ENGLISH PARTIES. 75 them. Lord Hunsdon opposed it urgently by letters. 1 Bedford and Bacon were of the same opinion ; while Clinton and Sir Francis Knowles cautioned Norfolk himself against Spanish friendship. Doctor Samson, whom Don Guerau called ' the most pernicious heretic in England/ addressed the Duke ' as if he was an apostle of God/ and commanded him to think no more of the Queen of Scots. Sussex, on the other hand, was going with Pem- broke and Leicester. They could not yet venture to speak to Elizabeth openly about it, but they approached the subject on many sides indirectly. They harped in- cessantly upon the danger of keeping the Queen oi Scots in England. They told her she must either put her out of the way, which they knew she would not do, 2 or send her back to Scotland. Leicester and Norfolk played into each other's hands ; one telling the Queen she was nursing a serpent at her bosom the other re- plying that since the serpent was indisputably heir to the crown, she could be rendered harmless only by being married to an Englishman. 3 Indisputably heir to the crown that was the- fact from which Elizabeth could not extricate herself. It would have been easy for her 1 ' I think you are not ignorant of my opinion of that marriage. I love and honour the Duke so well as I would be right sorry it should take place, for any matter or reason I can yet conclude.' Hunsdon to Cecil, August 30.: MSS. Border. 2 La Mothe Fenelon au Roy, July 27: Depeches, vol.Ji. 3 'El Duque le respondio que el le parecia el derecho de la Reyna de Escocia ser sin question y que tam- hien le pareceria conveniente que la Eeyna de Escocia se casase en Ingla- terra para que en esta parte se re- mitiria al parecer de su Mag d .' Don Guerau to Philip, August 2 ; MSS. Simancaa.
