Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/532

 5 1 2 REIGN OF ELIZA BE Tff. expected to rally to the Papal banner from Dingle to Dunluce. Money, ever potent in that country, could be provided without stint, for the Pope was liberal, and enthusiastic Catholics everywhere made it a cause of conscience. Arms too there would be for as many of the nation as needed them. If Ireland was not ab- solutely conquered, which it easily might be, yet Eliza- beth's attention would be distracted by the insurrec- tion, her treasure would be wasted and her soldiers consumed, while the real attack was made elsewhere. A young Scot, Esme Stuart, the King's cousin (son of a brother of the Earl of Lennox), called in France, where he had been educated, Count d'Aubigny, applied for and obtained permission to return to Scotland. His ostensible object was to pursue his claim for some lands of his father's. In reality he was acting under the direction of the Duke of Guise. He was a brilliant, fascinating youth, accomplished in all arts, whether of grace or villany, which France could teach, and his mission was to wind himself into the favour of the King, to lavish money among the hungry nobles whom Elizabeth declined to satisfy, to persuade, to corrupt, to reconstruct the party of France, and destroy Morton. He was a Catholic, but to disarm suspicion he was allowed to pretend to be a Protestant. His plan was to suggest toleration after the French pattern as a just and humane concession, and to obtain permission, secret if not avowed, for the exiled Catholic priests to return, reanimate the creed, and if possible convert the King. The traditional hatred of England was one sure ground