1566 October Elizabeth CHAP X good friend both to the realm and to herself; if she would not listen to advice and do what the service of the commonwealth required they must do it themselves. She was too angry to argue; she told Pembroke sends sepa- he spoke like a foolish soldier, and knew not what he was saying. Then seeing Leicester at his side, You, my lord,' she said, 'you! If all the world forsook me I thought that would be true!' rately for the Lords. you 'Madam,' Leicester said, 'I am ready to die at your feet!' 'What has that to do with it?' she answered. 'And you, my Lord Northampton,' she went onturning from one to the other; 'you who when you had a wife of your own already could quote Scripture texts to help you to another; you forsooth must meddle with marriages for me. think.' You might employ yourself better, I She could make nothing of them, nor they of her. Both Queen and lords carried their complaints to de Silva; the lords urging him to use his influence to force her into taking the Archduke; Elizabeth complaining of their insolence and especially of the ingratitude of Leicester. Her very honour, she said, had suffered for the favour which she had shown to Leicester; and now she would send him to his house in the country and the Archduke should have nothing to be jealous of." The committee went on with the work. On the 2nd of November the form of the address was still undetermined; they were undecided whether to insist most on the marriage, or on the nomination, or on both. In some shape or other however a petition of a serious kind 1 Northampton's divorce and second marriage had been one of the great scandals of the days of Edward. 2 De Silva to Philip, November 4.—MS. Simancas. November would unquestionably be presented, and Elizabeth pre- CHAP X pared to receive it with as much self-restraint as 1566 she could command. Three days later she understood that the deliberations were concluded. To have the interview over as soon as possible Elizabeth sent for the committee at once; and on the afternoon of the 5th of November, 'by her Highness's special commandment,' twenty-five lay Peers, the Bishops of Durham and London, and thirty members of the Lower House presented themselves at the palace at Westminster. The address was read by Bacon. Presenta address. After grateful acknowledgments of the general govern- tion of the ment of the Queen the two Houses desired, first, to express their wish that her Highness would be pleased to marry 'where it should please her, with whom it should please her, and as soon as it should please her.' Further, as it was possible that her Highness might die without children, her faithful subjects were anxious to know more particularly the future prospects of the realm. Much as they wished to see her married, the settlement of the succession was even more important, 'carrying with it such necessity that without it they could not see how the safety of her royal person or the preservation of her imperial crown and realm could be or should be sufficiently and certainly provided for.' 'Her late illness (the Queen had been unwell again), the amazedness that most men of understanding were by fruit of that sickness brought unto,' and the opportunity of making a definite arrangement while Parliament was sitting, were the motives which induced them to be more urgent than they would otherwise have cared to be. History and precedent alike recommended a speedy decision. They hoped that she might live to have a child of her own; but she was mortal, and should she die 1566 November CHAP X before her subjects knew to whom their allegiance was due, a civil war stared them in the face. The decease of a prince leaving the realm without a government was the most frightful disaster which could befall the commonwealth; with the vacancy of the throne all writs were suspended, all commissions were void, law itself was dead. Her Majesty was not ignorant of these things. If she refused to provide a remedy 'it would be a dangerous burden before God upon her Majesty!' They had therefore felt it to be their duty to present this address; and on their knees they implored her to consider it and to give them an answer before the session closed.1 Elizabeth answers. Elizabeth had prepared her answer; as soon as Bacon ceased, she drew herself up and spoke as follows: 'If the order of your cause had matched the weight of your matter, the one might well have craved reward, and the other much the sooner be satisfied. But when I call to mind how far from dutiful care, yea rather how nigh a traitorous trick this tumbling cast did spring, I muse how men of wit can so hardly use that gift they hold. I marvel not much that brideless colts do not know their rider's hand whom bit of kingly rein did never snaffle yet. Whether it was fit that so great a cause as this should have had this beginning in such a public place as that, let it be well weighed. Must all evil bodings that might be recited be found little enough to hap to my share? Was it well meant, think you, that those that knew not how fit this matter was to be granted by the prince would prejudicate their prince in aggravating the matter? so all their arguments tended to my careless care of this my dear realm.' 1 DEWES' Journals, 8 ELIZ. So far she spoke from a form which remains in her own CHAP X handwriting. She continued perhaps in the same style; but her words remain only in the Spanish of de Silva. She was not surprised at the Commons,' she said; 'they had small experience and had acted like boys; but that the Lords should have gone along with them she confessed had filled her with wonder. There were some among them who had placed their swords at her disposal when her sister was on the throne, and had invited her to seize the crown; she knew but too well that if she allowed a successor to be named there would be found men who would approach him or her with the same encouragement to disturb the peace of the realm. If she pleased she could name the persons to whom she alluded. When time and circumstances would allow she would see to the matter of their petition before they asked her; she would be sorry to be forced into doing anything which in reason and justice she was bound to do; and she concluded with a request that her words should not be misinterpreted.' So long as she was speaking to the lay Peers she controlled her temper; but her passion required a safetyvalve, and she rarely lost an opportunity of affronting and insulting her bishops. Turning sharp round where Grindal and Pilkington were standing 1566 November 1 Answer to the Parliament by the Queen; Autograph.-Domestic MSS., ELIZ., vol. xli. Rolls House. 2 Entre los cuales habia habido algunos que reynando su hermana le ofrecian á ella ayuda y la querian mover á que quisiese procurar en su vida la corona.'-De Silva al Rey, present. CHAP X November The Bishops. 'And you doctors,' she said-it was her pleasure to 1566 ignore their right to a higher title;' 'you I understand make long prayers about this business. One of you dared to say in times past that I and my sister were bastards; and you must needs be interfering in what does not concern you. Go home and amend your own lives and set an honest example in your families. The Lords in Parliament should have taught you to know your places; but if they have forgotten their duty I will not forget mine. Did I so choose I might make the impertinence of the whole set of you an excuse to withdraw my promise to marry; but for the realm's sake I am resolved that I will marry; and I will take a husband that will not be to the taste of some of you. I have not married hitherto out of consideration for you, but it shall be done now, and you who have been so urgent with me will find the effects of it to your cost. Think you the prince who will be my consort will feel himself safe with such as you, who thus dare to thwart and cross your natural Queen?' She turned on her heel and sailed out of the hall of audience, vouchsafing no other word. At once she sent for de Silva, and after profuse thanks to himself and Philip for their long and steady kindness, swelling with anger as she was, she gave him to understand that her course was chosen at last and for ever; she would accept the Archduke and would be all which Spain could de sire. Many of the peers came to her in the evening to make their excuses: they said that they had been misled by 1 Volviendose á los obispos que se halláron presentes á la platica, dijó, Vosotros doctores, no les llamando obispos, que haceis muchas oraciones,' &c. |