Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/124

104 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 57. while the Duke directed all the resources of diplomatic adroitness on the Anglo-French alliance. In England, his best hopes were with Elizabeth herself, on whom he could work through the back influences of the bed- chamber ; in France, he looked to Catholic fanaticism, hich was lashing itself to madness at the ascendency of the Huguenots at the Court, and at the control which they were assuming over the public policy of the nation. Whatever skill, courage, and ferocity could achieve in the way of assistance, he could calculate upon with certainty from the Cardinal of Lorraine, the Duke of Guise, and the mob of Paris. Had the Royal Family been as Protestant as Coligny himself, they could not maintain themselves in a liberal policy with- out England to support them. They must have yielded to the Catholics, or they would themselves be the first victims of an otherwise inevitable collision. So matters stood when the English Parliament rose, and Elizabeth had to decide on the Alencon marriage. The French Court were at the moment giving another proof to Europe of their Huguenot sympathies. A second marriage had been arranged between the Prin- cess Margaret and the young King of Navarre. The Catholics had struggled desperately to prevent it, but Charles had been resolute. At the beginning of June, a magnificent State reception was given to the bride- groom at Paris. After a week of splendour the Court broke up, and went into the country, to reassemble in August ; when the whole French nobility, Protestant and Catholic, were to be present at royal nuptials.