Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/175

 VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 159 reign, and the approbation of at least one good man in Walsingham. 1 With a cause of probable quarrel with Spain, which Philip's real desire to keep clear of interference in Ire- land rendered none the less serious, Elizabeth had good reason to avoid adding France to the number of her enemies. Her diplomacy had been baffled by the com- pleteness of the French acceptance of every condition on which she had insisted. Mauvissiere told her that if she again threw Alencon over, the Duke, for his own character's sake, would have to publish the letters which she had written to him. 2 ' What shall I do ? ' she said one day to the Arch- bishop of Yo7'k. ' I am between Scylla and Charybdis. Alengon grants all that I ask. If I do not marry him 1 'HadadoaMilordBurghley diez barras de oro labradas que valia cada uno 300 A 01 ; pero el no las quis6 to- mar, diciendo que no sabia con que consciencia podia acceptar cosa que se le diese Drake, habiendo sido robado todo quanto traya; y al Conde de Sussex 800 A 01 de jarros y fuentes labrados, que no quiso, respondiendo lo mismp que el Thesorero.' Don Bernardino al Eey, 9 Enero : M.SS. Simancas. Caraden says that ' Drake being now returned, nothing troubled him more than that some principal men at the Court rejected the gold which he offered themasbeinggottcn by piracy.' It is noticeable that Wal- singham's name does not appear among the recipients of Drake's bounty ; Walsingham being abso- lutely without reproach in such mat- ters, receiving nothing from Crown or subject, and lavishing his own fortune on the business of the State. 2 'Concluyendo el Embajador con decille que quando no s.e casase no podria dexar Alen9on de publicar las cartas que ella le habia escripto sobre este negocio, que servirkn do disculparle de haber venido en esto reyno, y que la gente entendiese que no habia sido ligereza suya.' Don B. de Mendoza al Rey, 28 Hebrero, 1580. The reader must remember that Sir James Crofts, the Controller of the Household, was in Philip's pay, and that Mendoza's information came therefore from a credible au- thority.