when she was in very high spirits with her, he would sanction everything at oncehe answered. , and drank the King’s health, and during the entertainment which followed talked of nothing but the attractions of the French Court.39

Catharine de Medici on her side was just as eager in appearance for the match as Elizabeth—and probably equally insincere, since she too had her own game to play. She had a long talk about it with Smith in Bordeaux in April, in which she said that the ages seemed the principal objection, but if Elizabeth would put up with the youth of the King, she (Catharine) would put up with the age of the Queen; upon which the youthful suitor himself85 burst in with the remark that he hoped his mistress would be as satisfied of his age as he was of hers. Catharine went on to discuss the other two difficulties raised; namely, the objection to the Queen residing out of England, and the fear of the unpopularity of the match; but Smith declined to give any opinion upon the matter. It was clear, indeed, all through that the English ambassador would not commit himself in a negotiation which he felt to be a hollow one. He said his instructions were limited. If the King were a few years older, if he had seen the Queen and really liked her, he (Smith) would feel less astonishment at the present advances, but now—— “But really,” interrupted the King, “I do love her.” “Your Majesty does not know yet what love is,” said Smith, “but you will soon go through it. It is the most foolish, impotent and disrespectful thing possible.” The boy blushed at this, and his mother answered for him saying that his was not a foolish love. Perhaps not, said the ambassador, but it is just because it must rest upon very grave reasons and great and worthy considerations that it ought only to be undertaken after mature deliberation.40 Catharine pressed for a reply before the Bayonne meetings, which were fixed for the following month of May, but this Smith thought impossible. On the following day she again tackled Smith on the subject; and said that, as Cecil himself had had a son at fifteen or sixteen, the King’s age could not be made an objection. Secret as the negotiations were kept, Guzman in London was irritated and alarmed to see the coming and going of Huguenot86 secretaries, without being able to fathom the reasons, although it was evident that something was afoot.