Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/484

 470 REIGN OP ELIZABETH, [CH. 56. Anjou could not be allowed to hear mass in England ; and although neither Anjou nor his mother would have allowed such an objection to have stood in their way, could they have assured themselves that if they yielded the Queen would be satisfied, they feared that it was merely an excuse, and that a fresh difficulty would be immediately raised. It was admitted on all sides that if he married Elizabeth Anjou's Catholicism would be of no long continuance. Charles IX. gave Walsingham to understand ' that he was no enemy to the Protestant religion, as, if the marriage proceeded, would well ap- pear/ Anjou was ruled by his mother, and ' what her religion is/ Walsingham wrote to Burghley, 'your Lordship can partly guess.' M. de Foix, who was em- ployed by Catherine to discuss matters with the English ambassador, ' swore to him using God for witness/ ' that in his conscience he thought Monsieur within a twelvemonth would be as forward to advance religion as any in England/' Monsieur himself said, 'that if England meant to proceed there was no fear that re- ligion would prove a cause of breach ; ' and Walsing- nam concluded, 'that if the match went forward it would set the triple crown quite aside.' 1 Yet that Anjou should formally bind himself never while in England to attend mass or confess to a priest, was a demand to which a French prince could not be expected to submit, while there was a doubt whether the uncertain object of his ambition would not flit be- 1 Walsingham to Burghley, April 22 : DIGGES. Walsingham to Burgh- ley, June 21 : MSS. France.