Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/286

 272 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [011.54 Philip had no confidence in Norfolk,, and little in the Queen of Scots. They were willing to support her claim to the succession, for they had no alternative ; but they would have her a dependant upon Spain, married, if possible, to Don John of Austria, or so married, at any rate, that her husband should be a Catholic indeed who had never stained his faith by a seeming apostasy. 1 Yet they too had their misgivings and their uncertainties. The friends of England at Edinburgh were ' appalled ' by the vacillation of Elizabeth. The English admirers of Spain were ' dismayed by the careless regard ' with which Philip looked on upon their sufferings, and were beginning to think that they had no refuge but in God. ' The Spaniards/ said Sir Francis Englefield, ' dwelt and busied themselves so long in deliberation that the opportunity was gone before they could resolve to act/ Philip threw the responsibility upon Alva ; and Alva ' would do no iota more than came expressly commanded by his Sovereign/ 2 Elizabeth herself was still the truest friend that the Queen of Scots possessed. If the threat of turning Protestant had been fulfilled in sincerity ; if the lying demonstrations of affection in which Mary Stuart asked the Pope's permission to indulge had been made in earnest ; or if, with or without affection, the conspiring and intriguing had been conclusively abandoned, Eliza- beth would indisputably have sent her back to Scotland, 1 Chamberlain to the Duchess of Feria, April 5 ; Sir T. Englefield to the Duchess of Feria, May 17: Feria, May 17: MSS. Spain. MSS. Spain. 2 Englefield to the Duchess of