ations on the monasteries, and even on the churches, which they
thought profaned by idolatry; and deeming the property of the clergy
lawful prize, they took possession, without ceremony, of the far greater
part of the ecclesiastical revenues. Their new preachers, who had
authority sufficient to incite them to war and insurrection, could not
restrain their rapacity; and fanaticism concurring with avarice, an
incurable wound was given to the papal authority in that country. The
Protestant nobility and gentry, united by the consciousness of such
unpardonable guilt, alarmed for their new possessions, well acquainted
with the imperious character of the house of Guise, saw no safety for
themselves but in the protection of England; and they despatched Morton,
Glencarne, and Lidington, to express their sincere gratitude to the
queen for her past favors, and represent to her the necessity of
continuing them.

Elizabeth, on her part, had equal reason to maintain a union with
the Scottish Protestants; and soon found that the house of Guise,
notwithstanding their former disappointments, had not laid aside the
design of contesting her title, and subverting her authority. Francis
and Mary, whose counsels were wholly directed by them, refused to
ratify the treaty of Edinburgh and showed no disposition to give her
any satisfaction for that mortal affront which they had put upon her, by
their openly assuming the title and arms of England. She was sensible
of the danger attending such pretensions; and it was with pleasure she
heard of the violent factions which prevailed in the French government,
and of the opposition which had arisen against the measures of the duke
of Guise. That ambitious prince, supported by his four brothers, the
cardinal of Lorraine, the duke of Aumale, the marquis of Elbeuf, and the
grand prior, men no less ambitious than himself, had engrossed all the
authority of the crown; and as he was possessed of every quality which
could command the esteem or seduce the affections of men, there appeared
no end of his acquisitions and pretensions. The constable, Montmorency,
who had long balanced his credit, was deprived of all power: the princes
of the blood, the king of Navarre, and his brother, the prince of Conde,
were entirely excluded from offices and favor: the queen mother herself,
Catharine de Medicis, found her influence every day declining; and
as Francis, a young prince, infirm both in mind and body, was wholly
g