348 REIGN OF ELIZABE TIL [en. 44, such that he could not have saved his life except by the means which he had adopted. Elizabeth had doubtless made it a condition of her further friendship that he should say nothing by which she could herself be incriminated ; and he contented himself with entreating her to intercede for him to ob- tain the Queen of Scots' forgiveness. She affected to hesitate. The Queen of Scots, she said, had so often refused her mediation that s"he knew not how she could offer it again, but she would, communicate with her council, and when she had ascertained their opinions he should hear from. her. Meanwhile she would have him understand that he was in great danger, and that he must consider himself a prisoner. The Earl was then permitted to withdraw. The Queen went aside with the Frenchmen, and assuring them that they might accept what they had witnessed as the exact truth, she begged that they would commu- nicate it to the King of France. To de Silva, when he was next admitted to an audience, she repeated the story word by word, and to him as well as to the others she protested that rebels against their princes should receive from her neither aid nor countenance. 1 So ended this extraordinary scene. Sir James Mel- ville's narrative carries the extravagance one point fur- ther. He describes Elizabeth as extorting from Murray an acknowledgment that she had not encouraged the rebellion, and as then bidding him depart from her 1 De Silva to Philip, November 5 : JUS. Simancas.
