it to the rebels, that they ought to march straight to London, where nothing could withstand them, seeing the confusion at Court, whilst their other friends would have a greater chance of moving. And de Spes, the man who, before all others, had led these unfortunate lords to believe that Spanish aid would not fail them, was obliged, now that the crisis had come, to assure the Duke of Alba that he would “do nothing without orders from your Excellency.” The northern lords could not wait for Philip’s leaden pondering, nor upon Alba’s need, and, disheartened at the lack of response, they fell into disunion and wasted the precious time besieging Barnard Castle until the approach of Sussex with a newly organised army struck them with panic and they fled to Scotland—Northumberland to be sold basely to the English and to the scaffold; Westmorland, more unfortunate still, to seek lifelong exile in Spanish lands—a pathetic, poverty-stricken pensioner upon Philip’s irregular bounty, striving to earn his poor living by joining in plots to hand his native country over to the King of Spain. The rebellion in the North, for a time so threatening, was begun, as we have seen, without due preparation and conducted without ability to an inglorious termination.[187] But not a little of the blame for the miserable fiasco must be laid at the door of de Spes, who for months had been holding out hopes—as we see now, without authority—that an armed Spanish force from Flanders would be ready to support the rising. Alas! English Catholics, even after this first hard lesson, had yet to learn that Philip’s aid was not so lightly given, or given at all, without ample assurance that he alone should reap the harvest of success without incurring the penalties of failure. CHAPTER VII 1570-1578 Desperation of Alba—Fresh Catholic conspiracies—De Spes’s complicity—Alba and the Ridolfi plot—Discovery—The revenge of John Hawkins—De Spes outwitted—His expulsion from England—Guaras appointed Spanish Agent—Reopening of trade—Guaras’ intrigues with Mary Stuart and Don Juan of Austria—The plot discovered—Imprisonment of Guaras—Fall of Don Juan—Bernardino de Mendoza appointed ambassador in England