ged
Montjoy to bring over his forces without waiting for the tardy
co-operation of the king of Scots. The lord deputy replied, "that he
thought it more lawful to enter into such a course with one that had
interest in the succession than otherwise; and though he had been led
before out of the opinion he had to do his country good by the
establishment of the succession, and to deliver my lord of Essex out of
the danger he was in; yet now his life appeared to be safe, to restore
his fortune only, and to save himself from the danger which hangs over
him by discovery, and to satisfy my lord of Essex's private ambition, he
would not enter into any enterprise of that" kind[139].

[Note 139: Confession of sir Charles Davers, in Birch's Memoirs.]

After this repulse, Essex as a last resource applied himself once more
to the court of Scotland, and, with the disingenuousness inseparable
from the conduct of political intrigue, exerted all his efforts to
deceive James into a belief that the party now in power were pensioners
of Spain, hired to the support of the pretended title of the Infanta. He
further alarmed the king by representing that the places most proper for
the reception of Spanish forces were all in the hands of the creatures
of Cecil;--Raleigh being governor of Jersey, lord Cobham warden of the
Cinque Ports, lord Burleigh president of the North, and sir George Carew
president of Munster. In consequence, he urged James to lose no time in
claiming by his ambassadors a solemn acknowledgement of his title. These
suggestions were listened to; and Essex was animated to proceed in his
perilous career by hopes of the speedy arrival of the Scottish embassy.
In the meantime he formed a council of five of the friends most devoted
to his cause:--the earl of Southampton, sir Charles Davers, sir
Ferdinando Gorges, sir John Davis surveyor of the ordnance, and John
Littleton esquire of Frankley. By this junto, which met privately at
Drury-house, the plot was matured. The earl delivered in a list of one
hundred and twenty nobles, knights and gentlemen, on whose attachment he
thought he could rely: it was agreed that an attempt should be made to
seize the palace, and to persuade or compel the queen to remove from her
councils the enemies of the earl, and to summon a new parliament; and
their respective parts were allotted to the intended actors in this
scene of violence.

Meantime the extraordinary concourse to Essex-house had fixed th