474 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. JCH. fit. the reception. The Queen said she could not but thank the Duke for renewing his addresses to her, although she observed with some sharpness, as if to disclaim the fault for herself, they had been intermitted for two years. For answer she could but repeat what she had said many times to princes who had aspired to her hand. She could not promise to marry any one whom she had not first seen. It might be that after having seen the Duke she could not accept him, and if his rejection would then be taken as an affront, she could not ask him to come over. If however his protestations were sincere, if he intended to remain her friend at all events, whether now as Duke of Alengon, or hereafter it might be as King of France, whether as her husband or a brother sovereign, she would then be most happy to receive and welcome him in England. She bade him consult his friends, do nothing hastily, and act on mature advice. If on their becoming acquainted a liking sprung up between them, the course would then be plain. If not, no offence was intended, and no offence must be taken. These were her conditions. Should the Duke after hearing them be disposed to visit her, she wished him to come privately without noise or ostentation. 1 ' I cannot tell/ wrote Burghley, in relating what had passed, ' how Bacqueville doth understand this ; but I know how I should understand it if I were in his place. I would be very loath to provoke my master to Her Majesty's answer to Bacqueville, September 7 : MSS. Holland.
