Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/132

 116 CHAPTER LXIV. VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. WHILE the Prince of Parma was recovering the Low Countries town by town ; while d'Aubigny was destroying the English party in Scotland ; while Ireland was in flames and the Jesuits were undermining Elizabeth's throne at home, she was herself following a policy exclusively her own, in which she was en- couraged only by those who secretly desired her de- struction a policy which in the opinion of every one of her loyal ministers was as perilous as it was dis- creditable, and had but one merit, that it cost nothing to the treasury. So long as France could be prevented from allying itself with Spain, she considered that she was safe from invasion ; and Burghley and Sussex had desired a close and permanent combination between France and Eng- land, cemented by the much-talked-of marriage. "Wal- singham, on the other hand, who had witnessed the massacre of St Bartholomew, and shared the horror with which the English Protestants regarded the House