Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/189

1572.] THE MASSACRE OF ST BARTHOLOMEW. 169 Scots lives, his Majesty can turn the tables on them, but he will lose his advantage when she is dead, unless he has the Prince in his hands, where the Queen, his mother, desires to see him. She knows that France will not allow Scotland and England to be under one crown, unless she marries the Duke of Anjou ; and for this reason she prefers the Catholic King. If however the Prince dies, or is carried to England, she will then, without doubt, be put to death, and Spain will be with- out a party in the whole island. 1 Inform his Majesty of the commissioners sent to England by the States. We are told that the pretended Queen has promised to supply funds for six thousand men in the coming spring. If it be so, you can force his Majesty to see the profound cunning with which she is acting. She pretends to be unresolved upon her answer, when she has already consented to what the States ask of her : while she will say in public that she can take no part against her dear brother the King of Spain ; she will entertain the envoy of the Duke of Alva with conspicuous courtesy ; and she will heap favours on him, that he may stand her friend at Brussels.' 1 The fears and jealousies which divided Catholic Eu- rope are nowhere better expressed than in this letter. The writer believed or, at any rate, he wished Philip to believe that Elizabeth was tottering to her fall; and, being a warm friend of Spain, he affected to dread lest the French should step in and sweep away the to the Duchess of Feria, January 23, 15 73.