A HISTORY OF LANCASHIRE 



detachment of trained men to be shipped from Chester to Ireland." In i 583 

 instructions were sent to the county commissioners concernmg the mustermg 

 of horsemen and the breeding of horses .« Next year another levy of men 

 was taken for Ireland ; ** while as a more effectual means of anticipating any 

 rebellious efforts, the recusants were now required to find either horsemen or 

 money for the Irish expedition ,« a requisition which would sufficiently cripple 

 their power of finding any for their own purposes. 



The danger to the queen's person from the adherents of Mary Stuart in 

 general, and from Roman Catholic fanatics in particular, was believed to be so 

 great, that in 1584 a loyal association of English gentlemen was formed by 

 the earl of Leicester and with the sanction of Parliament, to protect their 

 sovereign from assassination.** Not to be lacking in zeal for their queen, the 

 Protestant gentlemen of Lancashire got up a similar declaration. The list 

 was of course headed by the earl of Derby and his son Ferdinando, Lord 

 Strange, and comprised the names of eighty other Lancashire landowners.*^ 

 Many of the loyal Roman Catholic gentry also subscribed their names. The 

 declaration was, in fact, a public test of loyalty, and those who refused to sign 

 would certainly have been arrested as traitors. The absence of names such 

 as those of Sir John Southworth and others, may be accounted for by the 

 fact that they were not merely in prison, but had been taken to London 

 some time before. 



In May, 1585, Philip of Spain declared war against England by 

 imprisoning all the crews of English ships in Spanish harbours and detaining 

 the vessels. Drake sailed later in the year to avenge this injury, and it would 

 appear that from about this time the king of Spain was planning a descent 

 upon the English coasts. This was apparently to have come about in 

 connexion with the Babington conspiracy to assassinate Elizabeth and to put 

 Mary on the throne.*' In August, 1586, the conspirators, who included 

 several Lancashire men, were arretted, and a special commission was appointed 

 to examine Mary's share in the plot. Meanwhile Philip's designs of invasion 

 seem to have been more particularly confirmed to the English ministry by the 

 evidence of a Liverpool merchant, one Humphrey Brooke, and a circum- 

 stantial account is furnished by him of the number and strength of the 

 Spanish fleet which he had seen off the Biscayan coast, and which was 

 believed to be approaching the English Channel.*' 



The danger was undoubtedly very great, and urgent measures of defence 

 were imperative. In October, 1587, orders were sent to Sir Richard 

 Shireburne, one of the deputy lieutenants for the county, and to the justices, 

 that the trained bands were to be mustered at Lancaster, Preston, Whalley, 

 Manchester, Ormskirk, and Chorley, the horsemen at Preston and Wigan, 

 and the arms of the county were to be collected at the places of muster ^^ by 



" Shutdeworth MSS. quoted Lanes. Lieutenancy, pt. 2, p. 1 1 1, No. 28. — i 580. 



" Harl. MSS. Cod. 1926, art. 28, fol. 38a. Quoted ibid. pt. 2, p. 130. 



" Shuttleworth MS. ; Harl. MS. 1926, art. 51, fol. 65. Quoted ibid. pt. 2, p. 132. 



" Ibid. Also Harl. MS. 1926, art. 52, fol. 67, in which the year is wanting. Quoted Lanes. Lieu- 

 tenancy, pt. 2, p. 139. « Hansard, Pari. Hist, i, 823. 



*' The full list of names is attached to the copy of the declaration preserved in the Harl. Collect. 

 Harl. MS. 2219, fol. 19. Quoted Lanes. Lieutenancy, pt. 2, pp. 152-8. 



*' State Trials, i, 123. 



•' Vide Harl. MSS. Cod. 286, fol. 88. 'Tidings of the Spanish fleet.' Quoted in Lanci. Lieutenancy, 

 pt. 2, pp. 176-9. 



" Shutdeworth MSS. quoted Lanes. Lieutenancy, pt. 2, p. 1 80, et seq. 



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