Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/489

1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 469 Queen's retreat an easy one. Having succeeded in re- sisting a dangerous encroachment of the crown they did not press their victory. The message sent through the Speaker was received by the House ' most joyfully, with most hearty prayers and thanks for the same/ x and with the consent of all parties the question of Par- liamentary privilege was allowed to drop. Yet while ready to waive their right of discussing further the particular pretensions of the claimants of the crown, the Commons would not let the Queen believe that they acquiesced in being left in uncertainty. Two months had passed since the beginning of the session, and the subsidy had not been so much as discussed. The succession quarrel had commenced with the first motion for a grant of money, and had lasted with scarcely an interval ever since. It was evident that although Elizabeth's objection to name a successor was rested on general grounds, it ap- plied as strongly to Lady Catherine as to the Queen of Scots, 1 and had arisen professedly from the Queen's own experience in the lifetime of her sister ; yet the Com- mons either suspected that she was secretly working in the Scottish interest, or they thought at all events that her procrastination served only to strengthen that interest, and that Mary Stuart's friends every day grew more numerous. The Money Bill was reintroduced on the 27th. The House was anxious to compensate by its liberality for 1 Commons' Journals, 8 Elizabeth.