_V.--The Battle of Wits_


Alençon's demands were high, but Elizabeth seems really for once to have
lost her head, and but for the strong opposition of her Council, might
have been drawn into the marriage. Simier, seeing the deadlock, decided
to bring Alençon over at all risks. Leicester, deadly jealous, tried to
assassinate Simier, who revenged himself by divulging to the queen
Leicester's secret marriage. Elizabeth was beside herself with rage, and
more in love than ever with Alençon and his envoy. At length, in August
1579, the young French prince, in disguise, suddenly appeared at
Greenwich. The queen's vanity was flattered, and though the visit was
supposed to be secret, she hardly left her young lover, whilst he, to
judge by his letters, was as badly smitten as she. But though she
promised him marriage, he had to return with little else, and as soon as
he had gone she found many good reasons for delay and hesitation.

In October 1580, a new Catholic combination forced Elizabeth's hands,
and she promised greater help to Alençon's project, whilst trying to
draw France also into open war with Spain. The combat of wits was keen
and cynical, each party trying to pledge the other and to keep free
himself. A great French embassy came to England in April 1581, to
negotiate an alliance and the queen's marriage with Alençon, who had now
re-entered Flanders and was immersed in the struggle against the
Spaniards. The discussions in England were becoming interminable, for
the French ambassadors asked hard terms, when Alençon, in June 1581,
losing patience, suddenly rushed over to England to plead his own cause
independently of his brother's envoys, whom he distrusted with good
reason. This suited Elizabeth, for it made Alençon more dependent upon