and his mother, to get rid of their “enfant terrible,” by marrying him in England, and to drive Elizabeth single-handed into a contest with Spain. The States envoys from Ghent meanwhile were pressing upon Alençon the sovereignty of the Netherlands, and the matter could not brook long delay for Alexander Farnese, who was no sluggard, had just routed La Noue, and was pressing them hard. Alençon therefore thought that affairs must be precipitated or he would slip to the ground between his brother and the Queen of England, between Protestant and Catholic support; and the pressure put upon Elizabeth was now so strong, and the danger that Alençon would enter Flanders independent of her so great, that a Council was held on the 5th of June, and unanimously decided that a request should be sent to France for commissioners to be despatched to England. Sir Edward Stafford at the same time was despatched to Alençon, to negotiate with him and obtain his co-operation with the embassy. But Stafford found the Duke in the sulks. He knew full well that the sending of a formal embassy by his brother to England would be more likely to lead to an alliance than a marriage, or that if a marriage was brought about by these means it would be on such terms as would hamper rather than help his ambition; so he stood out, and at last only gave his concurrence with the embassy on condition that it should solely be empowered to negotiate a marriage and not a national alliance.[120] Shortly after this, on the 12th of August, a formal deputation of the States offered Alençon the sovereignty of the Netherlands, which he nominally accepted. He was, however, powerless to move or assume his sovereignty until peace was made between his brother and Henry of Navarre and his Huguenots, who were now at open warfare. No French troops of either party were available for Alençon until he had persuaded the Bearnais to come to terms, and had raised the siege of La Fère. The Duke’s first care, therefore, was to patch up some sort of settlement between the two factions in France, not a very easy matter, particularly when the King, learning of the vast Spanish plunder brought by Drake from America, and concluded that Elizabeth’s fear of reprisals would render her powerless to back up the Huguenots. At last, however, the peace of Fleix was signed in November, 1580, and the horizon for Alençon began to brighten somewhat. Amongst those in the French Court who most strongly opposed his marriage was his sister Margaret, Queen of Navarre, for reasons which the scandalmongers of the time had much to say; and in the correct belief that Simier was largely instrumental in bringing about the match, she prompted her great friend Fervaques and his ally Balagny to pick a quarrel with the “monkey,” and if possible kill him. Thereupon ensued a bitter feud in Alençon’s household, which ended in the flight of Simier to his abbey of Bourgueil, whence he