Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/381

 i 5 6 5 .] THE DARNLEY MARRIAGE. believing that she was the only hope of the Catholic cause in England, yet could not overcome his constitu- tional slowness. He was willing to help her, yet only as Elizabeth had helped the Scotch insurgents, with a secrecy which would enable him to disavow what he had done. He was afraid of the Huguenot tendencies of the French Government ; he was afraid that if he took an open part he might set a match to the mine which was about to explode in the Low Countries : he therefore repeated the cautions which Alva had given Beton at Bayonne ; he gave Yaxlee a note for twenty thousand crowns which would be paid him by Grranvelle at Brus- sels ; he promised if Elizabeth declared war to contri- bute such further sums as should be necessary ; but he would do it only under shelter of the name of the Pope and through the Pope's hands ; in his own person he would take no part in the quarrel; the time, he said, was not ripe. He insisted especially that Mary Stuart should betray no intention of claiming the English throne during Elizabeth's lifetime. It would exasperate the Queen of England into decisive action, and justify her to some extent in an immediate appeal to arms. 1 As little would he encourage the Queen of Scots to seek assistance from her uncles in France. She might accept money wherever she could get it, but to admit a French army into Scotland would create a greater danger than it would remove. 2 1 ' Porque esto la escandalizaria mucho y daria gran ocasion para ejecutar contra ellos lo que pudiese, y en alguna manera seria justificar su causa.' Answer to Yaxlee : MIG- NET vol. ii. p. 200. 2 Ibid.