Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/294

 274 RETGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 43. him between his countr^^iid'-4riH--peSQiial aft'ec- tiojnu He implored the Queen to pause. She reproached him with being a slave to England. He said ' that he could not consent to her marriage with one who he could not assure himself would set forth Christ's true religion/ She told him scornfully 'it was well known from whom he had received that lesson/ ' He answered with humility, but he would not sign ; ' and Mary was left to act alone or with her own and Darnley's friends, and to endeavour to rid herself of Murray by such other means as might offer themselves. 1 Her messenger meanwhile had sped fast upon his way to England, and encountered Throgmorton at Newark. Mary Stuart, concealing her resentment at Maitland's disobedience, sent him by Beton's hands ' the sweetest letter that ever subject received from sovereign/ wanting neither love, eloquence, despite, anger, nor passion ; she bade him "go back and tell Elizabeth .that she had been trifled with too long, and that she would now follow her own mind and choice ; with the advice of her nobles she would take such an one as she thought good, and she would no longer be fed with yea and nay, and depend on such uncertain dealing. But she had far mistaken Maitland if she believed that he would travel with her on the road into which she had been tempted by Rizzio. So desperate it seemed Randolph to Cecil, May 8 : Scotch MSS. Rolls Souse.