own house: Arundel, Lumley, and
Throgmorton were taken into custody. The queen of Scots herself was
removed to Coventry; all access to her was, during some time, more
strictly prohibited; and Viscount Hereford was joined to the earls of
Shrewsbury and Huntingdon in the office of guarding her.

A rumor had been diffused in the north of an intended rebellion; and
the earl of Sussex, president of York, alarmed with the danger, sent
for Northumberland and Westmoreland, in order to examine them: but not
finding any proof against them, he allowed them to depart. The report,
meanwhile, gained ground daily; and many appearances of its reality
being discovered, orders were despatched by Elizabeth to these two
noblemen, to appear at court, and answer for their conduct.[***] They
had already proceeded so far in their criminal designs, that they dared
not to trust themselves in her hands: they had prepared measures for
a rebellion; had communicated their design to Mary and her
ministers;[****] had entered into a correspondence with the duke of
Alva, governor of the Low Countries; had obtained his promise of a
reenforcement of troops, and of a supply of arms and ammunition; and
had prevailed on him to send over to London Chiapino Vitelii, one of his
most famous captains, on pretence of adjusting some differences with
the queen, but in reality with a view of putting him at the head of the
northern rebels.

* Camden, p. 421. Haynes, p. 540.

** Lesley, p. 80.

*** Haynes, p. 552.

**** Haynes, 595. Strype, vol. ii. Append, p. 30. MS. in the
Ad socates' Library from Cott. Lib. Cal. c. 9.

The summons sent to the two earls precipitated the rising before they
were fully prepared; and Northumberland remained in suspense between
opposite dangers, when he was informed that some of his enemies were on
the way with a commission to arrest him. He took horse instantly, and
hastened to his associate Westmoreland, whom he found surrounded with
his friends and vassals, and deliberating with regard to the measures
which he should follow in the present emergence. They determined to
begin the insurrection without delay; and the great credit of these two
noblemen, with that zeal for the catholic religion which still prevailed
in the neighborhood, soon drew together multitudes of the common people.
They published a manifesto, in which they declared that they intended
to attempt nothing against the queen, to whom they vow