All through the winter of 1559–60 matters thus lingered on. The Bishop plotting and planning for the invasion of England from Flanders, and completely undeceived with regard to the Queen’s matrimonial intentions, whilst the English still desired to keep up an appearance of cordial friendship with the Spanish party, as a counterpoise to the King of France, with whom they were at war in Scotland. The Bishop gives an account of an interview which he and Helfenstein, the new imperial ambassador had with the Queen in February, and it is clear that at this time she was again very anxious to beguile the Emperor into sending his son on chance. But Helfenstein was a very different sort of ambassador from Ravenstein, and she could not do much with him; his idea being to hold her at arm’s length until she was forced to write to the Emperor herself, as she promised to do, in which case it would not, he thought, be difficult to construe something she might say into a pledge which she could be forced to fulfil. “I do not,” says the Bishop, “treat this matter with her as I formerly did, as I want her to understand that I am not deceived by her.” Nor was he for a time deceived by Dudley. “The fellow is ruining the country with his vanity.” “If he lived for another year he” (Dudley) said “he would be in a very different position,” and so forth. During the summer an envoy named Florent (Ajacet) was sent by Catharine de Medici and her son to propose as a husband for Elizabeth a son of the Duke de Nevers. As may be supposed, such a match—or indeed any match recommended by the consort of her enemy Mary Stuart, with whom her war was hardly ended—did not meet with her approval, and the envoy then went to Bishop Quadra and told him he knew of a certain way of bringing about the marriage with the Archduke. His plan was that the Emperor should prevail upon the King of France to give up Calais to England. This was merely a feeler and absurd, as Francis II. had nothing to gain by the Austrian match, but the Bishop maliciously told the Queen the joke, as he called it, whereupon she was very angry that her claim for Calais should be treated so lightly. She then told him that she saw now she must marry without delay, “although with the worst will in the world,” and tried again to lead him to believe that she was anxious to marry the Archduke, “but I fear,” said he, “that it is with the hope of gaining your Majesty’s favour in her cause, as she calls it, with the French.... Religious matters make me believe that in case she determines to marry, she will rather lay hands on any of these heretics than on the Archduke. I understand now that the Earl of Arran is excluded as being poor and of small advantage, and also because he is not considered personally agreeable. They all favour the Prince of Sweden as he is both heretical and rich, and especially Secretary Cecil, who would expect to remain at the head of affairs as at present.” Shortly afterwards, in September, 1560, Cecil took the Bishop aside and complained bitterly of Dudley, who he said was trying to turn him out of his place; and then, after exacting many pledges of secrecy, said that the Queen was conducting herself in such a way that he, Cecil, thought of retiring, as he clearly foresaw the ruin of the realm through the Queen’s intimacy with Dudley, whom she meant to marry. He begged the Bishop to remonstrate with the Queen, and ended by saying that Dudley was thinking of killing his wife, “who was said to be ill although she was quite well.”[26] “The next day,” writes the Bishop, “as she was returning from hunting, the Queen told me that Robert’s wife was dead, or nearly so, and asked me not to say anything about it. Certainly this business is most shameful and scandalous; and, withal, I am not sure whether she will marry the man at once or even at all, as I do not think she has her mind sufficiently fixed. Cecil says she wishes to do as her father did.” In a postscript of the same letter the writer gives the news of poor Amy Robsart’s death. “She broke her neck—she must have fallen down a staircase, said the Queen.” Thenceforward Dudley was free, and the marriage negotiations had another factor to be taken into account.
About a month afterwards Cecil came to the Bishop and said that as the Queen had personally assured him she would not marry Dudley, he urged him once more to bring the Archduke forward; but Quadra was wary now, for he saw the design was only to arouse the fears of the French, and he would take no hasty step. It is difficult to see how he could have done so, for, after sending three ambassadors, the Emperor had now quite made up his mind that the Queen should not again play with him. Every weapon in the feminine battery had been employed—maiden coyness, queenly reserve, womanly weakness, and the rest of them, had been tried in vain. A good portrait of the Archduke had been sent, and her own agents had seen him. If, said the Emperor, this were not enough, the young man should come himself; but only on a distinct pledge that she would marry him if he did. Beyond this the Emperor would not go, and the Queen always stopped short at a binding promise. Nor, indeed, would the match have pleased the extreme reform party in England led by Cecil, Bedford, and Clinton, which was now the paramount one. It was useful to Cecil, in order to play it as a trump card whenever the negotiations with the French rendered it necessary, but, at the time, undoubtedly the Swedish match was most in favour with the Protestant party. Prince Eric was very persevering. When his brother returned to Sweden he proposed to come to England himself, but was induced to delay his visit; according to Throgmorton,[27] in order that his father might abdicate, and he might get better terms. “Both father and son, however, have sent to propose very advantageous conditions to the Queen, should she consent to the marriage. They will bind themselves to send to England annually 200,000 crowns to be expended for the benefit of English subjects, and in time of war to keep fifty armed ships at their own cost, with other private conditions very profitable for England, which the King defers making known until his coming to her.” It is evident that Eric was too much in earnest to suit Elizabeth, and she had to behave rudely enough to him on several occasions to prevent his ardour from causing inconvenience. It is more than probable that she deceived Cecil and the rest of her advisers as to her matrimonial intentions as completely as she did the suitors themselves, and that she never meant to marry—except perhaps on two occasions, which will be specified, when circumstances or her feelings nearly drove her to the irrevocable step. Her own motives were less complicated than those of her advisers, and the lifelong playing off of France against Spain, of which her matrimonial negotiations were a part, was obviously only possible whilst she kept single; whereas party, religious, and personal affinities all operated on the minds of her courtiers and ministers, and, to a certain extent, separated their interests from hers.
CHAPTER III.
Dudley and the Council of Trent—The Bishop of Aquila tricked—Eric makes another attempt—Dudley again approaches the Bishop—The suitors for Mary of Scotland—Darnley—The Archduke Charles—Dudley—Melvil’s mission to Elizabeth—Hans Casimir—French approaches.
When it was clear that the Archduke Charles was shelved and that Cecil and the Protestants were urging the suit of the Prince of Sweden, who evidently meant business, it behoved Dudley to make a countermove. Bishop Quadra had over and over again said he had found him out, and would not be deceived by him again; but in January, 1561, only four months after Lady Robert Dudley’s death, Sir Henry Sidney came to see the Bishop. Sir Henry was Lord Robert’s brother-in-law, and had always belonged to the Spanish or Catholic party, and consequently was a persona grata with Quadra, especially as he was a near relative of the Duchess of Feria (Jane Dormer) whose husband was the Bishop’s great patron. He came (of course from Dudley), and after much beating about the bush said that as the Queen’s attachment to Lord Robert, and her desire to marry him were now public, he, Sidney, was much surprised that some approach was not made to Dudley on behalf of the King of Spain; as in the event of a helping hand being extended to him now, “he would hereafter serve and obey your Majesty like one of your own vassals.” The Bishop intimated that there was no particular reason why his master should put himself out of the way about it, as he had nothing to gain in the matter, although if the Queen expressed a desire for his good offices he would be always ready to extend courtesy to her. But really such strange tales were afloat, said the Bishop, that he had not dared to write to the King about them. Sidney took the bull by the horns and said that if the Bishop were satisfied about Lady Robert’s death he saw no other reason for hesitation, “as after all, though it was a love affair, the object of it was marriage, and there was nothing illicit about it.” He had, he said, inquired carefully into Lady Robert’s death, and was satisfied that it was an accident, although he knew that public opinion held to the contrary. The Bishop was very dubious upon the point, and said drily that it would be difficult for Lord Robert to make things appear as he represented them. Sidney admitted that no one believed it was an accident, and that even preachers in the pulpits impugned the honour of the Queen in the matter. This led him to the real object of his visit, which was to propose that in return for the King of Spain’s help towards Dudley’s marriage he would undertake to “restore religion.” The Bishop still held off, reminding him of how he had been tricked by Robert and the Queen before through Sidney’s wife, and refused to move unless the Queen herself spoke about it and told him what to write to his master. This, said Sidney, was impossible, unless he broached the subject first, but promised that Dudley himself should come and state his own case. The Bishop deprecated the making of any bargain about religion. If Robert wished to relieve his conscience he would be glad to hear him, but he could enter into no agreement to reward him for doing what was the duty of every good Christian: all of which meant that the Bishop was determined not to be caught again and made to act by vague professions. In his letter to the King, however, he emphatically urges him to take advantage of the Queen’s passion for Dudley to bring her to her knees, “as she will not dare to publish the match if she do not obtain your Majesty’s consent,” popular feeling being dead against it. “There is not a person,” he says, “without some scandalous tale to tell about the matter, and one of the Queen’s gentlemen of the chamber is in prison for blabbing.” It was even asserted that the Queen had had children by Dudley, but this the Bishop said he did not believe. Shortly after this interview Sidney brought his brother-in-law and the Bishop together, and Dudley, wisely avoiding any direct reference to the religious bargain, merely asked the ambassador to recommend the Queen to marry him. The Bishop said he could not do that, but would make an opportunity for praising him to the Queen whilst speaking of the advisability of her marriage. This was even more than Dudley expected, and he urged that no time should be lost. Two days afterwards the Queen received the Bishop, who more than fulfilled his promise to praise Dudley; although he was careful to say that the King knew nothing of the matter, but he succeeded in persuading the Queen that his help would be readily forthcoming if it were requested.
“After much circumlocution she said she wished to confess to me.... She was no angel, and did not deny that she had some affection for Lord Robert ... but she certainly had not decided to marry him or any one else, although she daily saw more clearly the necessity of her marriage, and to satisfy the English humour it was desirable that she should marry an Englishman.... What would your Majesty think, she asked, if she married one of her servants?” The Bishop replied that he did not know, but would write and ask the King, if she desired him to do so, although he believed his master would be glad to hear of her marriage in any case, and would no doubt be happy to learn of the advancement and elevation of Lord Robert, for whom he felt much affection. The Queen had perforce to be content with this, which she at once repeated to Dudley, who came to the Bishop to thank him. Dudley was so elated at the almost unexpected help he was getting that, in the fulness of his heart he repeated Sidney’s pledge that in return the whole control of the Government should be handed over to the King of Spain, and the Catholic religion restored. The Bishop stopped him at once. He had done, he said, and would do, all he could to forward his marriage, but he would make no bargain about religion. That was an affair of their own conscience. “I am thus cautious with these people, because if they are playing false, which is quite possible, I do not wish to give them the opportunity of saying that we offered them your Majesty’s favour in return for their changing their religion, as they say similar things to make your Majesty disliked by the heretics here and in Germany. If they are acting straightforwardly, a word from your Majesty in due time will do more than I can do with many.”[28] At the same time the Bishop made no secret to the King of his opinion that unless the “heretics” were to finally prevail Dudley’s marriage must be forwarded or a revolution and the removal of the Queen carried out. Philip was even more cautious than his ambassador. He was anxious to help Dudley on the lines suggested, but there must be something in writing from the Queen and her lover, and some prior earnest must be given of their chastened hearts in the matter of religion, either by the despatch of plenipotentaries to the Council of Trent or otherwise. Dudley was all eagerness to get the matter settled, and for the next few weeks kept urging the Queen to request the King of Spain’s good offices towards the marriage. But the recognition of the Pope’s Council of Trent was a serious matter and could not be done without the co-operation of Cecil. He had been bought over temporarily to Dudley’s side in appearance by the gift of some vacant sinecure offices, but he saw—as did the Queen in her calmer moments—that the participation of Elizabeth in the Catholic Council would ruin England by destroying the balance upon which its safety depended. So whilst ostensibly countenancing it he artfully frustrated Dudley’s plan. Francis II., Mary Stuart’s husband, was now dead, and France was ruled by the Queen-mother Catharine de Medici, whose tenure of power largely depended upon Huguenot support. So to her was sent the Puritan Earl of Bedford to suggest joint action with England in relation to the Council and religious affairs generally as a countercheck to Dudley, and Cecil himself began to intervene in the negotiations with the Bishop. He urged the latter to get his master to write a letter to the Queen recommending the marriage, in terms that he knew were impossible, and when the Bishop asked him point blank whether this was the Queen’s message or his own, he begged that a modest maiden like her Majesty might not be driven into a corner and made to appear anxious for her own marriage. He further said the intention was to summon Parliament, and lay the King’s letter before it as an inducement for them to adopt the marriage with Dudley—a course which he knew well would have an entirely opposite effect. The Bishop soon saw the drift. “The sum of it all is that Cecil and these heretics wish to keep the Queen bound and subject to their heresies, and although she sees that they treat her badly, and especially the preachers, she dares not go against Cecil’s advice, as she fears both sides would then rise up against her. Robert is very much displeased at all this, and has used great efforts to cause the Queen to make a stand and free herself from the tyranny of these people and throw herself entirely on your Majesty’s favour. I do not think, however, that he has been able to prevail, as he is faint-hearted and his favour is founded on vanity.” Sidney, Pembroke, and others, urged Dudley to action, but, infatuated as the Queen was with him, she knew what a weak reed he was in Council, and always checked herself in her passion to take the wise advice of Cecil. For some weeks, however, the Bishop was deceived. A great show of cordiality was made towards him; the Catholic nobles and bishops, persuaded that Dudley’s suit was being pushed by Spain, began to gather round the favourite, and ostensible preparations were made for receiving the Pope’s Nuncio in England with the invitation to the Council of Trent. The Bishop wrote to the King that, at last Dudley “appeared to have made up his mind to be a worthy man and gain respect.” Dudley was now more emphatic than before of his intention to restore the Catholic religion in England, and the Protestant party took fright. Greatly to Quadra’s indignation public opinion was excited against himself as the promoter of a plot to restore Catholicism; the Nuncio was informed that he would not be allowed to land in England, the Queen refused to send envoys to the Council of Trent, Sidney was hurried off to his Government in Wales, and, by the end of April, Cecil’s underhand diplomacy had triumphed and Dudley’s plan to force the Queen into a marriage by the aid of the Catholics was frustrated. It is undoubted that the Queen was perilously near taking the step on this occasion, and, but for Cecil, might have been betrayed into doing so; although Dudley’s vain and giddy boasting, when he thought he had triumphed on this and other occasions aided the disillusionment. Her own imperiousness could not brook his assumption of superior airs in her presence, and she quickly resented it. She would let them know, she said, that in England there was only one mistress and no master. Shortly before she had told Morette, who came at the instance of the Duke of Savoy, to propose the Duke de Nemours for a husband, that in England there was a woman who acted as a man, and did not need a Granvelle or a Montmorenci to guide her. Elizabeth was now in the very prime of her beauty and powers. Her complexion was of that peculiar transparence which is only seen in golden blondes, her figure was fine and graceful, and her wit and accomplishments were such as would have made a woman of any rank or time remarkable. She was a splendid horsewoman too, with a keen eye for popular effect in her actions, and for ever on the look-out, as her ill-fated mother had been, for the cheers of the populace. One of the German agents sent by the Emperor about the Archduke Charles’s match, gave a glowing account of her.[29] “She lives, he says, a life of such magnificence and feasting as can hardly be imagined, and occupies a great portion of her time with balls, banquets, hunting, and similar amusements, with the utmost possible display, but nevertheless she insists upon far greater respect being shown her than was exacted by Queen Mary. She summons Parliament, but lets them know that her orders must be obeyed in any case.” Her vanity was perfectly insatiable, and only those who would consent to pander to it could hope for a continuance of her favour, always excepting Cecil, but yet the great mind, the far-seeing caution, the strong will, the keen self-interest, kept even the vanity and frivolity in check when they otherwise would have led her into danger. As Dudley was necessary to her weak side, so was Cecil needful to her strong one: the one to amuse and gratify her, the other to counsel and sustain her and to protect her against herself.