dall, vol. ii. p. 295.

** Goodall. vol. ii. p. 301.

Mary still insisted upon this alternative; either that Elizabeth should
assist her in recovering her authority, or should give her liberty to
retire into France, and make trial of the friendship of other princes:
and as she asserted, that she had come voluntarily into England, invited
by many former professions of amity, she thought that one or other of
these requests could not, without the most extreme injustice, be refused
her. But Elizabeth, sensible of the danger which attended both these
proposals, was secretly resolved to detain her still a captive; and as
her retreat into England had been little voluntary, her claim upon the
queen's generosity appeared much less urgent than she was willing to
pretend. Necessity, it was thought, would to the prudent justify her
detention: her past misconduct would apologize for it to the equitable:
and though it was foreseen, that compassion for Mary's situation, joined
to her intrigues and insinuating behavior, would, while she remained in
England, excite the zeal of her friends, especially of the Catholics,
these inconveniences were deemed much inferior to those which attended
any other expedient. Elizabeth trusted also to her own address,
for eluding all these difficulties: she purposed to avoid breaking
absolutely with the queen of Scots, to keep her always in hopes of an
accommodation, to negotiate perpetually with her, and still to throw the
blame of not coming to any conclusion, either on unforeseen accidents,
or on the obstinacy and perverseness of others.

We come now to mention some English affairs which we left behind us,
that we might not interrupt our narrative of the events in Scotland,
which formed so material a part of the present reign. The term fixed by
the treaty of Chateau-Cambresis for the restitution of Calais, expired
in 1567; and Elizabeth, after making her demand at the gates of that
city, sent Sir Thomas Smith to Paris; and that minister, in conjunction
with Sir Henry Norris, her resident ambassador, enforced her
pretensions. Conferences were held on that head, without coming to any
conclusion satisfactory to the English. The chancellor, De L'Hospital,
told the English ambassadors, that though France by an article of the
treaty was obliged to restore Calais on the expiration of eight years,
there was another article of the same treaty, which now deprived
Elizabeth of any right that could accrue