Prince of Orange, “making him many fine promises”; and then he said something about a marriage which I did not very well understand.” We shall probably not be far out if we guess that Cobham’s vague hint about marriage, which was so lost upon Philip, was not altogether unconnected with certain approaches which at the same time were made on Elizabeth’s behalf to Don John of Austria, Philip’s natural brother, the heroic young victor of Lepanto, who at that very time was dreaming of a marriage with the captive Queen of Scots. Don John, writing to his brother, says: “She (Elizabeth) has sent an agent to me, who has hinted at a marriage. I am, in my replies, putting the matter aside, but I beg your Majesty to tell me if I am to follow it up. Although I may be led thus to restore a Queen and her realm to the true faith, I would not for all the world make a dishonourable choice. I blush whilst I write this to think of accepting advances from a woman whose life and example furnish so much food for gossip.”[96] Philip told his brother that such an approach should not be neglected; but events marched quickly, and before anything could come of it another turn of the kaleidoscope made it impossible. Alençon’s six months’ truce had not stopped Duke Casimir’s mercenaries with Condé from crossing the frontier. Navarre, too, had escaped from the Court, and had assumed the leadership of the Huguenots; and then Henry III., sorely against his will, was forced to let his mother make the best terms she could with the insurgents and their allies. Alençon was bought over with 100,000 livres and the rich duchies of Berri Touraine and Anjou; Casimir got 300,000 crowns, a pension of 40,000 livres a year and rich estates in France; Condé was promised the governorship of Picardy; the Chatillons, Montgomeri, and even poor dead La Mole and Coconas were rehabilitated, the crown jewels were pawned to pay the German troops, and so at last peace was made. But still the necessity for getting Alençon out of the way existed; and, in despair of Elizabeth, active negotiations were opened for him to marry elsewhere. Catharine of Navarre, a princess of Cleves, and a daughter of the Palatine were all mentioned, but the most tempting and diplomatic project was to marry him to Philip’s eldest daughter and give him the government of the Spanish Netherlands. This would have drawn his claws indeed. The Walloons and Catholic Flemings also approached him with similar suggestions, and Alençon deserted the Protestant cause entirely, and became suddenly a devout Catholic. He even accepted the command of a force against the Huguenots, upon whom he was implacable in his severity.[97]