REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 57. be spared ; lie was himself ordered away in disgrace, yet one bold stroke might repair everything. Cecil- the false, lowborn, but most dexterous Cecil ; the arro- gant islander who believed that England united might defy the power of the whole world * Cecil was the soul of Elizabeth's government : were Cecil gone all might yet be saved. In times of civil commotion there are never wanting persons who, under the influence of vanity, are ready for the most desperate enterprises. There were present in London, and known to the Spanish ambassador, two young gentlemen from Norwich named Berney and Mather, who, after drifting about Europe in various services, had come to England to take part in the re- bellion. Kenelm Berney had gone abroad to escape justice for some previous murder. Mather had been secretary successively to Sir Henry Norris and to Sir N. Throgmorton in France. His father was a merchant in good circumstances : he had himself glittered about Courts, pushing himself by all ways into notoriety, and with such a hunger for what he called fame that, aa one of his brother secretaries said of him, 'he could content himself with nothing less than shaking a king- 1 ' Hombre de baja gente, astuto, falso, mentiroso, y lleno de todo enga- no, grande herege, y tan vafio Ingles que cree todos los Principes Christi- anos no ser parte por hacer dano al Senor de aquella Isla; este trae la massa de los negocios, en los quales con gran diligencia y astucia y con no tener fe ny palabra, cree sobre- pusar a todos los'otros ministros de Principes, y en parte ha salido hasta aliora con su intento.' Relacion dada por Don Guerau de Espes; M.S8, Simancas.
