CHAP XXI him about the books which he had brought over, or if 1571 they had questioned him about his dealings with the April refugees. The two points were ill selected, for Baily, in the ciphered letters, had given the Bishop full information on both of them. Herle heard his teeth chatter in the dark, and felt the bed tremble. 'What!' he said, 'had not my Lord his letters, then, wherein I answered Yes?' He felt that he was betrayed, and not a word more could be extracted out of him, only cold answers, and assertions that he knew nothing of refugees.1 The next morning, the forlorn creature attempted to warn the Bishop that Herle was false.2 This note also was intercepted, and being not in cipher, showed Burghley that if he wanted more information he must try other means. Baily was removed from the Marshalsea to the Tower, where he was confined in a cave' 'rheumatic and unsavoury,' foul with the uncleansed memorials of generations of wretches who had preceded him there, without a bed,' and 'with only a little straw on the moist earth-floor to lie upon;' the wardens answering to his complaints that they provided prisoners only with place and room;' 'beds and other necessities' they must obtain from their friends.3 But this was not the worst. Burghley meant to make him speak, and to use whatever means might be necessary to break his spirit. He sent for him, laid his ciphered letters to the Bishop of Ross before him, and required him to read them. He said he could not, and pretended that he had lost the alphabet. Herle to Burghley, April 24. 3 Charles Baily to the Bishop of Ross, April 26.—MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS. April Burghley sternly told him that he was lying, and that CHAP XXI if he would not confess he should be tortured. It 1571 was no idle threat. From his cave, to which he was remanded, he once more sent a few words to the Bishop of Ross. He implored the Bishop to save him from La Gehenne, or he was 'lost for ever.' The Bishop rushed to the Council, claimed Baily as his servant, and insisted on his privilege as Ambassador. Finding no comfort there, he let fall, when he returned to his house, a passionate expression that those who lived a month would see strange changes.' To keep up Baily's spirits he sent him a note to entreat him to be firm, to bid him 'comfort himself in God, and remember the noble heroes who had suffered death rather than betray their masters.' 2 The treacherous messenger carried the paper, and the report of the Bishop's words, to Cecil, and the following brief order was sent to Sir William Hopton, Lieutenant of the Tower : เ 'You and Edmund Tremayne3 are to examine Charles Baily concerning certain letters written by him in cipher from the Marshalsea to the Bishop of Ross. You will ask him for the alphabet of the cipher, and if he shall refuse to shew the said alphabet, or to declare truly the contents of the said letters in cipher, you shall put him upon the rack; and by discretion with putting him in fear, and as cause shall be given afterwards, you shall procure him to confess the truth with some pain of the said torture.' 4 A few hours later Baily was seen staggering back 1 Baily to the Bishop of Ross, April 29.-MURDIN. 2 Bishop of Ross to Charles Baily, May 1.- -MURDIN. 9 Younger brother of the two Tremaynes who were killed at Havre, a man of special ability, much Burghley to the Lieutenant of 1571 May CHAP XXI to his dungeon, 'scarce able to go,'' discoloured and pale as ashes.' 1 He had told nothing, so far; but the experiment was to be tried again more severely, and he was left in the darkness to reflect on what was before him. One more ingenious refinement was yet behind. Doctor Story was still in the Tower waiting for execution. It had been ascertained that Baily was unacquainted with Story's person, though he regarded him, like the Catholics generally, as a confessor and a saint. There appeared one night by the side of the straw heap on which Baily lay extended, the figure of a man who said that he was Story himself, admitted into the cell by the kindness of a gaoler, to console him in his sufferings. The deceit could be successfully maintained, for the counterfeit was Parker, the treacherous friend who had betrayed Story in Flanders. In the character of a ghostly father, and an experienced conspirator, Parker recommended Baily to dig below Burghley's mines. He persuaded him that so much was already discovered that it was useless to persist in complete denial. By deciphering his own letters he told him that he would gain credit with Burghley, while he would leave him no wiser than he was already. He might offer to be a spy upon the Bishop of Ross, while in fact he would be a spy upon the Government, and would serve the cause of the Queen of Scots more effectually than ever.2 The 1 Herle to Burghley, May 1.- 'Con haber tomado á aquel criado -Don Guerau to Philip, May 9. 2 Baily in writing afterwards to Don Guerau to say what he had confessed, adds innocently, 'He hecho todo lo que he dicho por consejo y exhortacion del Doctor Story que ha visto como he sido tratado, y estaba avisado de la manera que determinan 1571 May Too happy to escape a repetition of La Gehenne CHAP XXI under so high a sanction, the victim of this singular network of deceit fell at last into the pit which was laid before him. He gave up the keys of the cipher, which revealed at once the story of the abstracted packet, with the existence of other letters addressed to unknown persons which had missed his hands; and Burghley must have smiled as he read the passionate promises of Baily before his experience of the rack, that 'the Council should get nothing from him though he was torn in pieces.' He confessed now to all that he knew. He could not tell who the persons were for whom he had brought over the letters because they were under cover to the Bishop of Ross; but he gave a sketch of the conversation which had passed between Ridolfi and Alva, so far as Ridolfi had communicated it to himself; he described the intended landing of the Spaniards in the Eastern Counties, and with many entreaties to Burghley that he would keep his secret and save his honour, he undertook, if he was allowed to return into the Bishop of Ross's service, to watch his correspondence and keep copies of all letters written by or to him. Yet he was still but half false, and Parker had prepared Burghley to understand the meaning of this base offer. Baily was left in the Tower, to find himself, to his surprise, in no better favour with Cecil, and reproached as a coward by his old friends. He could but excuse de tratarme.'-Charles Baily to Don Guerau, May 10. MSS. Simancas. Four months after we find him answering at another examination 'that his memory was so troubled with his long imprisonment and the trouble which he had with Parker feigning himself Doctor Story, and i Charles Baily to Burghley, May 2. -MURDIN. 1571 May CHAP XX1 himself to Don Guerau, by saying that Cecil knew already more about Ridolfi than he had himself admitted; and that except for what Doctor Story had told him, he would have suffered death rather than have confessed a single thing.1 The Bishop of Ross, meanwhile, sick with fears that Baily would confess under the rack, had taken to his bed. He ate nothing for three days, and lay barricaded in his house, having given orders to his porter to admit no one to him. He could tell secrets which Baily could not, and the question now with Cecil was how to extract them from him. Herle's services were again therefore put in requisition. The warning against him which had been sent by Baily having been intercepted, the Bishop, though he had vague misgivings about him, had no reason to suspect him of treachery, and with judicious treatment his full confidence might perhaps be recovered. After a short correspondence, in which the stages of the farce were pre-arranged, Herle was sent for to the Council, examined, and being found contumacious, was loaded with irons and threatened with torture. In this seeming extremity he wrote to the Bishop to implore his prayers, and his advice. He desired, as he told Burghley, 'to beget some kind of second trust in the Bishop,' and he swore that no extremity should force him to reveal anything. Appealed to thus earnestly, the Bishop sent a friend to the Marshalsea, who found Herle 'plunged into the depths of wretchedness, and lamenting that he was regarded with mistrust.' He complained of Baily, 'uttering his speech,' as he triumphantly described it, 'in such piteous forms, his irons jingling up and down 1 Charles Baily to Don Guerau, May 10.-MSS. Simancas |