Simier and his former master—Alen?on’s altercation with the Queen—The Queen appeals to Sussex—Unpopularity of the match in England—Catharine de Medici plays Elizabeth with her own game—Cecil suggests a loophole of escape—Elizabeth demands French strongholds as security—Alen?on undeceived—Vows vengeance against Elizabeth and his brother for the failure of his suit—Collapse of his resolution—Pinart threatens Elizabeth—Alen?on’s departure for Flushing—Extraordinary demonstration on the part of Elizabeth—Alen?on still doubtful.
As may be imagined, it was not very long before matters came to a crisis between Simier and his former master. The Prince urged Elizabeth again and again, as she loved him, to expel Simier from England; but she was shocked at such an idea. He had only come to justify himself, and she could testify that he had conducted the marriage negotiations better than any one else before or since, and she could not be so unjust as to expel him even to gratify her “chère grenouille.” Then Alen?on began to hector and threaten Simier, and ordered him to return. Simier replied that he was no longer in his service, and would not budge until it suited him; and against this Alen?on could only chafe fruitlessly and continue his complaints to the Queen. All that she, and indeed the whole country, wanted was to see her too persistent suitor himself across the sea284 Cecil pointed out to him that if he stayed over New Year’s Day it would cost him a very large sum in presents, which he might save if he left before; but still he would not go, and Elizabeth began to get angry. She told Cecil on Christmas night that she would not marry Alen?on to be empress of the world, and the next day the Lord Treasurer made another strenuous attempt to get him away, but he found him more obstinate than ever. He said he had been drawn into this Flemish adventure by the English on the bait of a marriage with the Queen, and until she had married him he would stir no further, whatever might happen. If the Queen contemned and threw him over he would arouse Catholic Christendom to avenge him. This alarmed her, and she again sought to bend him to her will by tears, cajoleries, and blandishments. It was not her fault, she said; would he not accept her as a dear friend and sister instead of as a wife? No, he replied; he had suffered, risked, and lost too much to give up the quest now. He would rather die than leave here unmarried to her. Did he, the Queen asked, mean to threaten a poor old woman in her own country? Was this the only result of all his boasted love for her? If she did not think that his violence was inspired by the strength of his affection for her she would surely think him crazy, and she warned him not to sacrifice his best friends by such words. He melted at this, poor, overwrought, sorely-beset lad as he was, burst into tears, and swore he would rather be torn into a thousand bits than lose the hope of marrying her, and thus become the laughing-stock of the whole world. In this mood the Queen could deal with him; she285 mingled her tears with his, wiped his wet cheeks with her own handkerchief, and “consoled him with words more tender even than the occasion demanded.”152 As soon as Alen?on had left her she sent for Sussex, and told him what had passed. She would rather, she said, succeed in getting Alen?on gone without offence than possess another kingdom. She was much disturbed, especially that Alen?on had sent an account to France, as he said he had, of the giving of the pledge and ring. For his own dignity’s sake she thought he ought not to have done so, as her pledge was purely conditional, and the King had not seen fit to accede to her conditions. Besides, she could not bring herself to the idea of marriage, which had always been repugnant to her; “and she hated it more every day, for reasons which she would not divulge to a twin soul if she had one, much less to any living creature.” She entered into a very complete defence of her action in the matter to Sussex, and wound up with, “And now, by God! what living man in future will ever dare to throw the blame on me, seeing that they want to pin me down to a contract that was only conditional?” Poor, honest, consumptive Sussex was certainly not the man to disagree with her, and promised to do his best to get Alen?on away in a good humour. There was an excellent reason why the Queen should prime Sussex with arguments in her justification, because he was the only councillor who was a hard-and-fast advocate of the match, and she knew that all she said to him would be repeated both to Castelnau and to Alen?on’s friends. But Sussex could no more get286 rid of him than could Cecil. The Queen, seeing the possibility of her terms being accepted by Henry III., tried on one occasion to raise the religious difficulty again. Look how difficult it would be, she said to Alen?on, for them to live together if one were a Protestant and the other a Catholic; but he soon met this objection by swearing that he would be a Protestant for her sake, and she dropped the subject.
On New Year’s Day a grand tournament was given in his honour, where he made a determined attempt to revive the idea of a romantic affection for the Queen. When he had to appear in the jousts he entered mounted on a chariot fashioned in the form of a rock, to which he was bound by heavy fetters. He was drawn by figures representing Love and Fate to the Queen’s feet; and Fate addressed to her Majesty some couplets beseeching her to restore the prisoner to his cherished liberty, and then to forget her vow of chastity and let Hymen bind their hearts together. The Duke acquitted himself well in the tourney, and the Queen, before all the company, embraced him again and again for his gallantry. At night she accompanied him to the door of his apartment, and came to visit him before he was out of bed the next morning.153 This was all very fine and quite raised poor Alen?on’s spirits for the time; but our present knowledge enables us to see quite clearly that all these cajoleries were only with the object of getting him away with a good grace.
But if Alen?on failed to understand this his astute mother had no doubt about it, and wrote sharply, reproaching him for his sacrifice of dignity and his interests in submitting to be played with in287 this way. A marriage with an infanta of Spain was once more held out to him, but he knew that his return to France without an alliance and without money would have reduced him to impotence and to the scorn and derision of his brother’s Catholic subjects; and he obstinately held on and refused to go. At last matters began to look serious in England. The murmurs at Alen?on’s continued stay became deeper and deeper. Leicester and Hatton secretly fanned the flame of discontent at the dreaded match until it was ready to burst out at any time; and Cecil went to the Queen and told her that since promises were ineffectual she had better give her suitor a large sum of ready money to induce him to go to the aid of the States, which were now in desperate straits. They had sent a deputation to urge Alen?on to give them a definite answer as to whether he would accept their offer of sovereignty and come over at once or not. He replied that they must do the best they could with the small aid he had already sent them, as he was determined not to go until the Queen had married him, convinced as he was that he would not be supported in the war by her and his brother unless he was married. But when it came to giving ready money frugal Elizabeth was on her guard, and told Cecil that the King of France had not yet sent her an answer to her last conditions, and she was informed that Lansac was on the way with it. She must wait until he arrived. It was clear that if the reply was negative the responsibility for breaking off the marriage would not be hers, and she was not bound to give more money than she felt inclined.
But Simier knew what he was talking about when288 he warned her that the King would accept any terms in the end for the sake of getting quit of his troublesome brother, and although Lansac did not come with the reply, the son of Secretary Pinart arrived in London on the 11th of January bringing with him a complete acceptance by the King, the Queen-mother, and the leading Huguenots, of all Elizabeth’s conditions. This was a facer indeed. Catharine de Medici had beaten her at her own game. But the answer did not find her unprepared: Simier had some days before informed her of its purport, and she had privately summoned Cecil to a conference to devise a way out of the difficulty. He pointed out that as no one could bring the King of France to book if he failed to fulfil the conditions after the marriage had been effected, and Elizabeth was running all the risk in marrying, whilst the King of France incurred none at all, it was only reasonable that he should place the town of Calais into her hands as a security for the due execution of the treaty. This was a device after Elizabeth’s own heart and she adopted it with effusion, pledging Cecil to secrecy and at the same time beguiling Sussex with the hope that the marriage would now really take place, all difficulties being overcome. This latter view was, as was intended, immediately conveyed to Alen?on, and when young Pinart came with his message, the Prince burst into tears at his brother’s love and goodness to him, and bitterly denounced those who had so long estranged them by lies and intrigues. As soon as the Queen was alone he flew to her, bursting with the great news, and said that all her conditions being complied with she had only to say yes and the marriage would289 be concluded. She was kindly, but cool and collected, and told him she would settle the matter with him in a couple of days.
The next morning Alen?on sent Marchaumont to implore the good offices of Cecil, but the old minister said that the matter was entirely in the Queen’s hands, and he was powerless to do anything but express his opinion if the Council was consulted. Sussex was then appealed to, but it happened that he was sulking just then because Marchaumont had persuaded Alen?on to make much of Leicester; and he replied that they had better get the support of their new friend as they appeared to have forgotten their old one, who had done so much for them. This rather damped the young Prince’s hopes, and when he saw the Queen in the evening he pressed her very warmly for an answer. She coolly answered that the King’s communication would be duly considered in Council and a reply given in ordinary course—until then she could say no more. Alen?on lost his temper at this, and they wrangled until they parted.
Elizabeth had to thank her “faithful ape” for the fix in which she found herself. She had opened her inmost heart to him, and he had understood that she would really never marry, but proposed unacceptable conditions in order that the King’s rejection of them might relieve her of the responsibility of the failure whilst binding Alen?on personally to her and raising discord between him and his brother. Simier, as I have said, was now in the King’s pay and faithfully transmitted his knowledge to France. It was perfectly safe, therefore, for Henry III. to promise on paper to accept any conditions, and thus at one290 stroke to earn the gratitude of his brother and cast all responsibility upon the Queen of England. Elizabeth must have had some suspicion of her “ape’s” falsity, because a day or so after young Pinart arrived, Alen?on, who looked upon Simier as the author of all his disappointment, entered the Queen’s chamber and implored her to send him away. She was apparently hesitating when the Prince whipped out his dagger and pressed it against his own breast, swearing by God that he would drive it home and die at her feet if she would not promise him on the spot to dismiss Simier. She replied that he had no need to go to such extremes as that, and that although it was hardly fair to send him away until he had obtained justification, she would do so to please Alen?on. Simier was therefore sent off with letters to the Duke of Montpensier, who, within a given time, was to exonerate him from the charges against him in Alen?on’s name. Before he left, however, he asked the Queen what she was going to do for Alen?on to recompense him for his expenditure in England; to which she replied that she had already done three things for him. She had sent ￡30,000 in cash to help him in the Cambrai affair, she had maintained him in England for a long time, whereby he saved his usual outlay and could employ the money in Flanders, and she had been no party to his going there at all. She said she was very sorry she had carried the marriage negotiations so far, but it was all Simier’s fault, “because the first time Alen?on came he, Simier, insisted upon his having another interview with her before he left.”154
291 In the meanwhile the sudden complaisance of the King of France aroused all sorts of suspicion in the Queen’s mind. It might be a plan for her ruin, she thought, to induce her to entrust large English forces to Alen?on who might at once turn round and make terms with the Spaniards to her detriment, and she was more loath than ever to be over-liberal with him or to allow him to obtain uncontrolled power in the Netherlands. Orange kept writing to Alen?on, showing him how badly he was acting in breaking his promise to the States and lingering in England, but Elizabeth and St. Aldegonde in England were at the same time putting their heads together and planning that if he did go, Orange and his Protestants should always be the stronger power.
In order to ascertain whether anything was being arranged between the French and the Spaniards the Queen took the opportunity, on the night of the 21st of January, as she was walking in the gallery at Whitehall with Alen?on, to say that she had decided to come to terms with Philip. Poor Alen?on was thunderstruck at this specious piece of news, and told Marchaumont afterwards that he could only suppose the Queen meant to leave him floundering in the morass into which she had led him. But this was not her only shot at the same interview. She had already fully primed Simier, who was still lingering here, with similar intelligence, and had arranged that he should enter the gallery by a private door, of which he had the key, as soon as she had fired her shot. Directly he entered she discreetly said it would not become her to stand between master and servant, and retired, leaving Alen?on and the “ape” together. The Prince turned upon his292 former favourite, and sneeringly asked why he was still staying in England. Was he afraid that he, Alen?on, would have him killed if he went to France? “No,” said Simier, “I do not think you would have me killed, but I do fear that I should be murdered by some of my enemies.” Then Alen?on opened the floodgates of his anger and piled reproach upon reproach on the devoted head of poor Simier. He had sold and betrayed his master, he told him; it w............