Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/106

92 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 52. But his spirits were gone. With a handful of attend- ants 1 he rode back to London, and from thence he was proceeding to Windsor, when he was met a few miles distant by an intimation that he was a prisoner and must remain in charge of Sir Henry Neville, at Mr Wentworth's house at Burnham. Elizabeth, who had heard of the attitude which he had assumed in Norfolk, talked of placing him on his trial for treason. But such a challenge to the Peers was as yet too perilous an experiment, and Cecil's prud- ence interposed. He wrote rather than spoke to Eliza- beth, because he had things to say which he intended for herself alone, and his letter remains to show the calm wisdom with which he controlled her passion. 'No true councillor of her Majesty/ he said, 'could be without grief to see the affairs of the Queen of Scots become so troublesome to her ; ' nevertheless he thought she was more alarmed than the occasion required/ ' The case was not so terrible as her Majesty would have it.' ' The Queen of Scots would always be a dangerous per- son to her, but there were degrees by which the danger might be made more or less. If she would herself marry, it would diminish ; if she remained single, it would increase. If the Queen of Scots was kept a prisoner, it would diminish ; if she was at liberty, it would be greater.' ' If the Queen of Scots was mani- fested to be unable by law to have any other husband than Bothwell while Bothwell lived,' it would dimin- 1 ' Dcxantlo los pensamientos de rompimiento por ahora se vino con pocos cubullos.' Don Gucvau to Philip, October 8.