XXXVIII. 1561. and Adolph, Duke of Holstein, were encouraged, by the CHAP. same views, to become suitors: and the Earl of Arran, heir to the crown of Scotland, was, by the states of that kingdom, recommended to her as a suitable marriage. Even some of her own subjects, though they did not openly declare their pretensions, entertained hopes of success. The Earl of Arundel, a person declining in years, but descended from an ancient and noble family, as well as possessed of great riches, flattered himself with this prospect; as did also Sir William Pickering, a man much esteemed for his personal merit. But the person most likely to succeed was a younger son of the late Duke of Northumberland, Lord Robert Dudley, who, by means of his exterior qualities, joined to address and flattery, had become in a manner her declared favourite, and had great influence in all her counsels. The less worthy he appeared of this distinction, the more was his great favour ascribed to some violent affection, which could thus seduce the judgment of this penetrating princess; and men long expected that he would obtain the preference above so many princes and monarchs. But the queen gave all these suitors a gentle refusal, which still encouraged their pursuit; and she thought that she should the better attach them to her interests, if they were still allowed to entertain hopes of succeeding in their pretensions. It is also probable that this policy was not entirely free from a mixture of female coquetry; and that, though she was determined in her own mind never to share her power with any man, she was not displeased with the courtship, solicitation, and professions of love, which the desire of acquiring so valuable a prize procured her from all quarters. What is most singular in the conduct and character of Elizabeth is, that though she determined never to have any heir of her own body, she was not only very averse to fix any successor to the crown, but seems also to have resolved, as far as it lay in her power, that no one who had pretensions to the succession should ever have any heirs or successors. If the exclusion given by the will of Henry VIII. to the posterity of Margaret, Queen of Scotland, was allowed to be valid, the right to the crown devolved on the house of Suffolk; and the XXXVIII 1561. CHAP. Lady Catharine Gray, youngest sister to the Lady Jane, was now the heir of that family. This lady had been married to Lord Herbert, son of the Earl of Pembroke; but having been divorced from that nobleman, she made a private marriage with the Earl of Hertford, son of the protector; and her husband, soon after consummation, travelled into France. In a little time she appeared to be pregnant, which so enraged Elizabeth, that she threw her into the Tower, and summoned Hertford to appear, in order to answer for his misdemeanor. He made no scruple of acknowledging the marriage, which, though concluded without the queen's consent, was entirely suitable to both parties; and for this offence he was also committed to the Tower. Elizabeth's severity stopped not here: she issued a commission to inquire into the matter; and as Hertford could not, within the time limited, prove the nuptials by witnesses, the commerce between him and his consort was declared unlawful, and their posterity illegitimate. They were still detained in custody; but by bribing their keepers, they found means to have farther intercourse; and another child appeared to be the fruit of their commerce. This was a fresh source of vexation to the queen; who made a fine of fifteen thousand pounds to be set on Hertford by the star-chamber, and ordered his confinement to be thenceforth more rigid and severe. He lay in this condition for nine years, till the death of his wife, by freeing Elizabeth from all fears, procured him his liberty. This extreme severity must be accounted for, either by the unrelenting jealousy of the queen, who was afraid lest a pretender to the succession should acquire credit by having issue; or by her malignity, which, with all her great qualities, made one ingredient in her character, and which led her to envy, in others, those natural pleasures of love and posterity, of which her own ambition and desire of dominion made her renounce all prospect for herself. There happened, about this time, some other events in the royal family, where the queen's conduct was more laudable. Arthur Pole, and his brother, nephews to the late cardinal, and descended from the Duke of Clarence, a Haynes, vol. i. p. 369. 378. 396. Camden, p. 389. Heylin, p. 154. XXXVIII. together with Anthony Fortescue, who had married a CHAP. sister of these gentlemen, and some other persons, were brought to their trial for intending to withdraw into 1561. France, with a view of soliciting succours from the Duke of Guise, of returning thence into Wales, and of proclaiming Mary Queen of England, and Arthur Pole Duke of Clarence. They confessed the indictment, but asserted that they never meant to execute these projects during the queen's lifetime: they had only deemed such precautions requisite in case of her demise, which some pretenders to judicial astrology had assured them they might with certainty look for before the year expired. They were condemned by the jury, but received a pardon from the queen's clemency". CHAP. XXXIX. 1562. CHAPTER XXXIX. STATE OF EUROPE. — CIVIL WARS OF FRANCE. HAVRE DE GRACE PUT IN POS- AFTER the commencement of the religious wars in France, which rendered that flourishing kingdom, during the course of near forty years, a scene of horror and deState of vastation, the great rival powers in Europe were Spain and England; and it was not long before an animosity, first political, then personal, broke out between the sovereigns of these countries. Europe. Philip II. of Spain, though he reached not any enlarged views of policy, was endowed with great industry and sagacity, a remarkable caution in his enterprises, an unusual foresight in all his measures; and as he was ever cool and seemingly unmoved by passion, and possessed neither talents nor inclination for war, both his subjects and his neighbours had reason to expect justice, happiness, and tranquillity, from his administration. But prejudices had on him as pernicious effects as ever passion had on any other monarch; and the spirit of bigotry and tyranny by which he was actuated, with the fraudulent maxims which governed his counsels, excited the most violent agitation among his own people, engaged him in acts of the most enormous cruelty, and threw all Europe into combustion. After Philip had concluded peace at Château-Cambresis, and had remained some time in the Netherlands, in order to settle the affairs of that country, he embarked for Spain; and as the gravity of that nation, with their respectful obedience to their prince, had appeared more agreeable to his humour, than the homely familiar manners and the pertinacious liberty of the Flemings, it was expected that he would, for the future, reside altogether at Madrid, and would govern all his extensive dominions CHAP. by Spanish ministers and Spanish counsels. Having met XXXIX. with a violent tempest on his voyage, he no sooner ar- 1362. rived in harbour than he fell on his knees; and, after giving thanks for his deliverance, he vowed that his life, which was thus providentially saved, should thenceforth be entirely devoted to the extirpation of heresy. His subsequent conduct corresponded to these professions. Finding that the new doctrines had penetrated into Spain, he let loose the rage of persecution against all who professed them, or were suspected of adhering to them; and by his violence he gave new edge, even to the usual cruelty of priests and inquisitors. He threw into prison Constantine Ponce, who had been confessor to his father, the Emperor Charles, who had attended him during his retreat, and in whose arms that great monarch had terminated his life; and after this ecclesiastic died in confinement, he still ordered him to be tried and condemned for heresy, and his statue to be committed to the flames. He even deliberated whether he should not exercise like severity against the memory of his father, who was sus pected, during his later years, to have indulged a propensity towards the Lutheran principles. In his unrelenting zeal for orthodoxy, he spared neither age, sex, nor condition: he was present, with an inflexible countenance, at the most barbarous executions: he issued rigorous orders for the prosecution of heretics in Spain, Italy, the Indies, and the Low Countries: and having founded his determined tyranny on maxims of civil policy, as well as on principles of religion, he made it apparent to all his subjects, that there was no method, except the most entire compliance, or most obstinate resistance, to escape or elude the severity of his vengeance. During that extreme animosity which prevailed between the adherents of the opposite religions, the civil magistrate, who found it difficult, if not impossible, for the same laws to govern such enraged adversaries, was naturally led, by specious rules of prudence, in embracing one party, to declare war against the other, and to exterminate, by fire and sword, those bigots who, from abhorrence of his religion, had proceeded to an opposition Thuanus, lib. 23. cap. 14. |