Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/518

498 council; and the fortune which he still possessed enabled him to maintain a princely establishment. No English minister had ever descended against his will from so high a station with a fall so easy. Sir Thomas Smith and Sir Michael Stanhope were made to refund 3000l. each of public money which they had embezzled; Sir John Thynne as much as 6000l.

Before Parliament rose, Sir William Paget was called to the Upper House as Lord Paget of Beaudesert, Lord Russell was made Earl of Bedford, and Lord St John of Basing Earl of Wiltshire.

Meanwhile affairs at Boulogne approached a crisis. The Rhinegrave in January brought five thousand men between Boulogne and Calais. Huntingdon, Sir James Crofts, Sir Edward Hastings, and Sir Leonard Chamberlain carried reinforcements to the garrison almost as large. But on the part of England this display of force was continued only to avoid a dishonourable close to the now fast approaching siege. The drain of Boulogne on the exchequer was incessant and exhausting; and if reasonable terms could be obtained from France, the council had made up their minds to purchase them with a surrender. The first active move towards an arrangement came through an Italian resident at Paris. Antonio Guidotti, a Florentine merchant, offered himself as an instrument of communication, and was permitted to suggest, as a fitting close to the long quarrel, that, Mary Stuart being no longer accessible, an alliance might be effected for Edward with the Princess Elizabeth of France.