Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/190

 r 70 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. selves a disagreeable burden on Elizabeth. They had been sent to reside at Eton, where they had amused themselves with misleading the Eton boys into iniquity ; they had brought ambiguous damsels into the Fellows' Common Room, and had misconducted themselves in the Fellows' precincts 'in an unseemly manner.' To give them up was to acquiesce in the French interpret- ation of the Calais question. They were therefore arrested in retaliation for the arrest of Throgmorton, and were thrown into prison. Yet the exigencies of England required peace, and France knew it ; and the negotiations took a form which might without difficulty have been foreseen; Elizabeth made demands on which she durst not insist, and she acquiesced at last in a conclusion which was made humiliating by the reluctance with which it was accepted. On the 28th of January Sir Thomas Smith reported that the Queen-mother and her ministers were anxious to come to terms, that they desired nothing better than a return to the ' natural love ' which had existed ' be- tween old King Francis and King Henry ; ' but that to speak any more of 'the ratification of the Treaty of Cambray was lost labour.' : Elizabeth knew that she must give way, yet she desired to give way with dignity : instead of replying to Smith she wrote to Throgmorton, who was intrusted with powers to nego- tiate independently of his colleague. She admitted 1 Sir Thomas Smith to Elizabeth, January 28 : French M8S. Rolls {fount.