Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/350

 334 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. fen. or kept in England. The conclusion for the present had been to keep her; but if she could be placed in Scotland without any dangerous alteration, England would gladly be rid of her.' x The longer Elizabeth considered, the more excuses she found for refusing to proceed. The King of Scots must be a party to any treaty which would hold, as well as the other princes, and James, and the leading nobles, whatever their political sympathies, refused to allow Mary Stuart, in any shape or form, the title of Sove- reign. 2 The difficulty might of course have been over- come, had Elizabeth seriously wished it ; but the nego- tiation from her point of view had already answered its purpose. She had balanced one party against the other, and she meant to keep them there without gratifying either. 'I marvel,' said Sir Walter Mildmay, 'that finding the manners in Scotland so tickle, and this woman offering so much, there is no more regard of it. I doubt the death of Lennox has brought too great a security.' 3 But Elizabeth would not part with her money, and the release of the Queen of Scots was a measure which she preferred to hold in terror over James. When the lady at Sheffield was expecting to be established as a princess in England, free to cor- respond where she pleased, and to hold a second court of her Catholic admirers, she found after all that she 1 Walsingham. to Bowes, June 12: MSS. Scotland. 2 Bowes to Walsingham, June 29 : MSS. Ibid. 3 Mildmay to Walsingham, June 17 : MSS. MART QUEEN o? SCOTS.