1565 June CHAP VIII attempt at marriage, that in every corner of the realm the factions that most favoured the Scottish title had grown stout and bold;' 'they had shown themselves in the very Court itself; and unless checked promptly they would grow so great and dangerous as redress would be almost desperate.' 'Scarcely a third of the population were assured to be trusted in the matter of religion, upon which only string the Queen of Scots' Effect of the title did hang;' and 'comfort had been given to the persecution adversaries of religion in the realm to hope for change,' Protestants, by means that the bishops had dealt straightly with of the English some persons of good religion because they had forborne to wear certain apparel and such like things-being more of form and accident than any substance.' 'The pride and arrogancy of the Catholics had been increased' by the persecution of the Protestants; while if the bishops attempted to enforce conformity on the other side, the judges and lawyers in the realm being not the best affected in religion did threaten them with premunire, and in many cases letted not to punish and defame them,' 'so that they dared not execute the ecclesiastical laws.' For much of all this the Queen was responsible. She it was who more than any other person had nursed the Scottish faction' at the Court. If the bishops had been too eager to persecute the Catholics, it was she who had compelled Parker to suspend the ablest of the Protestant ministers. But the sum of the perils was made so apparent as no one of the Council could deny them to be both many and very dangerous.' They were agreed, every one of them, that the Queen must for the present relinquish her zeal for uniformity, and that the prosecutions of the clergy must cease till the question could be reconsidered by Parliament; they determined to require June advise measures, the oaths of allegiance of the judges, 'so that they should CHAP VIII for conscience-sake maintain the Queen's authority;' to 1565 replace the nonjuring bishops in the Tower, to declare forfeited all benefices held by ecclesiastics who were re- The Council siding abroad, and to drive out a number of seditious vigorous monks and friars who had fled across the Border from Scotland and were serving as curates in the northern churches. Bedford meanwhile should go down to Berwick, taking additional troops with him; the 'powers of the Border' should be held in readiness to move at an hour's notice ; and a reserve be raised in London to march north in case of war. Lennox and Darnley might then be required to return to England on their allegiance. If they refused they would be declared traitors, and their extradition demanded of the Queen of Scots under the treaties. So far the Council was unanimous. As to what should be done if the Queen of Scots refused to surrender them opinions were divided. The bolder party were for declaring immediate war and sending an army to Edinburgh; others preferred to wait till events had shaped themselves more distinctly; all however agreed on the necessity of vigour, speed, and resolution. No persons deserving of mistrust were to be suffered to have any rule of her Majesty's subjects or lands in the north.' They might retain their fees,' but more trusty persons should have the rule of their people.' The Earl of Murray and his friends should be comforted and supported; and considering the faction and title of the Queen of Scots had for a long time received great countenance by the Queen's Majesty's favour shown to the said Queen and her ministers,' the Council found themselves compelled to desire her Majesty 'by some exterior act to show some remission of her displeasure to the Lady Catherine and the Earl of Hertford.' CHAP VIII 1565 June Further for it was time to speak distinctly, and her Majesty's mode of dealing in such matters being better known than appreciated-she was requested, after considering these advices, to choose which of them she liked, and put them in execution in deeds, and not pass them The Queen's over in consultations and speeches. Nor did the Council separate without returning once more to the vexed question of the Queen's marriage. So long as she remained single, they represented gravely that no surety could be devised to ascertain any person of continuance of their families and posterities.' marriage. The French affair had dragged on. Elizabeth had coquetted with it as a kitten plays with a ball. The French ambassador de Foix, on the 2nd of May made an effort to force an answer from her one way or the other. 'The world,' he said, had been made in six days and she had already spent eighty and was still undecided.' Elizabeth had endeavoured to escape by saying that the world had been made by a greater artist than herself; that she was constitutionally irresolute and had lost many fair opportunities by a want of promptitude in seizing them.' Four days later, on the receipt of bad news from Scotland, she wavered towards acceptance: she wrote to Catherine de Medici to say 'that she could not decline an offer so generously made; she would call Parliament immediately, and if her subjects approved she was willing to abide by their resolution."" A Parliamentary discussion could not be despatched in a moment. 1 The words in italics are underlined in the original. Summary of consultations and advices given to her Majesty, June, 1565.—COTTON MSS., Calig, B. 10. Debates in Council, June 4, 1565.— 2 La response de la Reyne,' May 6.-French MSS. Rolls House. 1565 June letter asked how soon she might expect an answer; and CHAP VIII when Sir T. Smith told her that perhaps four months would elapse first, she affected astonishment at the necessity of so much ceremony. If the Queen of England was herself satisfied she thought it was enough. 'Madam,' replied Smith, 'her people be not like your people; they must be trained by doulceur and persuasion not by rigour and violence. There is no realm in Christendom better governed, better policied, and in more felicity of quiet and good order than is the realm of England; and in case my sovereign should go to work as ye say God knows what would come of it, you have an opinion that her Majesty is wise; her answer is very much in a little space and containeth more substance of matter than multitude of words." Catherine de Medici but half accepted the excuse, regarding it only as a pretext for delay. Yet Elizabeth was probably serious, and had the English Council been in favour of the marriage, in her desperation at the attitude of Mary Stuart, she might have felt herself compelled to make a sacrifice which would insure for her the alliance of France. Paul de Foix one day at the end of Elizabeth May found her in her room playing chess. Madam,' he said to her, 'you have before you the game of life. You lose a pawn; it seems a small matter; but with the pawn you lose the game.' 'I see your meaning,' she answered. 'Lord Darnley is but a pawn; but unless I look to it I shall be checkmated.' She rose from her seat, led the ambassador apart and said bitterly she would make Lennox and his son smart for their insolence. Smith to Elizabeth, May, 1565.-French MSS. Rolls House. and the French ambassador. CHAP VIII 1565 June De Foix admitted and made the most of the danger; 'her enemies,' he allowed, all over the world were wishing to see Mary Stuart and Darnley married, and unfortunately there were also clearsighted able English statesmen who desired it as well as a means of uniting the crowns.' 'But, your Majesty,' he added, has in your hands both your own safety and your rival's ruin. France has been the shield of Scotland in its English wars. Take that shield for yourself. The world is dangerous, the strongest will fare the best, and your Majesty knows that the Queen of Scots dreads no one thing so much as your marriage with the most Christian King.' With mournful irony Elizabeth replied that she did not deserve so much happiness.1 The English Council in pressing her to take a husband was thinking less of a foreign alliance than of an heir to the Crown; and the most Christian King was unwelcome to her advisers for the reason perhaps for which she would have preferred him to any other suitor. The full-grown able-bodied Archduke Charles was the person on whom the hearts of the truest of her statesmen had long been fixed. The Queen referred de Foix to the Council; and the Council on the 2nd of June informed him that on mature consideration and with a full appreciation of the greatness of the offer, the age of the King of France, the uncertainty of the English succession, and the unlikelihood of children from that marriage for several years at least, obliged them to advise their mistress to decline his proposals.' 2 The next day Elizabeth sent for the ambassador of the Duke of Wirtemberg, who was acting in England in behalf of Maximilian. She told him that she had once 1 Paul de Foix to the Queen-mother, June 3.-TEULET, vol. ii. 2 MIGNET'S Mary Stuart, vol. i. p. 146. |