released, and on 8 February 1601 acted as general of the horse in the forces sent out to suppress Essex's rebellion. On 19 February he sat on the commission which tried Essex and Southampton at Westminster, and condemned them to death. When at the opening of the trial his name as commissioner was read out in court by the clerk, Essex, according to an eye-witness, laughed contemptuously and tugged Southampton by the sleeve. In May 1602 Grey returned to the Low Countries, but he was disappointed by his reception by the Dutch. He attributed his neglect to Sir Francis Vere's jealousy, and came home in October embittered. Early in 1603, Elizabeth made him a grant of lands. The Bye Plot On the death of Elizabeth (24 March 1603) Grey attended the hasty meeting of the council, at which it was resolved to support the claim of King James VI of Scotland. He had reservations. A chance meeting with Southampton, who had been released from the Tower of London, in the audience-chamber of Queen Anne of Denmark at Windsor in June 1603, may have intensified his dislike of the new regime. He complained of the Scotchmen crowding to court in search of office. Grey's friend, George Brooke, Lord Cobham's brother, was similarly discontented, and had fallen in with William Watson, a secular priest, Sir Griffin Markham, and other Catholics. They were plotting to seize the king, and obtain from him promises of religious toleration for Catholics by intimidation. Grey allowed Brooke to introduce him to Markham and his allies and apparently assented to the desirability of forcing a petition for general toleration on James's notice. Grey disliked their religious views, and he later declared that he has contemplated disclosing their plans to the government. Watson imagined that Grey could carry out seizure of the king's person, and that others should be at hand to rescue James from Grey's hands so that they might pose as patriotic Catholics. Before the day (24 June 1603) of the attack arrived Grey refused to take any part in it. By that time the government knew all, and the conspirators fled without attempting anything. Grey went abroad to Sluys, but he was arrested there in July, and was brought prisoner to the Tower of London (July). When interrogated by the lieutenant of the Tower (3 August), he denied any traitorous intention. Coke drew up an abstract