Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/266

 250 RETGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 65. quered he would take up their cause, and perhaps sooner, if he saw a convenient opening. 1 The * leaden foot ' of the King of Spain was as fatal to his friends as the irresolution of Elizabeth to hers and those who wait for convenient seasons do not use them when they present themselves. Mendoza ex- plained matters as well as he could. He laid before the Queen of Scots the certainty that if a Castilian force was landed in Scotland, France would declare war against Spain. He promised her that not 15,000 men, only, but a far larger force should be sent when circum- stances were favourable; but the re-opening of a general war at that moment, he said, was not to be contemplated. He sent back Holt to his place in Scotland, with a charge to confine himself to his preaching. He wrote to Lennox, not telling him that Crichton's promises were things of air, but with vague encouragement to look for- ward to ultimate success, and urging him meanwhile to forward the association of the King with his mother, and to organize his party into a more harmonious and manageable shape. 2 With Allen he was more severe. He lectured him on his imprudence in meddling with the business of statesmen. He charged him to confine himself for the future to his spiritual duties, and it was a lesson which Allen was particularly unwilling to receive. The Jesuits and the Pope had taken in hand the re- covery of England, because, as they thought, the states- 1 El Rey al Bernardino de Men- 2 Mendoza al Rev, 26 Avril ; doza, 23 Avril ; TEULET, vel. v. MSS. SiitHincas.