cted, and on other grounds hardly
to be wished. Then men thought how to solve the difficulty in another
way.

The chief danger was this: if an attempt on Elizabeth's life
succeeded, the supreme authority would devolve on Mary, who was on the
spot, who cherished entirely opposite views, and would have at once
realised them:--the thought occurred as early as 1579 of declaring by
formal act of parliament that all persons by whom the reigning Queen
should be in any way endangered or injured should forfeit any claim
they might have to the crown;[254] terms which though general were in
reality directed only against the Queen of Scots; at that time the
proposal was not carried into effect.

The negociations are not yet completely cleared up which were carried
on with Mary in 1582-3 for her restoration in Scotland. The English
once more repeated their old demand, that Mary should even now ratify
the treaty of Edinburgh, and annul all that had been done in violation
of it by her first husband or by herself. She was further not merely
to renounce every design against the security and peace of England,
but to pledge herself to oppose it: and in general, as long as
Elizabeth was alive, to put forward no claim to the English throne:
whether she had such a right after Elizabeth's death the parliament of
England was to decide.[255] Here too the old view came into the
foreground: Parliament was to be made the judge of hereditary right.
The negociation failed owing to the Scotch intrigues of these years,
in which the intention rather was to assert the claim of inheritance
with the strong hand.

And from day to day new attempts on Elizabeth's life came to light. In
1584 Francis Throckmorton, who took part in these very schemes, was
executed: in 1585 Parry also, who confessed having been in connexion
with Mary's plenipotentiary in France, and who had come over to
assassinate Queen Elizabeth. Writings were spread abroad in which
those about her were called on to imitate, against this female
Holofernes, the example set in the book of Judith.

Protestant England in the danger of its sovereign saw its own. In all
churches prayers were offered for her safety. The most remarkable
proof of this temper is contained in an association of individuals for
defending the Queen, which was at that time subscribed to far and wide
through the country. It begins with a statement that, to promote
certain claims on the crown, the Queen's life was threate