Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/382

 366 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 66. ing too strong a hold here. His concern will be for the imprisoned Queen, from whom we have so much to ex- pect in the way of service to God and your Majesty. The Duke will take charge of her interests. He will see that the son does not supplant the mother in Eng- land as he has done in Scotland. From the son, until he be reconciled to the Church, there is nothing more to be looked for than from any other Scot or heretic. The Catholics will not admit him here while he is un- converted. They will not even accept his mother except in concert with and under the authority of your Ma- jesty, and it is on your Majesty assuredly that the Queen of Scots will lean. She knows the hatred borne to her by the Queen-mother, and the animosity between her kinsmen the Guises and the Houses of Bourbon and Montmorency. As to the form and quality of your Majesty's assistance, I can advise nothing till I know more of your Highness's intentions. It must depend on whether your Majesty means to declare yourself openly whether the King of France is to take a part, or whether it is to be left to his Holiness and the Duke of Guise, your Majesty reserving a power to interpose if the French go too far. As to the amount of force, you remember what the Duke of Lennox asked for when the invasion was intended through Scotland. Baptista de Tassis and the Nuncio have talked over matters since that time with the other parties concerned, but I know not what they have resolved. If England is to be invaded immediately, I should like to know in what strength the Duke calculates the Catholics here