Up to this time since Philip had faced the necessity for winning England by other means than moral suasion, the projects for doing so had always run upon the lines of subsidising and supporting the revolt of the Catholic party in the interests of the Queen of Scots; and in this direction, but later with an ominous addition to the programme, the next attempts developed. During the sitting of the Conference of York in October, 1568, to investigate the charges against Mary relative to the murder of Darnley, the Duke of Norfolk had suggested to Lethington the desirability of hushing up the ugly business as against the Queen of Scots; and on the following day he had a long, private conversation with Murray to the same effect. Thomas Howard, fourth Duke of Norfolk, son of the martyred Surrey, was the greatest noble in England, a kinsman of the Queen, and up to this time ostensibly a Protestant. Personally, he was popular, for his manners were kindly and his possessions great, but, as events proved, he was as weak and unstable as he was ambitious. At this time he was about thirty-three years of age, and his wife, the daughter of the Earl of Arundel, and widow of Lord Dacre, had died. Such a man, with his personal prestige and his powerful name, was a fit instrument for stronger spirits than himself. In conversation with Murray at York, Norfolk said that Queen Elizabeth herself would not consider the subject of the succession, but it was necessary for the nobles of England to look ahead. “What could be Murray’s motive,” he asked, “in coming to England to blacken Queen Mary’s character and thus injuring her chances of the English succession?” As a consequence of these efforts of Norfolk, it was agreed with Murray and Lethington to make the Conference of York abortive, and Mary was informed of this by a letter from Norfolk.[184] In the course of the subsequent negotiations a few days afterwards, Lethington remarked that as Norfolk showed himself so much in favour of Mary, the whisper he had heard about the possibility of his marriage to her was probably true, and, according to Norfolk, earnestly advocated the match.[185] Norfolk listened, for the prospect of the matrimonial Crown of England was a tempting one, and his sister, Lady Scrope, who was with Mary at Bolton, had no difficulty in obtaining the Scottish Queen’s acceptance of a suggestion which seemed to secure for her cause the higher nobility of England, who were anxious to overthrow the Cecils, and Bacons, and Hunsdons, and other new men, who now ruled England. De Spes was very soon approached, and, of course, warmly approved of the plan to marry Norfolk to the Queen of Scots, whilst a close and affectionate correspondence was carried on between Mary and her new suitor. For a time the plan was frustrated by the alarm of Leicester, when he suspected the real object of it, and by the dexterity of Cecil, as has already been described.