mind over a weak one, drew out as much as Courtenay knew of the secrets of the plot.[1]
The intention was to delay, if possible, an open declaration of rebellion a few weeks longer—till the Prince of Spain's arrival should raise the ferment to boiling point. Gardiner, who was determined, at all events, to prevent the Protestants from making head, informed the Queen, without mentioning Courtenay's name, that he had cause to suspect Sir Peter Carew. A summons was despatched to Devonshire to require Sir Peter and his brother to return to London: and thus either to compel them to rise prematurely, without Courtenay's assistance, or, if they complied, to enable the Court to secure their persons. The desired effect was produced; Carew had waded too deep in treason to trust himself in Gardiner's hands. He wrote an excuse, yet protesting his loyalty; and he invited the inhabitants of Exeter to join in a petition to the Crown against the marriage, as a first step towards a rising.
But the Carews were notorious and unpopular; the justices of the peace at the sessions had been just occupied with a Protestant outrage committed by one of their nearest friends,[2] and their true object was sus-
- ↑ Noailles to the King of France: Ambassades, vol. iii. p. 31.
- ↑ 'On the morning of Christmas-day came twelve neighbours of Silverton, being the parish where Mr Gybbes dwelleth, and they complained to me of a cross of latten, and of an altar-cloth stolen out of the church before that time; and that the cross was set up upon a gate or upon a hedge by the way, where the picture of Christ was dressed with a paste or such like tyre, and the picture of our Lady and St John tied by threads to the arms of the cross, like thieves.'
