There are three possibilities 1. Either the Queen of Scots may find herself at war only with her own subjects, and may require assistance merely to reduce her own country to obedience and to maintain religion there; or, 2. The Queen of England, afraid for her own safety, may openly support the rebels and heretics in their insurrection, and herself undisguisedly declare war; or, 3. The Queen of Scots may attempt to extort by arms the recognition of her claims on the English succession. 'In either or all of these contingencies his Holiness will act in a manner becoming his position and his character if he take part avowedly in her behalf. I myself am unwilling to come prominently forward, but I am ready to give advice and assistance, and that in the following manner :— 'Suppose the first case that the Scotch rebels find no support from any foreign prince, their strength cannot then be great, and the Queen of Scots with very little aid from us will be able to put them down. It will be sufficient if we send her money, which can be managed secretly; and if his Holiness approves he will do well to send whatever sum he is disposed to give without delay. I shall myself do the same, and indeed I have already sent a credit to my ambassador in England for the Queen of Scot's use. 'If the Queen of England takes an open part, more will be required of us, and secrecy will hardly be possible even if we still confine ourselves to sending money. Whatever be done, however, it is my desire that it be done entirely in his Holiness's name. I will contribute my full proportion; his Holiness shall have the fame and the honour. in 'The last alternative is far more difficult. I foresee so many inconveniences as likely to arise from it that the most careful consideration is required before any step is taken. Nothing must be done prematurely; and his Holiness I think should write to the Queen of Scots and caution her how she proceeds. A false move may ruin all, while if she abide her time she cannot fail to succeed. Her present care should be to attach her English friends to herself more firmly, and wherever possible to increase their number; but above all she should avoid creating a suspicion that she aims at anything while the Queen of England is alive. The question of her right to the succession must be continually agitated, but no resolution should be pressed for until success is certain. If she grasp at the crown too soon she will lose it altogether. Let her bide her time before she disclose herself: and meanwhile I will see in what form we can best interfere. The cause is the cause of God, of whom the Queen of Scots is the champion. We now know assuredly that she is the sole gate through which religion can be restored in England; all the rest are closed.' The unfortunate Yaxlee, having received his money in Flanders, was hurrying back to his mistress when he was caught in the Channel by a November gale, and was flung up on the coast of Northumberland a mangled body, recognizable only by the despatches found upon his person. They told Elizabeth little which she did not know already. She was perhaps relieved from the fear of an immediate interposition from Spain, the expectation of which, as much as any other cause, had led to the strangeness of her conduct. But she knew herself to be surrounded with pitfalls into which a false step might at any moment precipitate her; and she could resolve on nothing. One day she thought of trying to persuade the Queen of Scots to establish religion' on the English model; or if that could not be obtained that there might be liberty of conscience, that the Protestants might serve God their own way without molestation.'1 Then again in a feeble effort to preserve her dignity she would once more attempt to entrap the Queen of Scots into sending commissioners to England to sue for a settlement of the succession, which naturally did but increase Mary Stuart's exasperation." Bothwell made a raid on the Borders and carried off five or six English prisoners. The Earl of Bedford made reprisals, in the faint hope that it might force Elizabeth into a more courageous attitude. She first blamed Bedford; then, stung by an insolent letter from the Queen of Scots, she flashed up with momentary pride and became conscious of her injustice to Murray. December. The Scotch Parliament was summoned for the ensuing February, when Murray and his friends would be required to appear, and if they failed 1 Instructions to Commissioners going to Scotland, November, 1565: Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10. 2 Randolph to Cecil, December 15: Scotch MSS. Rolls House. to present themselves would be proceeded against for high treason. The Queen of Scots, at Rizzio's instigation, was determined to carry an Act of Attainder and forfeiture against them, which Elizabeth felt herself bound in honour to make an effort to prevent. So anxious she had been for the first two months after they had come to England to disclaim connection with them that she had almost allowed them to starve; and Randolph, on Christmas-day, wrote to Cecil that Murray 'had not at that time two crowns in the world.' But this neglect was less the result of deliberate carelessness than of temporary panic; and as the alarm cooled down she recovered some perception of the obligations under which she lay. At length therefore she consented for herself to name two commissioners if the Queen of Scots would name two others; and in writing on the subject to Randolph, under her first and more generous impulse, she said that 'her chief intention in their meeting was, if it might be, that some good might be done for the Earl of Murray.' Her timidity came back upon her before she had finished her letter; she scored out the words and wrote instead the chief intention of this meeting on our part is, covertly though not manifestly, to procure that some good might be done for the Earl.'* More painful evidence she could scarcely have given of her perplexity and alarm. Bedford and Sir John Foster were named to repre 'Randolph to Cecil, December 25: Scotch MSS. Rolls House, sent England. The Queen of Scots, as if in deliberate insult, named Bothwell as a fit person to meet with them; and even this, though wounded to the quick, Elizabeth endured, lest a refusal might increase her malice.'1 So the winter months passed away; and the time was fast approaching for the meeting of the Scottish Parliament. The Queen of Scots was by this time pregnant. Her popularity in England was instantly tenfold increased; while from every part of Europe warnings came thicker and thicker that mischief was in the wind. "The young King and Queen of Scots,' wrote Sir Thomas Smith from Paris, 'do look for a further and a bigger crown, and have more intelligence and practice in England and in other realms than you think for. Both the Pope's and the King of Spain's hands be in that dish further and deeper than I think you know. The ambassadors of Spain, Scotland, and the Cardinal of Lorraine be too great in their devices for me to like. The Bishop of Glasgow looks to be a cardinal, and to bring in Popery ere it be long, not only into Scotland but into England. I have cause to say to you rigilate !' 2 'It is written,' Randolph reported to Leicester, 'that this Queen's faction increaseth greatly among you. I commend you for that; for so shall you have religion overthrown, your country torn in pieces, and never an honest man left alive that is good or godly. 1 Elizabeth to Randolph, February 2: Lansdowne MSS. 8. 2 Sir T. Smith to Cecil, March 1565-6: French MSS. Rolls House. |