pushed vigorously what seemed to be Scotland's only chance of
safety--the marriage of Mary with the semi-idiot heir of Spain.

The English Catholics were drawn into the plot. "Only let Mary marry the
heir of Spain, and we will salute her as our leader," said they. But
Elizabeth soon gained wind of it, as usual, and was ready with her
antidote--a most extraordinary one--the proposal that Mary should wed
her own lover, Lord Robert Dudley, with the assurance of the English
succession after Elizabeth's death without issue. It was a mere feint,
of course, but it divided Scotland, and unsettled Mary herself.

Meanwhile, Philip, with his leaden methods, was pondering and seeking
fresh pledges and guarantees from the English Catholics. Before his
temporising answer came Elizabeth had frightened Mary's advisers into
doubt, while she was holding the English Catholics in check by dangling
Darnley and Dudley before Mary's eyes, and swearing deadly vengeance if
she married the Spaniard.

Elizabeth's first aim was to embroil Mary's prospects by discrediting
her in the eyes of foreign powers. To this end was directed the offer
alternately of Dudley and Darnley as a husband, and Elizabeth's pretence
of shocked reprobation of Mary in connection with Chastelard's escapade.
It must be confessed that Mary's imprudence aided Elizabeth's object,
and the sour bigotry of Knox, which looked upon all gaiety as a sin,
served the same purpose. All this drove the unhappy queen more and more
into the arms of the Catholic party as her only means of defence.


_III.--Prudence Overcome by Passion_