onths later, however, when the prospects of
the marriage became less bright, because of the difficulties arising from
religion, it would seem that, with a perversity not altogether
unexampled, Margaret became more anxious to have it consummated. At least,
Francis Walsingham writes to Lord Burleigh: "The gentlewoman, being most
desirous thereof, falleth to reading of the Bible, and to the use of the
prayers used by them of the religion."[862]

[Sidenote: The Anjou match abandoned.]

Meanwhile, the project of a marriage between Elizabeth and Anjou had, as
we have seen, been virtually abandoned. The matter of religion was the
ostensible stumbling-block; it can scarcely have been the real difficulty
on either side. As to Anjou, the sincerity of his religious convictions is
certainly not above suspicion. But he was the head of a party in his
brother's kingdom, a party that professed unalterable devotion to the
"Holy See" and the old faith. If the eternal rewards of his fidelity to
the papacy were at all problematical, there was no doubt whatever in his
mind of the advantage of so powerful support as that which the
ecclesiastics of France could give him. He was resolved not to throw away
this advantage by openly agreeing to renounce all exercise of his own
religion in England, and this, too, without the certainty that the
concession would secure to him the hand of the queen. And, unfortunately,
it was impossible for him to gain this certainty. Elizabeth was already
pretty well understood. Her fancies and freaks it was beyond the power of
the most astute of her ministers to predict or to comprehend. If the
barrier of religion were demolished, there was no possibility of telling
what more formidable works might be unmasked. And so Henry, rather more
sensible upon this point than even Catharine and Charles, who would have
had him shrink from no concessions, made a virtue of necessity, definitely
withdrew from competition for the hand of a woman for whose personal
appearance it was impossible for him to entertain any admiration; whose
moral character, he had often been told and he more than half suspected,
was bad;[863] and told his friends, and probably believed, that he had
had a narrow escape. The queen, on the other hand, was perhaps not
conscious of insincerity of purpose. She must marry, if not from
inclination, for protection's sake--the protection of her subjects and
herself--so all the world told her; and a marriage that