Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/371

I57Q.J THE RIDOLFI CONSPIRACY 357 beth received the idea when first laid before her is not known. Five years previously she might have married Charles, but she had then revolted from the absurdity ; she was now offered his younger brother ; and it is only clear that her answer was not wholly unfavourable. A few weeks later Chatillon wrote to Anjou. Anjou spoke to his mother, and Catherine, taken it seemed by surprise, inquired at length of La Mothe the meaning of a move- ment so unexpected. Elizabeth, she said, had played with so many proposals, had encouraged suitor after suitor, and had abandoned them one after the other with so little scruple, that the very mention of her marriage now provoked a smile. The Royal Families of Europe did not like to be made ridiculous, and the Queen-mother did not conceal her belief that the present overture was but another trick to escape from a pressing embarrassment. But she had no objection to the English alliance. She had heard of Catherine Grey ; she imagined that Lord Hertford was dead and that she was a widow. This lady she thought the Duke might very well marry, and Parliament would then perhaps entail the crown upon Lady Catherine and her son. She knew vaguely that Cecil was in- terested in the Grey family. She desired La Mothe to tell him that if he could bring about this alliance, he might secure the gratitude of France and his own continued supremacy in the direction of the policy of England. 1 1 Catherine de Medici to La Mothe. October 20 : Depeckes, vol. vii.