Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/38

24 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 52. To Murray it could easily be represented that a mar- riage between him and the Queen of Scots, if sanctioned by Elizabeth, would, under the present circumstances, be the best guarantee for the stability of the Reformed faith. He had heard something of the scheme for her marriage with Don John, and since compromise seemed now inevitable, this perhaps was the best form in which it could take effect. He told the Duke that, ' as soon as his sister would repent of her doings, separate her- self from Both well, and be joined with such a personage as was affectioned to the true religion, whom Scotland might trust, he would love her as well as ever he did in his life ; if that person should be the Duke of Norfolk, there was none he would like better, provided the Queen consented/ So they parted. The Duke warned him to tell no one but Maitland what had passed ; and he promised to communicate with him again when circumstances per- mitted. Meanwhile he sent orders to the Nortons to ' stay the enterprise ' at Northallerton, and to leave the Earl unmolested on his way back to Scotland. 1 After this interview, Norfolk, on the plea of sick- ness, was for some weeks absent from the Court, corre- sponding, through Ridolfi, with Don Guerau, and feeling his way among the other parties into which the council and the Peers were divided. The opinion which had been expressed so boldly by Sir Francis Knowles, that the Queen was incapable of carrying through any bold Confession of the Bishop of Ross, November 6, 1571 : MURDIN