Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/322

38 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 54. land would follow. 1 Bacon, in a confidential letter to Cecil, said that ' the proposed compromise would not make Spain and France the more assured, but the Queen's Highness the less to be feared.' ' Better far it would have been/ he thought, 'to have gone through with the matter/ ' Scotland would by that time have been at her devotion, and Scotland and England united might encounter the world in arms/ ' The effect of her present measures would only be to increase the danger, increase the expense, drive the Queen to be burdensome to her subjects, which again would breed new perils ; but his advice had not been allowed, and they must now wait for what would follow.' 2 Cecil himself, if Don Guerau's secretary is to be trusted, had sent money to the Continent in preparation for exile. He intended to hold on to the last ; but he believed that the end might come at any time ; and after an in- terview with the Queen, he desired Lady Cecil to pack her jewels and be ready to fly at a moment's notice. 3 1 ' Encore elle pease que quant Dieu vous aura donne la paix, Ton ne cessera, avant deux ans, de vous pousser a la guerre pour oster cette religion, et mesmes a vous animer contre ce royaulrae comme centre ung coing de la terre qui sert de retrette aulx Protestans.' La Mothe au Roy, Juillet 14 : Depeches, vol. iii. 2 Bacon to Cecil, August 13, abridged : Domestic MSS. ' ' Esta es cosa cierta que el se- gretario Cecil dix6 5. su muger con grandes ansias, ha dos semanas, vin- iendo de la Reyna a su aposento : ' Muger, si Dios no nos ayuda, somos presos y perdidos. For tanto recoged vuestras joyas y todo el dinero que podeis, paraque me sigais quando tal tiempo viniere, como parece que la mala fortuna nos amenaza.' Y aunque parece que no seria esto assi, es cierto que esto paso, porque espe- raran el y otros consejeros hasta lo ultimo. Al extreme piensan desani- pararlo todo y pasarse a Italia, Vienne, 6 otras partes.' Antonio de Guaras a Cayas, August I.