on of Dudley, and the
circumstances of the case, were such that mankind have generally
supposed that Elizabeth did not seriously imagine that such a plan
could be adopted, but that she proposed it, as perverse and
intriguing people often do, as a means of increasing the difficulty.
Such minds often attempt to prevent doing what _can_ be done by
proposing and urging what they know is impossible.

In the course of these negotiations, Queen Mary once sent Melville,
her former page of honor in France, as a special embassador to Queen
Elizabeth, to ascertain more perfectly her views. Melville had
followed Mary to Scotland, and had entered her service there as a
confidential secretary; and as she had great confidence in his
prudence and in his fidelity, she thought him the most suitable
person to undertake this mission. Melville afterward lived to an
advanced age, and in the latter part of his life he wrote a narrative
of his various adventures, and recorded, in quaint and ancient
language, many of his conversations and interviews with the two
queens. His mission to England was of course a very important event
in his life, and one of the most curious and entertaining passages in
his memoirs is his narrative of his interviews with the English
queen. He was, at the time, about thirty-four years of age. Mary was
about twenty-two.

Sir James Melville was received with many marks of attention and
honor by Queen Elizabeth. His first interview with her was in a
garden near the palace. She first asked him about a letter which Mary
had recently written to her, and which, she said, had greatly
displeased her; and she took out a reply from her pocket, written in
very sharp and severe language, though she said she had not sent it
because it was not severe enough, and she was going to write another.
Melville asked to see the letter from Mary which had given Elizabeth
so much offense; and on reading it, he explained it, and disavowed,
on Mary's part, any intention to give offense, and thus finally
succeeded in appeasing Elizabeth's displeasure, and at length induced
her to tear up her angry reply.

Elizabeth then wanted to know what Mary thought of her proposal of
Dudley for her husband. Melville told her that she had not given the
subject much reflection, but that she was going to appoint two
commissioners, and she wished Elizabeth to appoint two others, and
then that the four should meet on the borders of the two countries,
and cons