marriage, but as she was desirous that the queen of Scots should never
have any husband, she named a man who, she believed, was not likely to
be accepted of; and she hoped by that means to gain time, and elude the
project of any other alliance. The earl of Leicester was too great a
favorite to be parted with; and when Mary, allured by the prospect of
being declared successor to the crown, seemed at last to hearken
to Elizabeth's proposal, this princess receded from her offers, and
withdrew the bait which she had thrown out to her rival.[*] This
duplicity of conduct, joined to some appearance of an imperious
superiority assumed by her, had drawn a peevish letter from Mary; and
the seemingly amicable correspondence between the two queens was, during
some time, interrupted. In order to make up the breach, the queen of
Scots despatched Sir James Melvil to London; who has given us in his
memoirs a particular account of his negotiation.

Melvil was an agreeable courtier, a man of address and conversation;
and it was recommended to him by his mistress, that, besides grave
reasonings concerning politics and state affairs, he should introduce
more entertaining topics of conversation, suitable to the sprightly
character of Elizabeth, and should endeavor by that means to insinuate
himself into her confidence. He succeeded so well, that he threw that
artful princess entirely off her guard,[**] and made her discover the
bottom of her heart, full of all those levities, and follies, and ideas
of rivalship which possess the youngest and most frivolous of her sex.

* Keith, p. 269, 270. Appendix, p, 158. Strype, vol. i. p.
414.

** Haynes, p. 447.

He talked to her of his travels, and forgot not to mention the different
dresses of the ladies in different countries, and the particular
advantages of each in setting off the beauties of the shape and person.
The queen said, that she had dresses of all countries; and she took care
thenceforth to meet the ambassador every day apparelled in a different
habit: sometimes she was dressed in the English garb, sometimes in the
French, sometimes in the Italian; and she asked him which of them
became her most. He answered, the Italian; a reply that he knew would
be agreeable to her, because that mode showed to advantage her flowing
locks, which, he remarked, though they were more red than yellow, she
fancied to be the finest in the world. She desired to know of him what
was repute