Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/374

 360 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 55. and bodies of her loyal people, and the evil and froward would put on the likeness of the good. Her Majesty would have no reason to fear the marriage of the Queen of Scots, as now she had great cause to do, nor any practice of troubles in the realm, nor any need of maintaining an armed watch upon adjoining kingdoms/ Marriage then being thus infinitely de- ' sirable, whom should the Queen choose? Should she marry a foreign prince ? Should she in fact marry the Duke of Anjou ? The objections were to be noted first. ' The Duke was scarcely more than a boy, his cha- racter was unknown, and was perhaps unformed. HP had appeared so far to be more a Catholic than a Protestant. Being a Frenchman he would be unwel- come to the English people, and the alliance would com- plete the estrangement with the House of Burgundy. If there were children, and if the King of France were to die, the two crowns would fall to one person ; if there were none, the Duke with his brother's help might encroach upon the crown by colour perhaps of gift from the Pope or finally, if there were no children and the Queen of Scots remained unmarried, her Majesty's life might be prematurely shortened. Some insinuation might light into the heart of the Duke to attain the marriage of the Scottish Queen, whereby to continue in possession of the crown of England, and so conjoin the three kingdoms in his own person.' This was the unfavourable aspect of the marriage, but the medal had a brilliant reverse.