Mountjoy had suggested to Essex various means of escape from his position. Forcible seizure of the court, an appeal for men to Wales, where Essex had property, and a flight to France, had each been discussed and been rejected. Later, Mountjoy had sent an agent to Scotland to inform James VI that Essex ardently desired his accession to the English throne, and to advise a military demonstration on the borders in order to secure a formal recognition of his title. When Mountjoy went to Ireland to succeed Essex, proposals were made that he should carry four thousand men to Scotland, to march with James's army into England. James hesitated, and Mountjoy changed his mind as soon as he was immersed in Irish affairs. Essex, when expecting his release (July 1600), sent Southampton on a fruitless mission to Mountjoy to suggest his returning with an army to Wales. Subsequently Essex saw that these schemes were unworkable, and confined himself to urging James to send a special embassy to Elizabeth to obtain a formal recognition of him as her successor. Essex's diplomacy so far succeeded that James privately instructed his envoys, the Earl of Mar and Lord Bruce of Kinloss, to give what assistance they could to Essex, and to follow his guidance ; but James, although really alarmed by a rumour that Elizabeth's ministers were treating for the succession of the Spanish infanta, delayed the envoys' departure from Scotland till he had gained more knowledge of Essex's plans.
Meanwhile, Essex House was thrown open to its muster's friends, and a crowd of discontented men, whom the earl had personally attached to him in Ireland and the earlier expeditions, gathered there to discuss Essex's position. Southampton deemed it advisable to lend the party Drury House for more secret consultations, and there the best means of securing his access to the queen was discussed daily. At length, in January, a plot was hatched, by which Whitehall should be suddenly seized and Essex admitted to an audience with Elizabeth, when he should demand the dismissal of her present counsellors and the summoning of a parliament. The date of the rising was not fixed. All was to depend on the time of the arrival of the Scottish envoys ; but all was over before they set out. Essex drew up instructions to be delivered to them, in which he urged the Earl of Mar to poison the queen's mind against all her present adviser's. Early in February Essex was suddenly ordered to appear before the council, and an anonymous letter of warning reached him. The court had some news of his scheme. A panic seized his followers, and it was decided that a rising should take place on Sunday, 8 Feb. All the plans seem to have been written out by Essex himself, whose nervous energy embarrassed his followers. Puritan preachers had recently been in constant attendance at Essex House, and they and others led Essex to believe that the city of London was willing to rebel in his behalf at a single word from him. With a few companions he therefore resolved to ride through the city on the Sunday morning calling the citizens to arms. His friends visited the Globe Theatre on Thursday, 5 Feb., and paid forty shillings to the actors to perform Shakespeare's play of `Richard II' on the Saturday, so that the people might be excited by the representation of the deposition of a king on the stage.
On Saturday three hundred persons gathered at Essex House. To rouse their enthusiasm Essex told them that his life was threatened by Cobham and Raleigh. The authorities were on the alert, and early next morning the lord-keeper, Lord-chief-justice Popham, Earl of Worcester, and Sir William Knollys came to Essex House to demand a private interview with Essex. This was refused, but, amid the excited threats of his followers, they were admitted to the house and kept prisoners. Immediately afterwards Essex, with two hundred men, hurried forth towards the city. He went first to Fenchurch Street, to the house of a sheriff whom he believed to be favourable to him. But the sheriff escaped before he arrived, and the shouts of Essex and his friends to the astonished populace to join him were received in grim silence. Sir Robert Cecil's brother (Lord Burghley) was in the city at the same time, proclaiming Essex and his adherents traitors in the queen's name, and all the approaches to Whitehall barricaded. One of Essex's followers shot a pistol at Burghley, but the people stood by unconcerned. Thoroughly disheartened Essex and his men retired by Ludgate Hill, where a troop of soldiers, brought together by the bishop of London, dispersed them, and Essex was shot through the hat. He managed, however, to reach Queenhithe, and there took boat for Essex House. One of his followers had already released the lord keeper, and a strong force quickly arrived to arrest the rebels. Essex, who had burnt a number of private papers, at first declined to yield. A bombardment was threatened, and an hour's delay allowed for the ladies to depart. Essex was at a loss how to act. At first he wished to go forth alone and die fighting. At length he agreed to surrender if promise were made that the occupants should be civilly treated and legally tried. A third condition was that his chaplain, Abdie Ashton, might attend him in prison. The requests were granted,
