Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/475

 1578.] THE ALENCON MARRIAGE. 455 ' rebels/ 1 and meanwhile he was detained with his companions at York. At length she made up her mind to see him. She was on her summer progress, and he came to her at Audley End, in Essex. The propositions of which he was the bearer were more favourable than any English Sovereign had ever extorted at the sword's point. ' The King,' for the message ran in his name, ' having as- sumed the government in his own hands/ was prepared to ratify at last the long-debated Treaty of Leith, to unite with England in a defensive alliance against the malice of the Pope and his friends, to be the enemy of England's enemies, of all foreign powers who sought to injure the Queen, and of those among his own subjects that were lending themselves to any such designs. On the other side the Abbot explained the poverty of the Scotch treasury. The King was unable to maintain his own state, far less to support the Border police. For the welfare of the two countries, for the sake of their future friendship, for the maintenance of the common religion, and the support of the party who, through good and evil, had stood firm to the English alliance, the Abbot besought Elizabeth to deal liberally, and secure the King's gratitude. There was one obvious mode in which the Queen could satisfy James's expectations at no cost to herself. Lady Lennox had died in the preceding March. The King of Scots, as Darnley's son, was the natural heir 1 Trcmayne to Walsin^ham, July 29, 1578 : MSS. Holland,