Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 17.djvu/217

 queen of England; (2) the French were to quit Scotland; (3) the protestant party were to be delivered from the presence of the foreign auxiliaries, and left to fight their own battle; lastly, and this was perhaps the most important of all (Cecil at Edinburgh, 15 July, Cal. Scotland, i. 158; also Cal. Hatfield, I. No. 782), Philip II had been taught that Elizabeth could do without him, and could stand alone. Cecil was back again at court in July; in his absence he had lost favour. It seems the queen had a suspicion that he had taken too much upon himself, and that he might have made better terms. But everybody was plotting against him. And each little knot of politicians had its own card to play in the shape of a suitor for the hand of the queen. The Scotch were for pressing her to marry Arran now. She would have none of him, and as for the rest she kept her own counsel.

Ever since she came to the throne Elizabeth's most signal marks of favour were displayed towards Robert Dudley [q.v], now master of the horse, a member of the privy council, and never absent from his royal mistress's side, although he had been married to Amy Robsart in King Edward's days, and his wife was living. The queen made no secret of her preference for the handsome young courtier. She even overacted the part of love-sick maiden, till the quidnunes whispered and told infamous tales, and half Europe believed them. There was one man in England who put no faith in her only too demonstrative professions of affection, and that man was Robert Dudley himself. A month after Cecil's return Amy Robsart was found dead (8 Sept. 1560) at Cumnor. There was an inquest, and an attempt to implicate her husband in her unhappy death. The queen saw clearly enough that the attempt to fasten suspicion on Sir Robert was a mere court intrigue; she made no change in her conduct towards the favourite. The familiarities went on as before. One of the most important measures of 1560, and one in which the queen showed great interest, and gave remarkable proof of her versatility, was the reform of the currency and the calling in of the debased coinage of the last three reigns. As early as January 1559 this important reform had been mooted (Hatfieid MSS. vol. i. Nos. 566, 567), but the scheme then suggested had fallen through. Now a well-considered plan was adopted and executed in a very masterly manner (see Cal. Dom. 1547-80, pp. 159-161;, vol. vii. chap, vi.) It was during this year, too, that the abbey of Westminster was converted into a collegiate church. John Feckenham [q.v.], the last abbot, who had been appointed by Queen Mary, was deprived in 1559, and William Bill [q.v.], was installed dean, and instructed to draw up statutes for the new corporation. But the most notable event of the year was the death of Francis II, Mary Stuart's young husband, and the seizing of the reins of government in France by Catherine de' Medici. England was getting more content month by month, and for a year or two the royal suitors for the queen's hand kept from any serious advances. De Quadra had persuaded himself and Philip II that the queen meant to marry Dudley. It is probable that Elizabeth and he understood one another, and were amusing themselves with De Quadra, who took all that he saw or heard au grand Sévieux, In August 1561 Mary Stuart, eluding the English fleet which had been ordered to watch her and prevent her landing, returned to Scotland, and the great troubles of her life began. In France there was civil war, in Spain persecution, in Scotland almost anarchy; in the Netherlands deep discontent, ready before long to burst into a flame. England was quiet and prosperous; Elizabeth living a gay and merry life, but always vigilant, alert, equal to any emergency, and every now and then startling even to terror such as presumed to take a course of their own. So, when the luckless Lady Catherine Grey ventured upon a clandestine marriage with the Earl of Hertford; or the Countess of Lennox dared to assert herself or to deal in curious arts; or Mary Stuart demanded to have her title to the succession acknowledged; or the pope actually went some way towards sending a nuncio to England to induce, if it might be so, the queen to send a representative to the council of Trent — Lady Catherine, her husband, and the Countess of Lennox were sent to the Tower; Mary Stuart received a curt repulse; the nuncio was not permitted to cross the sea.

Meanwhile Elizabeth had been induced to meddle with the struggle that was going on in France. There the Calvinists and the catholics were at very bitter feud. The civil war was beginning. Condé, the leader of the Calvinists, implored the help of Elizabeth; he offered to surrender to her the towns of Havre and Dieppe as the price of her support and as pledge for the restoration of Calais. She promised, hesitated, delayed; finally, on 4 Oct., Sir Adrian Poynings with three thousand English troops took possession of Havre. Five hundred of these men tried to cut their way into Rouen, which Guise was besieging. A few succeeded, only to perish miserably for the most part, when on 26 Oct. Guise took the place by storm. Next