Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533-1603 -- Fiction; Great Britain -- History -- Elizabeth, 1558-1603 -- Fiction
"My well-beloved sister," answered the queen, "gladly would I show to
you all affection if I were but sure that your heart was turned toward
me and toward that which is not only my dearest wish but is for the
salvation of your own soul."
"I have but followed the belief in which I was brought up," said
Elizabeth. "Such books as my father approved have been my reading.
I will study others if you will, and it may be that my mind will be
opened to perceive truth in doctrines wherein I had not thought it to
lie."
"It will be a pleasure to my chaplain to choose for you those that are
of such quality as to lead a truly inquiring heart into the way of
right."
"Yet another kindness do I beg of you, my queen and sister," said
Elizabeth. "I have listened to those whom I was told to hear. Will
your Grace send to me some well-taught preacher to instruct me in the
way wherein you would have me to walk? Never have I heard any learned
doctor discourse in such wise as to show me where lay my error." Mary
agreed, and a few days later the two sisters attended mass together.
Elizabeth even wrote to the German emperor that she intended to have a
Catholic chapel opened in her own house, and asked his permission to
purchase in Flanders a cross, chalice, and such ornaments as would be
needed.
No one had much confidence in her sudden change of creed. Those
Protestants who were discontented went on with their plots to make
her queen, convinced none the less that once on the throne, she would
restore the Protestant form of worship. The German emperor, who was
Mary's chief adviser, urged that to insure the queen's safety Elizabeth
ought to be imprisoned, or at any rate, so strictly guarded that she
could do no harm. There was reason for his fears. Mary, Queen of
Scots, would soon become the daughter-in-law of the French king, and
while he was pretending to be a true friend to Elizabeth, he was in
reality doing all in his power to make trouble between her and Mary.
If Elizabeth could be led into some plot that would anger Mary and
so could be shut out from the succession, his daughter-in-law might
easily become queen of England as well as of Scotland. Vague rumors of
discontent and plots came to the ears of Mary, and for some time she
refused Elizabeth's request to be allowed to go to her own house.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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