Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/604

 588 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 67. always French and Catholic, reappeared at the Court. The King replied to a second demand for Arran by a direct refusal ; and the army of the League in France, left idle by ' the patched- up peace/ was placed at his service if he would break altogether with England. The Master of Gray, seeing how things were tending, advised the Queen to give money in turn to Angus and the Hamiltons, and ' let them slip.' He undertook him- self to join them with his friends at Berwick ; and Arran could then be killed or taken, the King's person secured, and the treaty be completed at leisure. 1 Time pressed. The Jesuits showed themselves again like vultures scenting carrion. ' Mora trahit periculum,' said Wotton, in letter after letter. His own life was in danger. The murder of an ambassador would com- plete the work, and make the rupture certain. Colonel Stewart ' braved Wotton to his face ' in the King's pre- sence, saying that the charge against Arran was false. Wotton told him that he lied. Gray was urgent for a resolution ; he had committed himself so deeply that if England did not move, he said that he must look to his own safety, and change sides again. 2 Elizabeth was in her normal condition. If the Lords went down, the ministers would follow ; James's paper episcopacy, which she so much approved of, would crumble and the Kirk be again in the ascendant. Wal- singham wrote gratefully to the Master of Gray, ex- 1 Wotton to "Walsingham, Au- gust 25 September 4 : MSS. Scot- land. 2 Wotton to Walsingham, Au- gust 31 September 10, September i ii : MSS. Ibid.