Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/249

 1581.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 233 an ambassador's credentials contained her name as well as her son's, France would be committed to a positive act in her favour, and Scotland, in accepting such an ambassador, would acknowledge the illegality of her de- position. She clung to her formula, excited by Lennox's victory over Morton, and by the vacillation and timidity of the English Queen. She sent a message to James that the time was come for him to declare himself her champion, and to appeal in her behalf to the princes of Europe. She forwarded a draft of the proposed associa- tion to Paris, with a request to the King to support her in persisting with it ; and she wrote to Elizabeth, telling her that the question of her son's title having been publicly raised must now be publicly decided. With her usual adroitness, she turned the position to her own advantage ; and with fierce complaints of her captivity, she threatened, if she was detained longer, to resign to her son every right which she possessed or to which she pretended. Her enemies, she said, when she had thus denuded herself, would have but a feeble woman to work their cruelty upon ; and she would relieve her party of the embarrassment which her captivity had caused. They might continue to hold her prisoner if they pleased, or they might kill her if they dared ; but a competitor for the crown of England, claiming by unquestionable descent, would still be at large, and with the world before him. 1 This was dangerously true. One chief cause of the 1 Mary Stuart to Elizabeth, October 10 : LABANOFF, vol. v.