Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/303

 1582.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 28; permission of his own Sovereign and the King of Spain: and Mary Stuart again pressed on Mendoza the peculiar qualifications which Guise possessed his courage, his brilliant ability, and those exceptional conditions which, while they endeared him to the French Catholics, made him not unacceptable to Spain. Evidently both she and Guise considered that the chance which had been almost lost had been thoroughly recovered, and that the only result from the Raid of Ruthven, as the enterprise at Perth had come to be called, was, that the King hated more intensely than before the Lords who held him in thraldom, and would give the French when they came a heartier welcome. 1 The move which had been made by the French might or might not mean all that Mary Stuart expected of it. Scotland might be useful to Henry and Catherine, either to punish Elizabeth, or as a bridle to hold her with. Walsingham believed that the disposition of the French Court towards a genuine alliance with England could not have survived the trifling with Alencon, and that whatever influence France could recover in Scot- land would be used in the interests of the Catholics. The dowry of the Queen of Scots being paid by settle ment out of several different estates, required a con- tinual correspondence. Many of her letters had thus passed and repassed un watched, and had gone regularly in the bags of the French ambassador. It was dis- covered that Mauvissiere had allowed her to abuse her 1 Mary Stuart to Don Bernardino, November, 1582: MSS. Simancas.