Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/510

 490 REIGN 1 OF ELIZABETH. [011.45. restored the circulation by chafing the limbs ; the Queen came to herself at last, broke into a profuse per- spiration, and fell into a natural sleep. When she awoke, the fever was gone, but her strength was pros- trated. For the few next days she still believed herself in danger, and with the outward signs, and so far as could be seen with the inward spirit, of Catholic piety, she prepared to meet what might be coming upon her. The Bishop of Ross was ever on his knees at her bed- side ; and courageous always, she professed herself ready to die if so it was to be. She recommended the Prince to the lords ; through Murray she bequeathed the care of him to Elizabeth through du Croq to the King of France and Catherine de Medici and for Scotland she implored them all as her last request ' to trouble no man in his conscience that professed the Catholic faith/ in which she herself had been brought up and was ready to die. How much of all this was real, how much theatri- cal, it is needless to inquire ; the most ardent admirer of Mary Stuart will not claim for her a character of piety, in any sense of the word which connects it with the moral law ; those who regard her with most suspicion will not refuse her the credit of devotion to the Catholic cause. In a week all alarm was at an end. At length, but so late that his appearance was an affront, Darnley arrived : he was received with coldness ; but for the in- terposition of Murray he would not have been allowed to remain a single night, and the next morning he was