dom. L'Aubespine applied daily, but in vain, for a passport for the messenger, whom he wished to send with letters apprising his sovereign of the execution of his royal-sisterin-law, but was told " that the queen of England did not choose his majesty to be informed of what had been done, by any one but the person she would send to him.” "In fact," writes L'Aubespine to Henry III., "the ports have been so strictly guarded, for the last fortnight, that no one has left the kingdom, except a person, whom the queen has despatched to Mr. Stafford, to inform your majesty of what has taken place." On the day after Davison had been committed to the Tower, the queen sent for Monsieur Roger, a gentleman of the privy-chamber of the king of France, attached to the embassy, and told him "that she was deeply afflicted for the death of the queen of Scotland; that it never was her intention to have put her to death, although she had refused the request of M. de Bellievre." She said "that Davison had taken her by surprise, but he was now in a place where he would have to answer for it, and charged monsieur Roger to tell his majesty of France so." This she said with every demonstration of grief, and almost with tears in her eyes.1

At no period of her life does Elizabeth appear in so undignified a light as at this period. On Saturday, the 6th of March, she sent for L'Aubespine, to dine with her at the palace of the archbishop of Canterbury, at Croydon. She received him in the most courteous and winning manner, and offered the use of men, money, and ammunition to his sovereign, if required by him, in his war against the League. The ambassador replied, "that his master had no need of the forces of his neighbours to defend himself." She then discoursed on the affairs of France in general, and related to his excellency much news from Paris, of which he had not heard a word. Then she complained of the detention of the English vessels, by the king of France, and the ambassador replied, that it had been done in consequence of her ordering the embargo to be laid on the French vessels in her ports." She expressed her desire "to render everything agreeable, and referred all matters of complaint, in the commercial relations of the two countries, to four commissioners of her cabinet, with whom she requested him to confer."

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1 Despatches of L'Aubespine de Chasteauneuf.

All this time the ambassador was endeavouring to escape, without entering into two subjects, on which he was reluctant to commit himself, by discoursing with so subtle a diplomatiste as Elizabeth; one was the death of the queen of Scots, the other the affair of the pretended plot, in which, not only the name of his secretary, Destrappes, but his own had been involved. Elizabeth, however, was not to be circumvented. The more she found him bent on getting away, the more pertinacious was she in her purpose of detaining him, till she had compelled him to speak on those delicate points. He essayed to take his leave, but she prevented hm, by calling Walsingham, to conduct him to the council-chamber. She then detained his excellency, playfully, by the arm, and said, laughing, "Here is the man who wanted to get me murdered!" Seeing the ambassador smile, she added, "that she had never believed he had any share in the plot, and all she complained of was, that he had said, 'he was not bound to reveal anything to her, even though her life was in danger,' in which, however," she said, "he had only spoken as an ambassador, but she considered him to be a man of honour, who loved her, and to whom she might have entrusted her life."

1

Elizabeth then acknowledged, "that she was now aware that the plot was only the trick of two knaves-one of whom, Mody, was wicked enough to commit any bad action for money; the other, for the sake of those to whom he belonged, she would not name," (alluding to Stafford, the person who had denounced the plot.) She observed, at the same time, that allowance ought to be made for the times, and the irritation of sovereigns," and assured L'Aubespine," that she now loved and esteemed him more than ever, and as she had before written to his sovereign against him, she would now write again a letter in his favour, with an assurance that she was convinced that he was incapable of such an act. After which amende, she trusted, the king would grant an audience to her ambassador, and give orders for the release of the vessels of her subjects."

"Madame," replied L'Aubespine, "I have come hither to treat of the affairs of the king my master, and for no other purpose. I have never considered that the duties of a man 1 Private letter of L'Aubespine de Chasteauneuf to Henry III. VOL. VII. G

of honour differ from those of an ambassador. I never said that I would not reveal any conspiracy against your person, were I to see it in danger, but that an ambassador was not compelled to reveal anything, unless he chose to do so; and neither for that nor any other thing could he be amenable to the laws of the country. That you consider me innocent is a great satisfaction to me, and even that you are pleased to bear testimony, in my behalf, to my king. I entreat you, however, to allow me to send Destrappes to him, that the matter may be properly cleared up, for the satisfaction of his majesty and my acquittal." As Elizabeth did not particularly relish the idea of such an investigation, she adroitly turned it off, with an assurance, "that there was no need of further acquittal; that she was convinced of the wrong that had been done him, for which she was much grieved," dismissing the subject with the following compliment to Destrappes' professional abilities as an advocate: "Tell him I hope never to have a cause to plead in Paris, where he might have an opportunity of revenging the offence I have given him."

"I thought," continues the ambassador, "to have taken my leave of the said lady without making any answer respecting Destrappes, or entering into the subject of the queen of Scotland; but she took my hand, and led me into a corner of the apartment, and said, 'that since she had seen me she had experienced one of the greatest misfortunes and vexations that had ever befallen her, which was, the death of her cousin-german;' of which she vowed to God, with many oaths, 'that she was innocent; that she had indeed signed the warrant; but it was only to satisfy her subjects, as she had never intended to put her to death, except in case of a foreign invasion, or a formidable insurrection of her own subjects. That the members of her council, four of whom were in presence, had played her a trick which she could never forgive,' and she swore, by her Maker's name, that, but for their long services, and for the supposition that they had acted out of consideration for the welfare and safety of her person and state, they should all have lost their heads.'

"2

1 Letter of L'Aubespine to Henry III.

2 Ibid.

L'Aubespine does not specify the persons thus alluded to by Elizabeth, but three of them were undoubtedly Burleigh, Leicester, and Walsingham; the other was either Hatton or the lord-admiral, both of whom were, indeed, deeply implicated in the intrigues which led to the execution of the unfortunate Mary. "The queen begged me," pursues L'Aubespine, "to believe that she would not be so wicked as to throw the blame on an humble secretary, unless it were true." She declares, "that this death will wring her heart as long as she lives on many accounts, but principally, sire, for the respect she has for the queen your mother, and monseigneur your brother, whom she so dearly loved." After this tender allusion to her late fascinating suitor Alençon, whose memory few historians have given the illustrious spinster credit for cherishing with such constancy of regard, Elizabeth made many professions of amity for Henry III." She protested," says L'Aubespine, "that she would not meddle, in any way, with the affairs of your subjects, but that then she should consider her own security; that the Catholic king was daily making offers of peace and friendship, but she would not listen to them, knowing his ambition; on the contrary, she had sent Drake to ravage his coasts, and was considering about sending the earl of Leicester to Holland, to shew that she was not afraid of war; with so many other observations against those of the League, that your majesty may easily conceive, from the length of this despatch, that she had well prepared herself for this audience, in which she detained me for three good hours, as I let her say all she pleased."

This was certainly very civil of his excellency, but he did not carry his politeness so far as to leave her majesty's sayings unanswered." I told her," pursues he, "that I was very glad that she desired the friendship of your majesty, knowing how serviceable it had been to her formerly; that I believed you entertained similar sentiments on your part; but it was necessary that I should tell her frankly that, if she desired your friendship, she must deserve it by deeds, and not by words, since to assist with money and ammunition those who are in arms against you, to instigate the German troops to enter France, to refuse to do justice to any of your plundered subjects, to treat your ambassador as she had treated me for the last four months, was not courting your friendship in

the way that it should be sought. Madame," said I, “there are three sovereigns in Christendom: the king, my master, the catholic king, and your majesty; under these three, Christianity is divided. You cannot strive against the other two without great evil to yourself; with one you are at open war, and the other has great reason to believe, that the war which distracts his kingdom is fomented by your means, and this opinion can only be changed by deeds, not words."

Elizabeth protested, "that she was not assisting the king of Navarre against the king of France, but against the house of Guise, who were his foes, and were leagued with the king of Spain and the prince of Parma, who, after they had effected his ruin, meant to attack her; but she would be ready to repel them, and would not relinquish her hold on the Low Countries, swearing an oath," continues the ambassador, "that she would not suffer either the king of Spain nor those of Guise to mock the poor old woman, who, in her female form, carried the heart of a man."

Then she proposed that a council should be held for the adjustment of religious differences, which she offered to attend in person.

"Those differences," she said, "were not so great as were supposed, and might be adjusted; and that it was her opinion, that two Christian sovereigns, acting in unison, might settle everything on a better principle, without heeding either priests or ministers," insinuating, that Henry and herself might be considered as the heads of the two religions which then divided Christendom.'

L'Aubespine again reproached her with her interference in the domestic dissension in France, and after a few more amicable professions on her part, the conference ended, little to the satisfaction of either party, for the ambassador evidently considered it an insult to his understanding, that she should expect him, even to pretend, to give her credit for her good intentions, and she perceived not only that she had failed to deceive him, but that he did not think it worth his while to dissemble with her.

Elizabeth was too well aware of Henry III.'s weakness, both as a monarch and a man, to entertain the slightest

1 Despatches of L'Aubespine de Chasteauneuf.