ABSTRACT
William Udall appears to have been a government spy in England during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I, informing his masters about Catholic recusants who were perceived to threaten the Protestant monarchy. In 1601, suspicions about Udall’s loyalty to the crown led to his imprisonment and he then made the mistake of accusing Lord Cecil, the government’s spy master, of plotting against the crown. In this petition, seemingly addressed to Lord Cecil, Udall pleads for mercy and for his life. Deploying emotional language and appealing to the compassion of Cecil, Udall presents himself as a remorseful penitent ‘despayring and out of all hope’. Ultimately, Cecil was willing to pardon Udall and continued to use him as an informer. The author's most and ever honourable lord words are but al cyphers to make shewe of the minde being no way being no wayes able to expresse the true conceyts of the same.
