to feed, and let the world say she had taken a husband who could not afford to keep himself! The Emperor must think they (the English) lived like Turks, whereas they had the Holy Sacrament the same as he had;” and then she began to talk about Leicester in a way which convinced the ambassador that his chance was better than ever. She said that she had promised the Earl no answer--in fact, he had never had the presumption to ask her to marry him, but the Council had done so, and it was for them to ask for a reply, and not Leicester; “but the Earl had good parts and great merits, and if she had to marry a subject she had a great liking for him.” Referring to Mary of Scotland’s recent marriage with Darnley, she said that if she married Leicester two neighbouring queens would be wedded in the same way. “She is so nimble in her dealing and threads in and out of this business in such a way that her most intimate favourites fail to understand her, and her intentions are, therefore, variously interpreted.” In the meanwhile both the Archduke’s and Leicester’s friends were confident that their respective suits were prospering, although Leicester either was, or feigned to be, bitterly jealous of the Queen’s new flame, his erstwhile bosom friend Heneage, with whom he had another noisy quarrel, nearly ending in bloodshed, in February, 1566.[46] Cecil, Sussex, and Bacon, in the meanwhile, were constantly praying Guzman to exert his influence with the Queen in favour of the Archduke; and the Duke of Norfolk was induced to speak to her on the subject. He told the Queen that the former recommendation of the Council to her to marry Leicester was only adopted because they thought her own desires lay that way, and not because they approved of it. The Duke himself strongly urged her to marry the Archduke and rescue the country from the evils of a disputed succession. After leaving the Queen Norfolk saw Leicester and taxed him with breaking faith with them, as he had promised not to press his own suit, the Queen having distinctly announced that she would not marry him. On the strength of this negotiations were being conducted with the Emperor, and yet, said Norfolk, no sooner was the imperial ambassador gone than Leicester pushed his own courtship more strongly than ever. He was told plainly that if he did not desist evil would befall him, as all the nobility were against him; whereupon Leicester went off in a huff and sulked for a fortnight, until the Queen recalled him and petted him more than ever, upon which Norfolk in turn took umbrage and went home, leaving the Archduke’s interests in the hands of Sussex. For months this game of cross purposes went on. One afternoon in February, 1566, Guzman saw the Queen walking with Leicester in the lower gallery overlooking the gardens of Whitehall. In conversation with the ambassador she praised her favourite to his face, and said that he was just trying to persuade her to marry, for the