About a month afterwards Cecil came to the Bishop and said that as the Queen had personally assured him she would not marry Dudley, he urged him once more to bring the Archduke forward; but Quadra was wary now, for he saw the design was only to arouse the fears of the French, and he would take no hasty step. It is difficult to see how he could have done so, for, after sending three ambassadors, the Emperor had now quite made up his mind that the Queen should not again play with him. Every weapon in the feminine battery had been employed-- maiden coyness, queenly reserve, womanly weakness, and the rest of them, had been tried in vain. A good portrait of the Archduke had been sent, and her own agents had seen him. If, said the Emperor, this were not enough, the young man should come himself; but only on a distinct pledge that she would marry him if he did. Beyond this the Emperor would not go, and the Queen always stopped short at a binding promise. Nor, indeed, would the match have pleased the extreme reform party in England led by Cecil, Bedford, and Clinton, which was now the paramount one. It was useful to Cecil, in order to play it as a trump card whenever the negotiations with the French rendered it necessary, but, at the time, undoubtedly the Swedish match was most in favour with the Protestant party. Prince Eric was very persevering. When his brother returned to Sweden he proposed to come to England himself, but was induced to delay his visit; according to Throgmorton,[27] in order that his father might abdicate, and he might get better terms. “Both father and son, however, have sent to propose very advantageous conditions to the Queen, should she consent to the marriage. They will bind themselves to send to England annually 200,000 crowns to be expended for the benefit of English subjects, and in time of war to keep fifty armed ships at their own cost, with other private conditions very profitable for England, which the King defers making known until his coming to her.” It is evident that Eric was too much in earnest to suit Elizabeth, and she had to behave rudely enough to him on several occasions to prevent his ardour from causing inconvenience. It is more than probable that she deceived Cecil and the rest of her advisers as to her matrimonial intentions as completely as she did the suitors themselves, and that she never meant to marry--except perhaps on two occasions, which will be specified, when circumstances or her feelings nearly drove her to the irrevocable step. Her own motives were less complicated than those of her advisers, and the lifelong playing off of France against Spain, of which her matrimonial negotiations were a part, was obviously only possible whilst she kept single; whereas party, religious, and personal affinities all operated on the minds of her courtiers and ministers, and, to a certain extent, separated their interests from hers. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER III.