3 .i2 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 44. mained to be seen to what extremity Elizabeth in her resentment would be provoked. The lords had been long waiting at Stirling for a sign from Berwick ; but no sign came, and when the moment of extremity arrived Bedford had no definite orders. They remembered 1 559, when they had been encouraged by similar promises to rebel, and when Elizabeth had trifled with her engage- ments so long and so dangerously. Elizabeth had given her word ; but it was an imperfect security ; and the uncertainty produced its inevitable effect in dishearten- ing and dividing them. ' Though your intent be never so good to us/ Randolph wrote to Leicester on the 3 ist of July, 'yet we fear your delay that our ruin shall prevent your support ; when council is once taken nothing is so needful as speedy execution : upon this we wholly depend ; in her Majesty's hands it standeth to save our lives or suffer us to perish ; greater honour her Majesty cannot have than that which lieth in her power to do for us/ 1 While the Congregation were thus held in suspense, Mary Stuart was all fire, energy, and resolution. She understood at once that Elizabeth was hesitating ; she knew that she had little to fear from Argyle and Murray until they were supported in force from England ; and leaving no time for faction to disintegrate her own sup- porters or for the Queen of England to make up her mind, she sent letters to the noblemen on whom she could rely, desiring them to meet her in arms at Edinburgh on the 9th of August. WRIGHT'S Elizabeth, vol. i.
