Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/342

322 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.44. them. 1 She selected Yaxlee to go on. a mission to Spain to explain her position, and to ' remit her claims, prospects, and the manner of the prosecution thereof to Philip's judgment and direction. Yain of the trust reposed in him, the foolish creature was unable to keep his counsel. His babbling tongue revealed all that he knew and all that he was commis- sioned to do ; and the report of it was soon in Cecil's hands. 2 Philip would no doubt be unwilling to move. Philip, like Elizabeth, was fond of encouraging others to run into difficulties by promises which he repudiated if they were inconvenient ; and in this particular instance Mary Stuart had gone beyond his advice and had placed herself in a position against which the Duke of Alva had pointedly warned her. But the fears of the Spaniards for the safety of the Low Countries were every day in- creasing ; they regarded England as the fountain from which the heresies of the continent were fed ; and they looked to the recovery of it to the Church as the only means of restormg^order injtheir own provinces. 3 1 Capitulo de Cartas del Cardinal Pacheco a su Mag d ., 2 September, 1565 : MS. Simancas. 2 ' Memoir of tile proceedings of Francis Yaxlee,' in Cecil's hand- writing : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. B. 10. The name of the person is left blank in Cecil's manuscript, but a French translation of the memoir was found in Paris by M. Teulet, and on the margin is written, l Celluy qui est laisse en blanc c'cst Yaxlee.' 3 4 Esta materia de Escocia y de aqui es de tanta importancia como se puede considerar ; porque si este Reyno se reduxiese, parece que se quitara la fucnte de los hereges de Flanders y de Francia, y aun las intelligencias de Alemania, que, como aqui, hay necessidad destas malas ayudas para sostenerse.' De Silva to Philip, August 20 MS. Si- mancas.