bear many children to her son. Elizabeth replied that she would rather die than be neglected; but still, though her people would prefer that she should marry an Englishman, there was none she could marry but the Earl of Arundel, “and he was as far off as the poles are asunder.” As for the Earl of Leicester, she had always esteemed his merit, but her sense of dignity would not allow her to endure him as a husband. It was agreed between the Queen and de Foix that the matter should be kept secret, and she promised him a reply shortly. The next day Cecil drew up one of his lucid Latin papers, setting forth in detail the many dangers and objections which would ensue from such a marriage, and the Queen at once repeated all of Cecil’s arguments to the French ambassador as her own, assuring him that she had not mentioned the matter to any one. The ambassador still pressed the King’s suit; she would have a husband in the flower of his youth, she would be certain to bear children, Parliament might certainly be induced to give its consent, and all the objections might be overcome by a wisely drafted treaty. But, said the Queen, who would bring the King to book if he violated it? Upon this de Foix lost patience, and said that as a consequence of the good reports he had sent to the Queen-mother with regard to Elizabeth’s disposition towards her son, she had thought of this match; but as he saw that her affections were placed elsewhere he would withdraw. This did not suit the Queen. She assured him she had not given a refusal, made him sit close by her, and thanked him warmly for the good report he had sent of her to his King, dismissing him at last with a promise to send Cecil to him in a couple of days. Cecil was certainly not in favour of the match, although Leicester affected to be so, thanks partly to the bribes sent to him from France, and partly because he considered the marriage an impracticable one. Cecil, indeed, was now almost ostentatiously leaning to the Catholic side, forcing the vestments on to the clergy, relaxing the persecution of the Catholics, and gaining praise even from the Spanish ambassador. If the new Emperor was going to fulfil the promises he had made to the Protestant princes who had elected him, and turn reformer, no husband would have been so favourable to England as the Archduke Charles, who would have disarmed Philip and the Catholics whilst satisfying the Protestants and avoiding the dangers to English independence which would arise from the marriage of the Queen with a prince of the reigning houses of France or Spain. When Cecil saw de Foix, therefore, he diplomatically combated the views advanced by the ambassador. When the latter remarked that the aid of France would for ever preserve England from danger, Cecil replied proudly that England had nothing to fear. At the end of the interview Cecil promised to put his objections to the match in writing; but when