4 So REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45- Elizabeth herself wrote to the Queen of Scots, no longer insisting on the treaty of Leith no longer sti- struggle is not easy to make out. Neither memorandum nor letter of his own remain to show his real feel- ings ; but though he might naturally have been looked for among the supporters of Lady Catherine Grey, he seems to have given thorough satisfaction to the friends of the Queen of Scots. He must have written to Maitland immediately after Elizabeth's first answer to the address of the Houses, regretting her resolution to leave the question unsettled; and he must have led Maitland to suppose that he had wished Mary Stuart to have been the person nominated ; for Maitland, answering his letter on the nth of November, gave him ' hearty thanks for the pains which he had taken in the busy matter which he had in hand,' and then went on more pointedly
- I look not in my time to see the
matter in any perfection, for I think it is not the pleasure of God to have the subjects of this isle thoroughly settled in their judgment ; for which cause he doth keep things most ne- cessary undetermined, so as they shall always have somewhat where- with to be exercised. The experi- ence I have had of late in my own person makes me the less to marvel when I hear your doings are mis- construed by backbiters. Whoso- ever will meddle with public affairs and princes must be content to bear that burden. I never doubted the sincerity of your intentions, and I doubt not time shall convince those that think the contrary even in their own conscience, whenas themselves shall be content to justify your councils, which now are ignorant to what scope they are directed.' On the 1 7th of November, Mary Stuart herself wrote to Cucil, saying ' that the bruits were passed which reported him to be a hinderer to her advancement, and that she knew him to be a wise man.' On the 1 8th Murray wrote that 'he had always found Cecil most earnest to produce good feeling and a sound understanding between Eng- land and Scotland, and between the two Queens : and so,' he said, ' my trust is that ye will continue favour- able to the end in all her Highness's affairs, which for my own part I will most earnestly crave of you, being most assured there is no daughter in the isle doth more reverence her na- tural mother nor my Sovereign the Queen your mistress. Nor sure I am can she be induced by any means to seek or procure that which may in any sort offend her Majesty.' Scotch MSS. Rolls House. It is possible that even Cecil's vigilance had been laid asleep by the submissive attitude which the Queen of Scots had assumed towards Eliza- beth, and by the seeming restoration of Murray to her confidence.
