e him. His desire to see the enterprize
succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties by which it was
surrounded. He would reflect earnestly upon the subject, in the hope that
God, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him. Thus much he had
stated to Ridolfi, but he had informed his council afterwards that he was
determined to carry out the scheme by certain means of which the Duke
would soon be informed. The end proposed was to kill or to capture
Elizabeth, to set at liberty the Queen of Scotland, and to put upon her
head the crown of England. In this enterprize he instructed the Duke of
Alva secretly to assist, without however resorting to open hostilities in
his own name or in that of his sovereign. He desired to be informed how
many Spaniards the Duke could put at the disposition of the conspirators.
They had asked for six thousand arquebusiers for England, two thousand
for Scotland, two thousand for Ireland. Besides these troops, the Viceroy
was directed to provide immediately four thousand arquebuses and two
thousand corslets. For the expenses of the enterprize Philip would
immediately remit two hundred thousand crowns. Alva was instructed to
keep the affair a profound secret from his councillors. Even Hopper at
Madrid knew nothing of the matter, while the King had only expressed
himself in general terms to the nuncio and to Ridolfi, then already on
his way to the Netherlands. The King concluded his letter by saying, that
from what he had now written with his own hand, the Duke could infer how
much he had this affair at heart. It was unnecessary for him to say more,
persuaded as he was that the Duke would take as profound an interest in
it as himself.

Alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible it
would be for him to comply with Philip's orders. To send an army from the
Netherlands into England for the purpose of dethroning and killing a most
popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most amicable
relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking. A force
of ten thousand Spaniards, under Chiappin Vitelli, and other favorite
officers of the Duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be overlooked, nor
would their operations be susceptible of very friendly explanations. The
Governor therefore, assured Philip that he "highly applauded his master
for his plot. He could not help rendering infinite thanks to God for
having made him vassal to such a Prince.