Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/197

 VOYAGE OF SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. 181 had coveted for her beauty when she was lately in har- bour there, and had fired upon and endeavoured to take. 1 Mendoza arrived with his double complaint, pre- sented himself at the palace, and required admission to the Queen. She sent him word that she was about to see the French ambassador, and begged that he would have the goodness to call at another time. He refused to be put off. The council, he said, wished to drive him from the realm. It was the third time that he had been sent away, and he would not bear it. She yielded. He was allowed to enter ; and knowing, he said, how ' timid and pusillanimous ' 2 she was when alone, he told her that he was surprised she should treat him with, so little ceremony. The French could wait as well as he, and if he was to be put off for any trivial excuse, he might as well return to his master. Elizabeth mildly answered, that princes seldom demanded favours as she had done of Don Bernardino. She too was surprised that he, a' 1 Sir James Crofts was the same person who did his best to betray his mistress at the siege of Leith, ' go- ing,' it was said, ' as near to treason as any man ever did without falling over the edge.' He was now in Philip's pay, yet Elizabeth clung to him with an odd perversity. A few years later she permitted him to lead her and the re;ilm to the very brink of ruin, and at this moment he was secretly advising Mendoza. 'He tells me,' continues the am- bassador, ' that if your Majesty wishes to prevent these ships from sailing, and to hinder the Queen from interfering further in Flanders, you cannot do better than send two thousand men to Ireland, colouring them under the name of the Pope. This will be the best of bridles to her. She will then be afraid to al- low man or vessel to leave her ports. I should be wanting in my duty to your Majesty if I did not tell you what zeal Sir James displays, how instantaneously he advises me of all that passes, and how sound a Catho- lic he is at heart.' Mendoza to Philip, June 6 : MSS. Simancas. 2 ' Quan pavorosa y pusillanima.'