Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/39

 1569.] ENGLISH PARTIES. ^ or consistent course was shared by every one. All ex- pected that Cecil's defiance of Spain would end in ruin, if the Queen of Scots was to continue in England, as a perpetual instigator to conspiracies ; and as there were two parties among the Catholics, so among the more moderate Protestants there were men whose loyalty to Elizabeth was undoubted, while they were assured that things could not safely continue as they were. If Mary Stuart were not to be disgraced, it was really necessary to marry her to some Englishman of rank whose patriotism could be relied upon ; and they too, for the same reasons which had been laid before Murray, agreed on Norfolk as the fittest person. Lei- cester, finding perhaps that the Catholics looked coldly on him, with the Earl of Pembroke and Sir Nicholas Throgmortoii, were the leaders of this new faction They took the Bishop of Ross into their confidence, and the Bishop, after consulting Norfolk, agreed to assist. To Don Guerau Norfolk had represented himself as only anxious for the restoration of Catholicism. The con- ditions of the new alliance were an easier version of the terms first proposed at York, as the basis of the intended compromise ; and it is probable that Norfolk had been made aware of them before he spoke to Murray. All outstanding quarrels in Scotland were to be considered at an end ; the abdication at Lochleven was to be can- celled ; the murder forgotten, and religious rights re- spected on all sides. The Queen of Scots was to abandon her foreign intrigues and alliances, ratify the treaty of Leith, and become a member of the Church of England,