Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/187

 15i.] VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 171 meiit of Paris, Pinart Chief Secretary of State, aud many others of the noblest French houses. Two points, at least, were made clear by so marked a selection : the first, that the Court of Paris at once desired the mar- riage, and was satisfied that it was about to take effect ; the second, that if Elizabeth had been in earnest, a cordial alliance was possible between two of the leading powers in Europe which, before the ardour of the Reformation had cooled down, would have broken the remaining power of the Roman Church, and shut up Spain in her own peninsula. No fears of this kind disturbed the repose of Bernar- dino de Mendoza. He knew Elizabeth too well to be- 1 lieve for one moment that she meant to place Alen9on beside her on her throne. He did not credit either her or her brother of France with sufficient sagacity to inaugurate a powerful policy. He had watched her alienating the Hollanders, trifling away her hard- won advantages in Scotland, and leaving her truest friends to be murdered, while she was toying with a phantom at which in private she jested among her women. With a chuckle of satisfaction, he described to Philip the splendid ceremonies with which she was preparing to receive the embassy. pretend to tell your Majesty, but the Queen is chiefly occupied in providing the pageantry. There are serious questions at stake, such as Alen^on's relations with the Low Countries. But she is thinking less of these than of tournaments and dancing- rooms, pretty
 * "What will come of it,' he wrote, ' I cannot,