an equal portion belonged to Leicester and his party. The young captain
listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by Colonel Cosine, and
Deacon Volmar, in the name of Leicester. He agreed, on a certain day, to
muster his company, to leave the city by the Delft gate--as if by command
of superior authority--to effect a junction with Captain Heraugiere,
another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of Sluys, who was
stationed, with his command, at Delft, and then to re-enter Leyden, take
possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with
Adrian van der Werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim Lord Leicester, in the
name of Queen Elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. A list of
burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final
meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of
'The Thunderbolt.' A desire had been signified by Leicester, in the
preliminary interviews at Utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible,
should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation,
considering the, temper, the political convictions, and the known courage
of the Leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle,
to this invasion of all their rights. It could hardly be doubted that
the streets would run red with blood, as those of Antwerp had done, when
a similar attempt, on the part of Anjou, had been foiled.

Unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to
be hazarded, Cosmo de Pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for
debt. A subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the
magistrate and revealed the plot. Volmar and de Maulde fled at once, but
were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. President de Meetkerke,
Professor Saravia, the preacher Van der Wauw, and others most
compromised, effected their escape. The matter was instantly laid before
the States of Holland by the magistracy of Leyden, and seemed of the
gravest moment. In the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of York