plained of this injury he could obtain nothing
but an evasive answer; that as the queen of Scots was descended from
the blood royal of England, she was entitled, by the example of many
princes, to assume the arms of that kingdom. But besides that this
practice had never prevailed without permission being first obtained,
and without making a visible difference between the arms, Elizabeth
plainly saw that this pretension had not been advanced during the reign
of her sister Mary; and that, therefore, the king of France intended, on
the first opportunity, to dispute her legitimacy, and her title to
the crown. Alarmed at the danger, she thenceforth conceived a violent
jealousy against the queen of Scots; and was determined, as far as
possible, to incapacitate Henry from the execution of his project. The
sudden death of that monarch, who was killed in a tournament at Paris,
while celebrating the espousals of his sister with the duke of Savoy,
altered not her views. Being informed that his successor, Francis
II., still continued to assume, without reserve, the title of King of
England, she began to consider him and his queen as her mortal enemies;
and the present situation of affairs in Scotland afforded her a
favorable opportunity, both of revenging the injury, and providing for
her own safety.

The murder of the cardinal-primate at St. Andrew's had deprived the
Scottish Catholics of a head whose severity, courage, and capacity had
rendered him extremely formidable to the innovators in religion; and
the execution of the laws against heresy began thenceforth to be more
remiss. The queen regent governed the kingdom by prudent and moderate
counsels; and as she was not disposed to sacrifice the civil interests
of the state to the bigotry or interests of the clergy, she deemed
it more expedient to temporize, and to connive at the progress of a
doctrine which she had not power entirely to repress. When informed of
the death of Edward, and the accession of Mary to the crown of England,
she entertained hopes that the Scottish reformers, deprived of the
countenance which they received from that powerful kingdom, would lose
their ardor with their prospect of success, and would gradually return
to the faith of their ancestors. But the progress and revolutions of
religion are little governed by the usual maxims of civil policy; and
the event much disappointed the expectations of the regent. Many of the
English preachers, terrified with t