Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/401

I57I-] THE RIDOLFI CONSPIRACY. 387 to prevail on Alva, but lie might as well have pleaded with the dead. The Spaniard, it seemed, depended for his information about the state of England on the re- ports of a few miserable wretches without faith and honesty. 1 Harbours, towns, supplies, the nobles of Scotland and England to assist the enterprise all had been offered, and all in vain ; and unless the Queen of Scots was shortly relieved, she would either have to give up the Prince and marry some one that the Queen of England would choose for her, or without doubt she would be secretly made away with. ' The Catholic King perhaps thought the Queen of Scots a person of no importance, but he should remem- ber that to her God had given by right the sovereignty of the Island of Britain. Her hand so dowered was not to be despised. A marriage had been spoken of for her with the Duke of Anjou or the Duke of Norfolk, but she was still free and at the King of Spain's disposition if only he would take her under his protection. ' The submission of the Duke of Alva to the Queen of England's insolence was worse than humiliating. He had yielded to all her demands, and she would do nothing in return which he desired. The Catholics could only suppose that he was influenced by some paltry pique or jealousy. The Duke of Feria had been, spoken of as likely to supersede him in the Low Countries. 1 ' Ellos entretanto se contcntan mas, como se vee, de'tomar infor- macion y noticia destas cosas de al- gunos baxos homVrecillos, de quicn con razon se puede tener sospecha assi de su religion como de su sin ceridad y bondad.'