It was felt by all those who favoured the match that the Spanish ambassadors in London and Vienna might have been more cordial in their support of it than they were; and both the Queen and Sussex were for ever trying to get at Philip’s real desires in the matter. With the papers now before us, we see that if the Emperor was to be induced to give way on the question of religion, and England was to remain Protestant, the marriage would injure rather than benefit Philip’s plans; whilst a thoroughly Catholic match, by which Elizabeth would have submitted to the Pope, would have cut the ground from under her feet and made her the humble servant of Spain. This she knew better than any one, and however much Philip may have again deceived himself in the matter, there was never a shadow of a chance of such a match being made by her or consented to by her wisest councillors. Upon this rock the matrimonial hopes of the Archduke again split. Sussex remained with the Emperor until February, 1568, probably the only prominent English statesman who was sincere or honest in the negotiations, but was at last himself undeceived, and begged for his recall in deep disappointment and resentment against Leicester and his party, upon whom he laid the blame of the failure of his mission. A decent pretence was assumed on both sides that the project was still pending; and the Emperor was invested with the Garter with great pomp; but the matter was practically at an end on the departure of Sussex from Vienna: not altogether to Philip’s displeasure, as he had lost all belief in the Queen’s matrimonial professions, and was daily becoming more convinced of the impossibility of her humbling herself to the extent of accepting the Catholic conditions by which alone a marriage with his kinsman would be advantageous to him. Elizabeth, too, was in a better position now than she had been to drop the hollow negotiations, since the civil war in France, and Philip’s own difficulties in the Netherlands and the South of Europe, secured her from present danger from either power, whilst the standing menace of Scotland had disappeared for the first time for years, as Mary was a prisoner with a cloud of doubt and disgrace hanging over her head. Under these circumstances Elizabeth could rest somewhat from the long comedy of mystification about her matrimonial affairs, continuing, however, to keep her hand in by dallying with Leicester and occasionally smiling upon Heneage. An attempt was made nearly three years later, in December, 1570, to revive the negotiations for the Archduke’s match by sending young Henry Cobham to the Emperor; but the device had at last grown too stale to deceive, and a cold refusal to entertain the matter was given, much to the indignation of Elizabeth, who now found that both her royal suitors had deserted her, Charles IX. having recently married a daughter of the Emperor. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER V.