will be most dangerous, as he will then turn to the Queen of Scots, since he must be provided for somewhere out of France.” This, indeed, was almost the only hopeful element in the situation, the absolute need for the young King and his mother to deprive the French Catholic nobles of their royal figurehead. Charles IX. and his mother tried their hardest to persuade Anjou to the marriage, but for a time without success. The Duke grew more and more scornful of the match under the influence of the monks by whom he was surrounded. The Huguenots, to whom it was a matter of life or death to get rid of the King’s brother as chief of their enemies, sent Téligny to Charles IX. to complain of the Duke’s attitude. The King replied that he was sufficient master of his brother to overcome every obstacle to the match unless it were that of religion. He said he would send his brother away from the Court so as to destroy the influence of the monks over him. Catharine at last despaired, and wrote to La Mothe deploring that Anjou spoke disparagingly of Elizabeth’s honour, and refused absolutely to marry her, notwithstanding all her prayers. “So, M. de La Mothe,” she adds, “you are on the point of losing such a kingdom as that for my children.” But a few days afterwards, by the aid of Cavalcanti, she apparently overcame her son’s scruples, and on the 18th of February she wrote more cheerfully to La Mothe, saying that Anjou had consented to marry the Queen if he were asked. Two days after this Lord Buckhurst, with a brilliant suite, arrived in Paris, ostensibly to congratulate Charles IX. on his marriage, but with secret instructions from the Queen to negotiate with Catharine again about the Anjou match. Fêtes and banquets, masques and coursing, kept Buckhurst brilliantly busy until the eve of his departure, when Cavalcanti came and asked him whether he would not like to see the new gardens of the Tuilleries, of which Catharine was extremely proud. Buckhurst went, and of course found there the Queen-mother, who expressed pleasurable astonishment at the unexpected meeting. She was glad, she said, to have the opportunity before he left of expressing to him the friendship of the King and herself towards his mistress, and their desire to strengthen it when opportunity offered. Time was short, and Buckhurst did not beat about the bush. “Your Majesty doubtless refers to the marriage of the Queen and the Duke of Anjou,” he said. Catharine replied that if she and the King could feel sure that Elizabeth was not playing with them as she had done with others, they would be pleased with the match, always on condition that their honour did not suffer thereby. Buckhurst assured her that the Queen had instructed him to say that she was determined to marry a foreign prince, but as it was not becoming for a maiden to seek a husband, she could only say that when she was sought she would prove to them that no mockery need be feared. Buckhurst tried very hard to draw Catharine