Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/477

 1566.] THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 457 to marry ' where it should please her, with whom it should please her, and as soon as it should please her/ Further, as it was possible that her Highness might die without children, her faithful subjects were anxious to know more particularly the future prospects of the realm. Much as they wished to see her married, the settlement of the succession was even more important, ' carrying with it such necessity that without it they could not see how the safety of her royal person or the preservation of her Imperial crown and realm could be or should be sufficiently and certainly provided for/ ' Her late illness (the Queen had been unwell again), the amazedness that most men of understanding were by fruit of that sickness brought unto/ and the opportunity of making a definite arrangement while Parliament was sitting, were the motives which induced them to be more urgent than they would otherwise hav,e cared to be. History and precedent alike recommended a speedy de- cision. They hoped that she might live to have a child of her own ; but she was mortal, and should she die be- fore her subjects knew to whom their allegiance was due, a civil war stared them in the face. The decease ot a prince leaving the realm without a government was the most frightful disaster which could befall the com- monwealth ; with the vacancy of the throne all writs were suspended, all commissions were void, law itself was dead. Her Majesty was not ignorant of these things. If she refused to provide a remedy ' it would be a danger- ous burden before God upon her Majesty ! ' They had therefore felt it to be their duty to present this address ;