Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/497

 I566.J THE MURDER OF DARNLEY. 477 actuated by any covetous ambition, but by the sincerest interest in herself and the realm. In the present Pope she might feel the fullest confidence ; and at all events there was no more reason for making innovations now than there had been at the beginning of her reign. She Would do better to wait till time should enable her to see her way. ' She said that she thought as I did : she believed however that her people were afraid if she married the Archduke that the old religion would be brought in again ; they were pressing forward these changes as a precaution. ' A little while ago, I said, her council were most afraid that she would not marry at all. ' True, she answered ; that was their fear or their pretended fear and their present conduct showed how dishonest they had been. Marry however she would, if it was only to vex them. She would have been glad, she said, had there been any one in Parliament who could have checked the Bill in its progress; if it passed the Lords she feared she would be unable to resist the pressure which would be brought to bear upon her/ Either Elizabeth feared another quarrel and dis- trusted her own strength, or she wished to deceive de Silva into believing her opposition to the Bill to be more sincere than it really was. The remonstrances of the Catholics however and her own better judgment prevailed at last. She collected her courage and sent a message to the Peers desiring that the Bill of Religion should go no further. The bishops were the persons in the Tipper