man of twenty-four or five, began to be impatient and earnest in
his suit. There was, in fact, one good reason why he should be so.
Elizabeth was forty-eight, and, unless the match were soon concluded,
the time for effecting it would be obviously forever gone by.

[Illustration: THE BARGES ON THE RIVER.]

He had never had an interview with the queen. He had seen pictures of
her, however, and he sent an embassador over to England to urge his
suit, and to convince Elizabeth how much he was in love with her charms.
The name of this agent was Simier. He was a very polite and accomplished
man, and soon learned the art of winning his way to Elizabeth's favor.
Leicester was very jealous of his success. The two favorites soon
imbibed a terrible enmity for each other. They filled the court with
their quarrels. The progress of the negotiation, however, went on, the
people taking sides very violently, some for and some against the
projected marriage. The animosities became exceedingly virulent, until
at length Simier's life seemed to be in danger. He said that Leicester
had hired one of the guards to assassinate him; and it is a fact, that
one day, as he and the queen, with other attendants, were making an
excursion upon the river, a shot was fired from the shore into the
barge. The shot did no injury except to wound one of the oarsmen, and
frighten all the party pretty thoroughly. Some thought the shot was
aimed at Simier, and others at the queen herself. It was afterward
proved, or supposed to be proved, that this shot was the accidental
discharge of a gun, without any evil intention whatever.

In the mean time, Elizabeth grew more and more interested in the idea of
having the young duke for her husband; and it seemed as if the maidenly
resolutions, which had stood their ground so firmly for twenty years,
were to be conquered at last. The more, however, she seemed to approach
toward a consent to the measure, the more did all the officers of her
government, and the nation at large, oppose it. There were, in their
minds, two insuperable objections to the match. The candidate was a
Frenchman, and he was a papist. The council interceded. Friends
remonstrated. The nation murmured and threatened. A book was published
entitled "The Discovery of a gaping Gulf wherein England is like to be
swallowed up by another French marriage, unless the Lord forbid the Bans
by letting her see the Sin and Punishment thereof." The author of it had
hi