Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/354

 33S REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 66 wrenched out of her unwilling hands. 1 At no less price was she allowed to redeem the slight which she had passed upon the brother of the King of France. The war which she so much dreaded would not have been a heavier burden, and she failed after all in the object at which her manoauvres had been aimed, of embroiling France and Spain in an open conflict. It was impossible indeed for the Duke of Alengon to undertake the protectorate of the King of Spain's in- surgent subjects without in some degree compromising his brother. Philip was patient of affronts, and preferred to punish the House of Yalois rather by intrigues than arms ; but the Catholic powers remained divided, and Elizabeth bought off her lover's indignation and kept her alliance with France unbroken. So far her artifices had not been ineffectual, nor her treasure wholly thrown away. Had she taken her place as the leader of Pro- testant Europe, had she held out her hand and her purse to the struggling defenders of the Reformation in France, and Scotland, and the Netherlands, the result might have been as much grander as her course in itself would have been more honourable and straightforward. In the opinion of Burghley the path which she pre- ferred was at once the most dangerous and the least effective, and those among her council who most en- couraged her were those who secretly desired her ruin. Yet on the other side it is to be remembered that both Burghley and Walsingham held their places only 1 A brief of the Duke of Anjou's receipts from May i, 1581, to Octo- ber 31, 1583 : MSS. France, Soils Some.