Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/104

 84 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 41. may speculate. The Prince of Spain had the intellect and the ferocity of a wolf; the Queen of Scots had a capacity for relieving herself of disagreeable or incon- venient companions. Yet they would scarcely perhaps have made their lots more wretched than they actually were : we wonder at the caprices of fortune ; we com- plain of the unequal fates which are distributed among mankind but Providence is more even-handed than it seems ; Mary Stuart might have been innocent and happy as a fishwife at Leith ; the Prince of Spain might have arrived at some half-brutal usefulness breaking clods on the brown plains of Castile. Philip's orders had been so well observed that no hints had transpired of what was intended. The Arch- duke Charles was the supposed candidate in the Spanish and Imperial interest. The Cardinal of Lorraine had arranged the marriage with Ferdinand. It had been talked of in the Council of Trent. It had been argued upon in a Parliament which met at Edinburgh in the preceding June. The name of the Prince of Spain was mentioned from time to time, but rather as a vague surmise ; and the last thought which entered the mind of any one was that Philip would seriously substitute his son for his cousin. The Austrian match was the object of Elizabeth's fears ; and what she had said to Maitland she directed Randolph to submit formally to the Queen of Scots herself. To settle the succession in some way, and if possible to settle it in Mary Stuart's favour, she said, was her most ardent desire. She had combated hitherto the wish