Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/347

 1583.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 331 of the lands or their equivalent as a declaration against his- succession, turned once more to the party from whom he had been for a time divided ; and besides other tragical consequences soon to be related, Elizabeth had to spend thousands of pounds for every hundred which she had saved by her thrift. She on her part, having- shaken off her troublesome petitioners, turned to her treaty with the Queen of Scots, which was to save her from the effects of their displeasure. On the departure of Stewart and Ool- ville, Secretary Beale, accompanied by Sir "Walter Mild- may, went again to Sheffield to tell the Queen of Scots that the offers which she had made deserved considera- tion. They were directed to read them over to her that she might not afterwards pretend her meaning to have been mistaken. If she made no exception, they were to turn particularly to the Treaty of Edinburgh, and to ask by what authority she now undertook to ratify it for her son as well as for herself. Had she obtained her son's consent, or had the Act of Association gone secretly further than either she or he had as yet- acknowledged ? The Queen of Scots, made acquainted perhaps with James's words to Sir Robert Bowes at any rate, weary to death of her long captivity, and eager at any cost to be free, answered with extreme submissiveness. She acknowledged and expressed regret for her early faults, but she said she had been young and ill-advised. To the ratification of the Treaty, she thought that her son had consented. She had imagined that she might safely