s, several frequently
sent off on a single day, acquaint us with the rapid progress of the
king's disease, and the cold calculations based upon it. "The
constitution of his body," he writes in the third of his letters that
bear date Nov. 28th (Hardwick, State Papers, i. 156), "is such, as the
physicians do say he cannot be long-lived: and thereunto he hath by his
too timely and inordinate exercise now in his youth, added an evil
accident; so as there be that do not let to say, though he do recover
this sickness, he cannot live two years; _whereupon there is plenty of
discourses here of the French Queen's second marriage_; some talk of the
Prince of Spain, some of the Duke of Austrich, others of the Earl of
Arran." No wonder that cabinet ministers and others often grew weary of
the interminable debates respecting the marriages of queens regnant, and
that William Cecil, as early as July, 1561, wrote respecting Queen Bess:
"Well, God send our Mistress a husband, and by time a son, that we may
hope our posterity shall have a masculine succession. This matter is too
big for weak folks, and too deep for simple." Hardwick, State Papers, i.
174.]

[Footnote 962: Throkmorton to Chamberlain, Nov. 21, 1560. British
Museum.]

[Footnote 963: De Thou, ii. 833, etc. (liv. 26); D'Aubigne, liv. ii., c.
20, p. 103.]

[Footnote 964: On the 17th of Nov. Throkmorton had written: "The house
of Guise practiseth by all the means they can, _to make the Queen Mother
Regent of France_ at this next assembly; _so as they are like to have
all the authority still in their hands, for she is wholly theirs_."
Hardwick, State Papers, i. 140. D'Aubigne (_ubi supra_), who attributes
to the sagacious counsel of Chancellor de l'Hospital the credit of
influencing Catharine to take this course.]

[Footnote 965: I must refer the reader for the details of this
remarkable interview and its results, which, it must be noted, Catharine
insisted on Antoine's acknowledging over his signature, to the _Histoire
de l'Estat de France, tant de la republique que de la religion, sous le
regne de Francois II._, commonly attributed to Louis Regnier de la
Planche (pp. 415-418)--a work whose trustworthiness and accuracy are
above reproach, and respecting which my only regret is that its valuable
assistance deserts me at this point of the history.]

[Footnote 966: Ibid., 413.]

[Footnote 967: The words in the text are those of Calvin, in a letter to
Sturm, written Dec. 16