Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/319

 1583.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 303 thusiastic welcome. The Queen of Scots was once more all fire, animation, and hope. ' I am more assured than ever/ she wrote to Mendoza, ' of the devotion of my child to me. My nobles also are more earnest for the enterprise than ever. They assure me that with the slightest countenance from abroad they will destroy the English faction in a fortnight. They would have destroyed it already but for fear my son might be killed or carried to England. For myself I am preparing to escape. If I succeed you may tell his Holiness and your master that there will then be immediate war. We shall look for present help, and as the struggle may be a protracted one there must be reserves. The Duke tells me that before any- thing considerable is done he will himself bring over part of the force for the reception of which he has ar- ranged at Dumbarton/ Mendoza had many times petitioned to be recalled. He was a brave soldier, and out of his element in lying intrigues. The climate disagreed with his eyes. They were affected with a disease of which he became ulti- mately blind, dying long afterwards, at a great age, a monk in a convent at Madrid. The Queen of Scots, who knew what he was feeling, besought him to stay if only till the great event had been consummated. He was the one person, she said, in whom she had im- plicit confidence. She considered his presence essential to success ; she relied on him for qualities of prudence not to be found among English conspirators. ' I agree with you,' she added, ' that there must be