494 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 45. solution of marriage was so frequent and facile, that by a kind of tacit agreement children born from connec- tions assumed at the time to be lawful, were, like Mary and Elizabeth of England, allowed to pass as legitimate, and to succeed to their fathers' estates. The Earl of Angus and Queen Margaret were divorced, yet the Eng- lish council had tried in vain to fix a stigma on the birth of Lady Lennox. Archbishop Parker more recently had divorced Hertford and Lady Catherine Grey, yet their son was still the favourite for the succession, of the English Protestants. Both well was ready with an in- stance from his own experience. The marriage between his own father and mother had been declared invalid, yet he had inherited the earldom without challenge. The interests^which^depended^jon the _young^ Prince of Scotland however were too vast to be lightlyjmt in hazard pthere was another and a shorter road out of the difficulty^
- Madam/ said Maitland^ * we are here the chief of
your Grace's council and nobility; we shall find the means that your Majesty shall be quit of your husband without prejudice of your son, and albeit that my Lord of Murray here present be little less scrupulous for a Protestant than your Grace is for a Papist, I am as- sured he will look through his fingers thereto, and will behold our doings, saying nothing to the same/ The words were scarcely ambiguous, yet Murray said nothing. Such subjects are not usually discussed in too loud a tone, and he may not have heard them distinctly. He himself swore afterwards * that if any man said he
