Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/384

 3 70 REIGN OF E LIZ ABE TH. [OH. 5 5 . before she committed herself further, 1 Anjou was young, supposed to be brave, and not without ability. Wal- singham was decidedly in favour of the marriage. Cecil, though fully conscious of the objections, thought them far out-balanced by the advantages ; and so many dan- gers threatened Elizabeth, that something might well be risked to extricate her. He drew a sketch of the con- ditions under which he considered that Anjou might be received. On the point on which the negotiations with the Archduke had broken down he was particularly yielding. 'The Archduke had been required to conform to the Anglican communion. Anjou would do enough if he would accompany the Queen to the Royal Chapel, and would promise, neither directly nor indirectly, 'to attempt the alteration of the laws established' in the constitution of the Church. The Liturgy might be modified to make it palatable to him. The prayers could be said in Latin, and the lessons read in Latin/ ' Should there be any manner of prayer or other thing in the book of the Di- vine Service of England that was not contained in Holy Scripture, nor used in the service of the Church of France, or if in the administration of the sacraments there were things different from the usage of the Church of France, neither the Duke nor his servants need use the same otherwise than as their conscience should persuade/ Still further, it might be hoped that in time the Duke would conform wholly to the religion of his adopted country, but until he was persuaded to accept it with good will, 1 Lord Buckhurst to Elizabeth, March 16 : MSS. France.