Series 3 > Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington plot

INTRODUCTION
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supplied them in their rebellions. Walsingham trusted
him so much that he sent over to him in France various
intercepted cipher dispatches, of which no one in England
could make head or tail. For some little time before our
story begins he had come home again, and would seem
to have lived in Leadenhall Market. On 3rd May 1586,
his income was increased by Elizabeth’s order.1 This
might look like a retaining fee for the great work of his
life on which he was so soon to launch. It may be that
Walsingham’s plans were by then arranged. It would
seem more probable, however, that Phelippes had fallen
into debt, as he so often did later on, and that the
Queen’s largesse was a way of salving his credit.
Be this as it may, Phelippes comes before us as a past-
master in all branches of letter stealing, and a man with
a real genius for deciphering. Yet even here exaggerations
have been made. In point of fact, the deciphering of
Mary’s correspondence was easy work in the present case,
because at its recommencement all the old ciphers had
been changed, and a new alphabet sent to each corre¬
spondent. Phelippes took copies of all these keys as they
passed, and after that his work was relatively simple.
We have already used, and shall be constantly using
the evidence of letters, which come to us proximately
from him. The question is often asked, Can we credit
his alleged deciphers, as honestly reflecting the originals ?
He was certainly not invariably honest, and his profession
was one which exposed him to strong temptations. But
after carefully going over and re-deciphering many of his
deciphers, I have come to the conclusion that in all essential
matters he was faithful to Walsingham, and that wherever
we find a cipher sent in to his master, with the decipher
attached, the work may, broadly speaking, be trusted.
Morris, Sir Amias Poulet, p. 115.