Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/199

 1 564. ] THE EMBA SS Y OF DE SIL VA. 1 79 The peril had passed over ; and for fear the French ambassadors might carry back too tempting a report of the defencelessness of the coast, Lord Abergavemiy was directed as if to do them honour to call under arms the gentlemen of the south-eastern counties. The result not being particularly successful, the Archbishop invited De Gronor and the Bishop of Coutances to Bekesbourne, and ' in a little vain brag, psrhaps infirmity/ showed them his well-furnished armoury, hoping that his guests would infer that if a prelate * had regard of such provisions others had more care thereabout/ 1 The thin disguise would have availed little had there been a real desire for the continuance of the war. In the unprotected shores, the open breezy downs, the scattered and weakly-armed population, they observed the facility of invasion, and remarked upon it plainly. But Catherine de Medici had no interest in Mary Stuart and no desire to injure Elizabeth. Mary Stuart's friends were rather at Madrid than at Paris ; and the French ministers were more curious of the religious condition of England than of its military defences. Their visit to Bekesbourne therefore gave occasion for the Archbishop and his visitors to compare eccle- siastical notes. The Bishop of Coutances expressed the unexpected pleasure which it had given him to find that ' there was so much reverence about the sacra- ments/ l that music was still permitted in the quires/ Parker to Cecil, June 3 : Domestic MSS. Elizabeth, vol. xxxiii.