lacklock pretended to
set: and thus the expedition to Southampton went off without him; the
object of it being the despatch of one of the party into France, and
the arrangement of the details of the conspiracy with the Captain of
the Isle of Wight.

The characters of the persons who were concerned in this new plot
against Mary's throne will not require much further elucidation. Sir
Henry Dudley was Northumberland's cousin--the same who had been
employed by the duke as an agent with the French court; the rest were
eager, headstrong, not very {p.264} wise young men, who, in the
general indignation of the country at the barbarity of the government,
saw an opportunity of pushing themselves into distinction. Lord
Willoughby, Lord Westmoreland, and Lord Oxford were suspected by the
queen of being unsound in religion; they had been reprimanded, and
Oxford was thought likely to lose his lands.[557] If the first move
could be made successfully, the conspirators counted on general
support from these noblemen, and indeed from the whole body of the lay
peers.

[Footnote 557: Noailles to the King of France,
March 12: _Ambassades_, vol. v.]

The plan was identical with that of Wyatt and Suffolk and Carew.
Kingston was to march on London from Wales, and the force of the
western counties was to join him on the Severn. One of the
Throgmortons, called "Long John," had been at the French court, and
made arrangements with Henry. Throgmorton returned to England, and
Henry Dudley crossed the Channel in his place. The French promised to
supply ships and money, while Dudley undertook to furnish them with
crews from among the refugees or the western privateers, as Carew had
done two years before. The Captain of the Isle of Wight, Uvedale,
undertook to betray the island and Hurst Castle to the French. Dudley
was to attack Portsmouth, where he would find the cannon
"pegged;"[558] and when Portsmouth was taken, Hampshire, Sussex, and
Kent were expected to rise.

[Footnote 558: Uvedale's Confession: _Mary,
Domestic, MS._, vol. vii.; Peckham's Confession,
vol. viii.]

Although known to so many persons, the secret was well kept. On
Dudley's disappearance, inquiries were made about him. It was
pretended that he was in debt, and had gone abroad to escape from his
creditors. Some suspicion attached to the Tremaynes, who had long been
connected with the