So at length the elaborate pretence of marriage negotiations, which for many years had been her great card, always ready to be played in the interests of England, could safely be abandoned. But it was too much to expect an elderly woman of Elizabeth’s temperament, who for the whole of her adult lifetime had fed her colossal vanity with the tradition of her irresistible beauty, who had gained great ends and derived the keenest enjoyment from the comedy of love-making, to give up entirely what for so long had brought her pleasure, profit, and power. It was no longer a question of marriage, of course, but many gallant gentlemen, Raleigh, Essex, Blount, Harrington, and the rest of them, were yet to keep her hand in at the courtly old game, and bow their handsome heads before the perennial beauty which had now become an article of the national faith. With these one-sided courtships, the vain amusements of the Queen in her declining age, we have nought to do in these pages. The death of François de Valois, Duke of Anjou, and Alençon, removed from the scene the last serious suitor for the Queen’s hand in marriage; and his passing bell rang down the curtain upon the longest and most eventful comedy in the history of England. THE END. [Illustration] INDEX. A. Adolphus, Duke of Holstein, a suitor for the Queen’s hand, 26-7. Alençon François de Valois, Duke of, suggested match with Elizabeth, 143, 148-51; formal offer of his hand, 154; description of his person, 155-9; free from blame for St. Bartholomew, 166; his first letter to Elizabeth, 166-7; his plan to visit England, 167; at Rochelle, 169-71; revival of his suit, 172; Dale’s description of him, 173; projected escape and visit to England, 175-6; the plan divulged by Margaret, 177-8; ill and indurance, 178-81; his escape and flight, 182-3; in revolt against Henry III., 183-4; is induced to make peace, 186; made Duke of Anjou, 186; suggested marriage with the Infanta, &c., 186; becomes ostentatiously Catholic, 187; quarrels with his brother’s Court, 187; his arrest, 187-8; escape, 178-90; is approached by the Flemish Catholics, 189; enters Flanders to relieve Mons, 192; sends envoys to Elizabeth, 193; his position in Flanders, 196-8; sends Simier to London, 199; his love-letters to Elizabeth, 201-2; unpopularity of the match in England, 203; discussion of his conditions, 204-7; his visit to England, 210-11; he captivates Elizabeth, 212-13; departs, 214; presses his suit, 218; raises scruples about religion, 225; his plans in Flanders, 225-30; against an alliance of England and France, 230; accepts the sovereignty of Flanders, 230-1; Catholic efforts to dissuade him, 233; sends Marchaumont, 236; _La belle jarretière_, 236; his alleged sudden visit to England, 245-50; determined to relieve Cambrai, 252-3;