Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/495

 1584.] THE BOND OF ASSOCIATION. 479 that when the war had begun ' her Majesty would make her peace to the ruin and overthrow of the French King ; ' and Walsingham, who agreed with Catherine, advised his mistress to disarm suspicion by a frank and cordial reply. Elizabeth, too clever to be simple and straightforward, directed Sir Edward Stafford to enter- tain the French advances with encouraging speeches, and ' to stir up the French King ' to save the Low Countries. But she did not mean 'herself to be drawn into the war.' ' She would wade no further into the action ' than might be necessary for the temptation of her good brother to plunge into it, and she rather took credit to herself for magnanimity, that she did not intend for the moment to take advantage ' of the going together by the ears ' of the two monarchs. 1 Thus the negotiation dragged along, barren of results, while Parma, by intrigue and force, narrowed month by month the circle of independence, and enclosed the Prince of Orange within the ring of the union of Utrecht. England was only saved from invasion because Spain and France could not coalesce, and neither Power would suffer the other to act by itself. Spain similarly was left to work its will upon the Netherlands, because Eliza- beth would not let France move alone, and would not act without France or along with it. At this moment a crisis was brought on by the death of two persons, one of whom, by his birth, the other by 1 Walsingham to Stafford, March 9 19, and March 27 April 6: MSS. France. "Walsingham to Davison, June 313, 1584= MSS - Scotland.