Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/481

 R1DOLFI CONSPIRACY. 4^7 Story, the farce having been played out in the Tower, was hanged. Don Guerau claimed him as a subject of Philip. Elizabeth answered that the King of Spain might have his body if he wished for it, but his head should remain in England. 1 The investigation had been simultaneous with the sitting of Parliament, and they came to an end together. The discovery that she was surrounded with treason now rendered it imperative upon Elizabeth to come to a dis- tinct resolution upon her proposed marriage with the Duke of Anjou. The more it was pressed upon her, the more she hated the thought of it. The mocking world outside believed that she was only trifling ; yet among her many changes, her own ministers were un- able to discover her real wishes. Here too, as in so many other matters, the historian finds himself staggering among quicksands of false- hood. Burghley and Walsingham alone are to be de- pended upon as saying what they meant. Some points however can be made out with an approach to certainty. Both the principals first of all detested the marriage in itself, although the force of the political reasons in its favour was felt by each of them. Elizabeth herself believed that when the Duke found himself the husband of ' an ugly old woman/ he would give her ung brerage de France which would leave him a happy widower in six or seven months. He would then marry the Queen of Scots and be King over the whole island. 2 1 La Mothe, June 9 : Depeches, vol. iv.
 * La Mothe, May 2 : Depeches, vol. iv.