The files of the Elizabethan intelligence service are a rich and oddly neglected source: rich in historical detail, in the surprising appearance of famous names, in the whole tawdry but fascinating psychology of the spying game. There is in them a curious sense of déjà vu. Under the directorship of Sir Francis Walsingham, the security services featured much the same cast of moles, buggers, double agents and dirty tricksters that has entertained us in more recent spy 'scandals'. The technology has improved - in Walsingham's day, the fastest intelligence could travel was the speed of a horse - and the targets have different names, but the methods and motives of the secret world have not really changed.

LRB 12 March 1992 | PDF Download