;
but past experience forbade, nevertheless, any very sanguine hope that
the truce would last out its term. Unquestionably, in the opinion of
the French king, it would be broken without scruple could Philip
obtain the active help of England; and Henry would not, therefore,
relinquish his correspondence with the conspirators. He instructed
Noailles only to keep them quiet for the present till Philip's
intentions should be revealed more clearly.[560]
[Footnote 560: The Constable to Noailles, Feb. 7:
_Ambassades_, vol. v.]
The "young heads," of whom Horsey had spoken to Daniel, were not,
however, men whom it was easy to keep quiet. Noailles replied, that
they were so anxious to make an effort for liberty, and felt so
certain of success, that he found great difficulty in restraining
them; if the King of France would give them some slight assistance at
the outset,[561] they undertook to do the rest themselves.
[Footnote 561: De leur pretur un peu d'espaule.]
Dudley, therefore, remained in France, whither he was followed by
Ashton and Horsey, and Henry admitted them to a midnight audience. He
said that, for the moment, he could not act with them openly; but he
would throw no difficulty in their way; if they were as strong as they
professed to be (and they said that members of the privy council were
{p.266} in the confederacy), he would have them go forward with
their project; and if he found Philip occupied, as he expected that he
would be with the Turks in Hungary, he would assist them with men,
money, and other things. Meanwhile, he gave Dudley 1500 crowns,
distributed considerable sums among his companions, and advised them
to go, as Carew had done before, to the coast of Normandy, and keep up
their communications with their friends.
The interview and the promises of Henry were betrayed to Wotton, and
by him reported in cypher to Mary;[562] but the fear or treachery of
one of the party had already placed the government in possession of
information, as the first step was about to be taken. Fifty thousand
pounds were in the treasury: to embarrass the court, and to provide
the insurrection with funds, a party of four or five--Rosey, keeper of
the Star Chamber, Heneage, an officer of the Chapel Royal, a man named
Derick, and one or two others--were chosen to carry off the money.
Before the enterprise could be undertaken, Thomas White--perhaps one
of the five, in alarm at the danger--communicated with the council;
and on the 18th of March, Throgmorton, Peckham, Daniel, Rosey, and
twelve or fourteen others, were seized suddenly, and sent to the
Tower. Dudley was traced to Southampton; he was himself beyond
pursuit, but Uvedale was discovered, and brought to London; Kingston
was sent for, but died on his way up from Wales, probably by his own
hand, in despair.
[Footnote 562: Wotton to the Queen: _French MSS._,
bundle 13.]
Information was, of course, the great object of the court; and they
would shrink from nothing which would enable them to extort
confessions. The prisoners knew what was before them, and prepared
themselves according to their courage.
Throgmorton, when locked into the room which was allotted to him in
the Tower, found that Derick was in the chamber underneath. He
loosened a board in the floor, and "required him that, in any case, he
should not be the destruction of others besides himself;" "for look,"
Throgmorton said, "how many thou dost accuse, so many thou dost
wilfully murder."
Derick, it seems, was already thinking whether he could not, perhaps,
save his own life. None of the party as yet knew how much of their
secret had been discovered, or the value, therefore, which the
government would place upon a full confession.
"He would do nothing," Derick answered, "but that which {p.267} God
had appointed; and if God would that he should do it, there was no
remedy."
When a man has made up his mind that it is God's will that he should
be a rogue, he has small chance of recovering himself. Throgmorton
tried to reason him into manliness, and thought he had succeeded.
Derick even promised to "abide the torture," "whereupon Master
Throgmorton did sup his porridge to him, in token of his truth." But
the torture was used or threatened, and Derick did not "abide" it;
promises of pardon were also used, which the prisoners knew to mean
nothing, and yet were worked on by them.[563]
[Footnote 563: Although they be promised by your
means to move the queen's majesty to be gracious
lady to them, they know that it is not so meant;
but to suck out of others all ye may, and yet
thereby to have no mercy shewed.--Thomas White to
the Council: _MS. Mary, Domestic_, vol. vii.]
Derick turned approver, so did Rosey, so did Bedyll: Uvedale, who was
ill and feeble, yielded to the rack; and, piece by piece, the whole
conspiracy was drawn out. The investigation was committed exclusively
to the queen's clique, Rochester, Englefield, Waldegrave, Jerningham,
and Hastings. The rest of the council refused to meddle,[564] for
reasons which, perhaps, the queen hoped to learn from one or other of
the prisoners. Throgmorton, however, who could tell the most, would
tell nothing, though the rack was used freely to open his lips. How
much he suffered may be gathered from a few words which he used to a
Mr. Walpole, who was one of his examiners.
[Footnote 564: Robert Swift to Lord Shrewsbury:
Lodge's _Illustrations_, vol. i.]
"Tell me, I pray you, Mr. Walpole," he said, "if the council may rack
me, or put me to torment, after the time I am condemned, or no?"
"They may," Walpole answered, "if it shall please them."
"Then," said Throgmorton, "I fear I shall be put to it again; and, I
will assure you, it is terrible pain."[565]
[Footnote 565: Walpole's Deposition: _MS._ Lodge's
_Illustrations_, vol. viii.]
When torture would not answer, promises were tried, and promises
apparently of an emphatic kind.
"I pray you, pray for me," Throgmorton said to his brother prisoners;
"for I shall not be long with you. I cannot live without I should be
the death of a number of gentlemen; and therewithal the said
Throgmorton recited a story of the Romans, commending much an old man
that was taken prisoner by the enemy, whom the Romans would have
redeemed with a great number of young men, which would have been much
more worth to the Romans; but this old man would in no case agree
{p.268} thereto, but received his death at the enemies' hand very
patiently, considering his old years, and also what profit these young
men should be to the Romans."[566]
[Footnote 566: Peckham's Confession: _MS._ Lodge's
_Illustrations_, vol. viii.]
The inquiry lasted till June, and much was learnt from those who had
not Throgmorton's courage. Matters came out implicating Lord Bray and
Lord Delaware. Lord Bray was arrested and examined; Lord Delaware was
tried and found guilty. But they were powerful, and had powerful
friends.[567] The court were forced to content themselves with smaller
game. Successive batches of the conspirators were despatched, as their
confessions were exhausted or despaired of. Throgmorton, silent to the
last, was sentenced on the 21st of April, and suffered on the 28th. On
the 19th of May, Captain Stanton was hanged; on the 2nd of June,
Derick followed--his cowardice had not saved him--with Rosey and
Bedyll. On the 7th of July, Sir Henry Peckham was disposed of, and
with him John Daniel, who was guilty, if not of worse, yet of having
concealed machinations dangerous to the state.[568]
[Footnote 567: Swift to Lord Shrewsbury: Ibid.,
vol. i.; Machyn's _Diary_.]
[Footnote 568: Daniel was supposed, like
Throgmorton, to know more than he had told; and to
quicken his confession he was confined in a
dungeon, of which he has left his own description
in an appeal to the mercy of the commissioners. "I
beseech your honours be good to me," he wrote, "for
I am a sick man, laid here in a dungeon where I am
fain to do ---- and ---- in the place that I do lie
in, and if I do lie here all this night, I think I
shall not be alive to-morrow. Mr. Binifield
[perhaps an examiner] as he cometh to me is ready
to cast his gorge, so he saith; and I have no light
all day so much as to see my hands perfectly. Pity
me, for God's sake--Your honours' footstool, John
Daniel. Good Master of the House, good Mr.
Controller, good Mr. Vice-Chamberlain, good Mr.
Englefield, good Mr. Waldegrave!"