172 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. . 53. concerting fresh measures to renew the struggle. South- ampton and Montague sent to the Spanish ambassador to beg him not to accept the Earl's discomfiture as an index, of their real strength. They desired only that the Pope would relieve them of the uncertainty which had divided the North. 1 If the Pope would excommunicate Elizabeth and absolve them from their allegiance, they would not fail a second time. They would make ar- rangements beforehand that every man might know what was expected of him. They would then rise every- where in a single day, and never rest till the Catholic religion was re-established. 2 Elizabeth, not suspecting, or not choosing to suspect, the extent of treachery that was going on, believed that she could disarm conspiracy by seeming confidence; 3 yet with singular inconsistency, as will be presently seen, she was punishing the least guilty of the Northern rebels with a barbarity which could only be excused by her panic. She was bent upon getting the Earls into her hands, because she intended to try them and con- fiscate their estates, and she doubted whether, in their absence, she could carry their attainder throiigh the House of Lords. At the same time she was quarrelling 1 'Tan bien me ha dicho el obispo de Ross que los Catolicos de aqui desean que su Santidad con alguna Btilla publicada en parte que aqui sc entendiese, los diese libres de juramento que a esta Reyna ban heel 10, por no ser ella Catolica y intitularse Cabeza desta Iglesia.' Don Guerau to Philip, January 18 : MSS. Simancas. 2 Ibid. 3 ' Let her Majesty look well to herself and not think all gold that glitters.' Hunsdon to Cecil, De- cember 29.
