go, and, to tell the truth, I cannot persuade myself that he is wrong, nor do I believe that she will either marry him, or refuse to marry him whilst the matter at issue is only his visit.... As to what Lord Robert and his sister say, I do not believe more than the first day that the only thing the Queen is stickling for is the coming of the lad.” There was one point touched upon by the Queen in her interview with the Spanish ambassador, which, as he tells his own master, he dared not refer to in his letter to the Emperor. After much fencing and fishing for compliments respecting her personal attractions, and expressed doubts on the Queen’s part as to whether the Archduke would be satisfied when he saw her, she said that even if he were, he might be displeased with what he heard about her, as there were people in the country who took pleasure in maligning her. The Bishop wrote that she displayed some signs of shame when she said this, whilst he parried the point diplomatically, and hastened to change the subject. “I saw she was pleased, as she no doubt thought that if the Archduke heard any of the idle tales they tell about her (and they tell many) he might take advantage of them to the detriment of her honour if the match were broken off, although, from this point of view, I was not sorry, as the fear may not be without advantage to us.” But to the Queen he expressed himself shocked that she should think of such a thing as he had done previously when Lady Sidney had hinted at a similar doubt. For the next two months an elaborate attempt was made to keep up the appearance of cordiality towards the Archduke’s match, and the Spanish party was still further beguiled by the sudden tendency of the Queen to smile on Catholicism. Candles and crucifixes were placed on the altar in the Chapel Royal, and the Queen entertained the Bishop with long religious discussions, for the purpose of inducing him to believe that she was a Catholic in her heart. But they could not deceive the Bishop for very long; nothing definite could be got from the Queen, from whose side Dudley never moved, and by the middle of November (1559) the Bishop satisfied himself that he was being played with. A new Swedish embassy had arrived, and was being entertained with hopes for the first time, particularly by Dudley, who thought that the Austrian suit, having now served his turn and eclipsed Arran, was becoming too hot to be safe for him. The Bishop writes: “I noticed Lord Robert was slackening in our business, and favouring the Swedish match, and he had words with his sister because she was carrying our affair further than he desired. I have heard from a certain person who is in the habit of giving me veracious news that Lord Robert had sent to poison his wife. Certainly all the Queen has done with us and with the Swede, and will do with all the rest in the matter of her marriage, is only to keep Lord Robert’s enemies and the country engaged with words, until this wicked deed of