54 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 52. These offers were submitted to the Queen of Scots at v:nious intervals and accompanied by language which Elizabeth would have done better to have left unspoken.
- She is careful of your Majesty's welfare/ the Bishop
of Hoss told his mistress, ' and nothing content of your subjects who are declined from your obedience : she says your rebels in Scotland are not worthy to live : I perceive your good sister and all the nobility here be more careful of your honour, weal, and advancement than I ever perceived them before.' 1 The difficulty was the treaty of Leith. The ratifi- cation was the price which the Queen of Scots had all along determined to pay for the recognition of her place in the succession. The Bishop told Elizabeth that she would submit the question to the King of Spain ; if Philip decided against her she would yield. That a proposal so preposterous should have been brought for- ward at all showed the measure of her confidence. She believed Elizabeth was a fool, on whom she might play as upon an instrument. As Elizabeth was obstinate, she thought that a sud- den illness might produce an effect upon her ; and writ- ing to La Mothe Fe*nelon to present a sharp demand for her release, she professed to be seized with symptoms of the same disorder which had so nearly killed her at Jedburgh. 2 They were harmless, being the result the Queen of Scots, May i, 1569 ; In Cecil's hand : Cotton. MSS. CALIG. C. i. 1 The Bishop of Ross to Mary Stuart, May 2: MSS. QUEEN OF SCOTS. 2 Mary Stuart to the Bishop of Ross and La Mothe, May 10: LA- BANOFF, vol. ii.
