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 weighed with the acute widow and careful mother, who determined, before she ventured to alter her position, to secure as much as possible of his possessions to herself and children. She was successful, and Sir William settled the whole of his fortune upon her and her heirs, to the exclusion of his children by a former marriage. The enamoured captain did not survive long to enjoy his happiness. Elizabeth was for the third time left a widow, with a fortune considerably increased, and no heirs of St. Lo to take anything from her family of Cavendish.

Wealth had been her object in her last match, and as her appetite seemed to "grow with what it fed on," she resolved to give the reins, not only to her desire of pain, but to the ambition which led her step by step till she had established herself in the precincts of the court. It was not long before she made a new selection, George. Earl of Shrewsbury, was no longer a young man, but be was rich, of exalted rank, and the greatest subject in the realm; high in favour with the queen, and trusted beyond any other noble in her court, independent, magnificent, and powerful, and a widower, with sons and daughters unmarried. In an evil day for him, the Earl of Shrewsbury submitted his fate to the guidance of the successful widow. A magnificent jointure was settled upon the bride, and it was agreed, not only that her eldest son should espouse his daughter, but that her youngest daughter, Mary, should become the wife of his heir, Gilbert. The Earl of Shrewsbury's good genius must have forsaken him at this eventful period of his life; for soon after his marriage he voluntarily undertook the guardianship of Mary, Queen of Scots, who, in May, 1568, landed in England. and threw herself upon the protection of Queen Elizabeth, who immediately made her a state prisoner—an act of treachery that has found a parallel in English history of modern times. It appears that both the earl and countess eagerly sought the office of head jailers to the unfortunate Mary.

At this period of their married life, the earl and countess seemed to live on terms of affectionate confidence; but from the first entrance of the Queen of Scots into their family, disturbances began to occur. What the ambitious and dangerous schemes of the countess may have been, cannot now, with certainty, be known; but it is likely that she endeavoured to secure Mary as her friend, in case of a failure with Elizabeth; or, in modern parlance, she deemed it wisest, in the game she was playing, to "hedge!" The earl was accused of a tender leaning towards his captive, "a scandal" which he has himself recorded in his own epitaph. That his wary mistress, Queen Elizabeth, distrusted him somewhat, is evident from the part which she afterwards played when the earl and countess began to quarrel. In 1574, the countess took the daring step of marrying her daughter Elizabeth to the Earl of Lennox, brother of Darnley. This alliance with the family of the royal captive gave great offence to the queen, and we find the Earl of Shrewsbury writing to her and protesting his ignorance of this act of his wife's.

The Earl of Shrewsbury's office of custodian to the royal Mary was prolific of troubles; the queen's suspicions aroused, his wife's jealousy excited, his own liberty necessarily restrained, a responsible office, and expensive establishment, for which he was inadequately paid, to support, all combined to render his situation little to be