trumperies--that in nowise could be agreed to.” He told Catharine of the cruel persecutions in England in the time of Mary, and the present disaffection of the English Catholics, “all of whom had their hands in the pasty of the late treason,” and pointed out the danger of allowing them again to raise head in England. This touched the Queen of England’s extremity, and Catharine diplomatically added fuel to the fire by saying that Alba had hired two Italian assassins to murder Elizabeth. Killigrew interposed here, thinking perhaps that Smith had made a _faux pas_, and said that the same party had not scrupled to use their arts against Catharine’s own blood, and hinted that the flower of her flock, the beautiful Elizabeth of Valois, Philip’s third wife, had been sacrificed by them. But Killigrew’s French was weak, and instead of saying “Votre fille perdue,” he said “Votre fille perdrie,” which made the Queen-mother laugh whilst her eyes filled with tears at the thought of her gentle daughter lying dead in the convent of barefooted Carmelites in far-away Madrid. At this point de Foix was summoned to the conference, and Smith called him to witness that whereas the Queen of England had always refused to concede the exercise of the mass at all, the Queen-mother now demanded “high mass, with all the public ceremonies of the Church, with priest, deacon, sub-deacon, chalice, altar, bells, candlesticks, paten, singing-men, the four mendicant orders, and all the thousand devils.”[69] They laughed at Smith’s vehemence, but they understood as well as he the dire straits in which his mistress was, and stood firm. The next day de Foix and the Bishop of Limoges had another conversation with the English envoys, whom they told that Anjou “would nothing relent,” and that the King was very angry with him for his obstinacy. Smith said he would rather die than lead his Queen to consent; whereupon de Foix appears to have hinted again at Alençon, of an alliance without a marriage, but of this Smith would say nothing, and closed the interview. As a matter of fact Elizabeth was deeply mortified at the cool dilatoriness with which her advances were being received. It was almost a new experience for her. Hitherto, with one exception, she had only had to soften somewhat to bring her suitor to her feet again, but now Anjou was openly scorning her and his mother and brother receding as the English Queen advanced. It was mainly a game of brag on the part of Catharine, who was really as anxious as Elizabeth at the time to maintain a close connection between England and France. Alençon and his brother Anjou were, says Smith, like Guelph and Ghibelline, the former surrounded only by those of “the religion,” whilst the latter’s suite and courtiers were all “Papists.” Catharine had not apparently yet been won over to the view that her own interests would be served by allowing the Catholic party complete domination, and their opponents to be massacred; and when