hope. The truth must come out on the approach of the Nuncio, which had better be accelerated.

Sidney, Lord Robert said, was to be placed on the Council, and was to have the Privy Seal, which I was very glad of, as it will punish Paget, who under the disguise of a Catholic has done your Majesty so much harm. Lord Montague tells me that Lord Robert has written to him in terms of the greatest affection, making him large offers of service, and expressing a desire to see him immediately. I have advised him to speak with me before going to the palace, that he may know what to say about sending a representative to the Council of Trent, and how the Catholics shall act as to the petition to the Queen.

147

tending that the offer had been with certain conditions. I replied that I remembered nothing of conditions— perhaps my memory was a bad one. But however that might be, I implored her to look well to her resolution, and not to lose the occasion which God was offering her of giving rest to the realm, and escaping from all dangers for the remainder of her life.

With these words I left her. She told me she would send for me when she had decided whether the Nuncio should come.

The Nuncio, as is well known, I did not come. The ambassador was sent for to Greenwich, and received his answer from Cecil, that, consistently with the laws of the realm, no emissary from the Bishop of Rome could be received in Eng

(Archives of Simancas.)
Decipher-Fragment.
May 1, 1561.

The Queen complained to me that, owing to my representations, it was said publicly in the pulpits that she intended to submit to the Pope, and that Cecil was a Papist as well. I replied that I had said not a word except that the Nuncio was coming, and that I hoped that some one would be sent to the Council of Trent. She seemed satisfied of my innocence, or at least convinced by my reasons. She asked me if it was true that your Majesty had offered his favour and assistance to Lord Robert in case religion was restored. I answered that your Majesty had made no offers to Lord Robert, nor had stipulated for any conditions; but that having understood from my letters the goodwill manifested by Lord Robert for the restoration of religion (conformably, I might add, with what I had lately found in herself, and what Cecil had openly said to me), your Majesty, in your anxiety for the welfare of the realm, had commanded me to thank him in your behalf for the excellence of his intentions, and to tell him he would ever find your Majesty his friend.

The Queen said she could not think Lord Robert had made me an offer of restoring religion.

I said that he had, by means of the Council, and that if she would send for him I was sure he would acknowledge it in her presence. because it was no more than she had herself also offered and promised [porque era lo que ella tanbien me habia ofrecido y prometido.]

She could not deny this, because I reminded her of the time and place where she had said it, but she escaped with pre

sentative could be present at the Council of Trent.

By the exertions of Cecil, Bedford, Bacon, and Paget, a secret league had been concluded with the Lutherans and the Protestants of France. The Queen was won over from Dudley's influence, and had yielded to her wiser advisers:

In vain (the ambassador concludes his letter) I showed her the better way which she ought to follow; and most unfortunate it was that I could not close with them when they made their first proposals to me through Sir Henry Sidney. Sidney himself was ordered a month ago to his Presidency in Wales. When their purpose began first to change, they knew that he would not deal with me except uprightly and honourably, and would not sanction their present practices, and he was therefore got rid of.

He said to me when he went away that the sudden and uncalled-for command made him suspect that the Queen was altering her mind; and that it vexed him, among other reasons, because he knew that Lord Robert would have to pay for all at last, and that the Queen would act like a woman.

Lord of Pembroke, in this matter my best pillars; and yet was I forced to seek byeways, so much was the contrary labour by prevention. The Bishop of Aquila had entered into such a practice with a pretence to further the great matter here -meaning principally the Church matter, and percase accidentally the other also; that he had taken faster hold to plant his purpose than was my ease shortly to root up. But God, whose cause it is, and the Queen's Majesty, whose only surety resteth therein hath, the one by directing the other by yielding, ended the matter well, and if it may so continue I shall be in more quietness. Your letters, although they came late, yet did they confirm, both to the Queen's Majesty and to some others, the former resolution.

I have thought meet to impart this answer for the Nuncio to sundry places, lest our former inclination have been too hastily spread by the adversaries. When I saw this Romish influence towards about one month past, I thought necessary to dull the Papists' expectations by discovering of certain massmongers and punishing of them, as I do not doubt but ye have heard of them. I take God to record I mean no evil to any of them, but only for the rebating of the Papists' humours, which by the Queen's Majesty's lenity grew too rank. I find it hath done much good.

THROGMORTON TO CECIL.
(Conway MSS.)

Paris, June 23, 1561. Because you shall not think I forget your former advice, neither judge me rash herein, I do forbear to write that to her Majesty which great personages of this realm and some other Prince's ministers have earnestly requested me to do, until I may know your opinion in the matter. I will not use the same and so many words as in the declaration was used to me, because you will take small pleasure to hear them, and I take as little to write them. By those personages aforenamed, and by others of reputation for virtue and learning, it hath been told me that the good opinion conceived of her Majesty for her religion, virtue, and wisdom, doth Imuch decay, and that the great good devotion borne her aforetime doth marvellously turn. The causes you can guess, for that I have partly touched them in my former letters. Upon which occasion or consideration, these things be revived and so earnestly to me at this time intimate, I know not; but as one that is afraid to fail in my duty by disguising or temerity, I have thought much to sound

THE BISHOP OF AQUILA TO THE BISHOP
OF ARRAS.

(Archives of Simancas.)
June 30, 1561.

Your Grace will see by my letter to the King's Majesty that the affair in hand with the Queen and Lord Robert still goes on. Things are mending again, as you will perceive; and, not being able to do more, I am doing what I can. As his Majesty cannot resolve to deal with England in the manner which has been proposed to him, these people wax wanton, and will marry or unmarry as they like.

To come to a rupture or to be on bad terms with them cannot, in my opinion, do his Majesty service. Capricious and vain as they are, it would be more likely to do harm; while, on the other hand, by humouring the Queen and Robert, if no good come, at least no harm can come; and there is always the chance of the heretics, with their divisions and insolences, irritating the Queen, when we can use the occasion to drive them from the field. Nor is there any better means of provoking them to do something to offend her than by myself being intimate at Court. Cecil, I know, likes it ill enough; and this I can do, by accepting their invitations and entertainments. The Queen, for her own purpose, chooses to make these demonstrations towards me. She fears us, too, more than we suppose, and with good reason; for with these amours of hers she would be lost in two days, if the King's Majesty gave the word. to think that she can strengthen herself by marrying the King of Sweden or the King of Denmark, and making a party in Germany, is mere vanity. Nothing can overcome the appetite which possesses her. And since his Majesty is pleased to have things proceed as they are proceeding, it seems a less evil to gain some goodwill with that which costs us nothing, than to expose our discontents without attempting to remedy them. I can readily contrive not to injure the Catholics. I can rather avail myself of my opportunities to shield them from persecution,

And

I say all this that your Grace may not think me inconsistent when you find me writing at one time smooth things, at another rough. In point of fact, it is all one. When Pontius the Samnite had the Roman army enclosed in the valley, he advised that either they should be feasted and let go free, or have their throats cut, all of them. In certain cases there is no course so pernicious as a middle one.

SIR H. NEVILLE TO SIR N. THROGMORTON. (Conway MSS.)

London, June 28, 1561. For that I wanted a messenger for a sennight past, lost you the intelligence of the great breach that there was about the creation, which would not be obtained by no means. She loved the house too well to lay that offensive name upon those who have been traitors three descents. That was her term then-now a new key; for now Robin is clapped on the cheeks with No No, the bear and the ragged staff is not so soon overthrown, and now as great as ever they were. And yet to some if that they talk with her of having him she will pup with her mouth, and say she will not be fellow with the Duchess of Norfolk-that men will come and ask for my Lord's Grace. And when it is answered she may make him king, that she will in no wise agree unto. Now I leave the success of the thing to your judgment. The talk is plain that the King of Sweden will come. My Lord of Pembroke cannot yet bring his purpose to pass, for my Lady Catherine will not have his son; and whatsoever is the cause I know not, but the Queen is entered into a great misliking with her.

CECIL TO SIR N. THROGMORTON.
(Conway MSS.)

July 15, 1561. The Spanish Ambassador's credit here is such as presently he attempteth many matters, and amongst others, as I smell, his offence is such against me as he worketh in as many shops as he can find tools to discredit me with to the Queen's Majesty. He attempteth two ways, one by noting me only the author of the change of religion, and the stay now from a qualification. He noteth me also to the Queen's Majesty as the principal hinderer of the good will that ought to be betwixt the Queen's Majesty and his

master.

Yesterday, I know, finding me absent all day, he travelled much herein with VOL. LXIV. NO. CCCLXXX.

149

her Majesty and coming secretly to the knowledge thereof, I mean to sound the Queen's Majesty's heart shortly to feel how many roots he hath shaken-not that I weigh my own particular the value of an ob ; but if he may thus feel his strength without encountering, I know he I will there rest. For the heads of his accusation, indeed, I must confess the one to her Majesty that I am thereof guilty, but not thereby in fault; and thereunto will I stand as long as I shall live. For the second, I must confess no more, but that I have and will always advise her Majesty to exercise her amity with the King of Spain cum bond cautione; and so to love him as she may also bear the lack of his love.

To his furtherance he taketh this way: he seemeth to further by all means, overt and covert, the marriage here and laboureth to procure my Lord Robert to have evil thoughts of me; wherein I think he hitherto doth not much profit, for I shall never deserve towards my Lord Robert but well, and so, I trust, he understandeth of me.

Well, of these perilous matters, this sufficeth. Happy they that live extra teli jacturam.

THE BISHOP OF AQUILA TO THE COUNT DE FERIA.

(Archives of Simancas.)

August 16, 1561.

Sir Henry Sidney has no one in the world who will be more glad to serve him than I shall be. He is the only man in this realm in whom I have found truth and honesty; and moreover, praise be to God, he is coming round more and more in matters of religion. He is no friend of Cecil-as, indeed, he has no need to be-Cecil having tried to ruin him, and drive him from the Court in anger at his share in the negociation between Lord Robert and me. You will see his feelings in a letter of his which I enclose to you.

He has nine counties under his administration, which form almost a third part of the realm. I shall be glad, therefore, if your Grace will entertain him and make much of him. A time may come when his friendship may stand us in good stead.

THE BISHOP OF AQUILA TO THE BISHOP OF ARRAS. (Archives of Simancas). September 6, 1561. The marriage of Lady Catherine was made up last January, at the same time that Sir Henry Sidney was proposing to

L

me the business of Lord Robert; and they say that it was brought about in the fear that Lord Robert might succeed, of which at that time there was every appear

ance.

The Earl of Bedford and the heretics, conjointly with Lord Robert's antagonists, determined to marry Lady Catherine to the Earl of Hertford, Hertford being a great Protestant, Robert's hereditary enemy, that they might have some one on whom to depend when they should make up their minds to opposition, and when they should see Robert throw himself into the hands of the King our master.

They say further that Cecil knew of it, and that if he had not been strong enough to secure himself and protect the others, he would have been the first to have been arrested.

Every one fears some ill consequence from this affair to the Queen, who is in bad health.

HENRY KILLIGREW TO SIR N.
THROGMORTON.
(Conway MSS).

November 26, 1561. This afternoon, my Lord Robert and my Lord Windsor, shooting a match in the park at St. James's, the Queen's Majesty stole out upon them, only accompanied with Kate Carey and two others, whom she followed as a maid; and she told my Lord Robert openly that he was beholding unto her, for that she had passed the Pikes for his sake.

To conclude, it seemeth his favour began but now.

THE BISHOP OF AQUILA TO PHILIP II. (Archives of Simancas). October 25, 1562. The Queen being at Hampton Court, and feeling herself unwell, thought proper on the 10th of this month to bathe. The illness which was coming upon her was the small-pox, and the bath and subsequent exposure to the air, brought on so violent a fever that on the 17th they thought she was dead. That night, however, the spots began to come out, and so freely, that she is now out of bed. There was grand confusion in the Palace the day she was at the worst, and had she not begun to get better so soon, a good many purposes might have come to light. Twice

the Council sate on the succession, and, I understand, there were three opinions :

as

One party insisted on King Henry's will, by which the heir was Lady Catherine. Lord Robert, the Earl of Pembroke, the Earl of Bedford, the Duke of Norfolk, and several more, said that the will was invalid, and were for Lord Huntingdon. The wisest and more dispassionate exclaimed against so much haste and fury, which, they argued, would cause a civil war. They thought that the principal lawyers in the realm should meet and examine the claims of the different pretenders; while they all for the common interests of the realm ought to bind themselves to accept and act by the lawyers' opinions. The Lord Treasurer Paulet most advocated this; but he was poorly supported, the rest seeing that to proceed thus would be too much in favour of the Catholics. The learned men who would have to determine are Catholic almost all, and delay would give time for your Majesty to interfere, which the heretics dread more than anything.

While these consultations were in progress, the Queen grew better, as I said, and on coming to herself after an interval of four hours, during which she could neither speak nor see; the first thing she did was to entreat the Council to make Lord Robert Protector of the Realm, and to give him some title with an income of £20,000 a year. They promised to do all she asked, but the promise would have been badly kept.

On Tuesday the 20th, Lord Robert and the Duke of Norfolk were sworn on the Council, and they say that the former will very soon be created Earl of March.

The Queen, at the moment of her danger, protested that although she loved Lord Robert, and had always loved him dearly, God was her witness that nothing unseemly had ever passed between them.+ At the same time she begged that the groom of the chamber who sleeps in Lord Robert's room might have a pension of £500 a year. She recommended her cousin, Lord Hunsdon, to the Council's care, by name. The rest of her household she mentioned only generally, and has given great offence by it.

She gave these directions in the expectation of death, but now that she is getting well, all is forgotten except the fondness for Lord Robert, which grows more and

more.

1861.]

HAPPINESS is

a wondrous beautifier. No cordial or cosmetic has ever yet been invented to impart such a lustre to the eyes, such a brilliancy to the skin. Under its influence even the withered branch seems to blossom into leaf; how much more, then, does it enhance the bloom of a flower glowing in its summer prime. As Ada walked along the streets, people turned round to look at her. There was a buoyancy in her gait, a brightness in her glance, a colour in her cheek, that betrayed a heart overflowing with its own deep sense of joy. And well might she be happy. Was she not a woman, and had she not won the treasure which is woman's most coveted possession? They can do very well without it. I have not lived to the age at which 'grizzling hair the brain doth clear,' to subscribe to the aphorisms of poets and romancers, who affirm that love is the essence of female existence. Not a bit of it. I know hundreds, and so do you, who tread the daily path contentedly enough, unscathed by the arrows of the mischievous boy, and scarcely even brushed by his wings, just as I have seen many a sweet flower reared in a dark close chamber, watered from a broken jug, and screened by envious chimney-pots from the genial rays of the morning sun. But of course if you transplant the flower into a garden, if you place her where she can bask in the smiles of the day-god, and open her petals to the showers of heaven, she will out-bloom her former self in her new prosperity, even as bleak, barren March is out-bloomed by the merry month of June.

Ada was no longer young. I mean that her heart and intellect were matured, although she was

still in the noontide of her womanhood. As a girl her affections had remained untouched. In her married life she had indeed suffered sundry vague longings and imaginings to cross her fancy as to certain items which might constitute mortal happiness, but had concluded, and justly, that it was but the portion of a favoured few, and that she for one must be content to dispense with the golden lot. That she tried hard to love Latimer I honestly believe. Alas,

that in such endeavours the success is seldom in proportion to the effort. Alas, that the hothouse flower should be so difficult to force, while the corresponding weed we would fain eradicate spreads and germinates and thrives the more for all our labour to cut it down and tear it out and trample it to the ground.

When Ada's husband left her, she felt alone in the world, and the sensation was rather a relief. When she heard of his death at Sydney, the few natural tears she dropped were soon dried, and it seemed to her no novel nor altogether unwelcome situation to be isolated and self-dependent. She had no near relatives left; she had no child about which her heart could cling. She accepted her lot with a sort of bitter resignation, and flattered herself that she was a hard, sensible, unimaginative sort of person, for whom the matter-of-fact and the practical were all in all. She, with her father's warm, generous heart, and her mother's dreamy German temperament, and her own soft kindly disposition! How little we know ourselves. Why, at one time of her life, when she began giving lessons to Lady Gertrude, she was actually distrustful of her own beauty, thought she was losing her colour and growing old, pondered