making a party amongst the lords; and Darnley's elevation to the Crown of Scotland would wake a thousand sleeping feuds. The requested permission was suspended without being refused; while Elizabeth began again as usual to play with thoughts of the Archduke. Cecil sent to Germany to urge Maximilian to propose in form for her hand;1 while stranger still, Catherine de Medici meditated an alliance between Elizabeth and her son Charles the Ninth. Elizabeth was twenty-nine and Charles not more than fourteen; but political convenience had overruled more considerable inequalities; and though Elizabeth affected to laugh at the suggestion as absurd, de Silva reminded her that the difference of age was scarcely greater than that between Philip and her sister; while the Queen-mother of France made the proposal, as will presently be seen, in perfect seriousness.2

December.

On their return to Edinburgh from Berwick, Maitland and Murray wrote a joint letter to Cecil, in which they recapitulated their arguments at the conference and put forward again the demand on behalf of their mistress with which Maitland had concluded. They dwelt on the marriages abroad which were offered to her acceptance-far exceeding in general desirableness that which was proposed by Elizabeth. They expressed themselves however deferentially, and professed a desire which both of them really felt for a happy termination of the difficulty.

1

Cecil's answer was straightforward, consistent, and

Roger Strange to Gaspar Pregnyar, February 1, 1565: HAYNES, vol. i. 2 De Silva to Philip, October 9: MS. Simancas.

honourable. He was glad to perceive from their letter, he said, that they were beginning to comprehend the Queen of England's real feelings. If they persisted in the tone which they had first assumed they would alienate England altogether. They talked of proposals to marry their mistress in this place and that; there were proposals for his own mistress as well, and they would do better in confining themselves to the subject which was immediately before them. They professed to desire to know the Queen of England's real wishes. They knew them already perfectly well. His mistress had never varied either in her words or in her intentions. She wished well to the Queen of Scots. She had no objection to the Queen of Scots' recognition as second person if England could be satisfied that its liberties would not be in danger.

'And now,' Cecil said, 'in return for this you propose that the Queen's Majesty should permit your Sovereign to marry where she would, saving in some places prohibited, and in that consideration to give her some yearly revenue out of the realm of England, and by Parliament establish the succession of the realm to her; and then you add that it might be the Queen's Majesty's desire would take effect. Surely, my Lord of Ledington, I see by this-for it was your speech-you can well tell how to make your bargain. Her Majesty will give the Earl of Leicester the highest degree that any nobleman may receive of her hand; but you look for more-you would have with him the establishment of your Sovereign's title to be declared in the second place to the Queen's

Majesty. The Queen's Majesty will never agree to so much of this request, neither in form nor substance, as with the noble gentleman already named. If you will take him she will cause inquisition to be made of your Sovereign's rights; and as far as shall stand with justice and her own surety, she will abase such titles as shall be proved unjust and prejudicial to her sister's interest. You know very well that all the Queen's Majesty mindeth to do must be directed by the laws and by the consent of the three Estates; she can promise no more but what she can with their assent do. The Queen of England, if trusted as a friend, may and will do what she will never contract or bargain to do or submit to be pressed to do. It is a tickle matter to provoke sovereigns to determine their succession.

Wherefore, good my Lords,' Cecil concluded, 'think hereof, and let not this your negotiation, which is full of terms of friendship, be converted into a bargain or purchase; so as while in the outward face it appears a design to conciliate these two Queens and countries by a perpetual amity, in the unwrapping thereof there be not found any other intention but to compass at my Sovereign's hands a kingdom and a crown, which if sought for may be sooner lost than gotten, and not being craved may be as soon offered as reason can require. Almighty God assist you with His spirit in your deliberation upon this matter to make choice of that which shall increase His glory and fortify the truth of the gospel in this isle.'1

'Cecil to Maitland and Murray, December 16: Scotch MSS. Rolls House.

Before this letter reached Scotland Maitland had become disposed to receive it in the spirit in which it was written. He had expressed his regret to Randolph for having 'meddled' with English Catholic conspirators; he was drawing off from the dangerous policy to which he appeared to have committed himself; and Randolph, who a month before had been more afraid of him than of any man in Scotland, wrote on the 16th of December, the date of Cecil's despatch, that he never thought better of him than at that moment.'1

Per

So anxious Maitland seemed to be to recover 1565. the confidence of the English Government, that January. except for the opposition which he continued to offerwhen opposition had become dangerous—to the Darnley marriage, it might have been thought that he was in league with Mary to throw Elizabeth off her guard. His motives must in part remain obscure. He had perhaps become acquainted with Darnley in England, and had foreseen the consequences if a youth of such a temperament came in too close contact with his mistress. haps too he had never meant to do more than play with poisoned tools; and withdrew when he saw that Elizabeth would not be frightened with them. But an obvious reason for Maitland's change of posture was to be found in the new advice and the new advisers that were finding favour with the Queen of Scots. Two years before, M. de Moret, the ambassador from Savoy, had brought in his suite to Mary Stuart's Court an Italian named David Rizzio. The youth-he was about thirty-became a

1 Randolph to Cecil, December 16: MS. Ibid.

favourite of Mary. Like Châtelar, he was an accomplished musician; he soothed her hours of solitude with love songs, and he had the graceful tastes with which she delighted to amuse her leisure. He had glided gradually into her more serious confidence, as she discovered that he had the genius of his countrymen for intrigue, and that his hatred for the Reformers rivalled her own in its intensity.

The adroit diplomacy of statesmen found less favour in Mary's cabinet than the envenomed weapons of deliberate fraud. She shook off the control of the one supremely able minister that she possessed, and she went on with renewed spirit, disembarrassed of a companion who was too honourable for her present schemes. To the change of counsellors may be attributed her sudden advance in the arts of intrigue. On a sudden, none knew why she professed a readiness to yield to Elizabeth's wishes. 'Her mind to the Lord Robert,' she said to Randolph at the end of January, 'was as it ought to be to so noble a gentleman;' 'such a one as his mistress would marry were he not her subject ought to content her;' 'what she would do should depend on the Queen of England, who should wholly guide her and rule her.'1 She deceived Maitland as she deceived Randolph, and Maitland wrote warmly to Cecil, full of hopes

that the great work at which they had so long laboured together, the union of the two countries, would be accomplished at last to their perpetual hon

1 Randolph to Cecil, February 5: Scotch MSS. Rolls House.