Catholic world, where no worldly interests obscured the clearness of the sacred vision. In England, meanwhile, to the latest moment, the Alençon marriage was still the subject of perpetual discussion. The Court was on progress: the Queen had been at Woburn and Gorhambury, and was spending the last week of August at Kenilworth and Warwick-shooting, hunting, and, in the intervals, playing the spinette to the French Ambassador, talking of her boy-suitor, and speculating on the possibility of accepting him. As usual, she objected her age; as usual, La Mothe Fénelon and his companions insisted. that time had no effect on beauty like her Majesty's. The small-pox was a more considerable difficulty. If some skilful doctor could mend Alençon's face, the worst objection, it was hoped, might be removed. Three couriers arrived close on one another at Kenilworth from Paris, bringing letters from Charles to the Ambassador, and letters from Coligny and Montmorency to Leicester and Burghley. All were in the same strain, pressing either for the marriage or else for a declaration against Spain; all urging the Queen not to let the opportunity pass from her. If England would commit itself, Charles promised to follow, and to contribute at once 200,000 ducats towards Elizabeth's expenses.1 1 'En este tiempo que alli estuvó el Mot, que fueron 20 dias, le viniéron tres correos despachados por el Rey con cartas suyas para él, y en todas ellas le decia que con toda instancia dixese y hiciese con la Reyna que rompiese con su Magd Catolica, pues habia tan urgentes razones y causas para ello, vistas las diferencias que entre ambos habia, no perdiendo tan buena conjunction de tiempo, y que habiendolo asi, se moverian con ello causas liatas para que el hiciese lo СНАР XXIII 1572 September The Queen intimated that if the King of France would repeat the same promises in a letter under his own hand to herself, she would consider his proposal. For the present she would help the Prince of Orange underhand with men and money, but she could not venture into open war single-handed.1 With this answer De la Mole took his leave, intending to return home at once and persuade Alençon to pay Elizabeth a visit. La Mothe went with him to London, where they met the news of the massacre, and found the city filled with panic-stricken Huguenots, who had crossed the Channel in open boats. The French alliance had been the work of statesmen, and had never been liked by the English people. They had submitted to it as a necessity, but with a bad grace, and with no expectation that good would come of it. In an instant, with the shock of irresistible conviction, the belief spread that the treaty, the suit of Alençon, the marriage of the Princess Margaret, the affected anxiety of Charles to interfere in the Netherlands, were all parts of a conspiracy to throw the Huguenots off their guard, and thus destroy them. Armed with the letter which Charles wrote the day of the massacre, and in which he laid the blame upon Guise, La Mothe attempted to check the torrent of invective; 2 but he was himself obliged after the next post to change his language, and his double story was taken as a fresh evidence of treachery. The atrocities in the French provinces furnished fuel to the indignation. English witnesses of the scenes at Rouen shut La Mothe's mouth and made explanation impossible. The universal and not 2 La Mothe Fénelon au Roy, Sept. 2.-Dépêches, vol. v. 1 Antonio de Fogaça á Ruy Gomez. Londres, Setiembre 8, 1572.-MSS. Simancas. unnatural opinion was that, finding themselves baffled in the field, the Papal, French, and Spanish Courts had laid a plot for the general murder of Protestants all over Europe, that the English and Scotch Catholics were secret parties to it, and that the festival of the Gallic nuptials was to be celebrated everywhere as the opportunity offered. The accounts from Rome confirmed the most sinister interpretation. The cry rose in the pulpits of blood for blood. Every Papist was regarded as a murderer in disguise; and the symptoms were so alarming of an intention to give them 'Paris justice,' that Burghley had to hurry up to London to keep his friends in order. The Bishops sent a representation to the Queen that, for the quiet of the realm, such Catholic priests and gentlemen as were in prison for having refused the oath of allegiance should be immediately put to death.1 Edwin Sandys, the Bishop of London, intimated to Burghley that if this could not be done, the Court at least should be cleared of Catholics and 'such as by private persuasion overthrew good counsel;' notorious Catholic noblemen should be sent to the Tower; and the consciences of good Protestants should be no longer burdened with the Queen's taste for idle church ceremonies; above all, and without a moment's delay, that 'the Queen of Scots' head should be struck from her shoulders.' 92 This last advice, though she could not accept it literally, Elizabeth was not disinclined to accept. She had excused her past hesitation in dealing firmly with Mary Stuart, on the plea that she could not offend 1 Antonio de Fogaça to Ruy Gomez, September 8.-MSS. Simancas. 2 Edwyn Sandys to Burghley, Sept. 5.-Illustrations of British His- CHAP XXIII 1572 September 1572 September CHAP France. If France was now about to make common XXIII cause with Spain, the Queen no longer felt called on, either by principle or by prudence, to obstruct the demands of justice. She shrank still from being the avenger of her own wrongs; but Sir Henry Killegrew was sent down in haste to the Earl of Mar, to say that the Queen of Scots' presence in England was too dangerous to be allowed to continue; that it was necessary to come to a conclusion with her; and that although she might be tried and executed in England for her crimes against the Queen, yet that 'for certain respects' it was thought better that she should be given up to the Scots. That there might be no mistake in the meaning of the message, Lord Burghley added, that it was not meant that she was to exchange an English for a Scotch prison: 'To have her in Scotland, and to keep her, was of all things the most dangerous;' the Queen desired to be rid of her, but only with good assurance that the Scots would without fail proceed with her by way of justice, so as neither Scotland nor England should be any more endangered by her.' The particular arrangements were trusted to the messenger's discretion. Some near relations, both of Mar and Morton, would be required as hostages to ensure the execution, before Mary Stuart would be parted with; and Killegrew was instructed to induce the Regent, if possible, himself to make the first move, and desire that she might be given up.1 The 'certain respects' were a desire to escape the odium of an act which nevertheless required to be done; and a wish, that when the Queen of Scots' punishment came, she should be punished for a crime 1 Secret instructions to Sir H. Killegrew, Sept. 20, in Burghley's hand. -MSS. Hatfield. which neither France, nor Spain, nor the Pope, nor the English Catholics could dare to defend. In England, she could be put on her trial for treason; but the law was doubtful, and the offence in the eyes of religion was a virtue. In Scotland, she could be convicted in the presence of the world of adultery and murder. This momentous step was followed by another of no less marked significance. Elizabeth believed that the long-dreaded Catholic League, in its most frightful form, was about to become a reality; that England, as well as all other Protestant countries, must look to encounter the entire force which the Pope could direct against them; and that she must at length adopt the open policy which Burghley had urged upon her so long, set her house in order, put an end to Scotch anarchy, ally herself in earnest with the Netherlands and the German Princes, and prepare for the struggle which was to decide the fortunes of European liberty. The Prince of Orange was lying at Ruremonde waiting for the French to advance to relieve Mons. Elizabeth remembered for the moment, in the words of Walsingham, that unless God had raised up the Prince to entertain Spain, she would have had the fire long since at her own door. There was no hope of French assistance now. She ordered Sir Thomas Gresham to raise thirty or forty thousand pounds and take it to Hamburgh for the Prince's use; and she prepared to improve at last in seriousness the footing which she already held on the coast of Holland. Sir H. Gilbert, who was laying siege to Tregouse, wrote that both that town and Middleburg could be reduced with a slight additional effort. The Queen, with the consent of the people, might then be placed in entire possession of СНАР XXIII 1572 September |