478 REIGN OF ELIZABETH, [CH. 61 whether living or dead, was of small importance. Sebastian's place too might have been filled had the royal family of Portugal been more prolific. But Sebastian was childless, and was an only son : his heir was his great uncle, the Cardinal Henry, a priest and childless also ; and next to him was Philip of Spain, whose succession would bring with it the nnion of the Crowns, and the incorporation of the whole peninsula. 1 The Cardinal King was old, and the Portuguese succes- sion became immediately an object of so much interest with Philip, that he was less than ever disposed to undertake new quarrels : while the alarm with which so great an increase of Spanish power was regarded at Paris, drew France and England closer to each other, weakened the influence of Philip's satellites the Guises, disposed Henry III. and the Queen-mother more favour- ably towards the King of Navarre and the Huguenots, and postponed indefinitely the alliance between the Catholic Sovereigns for which the Pope and the Church were thirsting. Another element of quarrel was thrown into the political cauldron. France was now disposed to accept Elizabeth's friendship on her own terms, and should her marriage diplomacy fail, she had less to fear from her lover's resentment. England itself was now politically quiet. The country was prospering with the peace, agriculture was 1 Philip's mother was Isabella, sister of John III. of Portugal. An- tonio, prior of Crato, the only avail- able competitor, was the son of Louis, a younger brother of John, but there was a spot upon his birth, and he was known as Antonio the Bastard.
