The Bishop attributed the approaches made to him by Dudley to a deep-laid scheme to propitiate Spain until the widowed Mary Stuart should be married, but he seems to leave out of account Dudley’s real desire for his marriage with the Queen on any terms, and his wrath at the fiasco. The Bishop thought the hand of Cecil had been forced by the coming of the Pope’s Nuncio, and that otherwise the farce would have been kept up for some time longer. In any case the Catholic hopes in England and Ireland, which had revived at the news of the negotiation with Spain, were speedily crushed by fresh persecutions, and the Protestants in England, France, and Germany were for the first time drawn together in a common understanding. That the Bishop was deeply chagrined at the way he had been treated is clear by his behaviour towards the Queen and Dudley during the entertainment given by Dudley on St. John’s Day, 1561. It was only a month after the Nuncio had been turned back, and the Catholic prosecutions were being carried on vigorously. The Queen, Dudley, and the Bishop were alone in the gallery of the State-barge off Greenwich witnessing the fireworks and other entertainments, “when she and Robert began joking, which she likes to do much better than talking about business. They went so far in their jokes that Lord Robert told her that if she wished I could be the clergyman to marry them, and she, nothing loath to hear it, said she was not sure whether I knew enough English. I let them jest for a time, but at last spoke to them in earnest, and told them that if they listened to me they could extricate themselves from the tyranny of the councillors who had taken possession of the Queen and her affairs, and could restore peace and unity to the country by reinstating religion. If they did this they could effect the marriage they spoke of, and I should be glad to perform it, and they might severely punish those who did not like it, as they could do anything with your Majesty (Philip) on their side. As things were now I did not think the Queen would be able to marry except when and whom Cecil and his friends might please. I enlarged on this point somewhat, because I see that unless Robert and the Queen are estranged from this gang of heretics they will continue as heretofore, but if God ordain that they should fall out with them I should consider it an easy thing to do everything else we desire.” No action more likely to attain the end in view than that adopted by the Bishop can be conceived, and had it depended upon Dudley alone, not many days would have passed before England was handed over to Spain and the Catholics for the satisfaction of the worthless favourite’s ambition. Happily the Queen and Cecil had to be taken into account as well, and England was saved. In August news came to England that the new king, Eric XIV., encouraged by certain Puritan messages sent to him when Dudley’s marriage was pending, was on his way to England. His