Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/61

 1563.] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. dress to the same purpose. Elizabeth said bitterly that ' the lines which they saw in her face were not wrinkles but small-pox marks ; God had given children to St Elizabeth, and old as she was he might give children to her ; if she appointed a successor it would deluge Eng- land in blood/ l Both Houses were profoundly angry. The Protest- ants supposed that the Queen was sacrificing the Re- formation and the country to her secret passion for Lord Robert ; and that she was studiously allowing the Scottish Queen's pretensions to drift into tacit recogni- tion. Day after day throughout the session the subject continued to be harped upon. A Bill was proposed by Cecil by which, if the Queen died, the privy council were to continue in office with imperial authority till Parliament could decide on the future sovereign. But this too came to nothing, 2 and the Queen continued to give evasive answers till the prorogation of Parliament should leave her free again. And yet the Protestant party were determined to carry something which should answer their purpose ; and at once though the first penal law had been lost enable them to hold down the Catholics, and in case of Elizabeth's death, to prevent Mary Stuart's succession. 3 To check the exultation of Montague and his friends at their first success in Parliament, Cecil contrived another 1 De Quadra to Philip, February 6 : MS. Simancas. 2 Draft of an Act of Parliament, in Cecil's hand : Domestic MSS. vol 3 ' Esta Icy contra los Catolicos no se ha hecho con otra fin mas prin- cipal que de excluir la de Escocia desta sucession por via indirecta.' De Quadra to Philip, February 20.