1583.] THE JESUITS IN SCOTLAND. 301 the Duke, instead of thinking, like his Holiness and your Majesty, of the salvation of souls, might perhaps be looking rather to the succession to this crown, to which it was the readiest road, and to the interests of himself and his family ; and that for this reason ho wished to know your Majesty's decision about the inva- sion. I hesitated therefore to enter into particulars till I had heard what had been arranged between Baptista de Tassis and the Duke of Guise ; but not wishing that he should think me indifferent, I referred him to Guise, from whom he would soon hear all/ l Whatever might be the faults of the Spaniards, to dissemble their religion was never one of them ; and Mendoza's opinion of Lennox, already unfavourable, was not raised by the secretary's account. But Lennox was not Scotland ; or if the objects of his whole party were less pure than they ought to have been, they might be turned notwithstanding to purposes of good. Philip was coming very slowly to a consciousness that he would be obliged to interfere. The French succession was becoming as momentous as the English. Henry III.'s health had been destroyed by debauchery. Alen- pon's was little better, and Alen^on in the Netherlands was at open war with Spain. Next after him was the King of Navarre. The Duke of Guise was the only hope of the orthodox Catholic party in France, and Philip was keenly alive to the necessity of strengthening the Duke's influence and securing his friendship. Already 1 Mendoza to Philip, January 26, 1583.
