Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/196

 176 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. Elizabeth's bar gain- driving. Throgmorton felt the wound most deeply, as the person chiefly answerable for the French policy. Tie had offered ( to lie in prison for a year rather than the enemy should have their will.' To rouse the Queen to fierceness he had quoted the French proverb, that ' if she made herself a sheep the wolf would devour her ; '* and it ended in his being compelled at last to haggle like a cheating shopkeeper, and to fail. The ruffled humours cooled at last, and when quiet was restored Smith proposed one more attempt to ' traffic ; ' but Sir Nicholas would not give Catherine any further triumph ; Bourdin came, and the Peace of Troyes was arranged. The terms were simple. Complicated claims and rights on both sides were reserved ; the Treaty of Cam- bray was neither acknowledged nor declared void ; the French hostages were to be released from England ; the French Government undertook to pay for them the hundred and twenty thousand crowns ; and free trade was to be allowed 'between the subjects of both sove- reigns in all parts of their respective dominions.' J The unfortunate war was at an end. Elizabeth was obliged to bear graciously with the times ; and her bit- terness was reserved for the Prince of Conde. From him she charged Smith to demand instant repayment of the loan which she had advanced to him in his hour of difficulty. * We mean not,' she said, ' to be so deluded as 1 ' Si tu te fais ung moutou le loup te mangera/ 2 Peace of Troyes RYMER.