The Courtships of Queen Elizabeth

don-Walsingham's description of Alen?on-La Mole's visit to the Queen-The Alen?on match prospers-The St. Bartholomew-Resumption of negotiations-Alen?on's first letter to t

heard named, as the Emperor's son or Don John, they be both lesser than my son is, and of less stature by a good deal, and if she should marrie it were pity any more time were lost. Madam, quoth I, if it pleased God that she were married and had a child, all these braggs and all these treasons would soon be appalled, and on condition that she had a child by M. d'Alen?on, for my part I care not if ye had the Queen of Scotland here, for you would then take as good care of her as we do." Catharine de Medici confirmed this view, and said that there was no reason why they should not have several children. "And if the Queen," she said, "could have fancied my son Anjou, why not this one, of the same house, father and mother, and as vigorous and lusty as he, and rather more? And now he beginneth to have a beard come forth, for that I told him the last day that I was angr

Lord Admiral Clinton, the Earl of Lincoln, was to proceed to France for a similar purpose. The Protestant party in France were thus for the moment victorious all along the line, and the connection between England and France closer than it had been for many years. Catharine, naturally desirous of securing a double hold upon England whilst these relations lasted, by settling her youngest son as Elizabeth's consort, instructed Montmorenci to make a formal offer of his hand to the Queen. As usual, Cavalcanti was sent over as a harbinger, and took with him a flattering portrait of the Prince, which was given to the Queen through Leicester. Alen?on was deeply pitted with the small-pox from which he had recently suffered, and other

nced. Subsequently, at Windsor, he returned to the charge, when Elizabeth once more raised the religious question. The ambassador said they would be contented with the concessions which Smith had offered at Blois when Anjou was under discussion. But matters were changed now, and the Queen said she did not recollect to have made any such concessions; besides which the difference of age was so great as to be an obstacle. De Foix replied that the disproportion156 was not so very grea

ly difference from the Lord Admiral's entertainment in France being that no lord but my Lord Leicester entertained them, saving I at Midsummer eve did feast them and all their gentlemen with a collation of all things I could procure, not being flesh to observe their manner." He

of the Prince's age, stature,157 condition, devotion, &c., with all speed, for the Queen; and Burleigh assures his correspondent that he sees no lack of will in the Queen but on account of Alen?on's age. "If we

ly objected that he was not nearly so good-looking, and that the small-pox had not improved him. Lincoln's favourable opinion was to a great extent confirmed by Walsingham's report to Cecil. The Duke, he said, was born on the 25th of April, 1555, and his stature is about the same as that of Lord Lincoln. He was reputed to be prudent and brave, but also somewhat feather-headed, which, says Walsingham, is a common fault with his countrymen. Coligny was in great hope of him in religion, and thought he might soon be brought to a knowledge of the truth; and Walsingham concludes his good158 character of the Prince by hint

e."76 She again repeats that although the official objection is Alen?on's youth, yet his pock-marked visage has had a large share in personally influencing her to refuse the offer, unless indeed some great countervailing advantage-such as the restoration of Calais-could make her forget it. In another letter, a few days later, she enlarges upon these points, but says that the only way to overcome the difficulty will be for them to meet and see whether they could fancy each other. But she knew that this trick to feed her vanity was getting stale, and foresaw the answer. If, she says, the King and Queen-mother reply that it is not usual for princes of the house of France thus to go on approval, and that she only makes the suggestion for the purpose of increasing her own reputation and not to marry him, Walsingham is to point out that the prize he aims at is a great one and worth160 some small sacrifice. If they hold out on the point, Walsingham is to propose that the question of religion should be left open, so that it may be used as an excuse for breaking off, if she and Alen?on do not fancy each other when they meet, and thus the Prince's amour propre may be saved. The reason why Elizabeth was again presenting the bait of marriage is not far to seek. A few days before this letter was written an answer came from Charles IX. to the Queen's letter taken by Montmorenci. The French king was already beginning to cry off of his bargain about aiding the revolted Netherlands against Philip. Pressure was being brought to bear upon him from the Pope and the Emperor, whispers of Huguenot plots and treasons against him were instilled

y afterwards to have suggested a meeting between them. She only raised certain difficulties as to their ages, religion, and the like, but these might doubtless be overcome. And so she again holds out her hand, smooths away obstacles, suggests a meeting between the Duke and herself, proposes the adoption of the Anjou articles, with the exception of religion, which she and Alen?on will settle between them, and generally opens wide once more the door for negotiation. At this and subsequent interviews at Kenilworth she exerted all her powers of fascination upon La Mole and La Mothe, who were both ready enough to flatter her to the top of her bent. She played her spinet to them, sighed that she was determined to marry and must see the Duke at once, and persistently set her cap at young La Mole as proxy for his master. Solid Cecil and jocose Smith appear to have been almost as much carried away as La Mole. They both wrote to Walsingham the belief that at last the affair would prosper in good earnest, if only the lover would take the trouble to run over to England and see the object of his affection. There are plenty of ways, said Smith, of coming over; and he would do more in an hour than we could do in two years-"Cupido ille qui vincit omnia in oculis insidet," and so on. Everything seemed to be prospering in the wooing, though the Queen herself was no more in earnest than before; and doubtless she and Leicester laughed in their sleeves at the way they were hoodwinking some of the keenest eyes of both nations. One person they certainly164 did not deceive, and that was Catharine de Medici; for at the very moment when all this billing and cooing was going on the massacre of St. Bartholomew was being planned, and the person who was being kept in hand and cajoled into a false sense of security, notwithstanding the refusal of Charles IX. to help the Hollanders, was Elizabeth herself. But deceived though she was, she had prudence enough to mistrust the curious new attitude adopted by the French, whose one object was to draw her into a position of overt enmity to Spain in the Netherlands, whilst Charles IX. deprecated taking up such a position for himself. La Mole's blandishments were not powerful enough for this; and after twenty days' stay he and La Mothe left the Queen with great professions of love and affection and a gold chain worth 500 ducats for the young envoy, and came to London, where they arrived on the 27th of August. On the same day there arrived at Rye two couriers from Paris, one with letters from Walsingham to the Queen, and the other with d

is written by a secretary, and is full of the most fulsome flattery of Elizabeth, of "her rare virtues and infinite perfections." "His affection and fidelity for her are such that there is nothing in the world, however great or difficult it may be, that he would not willingly do in order to render her more certain thereof;" and with this he begs her to listen to what will be said on his behalf by the bearer of the letter, a certain L'huillier, seigneur de Maisonfleur. At the bottom Alen?on has scrawled a postscript himself in his ridiculously illiterate boyish French, saying, "Madame je vous supli mescuser si sete letre nest toute escripte de ma min, et croies que nay peu faire autrement." Maisonfleur was a strangely chosen emissary for such a mission. He had been a follower of the Guises and a sergeant-carver to Catharine, and was now a Protestant and an equerry of Alen?on. It was arranged that after seeing Elizabeth, he should return to Dover and receive Alen?on, who had planned to escape and sail for England. When Maisonfleur arrived at Court he found the Huguenot nobles who were with the Queen had told her something of his history and she refused to give him audience. Either for this reason or from the Duke's misgivings Alen?on's flight to England on this occasion fell through, and Maisonfleur returned to London from Dover without having seen his

hmen in the North. Anjou was at the head of the Catholic army before Rochelle and his brother Alen?on, much against his will, was forced to accompany him. Over and over again he planned to escape to Montgomeri's fleet outside, and prayed his mother to place him in command of the King's ships. But the Catholics well knew they dared not trust him,170 and he was never allowed out of sight. Month after month Anjou cast his men fruitlessly against the impregnable walls of Rochelle; well supplied with stores from England by Montgomeri's fleet, the townspeople bade defiance to the Catholics, and the reformers through the rest of France were rendered the more confident thereby. It was clear to Catharine and her son that Protestantism had not been extinguished in the blood of St. Bartholomew, and they began to think it time to make terms with an enemy they saw they could not crush. On the 7th of March, 1573, therefore, La Mothe Fénélon saw Elizabeth and assured her that "his King would most faithfully continue in the league and confederation which he had sworn to her, and would strictly uphold it without departing therefrom for any reason in the world." He begged her to lay aside her distrust of him, and then again broached the subject of her marriage with Alen?on. The King and Queen-mother, he said, would never trouble her with the matter again if she would only let them know her pleasure now. They reminded her that she had said that she would be obliged to marry for the sake of her subjects, and that the only question at issue was that of religion. Although Alen?on was a purely Catholic prince, and she would