Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/94

 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [en. 57. m nothing, France and England were feeling their way towards a league which would answer as a substitute, although all parties seemed to feel that it would be a league of smoke, unless cemented by a union with Anjou's younger brother; 1 and both Burghley and the Huguenot leaders were more anxious than hopeful that the Queen might be induced at last to accept the Due d'Ale^on. An incident had occurred in Paris, in De- cember, which showed the precarious character of the situation, and the extreme weakness of the King's Government. In the year 1569, two Protestant mer- chants, known as the brothers Gastines, had given of- fence to the then all-powerful Cardinal of Lorraine. They had been tried for treason and executed. Their property had been seized, their houses levelled to the ground, and on the spot where side by side their two houses had stood, the Catholics of Paris had erected a splendid cross. On the return of peace, the Gastines' children petitioned for the removal of the offensive symbol, and Charles directed the Provost to see the cross taken away. The service was considered so dan- gerous that the order had to be given three times before it was obeyed, and the young Duke of Guise, who had just returned from Alva, hastened to the neighbourhood of the capital to be on the spot if anything should hap- 1 ' Entre el Rey do Francia y la Reyna de Inglaterra hay uua liga de humo, pero dicese que es por la es- peranza del casamiento entre la dicha Reyna y el hermano mas pequefio del Eey, aunque todo el mundo es de opinion que la Reyna no casara jamas, y assi los amigos son de opi- nion que la liga no durara mucho tiempo.' Avisos de Inglaterra, 1 5 72 : MSS. Simancag.