Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/37

 I 5 6 9 .] ENGLISH PARTIES. to imagine where matters would tend/ he consented to a private interview with Norfolk, and met him in the park at Hampton Court. The Duke reminded him of their conversation at York, and first reproached him for want of considera- tion for his sister. He replied, ' that so far from not loving his sister, she was the creature upon earth he loved the best. He never wished her harm ; her own pressing was the occasion of that which was uttered to her infamy/ The Duke then spoke of Mary Stuart's general posi- tion, of the succession to the crown, and the necessity of settling it, of the impossibility of finding any other person in whose favour it would be determined ; he alluded to the union of the realms; to the quiet of Scotland to all those subjects which had been dwelt upon again and again, and were familiar to both of them : the road to their attainment lay through the Queen of Scots' marriage with some English nobleman who would be agreeable to all parties ; and the Duke implied, that if he -himself were again to think of it, the Queen of England would make no objection. He did not directly mention himself, but he left Murray to understand what he meant. He did not say that Elizabeth would consent ; yet his words, and * the cir- cumstances of the case, gave Murray matter enough to think that she had been foreseen in the Duke's design/ l So far as the world knew, the Duke was a Protestant. 1 Murray to Elizabeth, October 1569 : MSS. Scotland. Compare Trial of the Duke of Norfolk, State Trials, vol. j.