kept up in spite of the repeated denials of the queen, by the artifice
of some Englishmen at his court who deluded him by pretended secret
intelligence,--had sent to her majesty a royal present, and declared his
intention of following in person. The present consisted of eighteen
large piebald horses, and two ship-loads of precious articles which are
not particularized. It does not appear that this offering was
ill-received; but as Elizabeth was determined not to relent in favor of
the sender, she caused him to be apprized of the impositions passed upon
him by the English to whom he had given ear, at the same time expressing
her anxious hope that he would spare himself the fatigues of a fruitless
voyage. Fearing however that he might be already on his way, she
occupied herself in preparations for receiving him with all the
hospitality and splendor due to his errand, his rank and her own honor.
It was at the same time a business of some perplexity so to regulate all
these matters of ceremony that neither Eric himself nor others might
conclude that he was a favored suitor. Among the state papers of the
time we find, first a letter of council to the lord mayor, setting
forth, that, "Whereas certain bookbinders and stationers did utter
certain papers wherein were printed the face of her majesty and the king
of Sweden; although her majesty was not miscontented that either her own
face or that of this king should be pourtrayed; yet to be joined in the
same paper with him or any other prince who was known to have made
request for marriage to her, was what she could not allow. Accordingly
it was her pleasure that the lord mayor should seize all such papers,
and pack them up so that none of them should get abroad. Otherwise she
might seem to authorize this joining of herself in marriage to him,
which might seem to touch her in honor." Next we have a letter to the
duke of Norfolk directing the manner in which he should go to meet the
king, if he landed at any part of Norfolk or Suffolk: and lastly, we
have the solemn judgement of the lord-treasurer, the lord-steward, and
the lord-chamberlain, on the ceremonial to be observed towards him on
his arrival by the queen herself.
One paragraph is conceived with all the prudery and the deep policy
about trifles, which marked the character of Elizabeth herself. "Bycause
the queen's majesty is a maid, in this case would many things be omitted
of honor and courtesy, which otherwise were mete to be showed to him, as
in like cases hath been of kings of this land to others, and therefore
it shall be necessary that the gravest of her council do, as of their
own judgement, excuse the lack thereof to the king; and yet on their own
parts offer the supplement thereof with reverence."
After all, the king of Sweden never came.
CHAPTER XIIIb.
1561 TO 1565.
Difficulties respecting the succession.--Lady C. Grey marries the earl
of Hertford.--Cruel treatment of them by Elizabeth.--Conspiracy of the
Poles.--Law against prophecies.--Sir H. Sidney ambassador to
France.--Some account of him.--Defence of Havre under the earl of
Warwick.--Its surrender.--Proposed interview between Elizabeth and
Mary.--Plague in London.--Studies of the queen.--Proclamation respecting
portraits of her.--Negotiations concerning the marriage of
Mary.--Elizabeth proposes to her lord R. Dudley.--Hales punished for
defending the title of the Suffolk line.--Sir N. Bacon and lord J. Grey
in some disgrace on the same account.--Queen's visit to
Cambridge.--Dudley created earl of Leicester.--Notice of sir James
Melvil and extracts from his memoirs.--Marriage of Mary with
Darnley.--Conduct of Elizabeth respecting it.--She encourages, then
disavows the Scotch malcontent lords.--Behaviour of sir N.
Throgmorton.--The puritans treated with greater lenity.
The situation of Elizabeth, amid its many difficulties, presented none
so perplexing, none which the opinions of her most prudent counsellors
were so much divided on the best mode of obviating, as those arising out
of the doubt and confusion in which the right of succession was still
involved. Her avowed repugnance to marriage, which was now feared to be
insurmountable, kept the minds of men continually busy on this
dangerous topic, and she was already incurring the blame of many by the
backwardness which she discovered in designating a successor and causing
her choice to be confirmed, as it would readily have been, by the
parliament.
But this censure must be regarded as unjust. Even though the jealousy of
power had found no entrance into the bosom of Elizabeth, sound policy
required her long to deliberate before she formed a decision, and
perhaps, whatever that decision might be, forbade her, under present
circumstances, to announce it to the world.
The title of the queen of Scots, otherwise unquestionable, was barred by
the will of Henry VIII., ratified by an unrepealed act of parliament,
and nothing less solemn than a fresh act of the whole legislature would
have been sufficient to render it perfectly free from objection: and
could Elizabeth be in reason expected to take such a step in behalf of a
foreign and rival sovereign, professing a religion hostile to her own
and that of her people; of one, above all, who had openly pretended a
right to the crown preferable to her own, and who was even now
exhausting the whole art of intrigue to undermine and supplant her?
On the other hand, to confirm the exclusion of the Scottish line, and
adopt as her successor the representative of that of Suffolk, appeared
neither safe nor equitable.
The testamentary disposition of Henry had evidently been dictated by
caprice and resentment, and the title of Mary was nevertheless held
sacred and indisputable not only by all the catholics, but by the
partisans of strict hereditary right in general, and by all who duly
appretiated the benefits which must flow from an union of the English
and Scottish sceptres. To inflict a mortal injury on Mary might be as
dangerous as to give her importance by an express law establishing her
claims, and against any perils in which Elizabeth might thus involve
herself the house of Suffolk could afford her no accession of strength,
since their allegiance,--all they had to offer,--was hers already.
The lady Catherine Grey, the heiress of this house, might indeed have
been united in marriage to some protestant prince, whose power would
have acted as a counterpoise to that of Scotland. But a secret and
reluctant persuasion that the real right was with the Scottish line,
constantly operated on the mind of Elizabeth so far as to prevent her
from taking any step towards the advancement of the rival family; and
the unfortunate lady Catherine was doomed to undergo all the restraints,
the persecutions and the sufferings, which in that age formed the
melancholy appanage of the younger branches of the royal race, with
little participation of the homage or the hopes which some minds would
have accepted as an adequate compensation.
It will be remembered, that the hand of this high-born lady was given to
lord Herbert, son of the earl of Pembroke, on the same day that
Guildford Dudley fatally received that of her elder sister the lady
Jane; and that on the accession of Mary this short-lived and perhaps
uncompleted union had been dissolved at the instance of the politic
father of lord Herbert. From this time lady Catherine had remained in
neglect and obscurity till the year 1560, when information of her having
formed a private connexion with the earl of Hertford, son of the
Protector Somerset, reached the ears of Elizabeth. The lady, on being
questioned, confessed her pregnancy, declaring herself at the same time
to be the lawful wife of the earl: her degree of relationship to the
queen was not so near as to render her marriage without the royal
consent illegal, yet by a stretch of authority familiar to the Tudors
she was immediately sent prisoner to the Tower. Hertford, in the mean
time, was summoned to produce evidence of the marriage, by a certain
day, before special commissioners named by her majesty, from whose
decision no appeal was to lie. He was at this time in France, and so
early a day was designedly fixed for his answer, that he found it
impracticable to collect his proofs in time, and to the Tower he also
was committed, as the seducer of a maiden of royal blood.
By this iniquitous sentence, a color was given for treating the
unfortunate lady and those who had been in her confidence with every
species of harshness and indignity, and the following extract from a
warrant addressed in the name of her majesty to Mr. Warner, lieutenant
of the Tower, sufficiently indicates the cruel advantage taken of her
situation.
..."Our pleasure is, that ye shall, as by our commandment, examine the
lady Catherine very straightly, how many hath been privy to the love
between her and the earl of Hertford from the beginning; and let her
certainly understand that she shall have no manner of favor except she
will show the truth, not only what ladies or gentlewomen of this court
were thereto privy, but also what lords and gentlemen: For it doth now
appear that sundry personages have dealt herein, and when it shall
appear more manifestly, it shall increase our indignation against her,
if she will forbear to utter it.
"We earnestly require you to use your diligence in this. Ye shall also
send to alderman Lodge secretly for St. Low, and shall put her in awe of
divers matters confessed by the lady Catherine; and so also deal with
her that she may confess to you all her knowledge in the same matters.
It is certain that there hath been great practices and purposes; and
since the death of the lady Jane she hath been most privy. And as ye
shall see occasion so ye may keep St. Low two or three nights more or
less, and let her be returned to Lodge's or kept still with you as ye
shall think meet[49]." &c.
[Note 49: "Burleigh Papers" by Haynes.]
The child of which the countess of Hertford was delivered soon after her
committal, was regarded as illegitimate, and she was doomed to expiate
her pretended misconduct by a further imprisonment at the arbitrary
pleasure of the queen. The birth of a second child, the fruit of stolen
meetings between the captive pair, aggravated in the jealous eyes of
Elizabeth their common guilt. Warner lost his place for permitting or
conniving at their interviews, and Hertford was sentenced in the
Star-chamber to a fine of fifteen thousand pounds for the double offence
of vitiating a female of the royal blood, and of breaking his prison to
renew his offence.
It might somewhat console this persecuted pair under all their
sufferings, to learn how unanimously the public voice was in their
favor. No one doubted that they were lawfully married,--a fact which was
afterwards fully established,--and it was asked, by what right, or on
what principle, her majesty presumed to keep asunder those whom God had
joined? Words ran so high on this subject after the sentence of the
Star-chamber, that some alarmists in the privy-council urged the
necessity of inflicting still severer punishment on the earl, and of
intimidating the talkers by strong measures. The further consequences of
this affair to persons high in her majesty's confidence will be related
hereafter: meantime it must be recorded, to the eternal disgrace of
Elizabeth's character and government, that she barbarously and illegally
detained her ill-fated kinswoman, first in the Tower and afterwards in
private custody, till the day of her death in January 1567; and that the
earl her husband, having added to the original offence of marrying a
princess, the further presumption of placing upon legal record the
proofs of his children's legitimacy, was punished, besides his fine,
with an imprisonment of nine whole years. So much of the jealous spirit
of her grandfather still survived in the bosom of this last of the
Tudors!
On another occasion, however, she exercised towards a family whose
pretensions had been viewed by her father with peculiar dread and
hostility, a degree of forbearance which had in it somewhat of
magnanimity.
Arthur and Edmund Pole, two nephews of the cardinal, with sir Anthony
Fortescue their sister's husband, and other accomplices, had been led,
either by private ambition, by a vehement zeal for the Romish faith, or
both together, to meditate the subversion of the existing state of
things, and to plan the following wild and desperate scheme.
Having first repaired to France, where they expected to receive aid and
counsels from the Guises, the conspirators were to return at the head of
an army and make a landing in Wales. Here Arthur Pole, assuming at the
same time the title of duke of Clarence, was to proclaim the queen of
Scots, and the new sovereign was soon after to give her hand to his
brother Edmund. This absurd plot was detected before any steps were
taken towards its execution: the Poles were apprehended, and made a full
disclosure on their trial of all its circumstances; pleading however in
excuse, that they had no thought of putting their design in practice
till the death of the queen, an event which certain diviners in whom
they placed reliance had confidently predicted within the year.
In consideration of this confession, and probably of the insignificance
of the offenders, the royal pardon was extended to their lives, and the
illustrious name of Pole was thus preserved from extinction. It is
probable, however, that they were kept for some time prisoners in the
Tower; and thither was also sent the countess of Lenox, on discovery of
the secret correspondence which she carried on with the queen of Scots.
The confession of the Poles seems to have given occasion to the renewal,
by the parliament of 1562, of a law against "fond and fantastical
prophecies," promulgated with design to disturb the queen's government;
by which act also it was especially forbidden to make prognostications
on or by occasion of any coats of arms, crests, or badges; a clause
added, it is believed, for the particular protection of the favorite,
Dudley, whose _bear and ragged staff_ was the continual subject of open
derision or emblematical satire.
A legend in the "Mirror for Magistrates," relating the unhappy
catastrophe of George duke of Clarence, occasioned by a prophecy against
one whose name began with a G, appears to have been composed in aid of
the operation of this law. The author takes great pains to impress his
readers with the futility as well as wickedness of such predictions, and
concludes with the remark, that no one ought to imagine the foolish and
malicious inventors of modern prophecies inspired, though
..."learned _Merlin_ whom God gave the sprite
To know and utter princes' acts to come,
Like to the Jewish prophets did recite
In shade of beasts their doings all and some;
Expressing plain by manners of the doom
That kings and lords such properties should have
As have the beasts whose name he to them gave!"
In France every thing now wore the aspect of an approaching civil war
between the partisans of the two religions, under the conduct on one
side of the Guises, on the other of the princes of the house of Conde.
Elizabeth judged it her duty, or her policy, to make a last effort for
the reconciliation of these angry factions, and she dispatched an
ambassador to Charles IX. charged with her earnest representations on
the subject. They were however ineffectual, and produced apparently no
other valuable result than that of rendering her majesty better
acquainted with the talents and merit of the eminent person whom she had
honored with this delicate commission.
This person was sir Henry Sidney, one of the most upright as well as
able of the ministers of Elizabeth:--that he was the father of sir
Philip Sidney was the least of his praises; and it may be cited as one
of the caprices of fame, that he should be remembered by his son, rather
than his son by him. Those qualities which in sir Philip could afford
little but the promise of active virtue, were brought in sir Henry to
the test of actual performance; and lasting monuments of his wisdom and
his goodness remain in the institutions by which he softened the
barbarism of Wales, and appeased the more dangerous turbulence of
Ireland by promoting its civilization.
Sir Henry was the son of sir William Sidney, a gentleman of good
parentage in Kent, whose mother was of the family of Brandon and nearly
related to the duke of Suffolk of that name, the favorite and
brother-in-law of Henry VIII. Sir William in his youth had made one of a
band of gentlemen of figure, who, with their sovereign's approbation,
travelled into Spain and other countries of Europe to study the manners
and customs of their respective courts. He likewise distinguished
himself in the field of Flodden. The king stood godfather to his son
Henry, born in 1529, and caused him to be educated with the prince of
Wales, to whom sir William was appointed tutor, chamberlain, and
steward.
The excellent qualities and agreeable talents of young Sidney soon
endeared him to Edward, who made him his inseparable companion and often
his bed-fellow; kept him in close attendance on his person during his
long decline, and sealed his friendship by breathing his last in his
arms.
During the short reign of this lamented prince Sidney had received the
honor of knighthood, and had been intrusted, at the early age of one or
two and twenty, with an embassy to the French king, in which he
acquitted himself so ably that he was soon afterwards sent in a
diplomatic character to Scotland. He had likewise formed connexions
which exerted important influence on his after fortunes. Sir John Cheke
held him in particular esteem, and through his means he had contracted a
cordial friendship with Cecil, of which in various ways he found the
benefit to the end of his life. A daughter of the all-powerful duke of
Northumberland had also honored him with her hand,--a dangerous gift,
which was likely to have involved him in the ruin which the guilty
projects of that audacious man drew down upon the heads of himself and
his family. But the prudence or loyalty of Sidney preserved him from
the snare. No sooner had his royal master breathed his last, than,
relinquishing all concern in public affairs, he withdrew to the safe
retirement of his own seat at Penshurst, where he afterwards afforded a
generous asylum to such of the Dudleys as had escaped death or
imprisonment.
Queen Mary seems to have held out an earnest of future favor to Sidney,
by naming him amongst the noblemen and knights appointed to attend
Philip of Spain to England for the completion of his nuptials; and this
prince further honored him by becoming sponsor to his afterwards
celebrated son and giving him his own name. But Sidney soon quitted a
court in which a man of protestant principles could no longer reside
with satisfaction, if with safety, and accompanied to Ireland his
brother-in-law viscount Fitzwalter, then lord-deputy. In that kingdom he
at first bore the office of vice-treasurer, and afterwards, during the
frequent absences of the lord-deputy, the high one of sole lord-justice.
The accession of Elizabeth enabled lord Robert Dudley to make a large
return for the former kindness of his brother-in-law; and supported by
the influence of this distinguished favorite, in addition to his
personal claims, sir Henry Sidney rose in a few years to the dignities
of privy-councillor and knight of the garter. After his embassy to
France he was appointed to the post of lord-president of Wales, to
which, in 1565, the still more important one of lord-deputy of Ireland
was added;--an union of two not very compatible offices, unexampled in
our annals before or since. Some particulars of sir Henry Sidney's
government of Ireland may come under review hereafter: it is sufficient
here to observe, that ample testimony to his merit was furnished by
Elizabeth herself, in the steadiness with which she persisted in
appointing and re-appointing him to this most perplexing department of
public service, in spite of all the cabals, of English or Irish growth,
by which, though his favor with her was sometimes shaken, her rooted
opinion of his probity and sufficiency could never be overthrown.
The failure of Elizabeth's negotiations with the French court was
followed by her taking up arms in support of the oppressed Hugonots; and
Ambrose Dudley earl of Warwick, the elder brother of lord Robert, was
sent to Normandy at the head of three thousand men. Of the two Dudleys
it was said by their contemporaries, that the elder inherited the money,
and the younger the wit, of his father. If this remark were well
founded, which seems doubtful, the appointment of Warwick to an
important command must probably be set down to the account of
favoritism. It was not however the wish of the queen that her troops
should often be led into battle. It was her main object to obtain
lasting possession of the town of Havre, as an indemnification for the
loss of Calais, so much deplored by the nation; and into this place
Warwick threw himself with his chief force. In the next campaign, when
it was assailed with the whole power of France, he prepared, according
to the orders of Elizabeth, for a desperate defence, and no blame was
ever imputed to him for a surrender, which became unavoidable through
the ravages of the plague, and the delay of reinforcements by contrary
winds[50]. Warwick appears to have preserved through life the character
of a man of honor and a brave soldier.
[Note 50: It was by no remissness on the part of the queen that this
town was lost; the preservation of which was an object very near her
heart, as appears from a letter of encouragement addressed by the
privy-council to Warwick, which has the following postscript in her own
handwriting.
"My dear Warwick; If your honor and my desire could accord with the loss
of the needfullest finger I keep, God so help me in my utmost need as I
would gladly lose that one joint for your safe abode with me; but since
I cannot that I would, I will do that I may, and will rather drink in an
ashen cup than you or yours should not be succoured both by sea and
land, yea, and that with all speed possible, and let this my scribbling
hand witness it to them all.
"Yours as my own,
"E.R."
See "Archaeologia," vol. xiii. p. 201.]
A project which had been for some time under discussion, of a personal
interview at York between the English and Scottish queens, was now
finally given up. Elizabeth, it is surmised, was unwilling to afford her
beautiful and captivating enemy such an opportunity of winning upon the
affections of the English people, and Mary was fearful of offending her
uncles the princes of Guise by so public an advance towards a good
understanding with a princess now engaged in open hostilities against
their country and faction. The failure of this design deserves not to be
regretted. The meetings of princes have never, under any circumstances,
been known to produce a valuable political result; and an interview
between these jealous and exasperated rivals could only have exhibited
disgusting scenes of forced civility and exaggerated profession, thinly
veiling the inveterate animosity which neither party could hope
effectually to hide from the intuitive perception of the other.
A terrible plague, introduced by the return of the sickly garrison of
Havre, raged in London during the year 1563, and for some time carried
off about a thousand persons weekly. The sittings of parliament were
held on this account at Hertford Castle; and the queen, retiring to
Windsor, kept herself in unusual privacy, and took advantage of the
opportunity to pursue her literary occupations with more than common
assiduity. Without entirely deserting her favorite Greek classics, she
at this time applied herself principally to the study of the Christian
fathers, with the laudable purpose, doubtless, of making herself
mistress of those questions respecting the doctrine and discipline of
the primitive church now so fiercely agitated between the divines of
different communions, and on which, as head of the English church, she
was often called upon to decide in the last resort.
Cecil had mentioned these pursuits of her majesty in a letter to Cox
bishop of Ely, and certainly as matter of high commendation; but the
bishop answered, perhaps with better judgement, that after all,
Scripture was "that which pierced;" that of the fathers, one was
inclined to Pelagianism, another to Monachism, and he hoped that her
majesty only occupied herself with them at idle hours.
Even studies so solemn could not however preserve the royal theologian,
now in her thirtieth year, from serious disturbance on account of
certain ill-favored likenesses of her gracious countenance which had
obtained a general circulation among her loving subjects. So provoking
an abuse was thought to justify and require the special exertion of the
royal prerogative for its correction, and Cecil was directed to draw up
an energetic proclamation on the subject.
This curious document sets forth, that "forasmuch as through the natural
desire that all sorts of subjects had to procure the portrait and
likeness of the queen's majesty, great numbers of painters, and some
printers and gravers, had and did daily attempt in divers manners to
make portraitures of her, wherein none hitherto had sufficiently
expressed the natural representation of her majesty's person, favor, or
grace; but had for the most part erred therein, whereof daily complaints
were made amongst her loving subjects,--that for the redress hereof her
majesty had been so importunately sued unto by the lords of her council
and other of her nobility, not only to be content that some special
cunning painter might be permitted by access to her majesty to take the
natural representation of her, whereof she had been always of her own
right disposition very unwilling, but also to prohibit all manner of
other persons to draw, paint, grave, or portrait her personage or visage
for a time, until there were some perfect pattern or example to be
followed:
"Therefore her majesty, being herein as it were overcome with the
continual requests of so many of her nobility and lords, whom she could
not well deny, was pleased that some cunning person should shortly make
a portrait of her person or visage to be participated to others for the
comfort of her loving subjects; and furthermore commanded, that till
this should be finished, all other persons should abstain from making
any representations of her; that afterwards her majesty would be content
that all other painters, printers, or gravers, that should be known men
of understanding, and so therein licensed by the head officers of the
places where they should dwell (as reason it was that every person
should not without consideration attempt the same), might at their
pleasure follow the said pattern or first portraiture. And for that her
majesty perceived a great number of her loving subjects to be much
grieved with the errors and deformities herein committed, she straitly
charged her officers and ministers to see to the observation of this
proclamation, and in the meantime to forbid the showing or publication
of such as were apparently deformed, until they should be reformed which
were reformable[51]."
[Note 51: "Archaeologia," vol. ii. p. 169.]
On the subject of marriage, so perpetually moved to her both by her
parliament and by foreign princes, Elizabeth still preserved a cautious
ambiguity of language, well exemplified in the following passage: "The
duke of Wirtemburg, a German protestant prince, had lately friendly
offered his service to the queen, in case she were minded to marry. To
which, January 27th she gave him this courteous and princely answer:
'That although she never yet were weary of single and maiden life, yet
indeed she was the last issue of her father left, and the only of her
house; the care of her kingdom and the love of posterity did counsel her
to alter this course of life. But in consideration of the leave that her
subjects had given her in ampler manner to make her choice than they did
to any prince afore, she was even in courtesy bound to make that choice
so as should be for the best of her state and subjects. And for that he
offered therein his assistance, she graciously acknowledged the same,
promising to deserve it hereafter[52].'"
[Note 52: Strype's "Annals," vol. i. p. 398.]
It might be curious to inquire of what nature the _assistance_ politely
proffered by the duke in this matter, and thus favorably received by her
majesty, could be; it does not appear that he tendered his own hand to
her acceptance.
The French court became solicitous about this time to draw closer its
bond of amity with the queen of Scots, who, partly on account of some
wrong which had been done her respecting the payment of her dower,
partly in consequence of various affronts put upon her subjects, had
begun to estrange herself from her old connexions, and to seek in
preference the alliance of Elizabeth. French agents were now sent over
to Scotland to urge upon her the claims of former friendship, and to
tempt her by brilliant promises to listen to proposals of marriage from
the duke of Anjou, preferably to those made her by the archduke Charles
or by don Carlos.
Intelligence of these negotiations awakened all the jealousies,
political and personal, of Elizabeth. She ordered her agent Randolph, a
practised intriguer, to devise means for crossing the matrimonial
project. Meantime, by way of intimidation, she appointed the earl of
Bedford to the lieutenancy of the four northern counties, and the
powerful earl of Shrewsbury to that of several adjoining ones, and
ordered a considerable levy of troops in these parts for the
reinforcement of the garrison of Berwick and the protection of the
English border, on which she affected to dread an attack by an united
French and Scottish force.
Randolph soon after received instructions to express openly to Mary his
sovereign's dislike of her matching either with the archduke or with any
other foreign prince, and her wish that she would choose a husband
within the island; and he was next empowered to add, that if the
Scottish queen would gratify his mistress in this point, she need not
doubt of obtaining a public recognition of her right of succession to
the English crown. Elizabeth afterwards came nearer to the point; she
designated lord Robert Dudley as the individual on whom she desired that
the choice of her royal kinswoman should fall. By a queen-dowager of
France, and a queen-regnant of Scotland, the proposal of so inferior an
alliance might almost be regarded as an insult, and Mary was naturally
haughty; but her hopes and fears compelled her to dissemble her
indignation, and even to affect to take the matter into consideration.
She trusted that pretexts might be found hereafter for evading the
completion of the marriage, even if the queen of England were sincere in
desiring such an advancement for her favorite, which was much doubted,
and she determined for the present to show herself docile to all the
suggestions of her royal sister, and to preserve the good understanding
on her part unbroken.
It was during the continuance of this state of apparent amity between
the rival queens, that Elizabeth thought proper to visit with tokens of
her displeasure the leaders in an attempt to establish the title of the
Suffolk line, which still found adherents of some importance.
John Hales, clerk of the hanaper, a learned and able man, and, like all
who espoused this party, a zealous protestant, had written, and secretly
circulated, a book in defence of the claims of the lady Catherine, and
he had also procured opinions of foreign lawyers in favor of the
validity of her marriage. For one or both of these offences he was
committed to the Fleet prison, and the secretary was soon after
commanded to examine thoroughly into the business, and learn to whom
Hales had communicated his work. A more disagreeable task could scarcely
have been imposed upon Cecil; for, besides that he must probably have
been aware that his friend and brother-in-law sir Nicholas Bacon was
implicated, it seems that he himself was not entirely free from
suspicion of some participation in the affair. But he readily
acknowledged his duty to the queen to be a paramount obligation to all
others, and he wrote to a friend that he was determined to proceed with
perfect impartiality.
In conclusion, Hales was liberated after half a year's imprisonment.
Bacon, the lord keeper, who appeared to have seen the book, and either
to have approved it, or at least to have taken no measures for its
suppression or the punishment of its author, was not removed from his
office; but he was ordered to confine himself strictly to its duties,
and to abstain henceforth from taking any part in political business.
But by this prohibition Cecil affirmed that public business suffered
essentially, for Bacon had previously discharged with distinguished
ability the functions of a minister of state; and he never desisted from
intercession with her majesty till he saw his friend fully reinstated in
her favor. Lord John Grey of Pyrgo, uncle to lady Catherine, had been a
principal agent in this business, and after several examinations by
members of the privy-council, he was committed to a kind of honorable
custody, in which he appears to have remained till his death, which took
place a few months afterwards. These punishments were slight compared
with the customary severity of the age; and it has plausibly been
conjectured that the anger of Elizabeth on this occasion was rather
feigned than real, and that although she thought proper openly to resent
any attempt injurious to the title of the queen of Scots, she was
secretly not displeased to let this princess perceive that she must
still depend on her friendship for its authentic and unanimous
recognition.
Her anger against the earl of Hertford for the steps taken by him in
confirmation of his marriage was certainly sincere, however unjust. She
was provoked, perhaps alarmed, to find that he had been advised to
appeal against the decision of her commissioners: on better
consideration, however, he refrained from making this experiment; but by
a process in the ecclesiastical courts, with which the queen could not
or would not interfere, he finally succeeded in establishing the
legitimacy of his sons.
Of the progresses of her majesty, during several years, nothing
remarkable appears on record; they seem to have had no other object than
the gratification of her love of popular applause, and her taste for
magnificent entertainments which cost her nothing; and the trivial
details of her reception at the different towns or mansions which she
honored with her presence, are equally barren of amusement and
instruction. But her visit to the university of Cambridge in the summer
of 1564 presents too many characteristic traits to be passed over in
silence.
Her gracious intention of honoring this seat of learning with her royal
presence was no sooner disclosed to the secretary, who was chancellor of
the university, than it was notified by him to the vice-chancellor, with
a request that proper persons might be sent to receive his instructions
on the subject. It appears to have been part of these instructions, that
the university should prepare an extremely respectful letter to lord
Robert Dudley, who was its high-steward, entreating him in such manner
to commend to her majesty their good intentions, and to excuse any
their failure in the performance, that she might be inclined to receive
in good part all their efforts for her entertainment. So notorious was
at this time the pre-eminent favor of this courtier with his sovereign,
and so humble was the style of address to him required from a body so
venerable and so illustrious!
Cecil arrived at Cambridge the day before the queen to set all things in
order, and received from the university a customary offering of two
pairs of gloves, two sugarloaves, and a marchpane. Lord Robert and the
duke of Norfolk were complimented with the same gift, and finer gloves
and more elaborate confectionary were presented to the queen herself.
When she reached the door of King's college chapel, the chancellor
kneeled down and bade her welcome; and the orator, kneeling on the
church steps, made her an harangue of nearly half an hour. "First he
praised and commended many and singular virtues planted and set in her
majesty, which her highness not acknowledging of shaked her head, bit
her lips and her fingers, and sometimes broke forth into passion and
these words; 'Non est veritas, et utinam'--On his praising virginity,
she said to the orator, 'God's blessing of thy heart, there continue.'
After that he showed what joy the university had of her presence" &c.
"When he had done she commended him, and much marvelled that his memory
did so well serve him, repeating such diverse and sundry matters; saying
that she would answer him again in Latin, but for fear she should speak
false Latin, and then they would laugh at her."
This concluded, she entered the chapel in great state; lady Strange, a
princess of the Suffolk line, bearing her train, and her ladies
following in their degrees. _Te Deum_ was sung and the evening service
performed, with all the pomp that protestant worship admits, in that
magnificent temple, of which she highly extolled the beauty. The next
morning, which was Sunday, she went thither again to hear a Latin sermon
_ad clerum_, and in the evening, the body of this solemn edifice being
converted into a temporary theatre, she was there gratified with a
representation of the Aulularia of Plautus. Offensive as such an
application of a sacred building would be to modern feelings, it
probably shocked no one in an age when the practice of performing
dramatic entertainments in churches, introduced with the mysteries and
moralities of the middle ages, was scarcely obsolete, and certainly not
forgotten. Neither was the representation of plays on Sundays at this
time regarded as an indecorum.
A public disputation in the morning and a Latin play on the story of
Dido in the evening formed the entertainment of her majesty on the third
day. On the fourth, an English play called Ezechias was performed before
her. The next morning she visited the different colleges,--at each of
which a Latin oration awaited her and a parting present of gloves and
confectionary, besides a volume richly bound, containing the verses in
English, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, and Chaldee, composed by the members of
each learned society in honor of her visit.
Afterwards she repaired to St. Mary's church, where a very long and very
learned disputation by doctors in divinity was prepared for her
amusement and edification. When it was ended, "the lords, and especially
the duke of Norfolk and lord Robert Dudley, kneeling down, humbly
desired her majesty to speak something to the university, and in Latin.
Her highness at the first refused, saying, that if she might speak her
mind in English, she would not stick at the matter. But understanding by
Mr. Secretary that nothing might be said openly to the university in
English, she required him the rather to speak; because he was
chancellor, and the chancellor is the queen's mouth. Whereunto he
answered, that he was chancellor of the university, and not hers. Then
the bishop of Ely kneeling said, that three words of her mouth were
enough." By entreaties so urgent, she appeared to suffer herself to be
prevailed upon to deliver a speech which had doubtless been prepared for
the occasion, and very probably by Cecil himself. This harangue is not
worth transcribing at length: it contained some disqualifying phrases
respecting her own proficiency in learning, and a pretty profession of
feminine bashfulness in delivering an unstudied speech before so erudite
an auditory:--her attachment to the cause of learning was then set
forth, and a paragraph followed which may thus be translated: "I saw
this morning your sumptuous edifices founded by illustrious princes my
predecessors for the benefit of learning; but while I viewed them my
mind was affected with sorrow, and I sighed like Alexander the Great,
when having perused the records of the deeds of other princes, turning
to his friends or counsellors, he lamented that any one should have
preceded him either in time or in actions. When I beheld your edifices,
I grieved that I had done nothing in this kind. Yet did the vulgar
proverb somewhat lessen, though it could not entirely remove my
concern;--that 'Rome was not built in a day.' For my age is not yet so
far advanced, neither is it yet so long since I began to reign, but that
before I pay my debt to nature,--unless Atropos should prematurely cut
my thread,--I may still be able to execute some distinguished
undertaking: and never will I be diverted from the intention while life
shall animate this frame. Should it however happen, as it may, I know
not how soon, that I should be overtaken by death before I have been
able to perform this my promise, I will not fail to leave some great
work to be executed after my decease, by which my memory may be rendered
famous, others excited by my example, and all of you animated to greater
ardor in your studies."
After such a speech, it might naturally be inquired, which college did
she endow? But, alas! the prevailing disposition of Elizabeth was the
reverse of liberal; and her revenues, it may be added, were narrow.
During the whole course of her long reign, not a single conspicuous act
of public munificence sheds its splendor on her name, and the pledge
thus solemnly and publicly given, was never redeemed by her, living or
dying. An annuity of twenty pounds bestowed, with the title of _her
scholar_, on a pretty young man of the name of Preston, whose graceful
performance in a public disputation and in the Latin play of Dido had
particularly caught her fancy, appears to have been the only solid
benefit bestowed by her majesty in return for all the cost and all the
learned incense lavished on her reception by this loyal and splendid
university[53].
[Note 53: A seeming contradiction to the assertions in the text may
be discovered in the circumstance that Elizabeth is the nominal
foundress of Jesus College Oxford. But it was at the expense, as well as
at the suggestion, of Dr. Price, a patriotic Welshman, that this
seminary of learning, designed for the reception of his
fellow-countrymen, was instituted. Her name, a charter of incorporation
dated June 27th 1571, and some timber from her forests of Stow and
Shotover, were the only contributions of her majesty towards an object
so laudable, and of which the inadequate funds of the real founder long
delayed the accomplishment.]
Soon after her return from her progress, the queen determined to gratify
her feelings by conferring on her beloved Dudley some signal testimonies
of her royal regard; and she invested him with the dignities of baron of
Denbigh and earl of Leicester, accompanying these honors with the
splendid gift of Kennelworth Castle, park and manor:--for in behalf of
Dudley, and afterwards of Essex, she could even forget for a time her
darling virtue,--frugality. The chronicles of the time describe with
extraordinary care and minuteness the whole pompous ceremonial of this
creation; but a much more lively and interesting description of this
scene, as well as of several others of which he was an eye-witness in
the court of Elizabeth, has been handed down to us in the entertaining
memoirs of sir James Melvil; a Scotch gentleman noted among the
political agents, or diplomatists of second rank, whom that age of
intrigue brought forth so abundantly.
A few particulars of the history of this person, curious in themselves,
will also form a proper introduction to his narrative.
Melvil was born in Fifeshire in the year 1530, of a family patronized by
the queen regent, Mary of Guise, who having taken into her own service
his brothers Robert and Andrew, both afterwards noted in public life,
determined to send James to France to be brought up as page to the queen
her daughter, then dauphiness. He was accordingly placed under the care
of the crafty Monluc bishop of Valence, then on his return from his
Scotch embassy; and previously to his embarkation for the continent he
had the advantage of accompanying this master of intrigue on a secret
mission to O'Neil, then the head of the Irish rebels. The youth was
apparently not much delighted with his visit to this barbarous
chieftain, whose dwelling was "a great dark tower, where," says he, "we
had cold cheer, such as herrings and biscuit, for it was Lent." Arriving
at Paris, the bishop caused him to be carefully instructed in all the
requisite accomplishments of a page,--the French tongue, dancing,
fencing, and playing on the lute: and after nine years spent under his
protection, Melvil passed into the service of the constable Montmorenci,
by whose interest he obtained a pension from the king of France. Whilst
in this situation, he was dispatched on a secret mission to Scotland,
to learn the real designs of the prior of St. Andrews, and to inform
himself of the state of parties in that country.
In the year 1560 he obtained permission from his own sovereign to
travel, and gained admission into the service of the elector palatine.
This prince employed him in an embassy of condolence on the death of
Francis II. Some time after his return he received a commission from the
queen of Scots to make himself personally acquainted with the archduke
Charles, who was proposed to her for a husband.
This done, he made a tour in Italy, and then returned to the elector
palatine at Heidelberg. He was next employed by Maximilian king of the
Romans to carry to France the portrait of one of his daughters, to whom
proposals of marriage had been made on the part of Charles IX. At this
court Catherine dei Medici would gladly have detained him; but a summons
from his own queen determined him to repair again to Scotland.
Duke Casimir, son of the elector palatine, having some time before made
an offer of his hand to queen Elizabeth, to which a dubious answer had
been returned, requested Melvil, in passing through England, to convey
his picture to that princess. The envoy, secretly despairing of the
suit, desired that he might also be furnished with portraits of the
other members of the electoral family, and with some nominal commission
by means of which he might gain more easy access to the queen, and
produce the picture as if without design. He was accordingly instructed
to press for a more explicit answer than had yet been given to the
proposal of an alliance offensive and defensive between England and the
protestant princes of Germany; and thus prepared he reached London early
in the year 1564.
After some discourse with the queen on the ostensible object of his
mission, Melvil found occasion to break forth into earnest commendations
of the elector, whose service nothing, he said, but this duty to his own
sovereign could have induced him to quit; and he added, that for the
remembrance of so good a master, he had desired to carry home with him
his portrait, as well as those of all his sons and daughters. "So soon
as she heard me mention the pictures," continues he, "she enquired if I
had the picture of duke Casimir, desiring to see it. And when I alleged
that I had left the pictures in London, she being then at Hampton Court,
and that I was ready to go forward on my journey, she said I should not
part till she had seen the pictures. So the next day I delivered them
all to her majesty, and she desired to keep them all night; and she
called upon my lord Robert Dudley to be judge of duke Casimir's picture,
and appointed me to meet her the next morning in her garden, where she
caused to deliver them all unto me, giving me thanks for the sight of
them. I then offered unto her majesty all the pictures, so she would
permit me to retain the elector's and his lady's, but she would have
none of them. I had also sure information that first and last she
despised the said duke Casimir."
It was a little before this time that Elizabeth had been consulted by
Mary on the proposal of the archduke, and had declared by Randolph her
strong disapprobation of it.
She now told Melvil, with whom she conversed on this and other subjects
very familiarly and with apparent openness, that she intended soon to
mention as fit matches for his queen two noblemen, one or other of whom
she hoped to see her accept. These two, according to Melvil, were Dudley
and lord Darnley, eldest son of the earl of Lenox by the lady Margaret
Douglas. It must however be remarked, that Melvil appears to be the only
writer who asserts that the first suggestion of an union between Mary
and Darnley came from the English queen, who afterwards so vehemently
opposed this step. But be this as it may, it is probable that Elizabeth
was more sincere in her desire to impede the Austrian match than to
promote any other for the queen of Scots; and with the former view
Melvil accuses her of throwing out hints by which the archduke was
encouraged to renew his suit to herself. Provoked, as he asserts, by
this duplicity, of which she soon received certain information, Mary
returned a sharp answer to a letter from her kinswoman of seemingly
friendly advice, and hence had ensued a coldness and a cessation of
intercourse between them. But Mary, "fearing that if their discord
continued it would cut off all correspondence between her and her
friends in England," thought good, a few weeks after Melvil had returned
to Scotland, to dispatch him again towards London, "to deal with the
queen of England, with the Spanish ambassador, and with my lady
Margaret Douglas, and with sundry friends she had in England of
different opinions."
It was the interest of neither sovereign at this time to be on bad terms
with the other; and their respective ministers and secretaries being
also agreed among themselves to maintain harmony between the countries,
the excuses and explanations of Melvil were allowed to pass current, and
the demonstrations of amity were resumed between the hostile queens.
Some particulars of the reception of this envoy at the English court are
curious, and may probably be relied on. "Being arrived at London I
lodged near the court, which was at Westminster. My host immediately
gave advertisement of my coming, and that same night her majesty sent
Mr. Hatton, afterwards governor of the isle of Wight, to welcome me, and
to show me that the next morning she would give me audience in her
garden at eight of the clock." "The next morning Mr. Hatton and Mr.
Randolph, late agent for the queen of England in Scotland, came to my
lodging to convey me to her majesty, who was, as they said, already in
the garden. With them came a servant of my lord Robert's with a horse
and foot-mantle of velvet, laced with gold, for me to ride upon. Which
servant, with the said horse, waited upon me all the time that I
remained there."
At a subsequent interview, "the old friendship being renewed, Elizabeth
inquired if the queen had sent any answer to the proposition of marriage
made to her by Mr. Randolph. I answered, as I had been instructed, that
my mistress thought little or nothing thereof, but attended the meeting
of some commissioners upon the borders... to confer and treat upon all
such matters of greatest importance, as should be judged to concern the
quiet of both countries, and the satisfaction of both their majesties'
minds." Adding, "the queen my mistress is minded, as I have said, to
send for her part my lord of Murray, and the secretary Lidingtoun, and
expects your majesty will send my lord of Bedford and my lord Robert
Dudley." She answered, "it appeared I made but small account of my lord
Robert, seeing I named the earl of Bedford before him, but that erelong
she would make him a far greater earl, and that I should see it done
before my returning home. For she esteemed him as her brother and best
friend, whom she would have herself married had she ever minded to have
taken a husband. But being determined to end her life in virginity, she
wished the queen her sister might marry him, as meetest of all other
with whom she could find in her heart to declare her second person. For
being matched with him, it would remove out of her mind all fears and
suspicions, to be offended by any usurpation before her death. Being
assured that he was so loving and trusty that he would never suffer any
such thing to be attempted during her time. And that the queen my
mistress might have the higher esteem of him, I was required to stay
till I should see him made earl of Leicester and baron of Denbigh; which
was done at Westminster with great solemnity, the queen herself helping
to put on his ceremonial (mantle), he sitting upon his knees before her
with a great gravity. But she could not refrain from putting her hand
in his neck, smilingly tickling him, the French ambassador and I
standing by. Then she turned, asking at me how I liked him? I answered,
that as he was a worthy servant, so he was happy, who had a princess who
could discern and reward good service. Yet, says she, you like better of
yonder long lad, pointing towards my lord Darnley, who, as nearest
prince of the blood, did bear the sword of honor that day before her."
"She appeared to be so affectionate to the queen her good sister, that
she expressed a great desire to see her. And because their so much by
her desired meeting could not so hastily be brought to pass, she
appeared with great delight to look upon her majesty's picture. She took
me to her bed-chamber, and opened a little cabinet, wherein were divers
little pictures wrapped within paper, and their names written with her
own hand upon the papers. Upon the first that she took up was written
'My lord's picture.' I held the candle, and pressed to see that picture
so named; she appeared loath to let me see it, yet my importunity
prevailed for a sight thereof, and I found it to be the earl of
Leicester's picture. I desired that I might have it to carry home to my
queen, which she refused, alleging that she had but that one picture of
his. I said, 'Your majesty hath here the original, for I perceived him
at the furthest part of the chamber, speaking with secretary Cecil.'
Then she took out the queen's picture, and kissed it, and I adventured
to kiss her hand, for the great love evidenced therein to my mistress.
She showed me also a fair ruby, as great as a tennis-ball; I desired
that she would send either it, or my lord of Leicester's picture, as a
token to my queen. She said, that if the queen would follow her counsel,
she would in process of time get all that she had; that in the meantime
she was resolved in a token to send her with me a fair diamond. It was
at this time late after supper; she appointed me to be with her the next
morning by eight of the clock, at which time she used to walk in her
garden."
"She enquired of me many things relating to this kingdom (Scotland) and
other countries wherein I had travelled. She caused me to dine with her
dame of honor, my lady Strafford (an honorable and godly lady, who had
been at Geneva banished during the reign of queen Mary), that I might be
always near her, that she might confer with me."
..."At divers meetings we had divers purposes. The queen my mistress had
instructed me to leave matters of gravity sometimes, and cast in merry
purposes, lest otherwise she should be wearied; she being well informed
of that queen's natural temper. Therefore in declaring my observations
of the customs of Dutchland, Poland, and Italy; the buskins of the women
was not forgot, and what country weed I thought best becoming
gentlewomen. The queen said she had clothes of every sort, which every
day thereafter, so long as I was there, she changed. One day she had the
English weed, another the French, and another the Italian, and so forth.
She asked me, which of them became her best? I answered, in my
judgement the Italian dress; which answer I found pleased her well, for
she delighted to show her golden coloured hair, wearing a caul and
bonnet as they do in Italy. Her hair was rather reddish than yellow,
curled in appearance naturally.
"She desired to know of me what colour of hair was reputed best, and
whether my queen's hair or hers was best, and which of them two was
fairest? I answered, the fairness of them both was not their worst
faults. But she was earnest with me to declare which of them I judged
fairest? I said, she was the fairest queen in England, and mine in
Scotland. Yet she appeared earnest. I answered, they were both the
fairest ladies in their countries; that her majesty was whiter, but my
queen was very lovely. She enquired, which of them was of highest
stature? I said, my queen. Then, saith she, she is too high, for I
myself am neither too high nor too low. Then she asked, what exercises
she used? I answered, that when I received my dispatch, the queen was
lately come from the Highland hunting. That when her more serious
affairs permitted, she was taken up with reading of histories: that
sometimes she recreated herself in playing upon the lute and virginals.
She asked if she played well? I said reasonably, for a queen."
"That same day after dinner, my lord of Hunsdon drew me up to a quiet
gallery that I might hear some music, but he said he durst not avow it,
where I might hear the queen play upon the virginals. After I had
harkened awhile, I took by the tapestry that hung before the door of the
chamber, and seeing her back was toward the door, I ventured within the
chamber, and stood a pretty space hearing her play excellently well; but
she left off immediately, so soon as she turned about and saw me. She
appeared to be surprised to see me, and came forward, seeming to strike
me with her hand, alleging that she used not to play before men, but
when she was solitary, to shun melancholy. She asked how I came there? I
answered, as I was walking with my lord of Hunsdon, as we passed by the
chamber door, I heard such melody as ravished me, whereby I was drawn in
ere I knew how, excusing my fault of homeliness as being brought up in
the court of France, where such freedom was allowed; declaring myself
willing to endure what kind of punishment her majesty should be pleased
to inflict upon me, for so great an offence. Then she sat down low upon
a cushion, and I upon my knees by her, but with her own hand she gave me
a cushion to lay under my knee, which at first I refused, but she
compelled me to take it. She then called for my lady Strafford out of
the next chamber, for the queen was alone. She enquired whether my queen
or she played best? In that I found myself obliged to give her the
praise. She said my French was very good, and asked if I could speak
Italian, which she spoke reasonably well. I told her majesty I had no
time to learn the language, not having been above two months in Italy.
Then she spake to me in Dutch, which was not good; and would know what
kind of books I most delighted in, whether theology, history, or love
matters? I said I liked well of all the sorts. Here I took occasion to
press earnestly my dispatch: she said I was sooner weary of her company
than she was of mine. I told her majesty, that though I had no reason of
being weary, I knew my mistress her affairs called me home; yet I was
stayed two days longer, that I might see her dance, as I was afterward
informed. Which being over, she enquired of me whether she or my queen
danced best? I answered, the queen danced not so high or disposedly as
she did. Then again she wished that she might see the queen at some
convenient place of meeting. I offered to convey her secretly to
Scotland by post, cloathed like a page, that under this disguise she
might see the queen, as James V. had gone in disguise with his own
ambassador to see the duke of Vendome's sister, who should have been his
wife. Telling her that her chamber might be kept in her absence, as
though she were sick; that none need be privy thereto except lady
Strafford, and one of the grooms of her chamber. She appeared to like
that kind of language, only answered it with a sigh, saying, Alas, if I
might do it thus!"
Respecting Leicester, Melvil says, that he was conveyed by him in his
barge from Hampton Court to London, and that, by the way, he inquired of
him what the queen of Scots thought of him and of the marriage proposed
by Randolph. "Whereunto," says he, "I answered very coldly, as I had
been by my queen commanded." Then he began to purge himself of so proud
a pretence as to marry so great a queen, declaring that he did not
esteem himself worthy to wipe her shoes, and that the invention of that
proposition of marriage proceeded from Mr. Cecil, his secret enemy:
"For if I," said he, "should have appeared desirous of that marriage, I
should have offended both the queens, and lost their favor[54]."
[Note 54: Melvil's "Memoirs," _passim_.]
If we are to receive as sincere this declaration of his sentiments by
Leicester,--confessedly one of the deepest dissemblers of the age,--what
a curious view does it afford of the windings and intricacies of the
character of Elizabeth, of the tissue of ingenious snares which she
delighted to weave around the foot-steps even of the man whom she most
favored, loved, and trusted! Perhaps she encouraged, if she did not
originally devise, this matrimonial project purely as a romantic trial
of his attachment to herself, and pleased her fancy with the idea of his
rejecting for her a younger and a fairer queen;--perhaps she entertained
a transient thought of making him her own husband, and wished previously
to give him consequence by this proposal;--perhaps she meant nothing
more than to perplex Mary by a variety of suitors, and thus delay her
marriage; an event which she could not anticipate without vexation.
That she was not sincere in her recommendation of Leicester is certain
from the circumstance, that when the queen of Scots, appearing to
incline to a speedy conclusion of the business, pressed to know on what
conditions Elizabeth would give her approbation to the union, the
earnestness in the cause which she had before displayed immediately
abated.
Her conduct with respect to Darnley is equally involved in perplexity
and double-dealing. Melvil, as we have seen, asserts that it was
Elizabeth herself who first mentioned him as a suitable match for the
queen of Scots: and if his relation be correct, which his partiality
towards his own sovereign makes indeed somewhat doubtful, the English
princess must have been well aware, when she conversed with him, of the
favor with which the addresses of this young nobleman were likely to be
received, though the envoy says that he forbore openly to express the
sentiments of his court on this topic. It was after Melvil's departure
that Elizabeth, not indeed without reluctance and hesitation, permitted
Darnley to accompany the earl his father into Scotland, ostensibly for
the purpose of witnessing the reversal of the attainder formerly passed
against him, and his solemn restoration in blood; but really, as she
must well have known, with the object of pushing his suit with the
queen.
Mary no sooner beheld the handsome youth than she was seized with a
passion for him, which she determined to gratify: but apprehensive, with
reason, of the interference of Elizabeth, she disguised for the present
her inclinations, and engaged with a feigned earnestness in negotiations
preparatory to an union with Leicester. Meanwhile she was secretly
soliciting at Rome the necessary dispensation for marrying within the
prohibited degrees of the church; and it was not till the arrival of
this instrument was speedily expected, and all her other preparations
were complete, that, taking off the mask, she requested her good
sister's approbation of her approaching nuptials with lord Darnley.
It is scarcely credible that a person of Elizabeth's sagacity, with her
means of gaining intelligence and after all that had passed, could have
been surprised by this notification of the intentions of the queen of
Scots, and it is even problematical how far she was really displeased at
the occurrence. Except by imitating her perpetual celibacy,--a
compliment to her envy and her example which could not in reason be
expected,--it might seem impossible for the queen of Scots better to
consult the views and wishes of her kinswoman than by uniting herself to
Darnley;--a subject, and an English subject, a near relation both of her
own and Elizabeth's, and a man on whom nature had bestowed not a single
quality calculated to render him either formidable or respectable. The
queen of England, however, frowardly bent on opposing the match to the
utmost, directed sir Nicholas Throgmorton, her ambassador, to set before
the eyes of Mary a long array of objections and impediments; and he was
further authorized secretly to promise support to such of the Scottish
nobles as would undertake to oppose it. She ordered, in the most
imperious terms, the earl of Lenox and his son to return immediately
into England; threw the countess of Lenox into the Tower by way of
intimidation; and caused her privy-council to exercise their ingenuity
in discovering the manifold inconveniences and dangers likely to arise
to herself and to her country from the alliance of the queen of Scots
with a house so nearly connected with the English crown.
Mary, however, persisted in accomplishing the union on which her mind
was set: Darnley and his father neglected Elizabeth's order of recall;
and her privy-council vexed her by drawing from the melancholy
forebodings which she had urged them to promulgate two unwelcome
inferences;--that the queen ought to lose no time in forming a connexion
which might cut off the hopes of others by giving to the nation
posterity of her own;--and that as the Lenox family were known papists,
it would now be expedient to exercise against all of that persuasion the
utmost severity of the penal laws. The earl of Murray and some other
malcontent lords in Scotland were the only persons who entered with
warmth and sincerity into the measures of Elizabeth against the
marriage; for they alone had any personal interest in impeding the
advancement of the Lenox family. Rashly relying on the assurances which
they had received of aid from England, they took up arms against their
sovereign; but finding no support from any quarter, they were soon
compelled to make their escape across the border and seek refuge with
the earl of Bedford, lord warden of the marches. On their arrival in
London, the royal dissembler insisted on their declaring, in presence of
the French and Spanish ambassadors, that their rebellious attempts had
received no encouragement from her; but after this open disavowal, she
permitted them to remain unmolested in her dominions, secretly
supplying them with money and interceding with their offended sovereign
in their behalf.
Melvil acquaints us that when sir Nicholas Throgmorton, on returning
from his embassy, found that the promises which he had made to these
malcontents had been disclaimed both by her majesty and by Randolph, he
"stood in awe neither of queen nor council to declare the verity, that
he had made such promises in her name, whereof the councillors and
craftiest courtiers thought strange, and were resolving to punish him
for avowing the same promise to be made in his mistress' name, had not
he wisely and circumspectly obtained an act of council for his warrant,
which he offered to produce. And the said sir Nicholas was so angry that
he had been made an instrument to deceive the said banished lords, that
he advised them to sue humbly for pardon at their own queen's hand, and
to engage never again to offend her for satisfaction of any prince
alive. And because, as they were then stated, they had no interest, he
penned for them a persuasive letter and sent to her majesty." On this
occasion Throgmorton showed himself a warm friend to Mary's succession
in England, and advised clemency to the banished lords as one mean to
secure it. Mary, highly esteeming him and convinced by his reasons,
resolved to follow his counsels.
Elizabeth never willingly remitted any thing of that rigor against the
puritans which she loved to believe it politic to exercise; but they
were fortunate enough to find an almost avowed patron in Leicester, and
secret favorers in several of her ministers and counsellors; and during
the persecutions of the catholics which followed the marriage of Mary,
she was compelled to press upon them with a less heavy hand.
Archbishop Parker, who was proceeding with much self-satisfaction and
success in the task of silencing by the pains of suspension and
deprivation all scruples of conscience among the clergy respecting
habits and ceremonies, was now mortified to find his zeal restrained by
the interference of the queen herself, while the exulting puritans
studied to improve to the utmost the temporary connivance of the ruling
powers.