Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/339

 1 5 70.] EXCOMMUNICA TION OF ELIZABE TH. 325 Elizabeth herself too had for ever fresh and fresh causes of suspicion dragged before her. A gold brooch fell into her hands in which the lion of Scotland was represented crushing a leopard's skull. The rose and thistle were twined below them with the words ' Ainsy abattra le lyon Escou<joys le liepart Anglois.' ' If that be our hap/ said Randolph, by whom the emblem was sent to London, ' if that be our hap to have our lion of England clawn by the powle, we have over- long nourished so cruel a beast that will devour the whole estate/ 1 Nevertheless the Queen persevered. She had given her word to the King of France, she said, and she meant to keep it ; adding, with a proud consciousness of the truth of the words, that no Sovereign in Christen- dom would have shown the forbearance which she had shown throughout the whole business. 2 She repeated her desire that Lennox and Morton should send com- missioners to London. She assured them that they need be under no alarm. She would provide as carefully for them as for herself, but the cause must come to an end,; ' she could no longer with honour or reason continue to hold the Queen of Scots in restraint/ 3 Of all conditions the best would be the Queen of Scots' marriage to some safe person, Sir Henry Carey ground my desire for the stay of her who otherwise I doubt shall stir up such ill as hereafter all too late may be repented.' MSS. MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS, Rolls House. 1 Randolph to Cecil, October 2. Compare La Mothe, DepecJies. Octo- ber 25. 2 La Mothe : Ibid. 3 Elizabeth to Sussex, September 28 : MSS. Scotland.