end in question was the restoration of England to the unity of the Catholic faith. She was probably quite sincere in her reiterated statement that she was content as she was, and had no wish to marry at all; but this she conceived to be the appointed task of her life, and as soon as she had come to the conclusion that the true means to accomplish it was by a marriage with Philip, to marry Philip became part of her duty as Queen. That she afterwards nursed herself into an enthusiastic desire for the marriage itself, and was disappointed just in proportion to her enthusiasm, is a mere incident in the history, and serves only to show how really great her ignorance was, and how completely she had fallen into the hands of a single party in the State. That she should have looked upon Philip as the person who would enable her to carry out her reactionary views, may seem strange when we consider the repeated exhortations[1] to caution and moderation in her dealings with religion which she received from both Philip's father and his ambassador Renard at the beginning of her reign: but she may well have considered that their advice was due to an exaggerated view of the number and influence of the Protestant party in England, such as an ambassador, drawing his conclusions mainly from what he saw in London, would be not unlikely to form; and she knew that both Philip and his father were pretty deeply committed on the orthodox side. That she was right in the main, the later history of her reign shows plainly enough. The action and reaction of the different parties concerned, and the curious modes in which their various aims crossed and partially defeated one another, all seemed, at this period, to
- ↑ See despatches in the Granvelle Papers, vol. iv.; quoted also by Froude, vol. vi. p. 43.
