countri wheare yowe maye expect the event in safti for thowghe theare be no apparence of ani stir yet I say they shall receyve a terrible blowe this parleament and yet they shall not seie who hurrts them this councel is not to be contemned because it maye do yowe good and can do yowe no harme for the dangere is passed as soon as yowe have burnt the letter and i hope god will give yowe the grace to mak good use of it to whose holy proteccion I commend you.'
The ostentatious manner in which Mounteagle directed Warde—who was, it should be noted, an intimate friend of Thomas Winter—to read the letter, is in keeping with all his other actions in connection with this enigmatic epistle's arrival. By handing it to Warde to read aloud, he affected to pretend that such a letter was beneath his notice, and that he merely regarded the message as the production of a lunatic or a practical joker. Notwithstanding this apparent indifference, he hastily set out, after supper, for London, and gave the letter to Lord Salisbury, whom he found entertaining some of the principal Ministers of State, such as Suffolk, Northampton, Worcester, and Nottingham. The fact that all these statesmen were to be found late on a Saturday night with Cecil in London, clearly suggests that they had been brought together by Cecil for the special purpose of receiving this letter, the arrival of which was expected.
On October 27, Thomas Warde went secretly to his friend Winter, and informed him of the
