[388] Hatfield Papers, part ii.
[389] See Philip’s minute of his conversation with Cobham, October 1575 (Spanish State Papers, Elizabeth), and also Lord Burghley’s Diary.
[390] Burghley, in his Diary, refers to this embassy, giving the names of the envoys. He says they based their offer of Holland, &c., to the Queen upon her descent from Philippa of Hainault and Holland, who married Edward III.
[391] Gerald Talbot writes: “Her Majesty is troubled with these causes, which maketh her very melancholy, and she seemeth to be greatly out of quiet. What shall be done in these matters is at present unknown; but here are ambassadors on all sides, who labour greatly, one against the other. Her Majesty hath put upon her to deal betwixt the King of Spain and the Low Country; the King of France and his brother. Her Majesty may deal as pleaseth her, for I think they both be weary of war, especially Flanders, which, as report goeth, is utterly wanting of money, munition, &c.” Hampton Court, 4th January 1576.
[392] Burghley was at the time unable to attend the Council in consequence of an attack of his old enemy the gout.
[393] A few days later Burghley had reason to be still more angry with Oxford himself, though with his reverence for rank he appears to have treated him with inexhaustible patience and forbearance. Oxford had been very extravagant and got into difficulties. During his absence abroad he had made some complaint to Burghley about his steward or agent, but nothing apparently of consequence. In March, Lord Burghley wrote to him in Paris, saying that his wife was pregnant; and the Earl’s answer was most cordial, full of rejoicing at the news, and announcing his immediate return. The Treasurer’s eldest son, Sir Thomas Cecil (he had been knighted the previous year at Kenilworth), travelled to Dover to meet his brother-in-law. All went well until they arrived in London, when Oxford declined to meet his wife or hold any communication with her. Burghley reasoned, remonstrated, and besought in vain. Oxford was sulky and intractable. His wife, he said, had been influenced by her parents against him, and he would have no more to do with her. The whole of the documents in the quarrel are in Hatfield Papers. As some indication of the state in which noblemen of the period travelled even short distances, two entries in the uncalendared household account-book at Hatfield may be quoted: “Saturday, December 1576. My Lord and Lady Oxford came from London to Theobalds; 28 servants with them.” And again, “Monday, 14th January 1577. My Lord and my Lady of Oxford and 28 persons came from London.”
[394] State Papers, Foreign.
[395] State Papers, Foreign.
[396] Hatfield Papers, part ii.
[397] How true this is may be seen by the account of an important conversation De Guaras had with Burghley on the 30th January 1576 (Spanish State Papers, Elizabeth). De Guaras had prayed Burghley to prevent the Queen from accepting the offer of Orange’s envoys for her to take Holland and Zeeland. The Treasurer replied that, if the offer were accepted, it would only be in the interests of Spain, and to prevent the French from obtaining a footing. The Spaniard derided such a possibility, and Burghley said that England, in pursuance of its ancient policy, would defend the rights of the House of Burgundy, but that “foreign intruders” had misgoverned the States to an extent which endangered England itself. “Foreign intruders” indeed, retorted De Guaras; “your Lordship cannot call Spaniards ‘foreign intruders’ in Flanders.” Burghley got angry at this, and said, “You people are of such sort that wherever you set foot no grass grows, and you are hated everywhere.” Hollanders, he continued, were fighting for their privileges, and would be successful in upholding them. The end of the colloquy was a renewal of the Queen’s wish to mediate between Orange and Spain. The great object was to prevent the French from obtaining influence in Flanders, and here Spanish and English aims were identical.