is
claim, and she agreed to a secret acknowledgment of it.[298] Her
ambassador gave expression to these views in Scotland, and she herself
spoke in similar terms to the Scottish ambassador in England.

The acceptance of these overtures by King James was the decisive event
of his life. He was not so blind as not to see that any promise on the
part of England, although not binding in regular form, afforded a kind
of certainty entirely different from all the assurances of the League,
however comprehensive. The Queen moreover pledged herself to a subsidy
that was very acceptable to the poverty of the Scots, while her
protection served the King himself as a stay against his nobles, whom
he dared not alienate, but on whom he could not allow himself to be
dependent.

Thus in July 1586 an offensive and defensive alliance was concluded at
Berwick between the King and Queen in order to protect the religion
adopted in their dominions, which, in the language of the Prayer-book,
they termed the 'Catholic,' and to repel, not only every invasion, but
every attempt on the person of their majesties or their subjects,
without regard to any ties of blood or relationship. The King promised
the Queen to come to her assistance with all his forces in the event
of any attack on the Northern counties, and not to allow his subjects
to support any hostile movements which might take place in Ireland.
Every word shows how absolutely and entirely in the events that were
at hand he identifies the interests of England with his own.[299]

It was of more especial advantage to the Queen that James entirely
renounced the cause of his mother. He had exerted himself in her
behalf, but his intercession never went beyond the limits of friendly
representation. Mary's secret resignation of her claims in favour of
Philip II had certainly not been unknown to him; he complained on one
occasion that she threatened him on his throne and was as little
attached to him as to the Queen of England. He loudly condemned her
conspiracies against Elizabeth and gave utterance to the unfeeling
remark that she might drain the cup which she had mixed for herself.
At the trial of his mother he was content with obtaining an assurance
from the English Parliament, which was of great importance to him,
that his rights should not be impaired by her condemnation. The claims
to the English throne which brought Mary to destruction rather served
to strengthen her son, as it threw him a