agents, was stirring up the Protestants to distrust and hatred of the match, whilst the host of Catholic sympathisers in the interests of Spain were equally working against it on the ground that Alençon had not raised a finger to save the lives of his co-religionists who had been martyred whilst he had been in England. Matters therefore did not look particularly promising when the Council met Pinart early in December, although Alençon himself had been petted into hopefulness. The English began by advancing claims for all sorts of impossible conditions and assurances, and after succeeding in making the marriage appear impracticable they proposed that in lieu of marriage they should give Alençon a regular subsidy for his Netherlands projects if the King of France would also support his brother. This had been proposed and refused in different forms time after time, and Pinart, who was an old diplomatist, at once retorted that he had come to settle the marriage and nothing else; if the marriage was not to take place all negotiations must cease, and he must go back. Catharine was equally disillusioned, and told Priuli, the Venetian ambassador in France, that although Alençon had given the Queen’s ring back again, she attached no importance to it, as the gift of a ring did not constitute a binding engagement. “Queen Elizabeth, she said, is very artful, and my son is very young. He has allowed himself to be drawn by her into this adventure, in spite of all our arguments and advice; he is being overwhelmed with entertainments, and he has just written to me that he still has hope.”[148] [Illustration: François de Valois, Duke of Alençon.]