[350] Walsingham Papers.
[351] A copy of the charges with Lord Burghley’s signature erased is in Hatfield Papers, part ii.
[352] There was in the Parliament in question a strong Puritan element. An attempt was made by it to alter the rites of the Established Church in the Genevan direction, which Elizabeth regarded as an interference with her prerogative; and the pressure put upon her to consent to the trial of Mary Stuart led her to dismiss the Parliament, which did not meet again till 1575. When Parliament did meet again, the clemency of the Queen towards Mary was made a source of complaint by the Puritan Wentworth, who was imprisoned for his undutiful speech. For the consultation and report of the joint committee of the two Houses in 1572 respecting Mary Stuart, see D’Ewes’ “Compleat Journal.”
[353] It is probable that on this occasion the Queen made the celebrated remark to Burghley’s servant. He told her Majesty, who wore a very high head-dress, that it would be necessary to stoop to enter the door of the chamber where the sick man lay. “For your master only will I stoop,” said the Queen, “but not for the King of Spain.” It may be worth while to repeat De Guaras’ remark when giving an account of this sickness of Burghley. The latter had been showing an inclination to come to terms with Spain about the seizures (it was shortly before the French alliance was signed), and his illness had interrupted the negotiations. “If this man dies,” writes De Guaras, “it will be very unfortunate for the purpose which he declared to me.… It is true that hitherto he has undoubtedly been the enemy of peace and tranquillity, for his own bad ends; but I am convinced that he is now well disposed, which means that the Queen and Council are so, for he, and no one else, rules the whole affairs of the State. God grant that if it be for His service he may live.” (Spanish State Papers, Elizabeth, vol. ii.)
[354] These are the dates in the diary, but they do not quite agree with the entries in the little Perpetual Calendar at Hatfield, which run thus:—
“19 July 1572. W. Cecill admiss. Thesaurus Angl.
“19 July 1572. Quene’s Majestie at Theobalds, 5 to 6.”
[355] A curious letter from Sir Nicholas Bacon to Burghley respecting this visit is in Lansdowne MSS., 14 (printed by Ellis), in which he prays for advice and guidance, “ffor in very deede no man is more rawe in such a matter than myself” (12th July 1572. Gorhambury).
[356] There is another letter in the same collection from the Earl of Bedford to Burghley, begging him to arrange that the Queen should not stay at Woburn longer than two nights and a day. “I pray god the Rowmes and Lodgings there may be to her Majesty’s contentation for the tyme.… They should be better than they be” (16th July 1572. Russell House).
[357] Spanish State Papers, 22nd July 1572, a month before St. Bartholomew. If this be true, it to some extent confirms the subsequent allegations of the Catholics as to a plot of the Huguenots.