Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/543

15 7i.] THE RIDOLFI CONSPIRACY. 529 which, had caused all the existing misery, hated and cursed as ' a false treacherous Saxon/ The Lords had hoped that at last Elizabeth must declare decisively for them. If they waited till Alva landed they were lost, and the first impulse was to throw up for ever the serv- ice of a mistress who never for two days together re- mained in one mind, and make terms with their enemies at Edinburgh. The Regent, old, infirm, and over-in- fluenced by Lennox partisanship, had grown unpopular with his own party, and Drury feared that he would soon be sent the way of his son. Maitland had been making overtures to Morton, to which Morton was sup- posed to be listening. ' The Castilians/ as the Queen's faction was called, were supported with money from France and Flanders. The Regent, to maintain a force, was driven to distrain still upon the few noblemen who adhered to the King. The situation could not be pro- longed under such conditions. On the I4th July. of July Drury reported to Cecil that, unless her Majesty could make up her mind at once what she meant to do, ' both parties were determined to agree among themselves, the same being already in hand/ 1 Had the Queen of England been liberal with money, the Regency might have continued ; but with ample supplies on one side and on the other only contradictory advice and perpetual vacillation, the Lords who had stood for the King could no longer persevere in so thankless and dangerous a course. Even Elizabeth's 1 Drury to Cecil, July 14 : MSS. Scotland. VOL. IX. 34