SUSPENSE
Although Bourgoing's Journal furnishes us, for the first time, with
some details of the Queen's life during the days following the
conclusion of the trial, it is provokingly silent as to the manner
in which she passed the remainder of the day itself. All he notes
is, that "after supper Sir Amyas sent the copy of her protest to Her
Majesty."
Sir Amyas, we may suppose, spent his evening in congenial company,
for at least one guest of importance remained in the castle. Burleigh
writes to Secretary Davison from Fotheringay on the same evening, and
the following extracts from his letter show the spirit in which he
had carried out his Commission.
"The Queen of the castle," he writes, "was pleased to appear before
us in public, so as to be heard in her own defence; but she only
replied negatively upon the points in the letters regarding the plots
against Her Majesty. She maintained that they had not been written
by her, and that she had never had the smallest knowledge of them. In
the other things with which she was reproached, as her escape from
prison, even by force, and as to the invasion of the kingdom, she
said that she neither denied nor avowed them. But her intention was,
by long and artificial speeches, to excite the pity of the judges,
to throw all the blame upon the person of Her Majesty the Queen, or
rather upon the council, from whom she said all the past troubles
emanated; maintaining that her offers were reasonable, and that the
refusal came from our side. And on this point I fought, and refuted
her arguments in such a manner, by my knowledge and experience, that
she did not have the advantage she had promised herself. I am also
certain that the audience did not think her position worthy of much
pity, her allegations being proved to be untrue."[43]
[Footnote 43: Walsingham, writing upon the same subject to Leicester,
says: "We have received a secret counter-order, and have found
ourselves constrained to adjourn our assembly upon some pretext. This
accused creature seems to have been chosen by God for the punishment
of our sins, as it appears the Queen is powerless to act against her
as her safety demands."--See Hosack, vol. ii. p. 430; also _Letter
Books of Sir Amyas Paulet_, p. 296.]
Knowing Paulet's sympathies to be entirely with Mary's accusers, it
is astonishing to find that his conduct to her at this moment shows
signs of unwonted kindness and consideration. He, says Bourgoing,
"now treated the Queen courteously, furnished her with the necessary
things for her comfort in her lodgings, to which he added the same
hall which had served for the examination, and his conversation with
her was of good manners, and was rather amiable and courteous than
the contrary." Then this faithful servant goes on to tell us how
his mistress comforted herself during the weeks of suspense that
followed. "Her Majesty, during the whole of this time, was far from
being troubled or moved by all that had passed; in fact, I had not
seen her so joyous, nor so constantly at her ease, for the last seven
years. She spoke only on pleasant subjects, and often, in particular,
gave her opinion on some points of the history of England, in the
study of which she passed a good portion of the day; afterwards
discoursing on the subject of her reading with her household, quite
familiarly and joyously, showing no sign of sadness, but with even a
more cheerful countenance than previous to her troubles."[44]
[Footnote 44: Chantelauze, pp. 539, 540.]
Mary had always had a taste for history, and now in the long days of
captivity she seems to have given much of her time to this favourite
study. The history of her own house, as well as that of the English
royal family, must have had a deep and painful interest for her at a
moment when she herself was threatened with a fate as tragic as any
recorded in its darkest pages. In talking over the subject of her
reading Mary would often advert to her own affairs, calmly discussing
the probabilities, and showing that she expected the worst, of
her own life or death, without showing any emotion,--indeed, "her
resolution was that she did not fear to die for her good quarrel,"
adds Bourgoing; and if her people tried to assure her that her death
could never be contemplated, she would say that she knew very well
what would happen. Mary, in fact, perceived plainly the intentions of
her accusers, and not content with her own courageous dispositions,
she took pains to acquire all the bodily strength possible before the
day of trial. In her physician's quaint language, "Her Majesty took
remedies for five or six days to ward off the illness which generally
attacked her at the commencement of winter, and this with as much
willingness and cheerfulness as she ever did before."
Thus the days passed until the Feast of All Saints. As the Queen was
still deprived of her chaplain, she was unable to keep the feast
with the solemnity she would have wished. She passed it, however,
in prayer and in reading the lives of the saints and martyrs. After
dinner, while she was in her oratory, Sir Amyas wished to visit her,
and unwilling to disturb her, "waited till Her Majesty had finished
her prayers;" then, still with unwonted courtesy, he conversed for
a considerable time with her, "as if he had nothing really to say to
her, and hardly knew with what to entertain her." Sir Amyas, however,
had his instructions from Queen Elizabeth, and under semblance of
an ordinary conversation, his object was, if possible, to discover
some sign of weakness or relenting in his prisoner's sentiments.
In this he was disappointed. Mary spoke cheerfully on general
subjects,--about her health, which she said was improved; and about
her reading, which provided her with her chief amusement. Speaking of
the history of England, she observed that in that country blood had
never ceased to flow; to which Paulet replied that it had been the
same in other countries, and that nothing was more necessary when a
state was threatened with serious perils.
Mary, paying no attention to the significance of these words,
alluded to the trial, and said that she had remarked visible signs
of sympathy and compassion on the countenances of several of the
Commissioners, and that she would like to know their names, that she
might always bear them in grateful remembrance.
"Those who accused you and those who kept silence were all actuated
by the same sentiments," retorted Paulet. "Not one of them was
favourable to your cause. I marvel," continued Paulet, "and every one
else is astonished, to see you so calm, under the circumstances in
which you find yourself. No living person has ever been accused of
crimes so frightful and odious as you are."
"I have no occasion to feel troubled or disturbed," rejoined the
Queen; "my conscience is at rest and I have already answered my
accusers. God and I know that I have never attempted nor connived at
the death or murder of any one. My conscience is perfectly free and
clear on this point, and being innocent, I have rather occasion to
rejoice than to be sad, having my confidence in God, the protector of
the innocent."
"It is a great happiness," replied Sir Amyas, "to have a clear
conscience. God is your witness, but a false and dissimulating
conscience is a bad thing; it would be better to confess and repent
before God, and the world, if you are guilty, which is indeed too
evident, the matter having been so well elucidated in your very
presence, as you cannot deny."
"No one can say that he is free from sin," answered the Queen. "I
am a woman and human, and have offended God, and I repent of my
sins, and pray God to forgive me, doing penance for the same; but at
present I do not know to whom I could or should confess--God forbid
that I should ask you to be my confessor. In the present matter I am
not guilty, as you well know, and I cannot therefore confess it. You
will accuse me of what you like, having long had this in view; as I
am a Catholic, you wish to treat me as you do the others. I am quite
prepared and resolved to die for my religion, and ask for nothing
better. I am ready to suffer and endure for the name of God, all
unworthy as I am, as have done many holy saints and martyrs, of whom
I have read to-day, and whose feast we celebrate."
Sir Amyas protested that there was no question of religion, but of
invasion and murder, and that neither Mary nor all the others who
might be implicated in the matter could be excused, but were well
worthy of punishment.
"It is nothing else," returned the Queen, "but it was necessary to
find some other disguise for the measures which had led to this
position; but I shall not fare the worse for that. Do not spare me."
In reply Sir Amyas insisted that it was not for religion, and that no
one had yet been punished for religion. Further he declared that he
knew nothing of what the lords had done, but that they had found the
facts so clear and evident that it was reported that they had given
sentence, but he did not know of it. Nothing was certain. And he
again urged the Queen to confess.
To this Mary rejoined as before, and added that she knew well that
she had been already condemned by her judges before the trial. All
that they did here," continued she, "was merely for form's sake, to
give a colouring of truth to the proceedings, and to gain their ends,
in which I am not bound to acquiesce, and I care nothing for what
they have done; it is very easy for brigands and robbers, when they
are the strongest, to overcome by force those who pass their way. My
enemies keep me in prison, and it is very easy for them to dispose of
me as they will. They have strength on their side, while I am weak
and alone. I would that every one knew how I am treated and how my
affairs are managed."
"You would be very sorry if every one knew," retorted Sir Amyas, "but
a matter of this kind cannot be kept quiet or concealed. No sentence
or judgment had been delivered before the coming of the lords here."
The Queen remarked that she wished all Christian princes and
foreigners could witness how she had been treated, not for her own
sake, but for the confusion of her enemies, and for the sake of those
of the Catholic Church; for her enemies had not ceased to persecute
the poor Catholics, under the pretext that they were traitors because
they would not recognise the Queen of England as supreme head of the
Church. "For myself," continued she, "as I have already declared
before many, I recognise no other head of the Church than the Pope,
to whose rule it was confided by the consent of the whole Church duly
assembled."
Sir Amyas said that the Queen did not take the title of supreme head
of the Church. "God forbid," added he, "that there should be any
other supreme head than Jesus Christ. I recognise no other."
"It is on this point alone that the exclusion of Catholics is
founded," replied Mary, "and it is a well-known fact that, following
the example of Henry the Eighth, this title was given to your
mistress. As you may believe, the Calvinists, who are the most
reformed, do not approve of this, but those who follow the Queen's
religion, who are Lutherans and the inventors of that sect, consider
guilty of high treason all those who deny her prerogatives. Not only
have those been judged to be guilty who do not recognise the Queen's
title, or who deny it by words or by acts, but they have been forced
to declare their opinion on their conscience, and on their reply have
been condemned to death. If the Queen of England may not wish to
accept the title, she at least knows well that it is given to her,
and the person who does not give it is looked upon as guilty."
Sir Amyas, shaking his head ironically, once more protested that his
mistress did not accept such a title, nor was it given to her. He
allowed, however, that the Puritans and others acknowledged her as
"head and governor under God of things ecclesiastical and temporal in
England, as it was reasonable she should be, but not as supreme head
of the Church."
"It all comes to the same thing," returned the Queen, "whatever
colour you may give it, and for the rest, I care nothing for your
sentences; go, proceed as you like. I know at your age you would not
assert such things unless you were backed by others."[45]
[Footnote 45: The Queen's words in the original French are too
expressive to be omitted: "Sa Majesté dict que c'estoit manteau
blanc, ou blanc manteau--mais qu'enfin estoit tout ung, quelque
coulleur qu'ils luy en baillassent."--Chantelauze, pp. 540-545.]
"Sir Amyas pretended that this was not so, and reassured the Queen as
well as he was able," says Bourgoing, "and on his departure we formed
the opinion from certain conjectures, that he was going to write Her
Majesty's replies to the Court." We find him accordingly writing to
Walsingham as follows:--
"I took occasion yesterday, after one, accompanied by Mr. Stallenge,
to visit the Queen.... I see no change in her, from her former
quietness and serenity, certified in my last letters.... I tarried
with her one hour and a half at the least; which I did on purpose
to feel her disposition, and moving no new matter myself, suffered
her to go from matter to matter at her pleasure.... This only thing
I thought good to signify unto you that, falling in talk of the
late assembly here, and having glanced at the Lord Zouch for his
speech in the star-chamber, and also at the Lord Morley for some
things delivered by him to the lords sitting next unto him, which
she said she overheard and told him of it in the open assembly, she
was curious to be informed of the names of one such sitting in such
a place, and of others sitting in other places, saying that one had
said little, another somewhat more, and others very much. I told her
that I might easily perceive, by her hard conceit of the lords which
she had named already, she was much inclined to think ill of all
those that spake, and therefore I would forbear to name any man unto
her; praying her to conceive honourably of the whole assembly, and to
think that those which spake, and the rest which were silent, were of
one consent and mind to hear her cause with all indifference."[46]
[Footnote 46: _Letter Books of Sir Amyas Paulet_, pp. 300, 301.]
That Paulet dreaded his interviews with Mary, and tried to evade them
as far as possible, we have his own evidence. "I pray you," he writes
to Walsingham on the same day, "let me hear from you whether it is
expected that I should see my charge often, which, as I do not desire
to do, so I do not see that any good can come of it, so long as I
stand assured that she is forthcoming."
That his prisoner might be the more securely "forthcoming," extra
precautions had been taken, and that in a manner which appears to
have deceived even Bourgoing himself, for he notes, quite gratefully,
that Sir Amyas had closed and restored the Queen's large room for the
"safety of Her Majesty and her convenience."
On 13th November Sir Drue Drury arrived to take the place of
Stallenge in assisting Paulet in his charge; and some days later
Lord Buckhurst, the bearer of fatal tidings, reached the castle.
To understand his mission we must consider what had taken place
meanwhile in London.
On 25th October the Commissioners had met in the star-chamber at
Westminster. At this time the two important witnesses, Nau and Curle,
were produced.
The reports of the meeting are very scanty, but apparently the
witnesses were asked no questions; they are merely said to have
affirmed on oath certain confessions and declarations, of which
neither the originals nor copies are preserved. Curle is also
supposed to have affirmed "that as well the letter which Babington
did write to the Scots queen, as the draughts of her answer to the
same were both burned at her command."
This declaration, which, if true, was of the utmost importance,
was made on this occasion only, and in the absence of the accused.
The Commissioners found Mary guilty, not of certain matters with
which Lord Burleigh had charged her, but for having "compassed and
imagined since the 1st of June aforesaid divers matters tending to
the hurt, death, and destruction of the Queen of England." One man
alone had the courage to assert his belief in Mary's innocence. Lord
Zouch declared that he was not satisfied that "she had compassed,
practised, or imagined the death of the Queen of England."
The Commissioners added a clause to the effect that the King of Scots
should not be held responsible for his mother's crimes. "The said
sentence," added they, "did derogate nothing from James, King of
Scots, in title or honour, but that he was the same in place, degree,
and right as if the same sentence had never been pronounced."
A few days later both Houses of Parliament presented an address to
Elizabeth, praying for execution of the sentence against the Queen of
Scots.[47] "We cannot find," said they, "that there is any possible
means of providing for your Majesty's safety but by the just and
speedy execution of the said Queen; the neglecting whereof may
procure the heavy displeasure and punishment of Almighty God, as by
sundry severe examples of His great justice in that behalf left us in
the sacred Scriptures does appear," etc.
[Footnote 47: "Parlt. has pressed E. to proceed to the execution,
adding thereto that the forbearing thereof was, and would be daily,
a certain and undoubted danger not only to her own life but to
themselves, their posterity and the public state of this realm,
as well for the cause of the Gospel and the true religion of
Christ, as for the peace of the whole realm. Greenwich, 1 Feb., 29
Eliz."--Yelverton MSS., f. 534.]
To this appeal Elizabeth made a very clever reply, beginning thus:--
"Though my life hath been dangerously shot at, yet I protest there
is nothing hath more grieved me than that one not differing from me
in sex, of like rank, and degree, of the same stock, and most nearly
allied to me in blood, hath fallen into so great a crime." She goes
on to say that if her cousin would even now truly repent, and if
her own life alone, and not the good of England, were at stake, she
would most willingly pardon Mary. She concludes by saying that in a
matter of so great importance a speedy decision cannot be looked for,
as it is her custom to deliberate long, even in matters which are
unimportant as compared with this.
At the end of twelve days Elizabeth sent a message to both Houses of
Parliament, begging them to reconsider the matter, and "to devise
some better remedy, whereby both the Queen of Scots' life might be
spared and her own security provided for."[48]
[Footnote 48: Hosack, pp. 430-433.]
After fresh and earnest consultation, both Houses declared that
Mary's death was essential to the safety of the kingdom, and the
declaration thus concludes:--
"Therefore we pray your Majesty, for the cause of God, of His Church,
this realm, ourselves, and yourself, that you will no longer be
careless of your life and of our safety, nor longer suffer religion
to be threatened, the realm to stand in danger, nor us to dwell in
fear."
Elizabeth again made an ambiguous reply. From her subsequent conduct,
however, we may judge that she had probably already determined to
take Mary's life, although as to the time and place she was still
undecided.
In the meantime Lord Buckhurst, together with Beale, Clerk of the
Council, proceeded to Fotheringay to announce to the Queen of Scots
that sentence of death had been pronounced against her in the
star-chamber.
Lord Buckhurst had been carefully chosen for this mission. To
much talent of a high order he united a moderation of views and a
charm of manners calculated to inspire confidence. Nor was he a
stranger to Mary; he had already been sent to treat with her on
several occasions, and from the fact of his absence at the trial,
we may suspect that his dispositions in her regard were friendly.
If so, the undertaking now before him was doubly painful, for the
announcement of the sentence of death was to be but a part of his
duty.
Elizabeth still cherished the hope of extracting some confession or
revelation from Mary; accordingly Lord Buckhurst was charged to be on
the watch for any such revelation, to listen attentively to whatever
the Queen of Scots might divulge, and to report such immediately to
his mistress. Special instructions were sent at the same time to
Paulet to lend his assistance to Lord Buckhurst, particularly should
his prisoner consent to reveal any secret matter.
Lord Buckhurst reached the castle on the evening of the 29th of
November, and after a conference with Paulet he returned to the
village for the night.
On the following day, "after dinner," he, together with Paulet, Sir
Drue Drury, and Beale, had an interview with Mary.
Lord Buckhurst announced himself as an envoy from his sovereign, and
begged permission to deliver his message.
He then proceeded to recapitulate the events of the trial and its
issue, proceeding to enlarge upon Elizabeth's sorrow at discovering
that Mary had been proved to be "not only consenting to the horrible
fact of rebellion in the country against her person and state,
but also the author and inventor of it." For this reason, after
much deliberation, Parliament had pronounced sentence of death
against her. Buckhurst remarked that his mistress had not yet given
her consent to this measure, but added that, urged as she was by
Parliament, it was impossible she should not yield. "The person of
the Queen, the state and religion are no longer safe," he continued;
"it is impossible for you both to live, and therefore one must
die. For this end then, in order that you should not be taken by
surprise, Mr. Beale and I have been sent to warn you to prepare for
death, and we will send you the Bishop of Peterborough or the Dean
of ----[49] for your consolation; they both are men of learning and
understanding. Take thought of your conscience and acknowledge your
fault, repent and make satisfaction before God and man. If you know
anything concerning this conspiracy further than what has already
come to light, you are bound in Christian charity to unburden your
conscience; being, as you yourself say, nearly related to the Queen,
to whom also you are indebted for many favours. And if you know of
any other persons who have taken part in this undertaking, it is your
duty to declare it before your death."
[Footnote 49: Bourgoing omits to give the Dean's name.]
"I expected nothing else," replied Mary calmly. "This is the manner
in which you generally proceed with regard to persons of my quality,
and who are nearly related to the Crown, so that none may live who
aspire to it. For long I have known that you would bring me to this
in the end. I have loved the Queen and the country, and have done
all that I could for the preservation of both. The offers which I
have made are the proof of this, as Beale can bear me witness. I do
not fear death, and shall suffer it with a good heart. I have never
been the author of any conspiracy to injure the Queen. I have several
times been offered my freedom, and have been blamed for refusing my
consent. My partisans have abandoned me and troubled themselves no
further with my affairs. To prevent this I have attempted to obtain
my deliverance by gentle means, to my great disadvantage, till at
last, being repulsed on one side and pressed on the other, I placed
myself in the hands of my friends, and have taken part with Christian
and Catholic princes, not, as I have before declared, and as the
English themselves can bear witness by the papers which they have
in their possession, through ambition nor the desire of a greater
position; but I have done it for the honour of God and His Church,
and for my deliverance from the state of captivity and misery in
which I was placed. I am a Catholic,--of a different religion from
yourselves; and for this reason you will take care not to let me
live. I am grieved that my death cannot be of as much benefit to
the kingdom as I fear it will do it harm; and this I say not from
any ill-feeling or from any desire to live. For my part, I am weary
of being in this world; nor do I, or any one else, profit by my
being here. But I look forward to a better life, and I thank God
for giving me this grace of dying in His quarrel. No greater good
can come to me in this world; it is what I have most begged of God
and most wished for, as being the thing most honourable for myself
and most profitable for the salvation of my soul. I have never had
the intention of changing my religion for any earthly kingdom, or
grandeur, or good, whatever, nor of denying Jesus Christ or His name,
nor will I now. You may feel well assured that I shall die in this
entire faith and with my goodwill, and as happy in doing so as I was
ever for anything that has come to me in my life. I pray God to have
mercy on the poor Catholics of this kingdom, who are persecuted and
oppressed for their religion. The only thing I regret is, that it has
not pleased God to give me before I die the grace to see them able
to live in full liberty of conscience in the faith of their parents,
in the Catholic Church, and serving God as they desire to do. I
am not ignorant that for long certain persons have been plotting
against me; and to speak plainly, I know well it has been done at
the instance of one who professes to be my enemy. But I have spoken
sufficiently of this before the Commissioners."
To this Lord Buckhurst replied that the person here alluded to had
not mixed himself up in the matter more specially than the rest had
done, and that he was esteemed a very good and faithful servant. He
did not think that this person, nor even the greatest in the kingdom,
had any special power to do anything either for her or against her,
unless they were assembled in council.
Here Mr. Beale began to speak, and said that on his part he had
somewhat to say to the Queen of Scots regarding the treaties and
other matters which had occurred since she came into England, in
which proceedings she had given trouble. On these points he could
speak as having knowledge of what had occurred, having been employed
in some of them as envoy between his mistress and Queen Mary. He then
spoke of her taking refuge in England, asserting that his mistress
had taken care of her and had caused her to be well received and
treated, and had appeased her Scottish subjects who had sought
to pursue her. Seeing Queen Mary's danger, his mistress had even
arranged for her to retire to Carlisle, to be in greater safety.
"I was taken there by force and against my will," exclaimed Mary.
"It was for your good," retorted Beale.[50]
[Footnote 50: Chantelauze, pp. 548-550.]
Lord Buckhurst and Beale now retired, nor does the former appear to
have seen Mary again.
The Queen herself describes this interview in her correspondence, and
we here give the passages that occur in her letter to the Archbishop
of Glasgow, dated the 24th November:--[51]
"You would find this language strange were you not informed
that it has been signified to me by the mouth of Lord
Buckhurst, Amyas Paulet, my great promoter, one Drew Drury,
Knight, and Mr. Beale, that the assembly of the states of
this country have condemned me to death. This they have
announced to me on the part of their Queen, exhorting me
to confess and acknowledge to her my offences. For this
end and to incite me to die well and patiently, and to
discharge my conscience, she proposed to send me a bishop
and a dean. She also says that the occasion of this my
death is the instant request made to her by her people,
who, considering that I am still alive, and being her
rival, as it appears by my having some time ago taken
the name and arms belonging to this Crown (and not being
prepared to renounce them, unless with the condition of
being declared to be next in the succession to the throne),
she cannot live in safety in her kingdom. Seeing even that
all the Catholics call me their sovereign, and that her
life has been so often attempted to this end, and that, so
long as I live, her religion cannot safely exist in this
kingdom.
I thanked God and them for the honour they did me in
considering me to be such a necessary instrument for the
re-establishment of religion in this island, of which,
although unworthy, I desired to take it upon myself to be
a very pressing and zealous defender. In confirmation of
all this, as I had before protested, I offered willingly to
shed my blood in the quarrel of the Catholic Church; and
moreover, even, if the people thought that my life could
serve for the good and public peace of this island, I would
not refuse to give it to them (freely) in reward for the
twenty years they have detained me in prison.
As to their bishops, I praise God that without their aid I
know well enough my offences against God and His Church,
and that I do not approve their errors, nor wish to
communicate with them in any way. But if it pleased them to
permit me to have a Catholic priest, I said I would accept
that very willingly, and even demanded it in the name of
Jesus Christ, in order to dispose my conscience, and to
participate in the Holy Sacraments, on leaving this world.
They answered me that, do what I would, I should not be
either saint or martyr, as I was to die for the murder of
their Queen and for wishing to dispossess her. I replied
that I was not so presumptuous as to aspire to these two
honours; but that although they had power over my body by
divine permission, not by justice, as I am a sovereign
queen, as I have always protested, still they had not power
over my soul, nor could they prevent me from hoping that
through the mercy of God, who died for me, He will accept
from me my blood and my life, which I offer to Him for the
maintenance of His Church, outside of which I should never
desire to rule any worldly kingdom, thereby risking the
eternal kingdom either here or elsewhere; and I shall beg
of Him that the sorrow and other persecutions of body and
mind which I suffer, may weigh against my sins. But to have
contrived, counselled, or commanded Elizabeth's death, that
I have never done, nor would I suffer, for my own account,
that one single _blow_ should be given to her.
Elizabeth's emissaries rejoined, 'You have counselled and
allowed that the English should name you their Sovereign,
as appears by the letters of Allen, Lewis, and several
others; and this you have not contradicted.'
To this I replied that I had taken nothing upon myself in
my letters, but that it was not my province to prevent the
Doctor and persons of the Church from naming me as they
pleased. This was not my province, since I was under the
obedience of the Church to approve what she decrees, and
not to correct her; and I said the same in regard to His
Holiness, if (as they declared) he caused me to be prayed
for everywhere under a title of which I was ignorant. In
any case I wished to die and to obey the Church, but not to
murder any one in order to possess his rights; but in all
this I saw clearly portrayed Saul's persecutions of David,
yet I cannot escape as he did, by the window, but it may be
that from the shedding of my blood protectors may arise for
the sufferers in this universal quarrel."
[Footnote 51: Labanoff, vi. 466.]
After reading these words, which bear the vivid impress of Mary's
steadfast faith, we are not surprised to hear that during her talk
with Lord Buckhurst her face was illumined with an extraordinary joy
at the thought that God had done her the honour to choose her as the
instrument for the defence of the Catholic faith;[52] and we may
imagine that Lord Buckhurst was capable of admiring, although he may
not have sympathised with, her sentiments. Paulet took different
views, and in a letter to Walsingham, in which he refers to the
Queen's "superfluous and idle speeches on other occasions," he
adds, "I am deceived if my Lord of Buckhurst will not give the same
testimony of her tediousness."[53]
[Footnote 52: Camden, ii.]
[Footnote 53: _Letter Books_, p. 311.]