Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/410

 396 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 55. tlirow herself upon the protection of the Christian princes, and especially of the Pope's Holiness and of your Majesty. They are willing to venture their lives and fortunes for religion and for that Queen's title The Duke of Norfolk, the first nobleman in England, consents to place himself at their head. The Duke has ever in -secret favoured the Catholics, His chief friends are Catholics, and he has constantly supported the Queen of Scots in deed and word. He possesses there- fore the full confidence of the Catholic party. 1 This Duke at the same time is the leader of a section of the heretics who might perhaps abandon him were he to be openly reconciled to the Church. It is in con- sequence considered expedient that he should temporize, the better to use their assistance and bring them under the yoke of the Church when occasion shall serve. He has influence among the Protestants in two ways : first, a great many of them favour the Queen of Scots' title. They believe that she has the right, and they resent the late imprisonment of the Duke on her account. The Queen of England intends in the approaching Par- liament to advance the claims of the Earl of Hertford, and they will take arms with the Duke to prevent such a wrong from being done. ' Secondly, they are alarmed and angry at the mar- riage which is now talked of between the Queen of England and the Duke of Anjou. The Queen is sup- posed to have set her heart upon it, and it is thought that the Protestants would even prefer the restoration of the faith to the consummation of a union which they