Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/339

I583-] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 323 zabeth the condition of the Scotch finances. The King asked for his grandmother's estate, or an equivalent of ^ooo/. a year. If she would give him either the one or the other he promised to be guided by her advice in his marriage and in the administration of the kingdom. He would abandon France and rely only on England. As ' a testification of his amity,' and ' a terror to disloyal subjects,' he declared himself willing to ratify the Treaty of Leith, and to make a further defensive league for mutual protection, should religion in either realm be made a plea for invasion or rebellion. 1 Nothing was said about his mother. Her name was not so much as mentioned. It was however intimated that if the re- quest for so small a sum of money was refused, the King would be compelled by poverty to seek help else- where. Shortened down to the mere rents of the Len- nox lands, his demands, if nothing lay behind, were singularly modest. Rumours of course were flying that the Commissioners were confederate with the Queen of Scots -that the King would take the English money and go over to the other side. 2 La Mothe Fenelon had been heard to say that the English politicians were looking for ' a white crow ; ' 3 ' that their doings in Scot- land were but as if they were thrashing the water.' ' We do what we can,' wrote Walsingharn to Sir Robert Bowes, 'to remove these unprofitable jealousies, that 1 Instructions to Col. Stewart going to England, April 24, 1583 : MSS. Scotland. 2 Secret information given to Walsingham, May, 1583: MS8. Ibid. 3 ' Ting corbeau blanc.'