Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/352

336 REIGN OF ELIZABETH, [CH. 65. with this qualification the Queen of Scots would refuse her signature, and her friends abroad their sanction. 1 The council repeated their old opinion that ' the best and most sure way was for her Majesty to conclude with the young King ; ' ' so the treaty with the Queen would not be necessary, and she might remain as she was.' 2 Elizabeth preferred to conclude with neither. She had money in abundance. She had half a million in bullion locked away as a reserve. But it was to be touched only in an extremity she could never believe to have arrived. 3 She had to choose, as Walsingham said, between her t reasure and her safety, and she deliberately preferred the first. The Reforrr ed Calendar of Pope Gregory XIII. was published in the year 1582. Ten days were struck out of the computation, and the 5th of October was decreed to be the I5th. The Gregorian, or New Style, which was not accepted in England till 1752, was adopted at short intervals by countries in communion with the Holy See. In Spain the same 5th of October, 1582, became the I5th of October. In Prance, the loth of December, 1582, became the 2oth. In the Catholic States of Germany, and the Catholic Netherlands, the 22nd of December, 1582, became the ist of January, 1583. The English and foreign dates therefore no longer corresponding, the English first of January being in France and Spain the eleventh, all important letters and documents hereafter quoted will carry a double date. 1 "Whether it be fit to treat and conclude with the Queen of Scots, October 2 : MSS. MARY QUEEN OP SCOTS. 2 Ibid. 3 Mendoza and Mauvissiere both mention this.