Series 3 > Mary Queen of Scots and the Babington plot

INTRODUCTION
ciii
the posts of about two years all at one time, several weeks
were necessary to decipher and digest the news which they
contained. Gifford on his return went down to Chartley,
yet did not go to the house, but took up his lodging as
before with Mr. Newport, steward to the Earl of Essex,
and from thence interviewed the brewer and the substitute.
He communicated with Mary’s jailor by letter, which
Poulet considered ‘ more safe, than if he had come in person
during these short, light nights, especially considering that
many of this Queen’s family are stirring all night, by reason
of her infirmity at present.’ 1
Gilbert had arrived on the 1st of June, and on the 3rd
all Poulet’s anxieties were set at rest by the receipt,
through the ‘ honest man,’ of a packet whose size explained
by itself the unusual silence which had preceded. More¬
over the brewer obtained a special tip of £10, which, Poulet
thought, showed that ‘ this people make good account of
this packet.’
Poulet now changes his tone entirely, for the plot against
Mary is clearly prospering, ‘ All is now well, thanks
be to God ... I think myself very happy.’ In this
good humour he also praises Gilbert, whom he had so
severely blamed when he was in a bad temper not long
before. His misgiving then was that Gilbert had ‘ played
the wanton ’ in begging too freely for money from Mary,
and in particular for a pension. It was not, of course, that
the knight minded Mary being robbed ; but he feared that
some little misfortune might perhaps intervene ; and then
this quasi-robbery might be looked at with different eyes.2
However, this mood is now past, and he praises ‘ your
friend ’ warmly. He is ‘ very careful in this service, and
professeth to have vowed himself wholly to your devotion,
as one bound thereto by your singular benefits.’
Morris, p. 196.
2 Ibid., pp. 193, 197, 198