Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/310

 290 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.43. ' her enemies/ he allowed, ' all over the world were wishing to see Mary Stuart and Darnley married/ and unfortunately there were also clearsighted, able English statesmen who desired it as well, as a means of uniting the crowns. ' But your Majesty/ he added, ' has in your hands both your own safety and your rival's ruin. France has been the shield of Scotland in its English wars. Take that shield for yourself. The world is dangerous, the strongest will fare the best, and your Majesty knows that the Queen of Scots dreads no one thing so much as your marriage with the most Christ- ian King/ With mournful irony Elizabeth replied that she did not deserve so much happiness. 1 The English council in pressing her to take a husband was thinking less of a foreign alliance than of an heir to the crown ; and the most Christian King was unwelcome to her advisers for the reason perhaps for which she would have pre- ferred him to any other suitor. The full-grown, able- bodied Archduke Charles was the person on whom the hearts of the truest of her statesmen had long been fixed. The Queen referred de Foix to the council ; and th council, on the 2nd of June, informed him * that on mature consideration and with a full appreciation of the greatness of the oifer, the age of the King of France, the uncertainty of the English succession, and the unlikelihood of children from that marriage, for 1 Paul dc Foix to the Quccn-motber, June 3 ; TEULET, vol. ii.