hat the murder of Lady Robert was projected. She must have been merely
repeating what Dudley himself had told her; and what he must have told
her--and she believed--was that his wife was at the point of a natural
death. Similarly, Dudley would not have told her this, unless his aim
had been to procure his wife's removal by means which would admit of
a natural interpretation. Difficulties encountered, much as I relate
them--and for which there is abundant evidence--drove his too-zealous
agents to rather desperate lengths, and thus brought suspicion, not only
upon the guilty Dudley, but also upon the innocent Queen. The manner
of Amy's murder is pure conjecture; but it should not be far from what
actually took place. The possibility of an accident--extraordinarily and
suspiciously opportune for Dudley as it would have been--could not be
altogether ruled out but for the further circumstance that Lady
Robert had removed everybody from Cumnor on that day. To what can
this point--unless we accept an altogether incredible chain of
coincidence--but to some such plotting as I here suggest?

In the remaining six essays in this volume the liberties taken with the
absolute facts are so slight as to require no apology or comment.

R. S.

London, June, 1919.

CONTENTS

I. THE ABSOLUTION
Affonso Henriques, First King of Portugal
II. THE FALSE DEMETRIUS
Boris Godunov and the Pretended Son of Ivan the Terrible
III. THE HERMOSA FEMBRA
An Episode of the Inquisition in Seville
IV. THE PASTRY-COOK OF MADRIGAL
The Story of the False Sebastian of Portugal
V. THE END OF THE VERT GALANT
The Assassination of Henry IV
VI. THE BARREN WOOING
The Murder of Amy Robsart
VII. SIR JUDAS
The Betrayal of Sir Walter Ralegh
VIII. HIS INSOLENCE OF BUCKINGHAM
George Villiers' Courtship of Anne of Austria
IX. THE PATH OF EXILE
The Fall of Lord Clarendon
X. THE TRAGEDY OF HERRENHAUSEN
Count Philip Koenigsmark and the Princess Sophia Dorothea
XI. THE TYRANNICIDE
Charlotte Corday and Jean Paul Marat

I. THE ABSOLUTION

Aftonso Henriques, first King of Portugal

In 1093 the Moors of the Almoravide dynasty, under the Caliph Yusuf,
swept irresistibly upwards into the Iberian Peninsula, recapturing
Lisbon and Santarem in the west, and pushing their conquest as far as
the river Mondego.

To meet this revival of Mohammedan powe