Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/419

1574-1 THE SPANISH TREATY. 39$ ant. There was a prevailing impression, in which Lady Lennox shared, that -Elizabeth would soon die, and she began to be alarmed for the future. Early in 1573, at latest, 1 she put herself in communication with the per- son whom she had denounced so passionately ; and Mary Stuart, as the price of reconciliation, obtained a declaration from her in writing, that she had been in- stigated by the Queen and council to accuse her, and that she was fully satisfied of her innocence. 2 Armed with this weapon, the Queen of Scots was now able to defend herself with effect, and to persuade the Catholics that she was an injured saint. The two women drew together, and began to weave fresh plots and schemes. A third cunning practitioner was added in the Countess of Shrewsbury ; and after weeks of cor- respondence, in which de Guaras, the Portuguese Minis- ter Fogaca, the Bishop of Ross, and other Catholics took part, it was agreed that a marriage should be made up between Lord Charles Stuart Darnley's brother, the 1 On May 2, 1578, Mary Stuart in a letter to the Archbishop of Glas- gow, said that Lady Lennox and she iad then been reconciled five or six years. The date is important. 2 Mary Stuart to the Archbishop of Glasgow, May 2, 1578 ; LABAN- OFF. This acknowledgment, which was of extreme value at the time to nox continued long after to speak in her old language to others. Eliza- beth, suspecting the reconciliation, questioned her about it. 'I asked her Majesty if she could think so. Lady Lennox wrote to Burghley, 1 for I was made of flesh and blood and could never forget the murder of my child : and she said, Nay, by her the Queen of Scots in assisting her | faith she could not think that ever I to clear her reputation, has been relied upon in later times as evidence could forget it, for if I would I were a devil.' MSS. Domestic, December in her favour. It is worth while to I 10, 1574. observe therefore that Lady Len- |