was through them that the unhappy Queen of Scots met her fate; and in Spain they were so numerous, that before the coming of the Armada, Walsingham had been informed of every detail of the preparations, the number of men engaged, the make of the ships, and even the inventories of horses, armour, food, and ammunition. He knew well the weapons which the Catholic Spaniards and the supporters of Mary Stuart employed against England, and little as such weapons were to be admired, he made use of them himself against those who had first employed them.

Walsingham was a wise, industrious, and resolute politician, and had he been more trusted by Elizabeth, he might have had greater results to show for his labours, but his methods of getting information and the "traps" he set to catch his political enemies partake too much of the worst features of medieval Catholic Europe to gain even scant admiration from a modern student.

His favourite maxim was, "Knowledge is never too dear," and no words could better express his policy.

He was constantly employed by Elizabeth on difficult and dangerous missions, although she never liked or trusted him fully. It was he who had to conduct in Paris the delicate negotiations

for breaking off the proposed marriage between the Queen and the Duc d'Alençon, and Walsingham was driven nearly to despair by the contradictory instructions he received from his royal mistress about the matter. To Burghley he wrote at the time, "I see her Majesty not disposed to redeem her peril otherwise than necessity shall lead her ; who is one of the most dangerous pilots that can take helm in hand, for where necessity rules, election and consent can take no place."

And to the Queen herself, in despair at the vacillating conduct which seemed to be imperilling the safety of England, he ends one of his letters with the despairing words, "I conclude, therefore, in the heat of duty, that there is no one that serves in the place of a councillor that either weighs his own credit, or carries that sound affection to your Majesty that he ought to do, that would not wish himself in the farthest part of Ethiopia rather than enjoy the fairest palace in England. The Lord God direct your Majesty's heart to take that way of counsel that may be most for your honour and safety."

Then, later on, when Alençon had returned to England, and the marriage between him and Elizabeth seemed imminent, Walsingham tried praising her suitor to her. "He hath an excellent under

standing," quoth the diplomatic minister, "and truly his ugly face is the worst part of him." "Then, thou knave," cried the Queen, "why hast thou so many times said ill of him?"

And she abused the Secretary in words far more appropriate to her own conduct than to his, for being "as changeable as a weathercock."

Their intercourse must have been generally of a somewhat stormy character, for Walsingham had no fear of her passionate nature, and could not be awed as Burghley was at times by outbreaks such as the Court of Henry VIII. had been wont to witness. The Queen visited him occasionally at his private house of Barnes, in Surrey, where he lived after he sold Foot's Cray manor, but he was always too poor to give her the entertainment she loved. On the day when she knighted him at Windsor, she presented him with gold plate to the value of 60 ounces, and in return he gave her a gown of blue satin, but such amenities seemed rare between them.

He was a faithful and wise servant to her and to England, and she valued his services little as she appreciated himself.

He was so much in want of money that Burghley interceded on his behalf for the reversion of some of the lands forfeited by Babington and his sup

porters in the plot to release Mary, Queen of Scots, but nothing was bestowed on the hard-working Secretary, although it was largely owing to him that the plot was discovered.

His only child Frances had married Sir Philip Sidney, and it was Walsingham who had to stand surety for the payment of his son-in-law's debts before the public funeral of the brave young knight could take place.

Walsingham had never been a man of robust health, and the want of money and the distrust of the Queen embittered and probably shortened his life.

He died in London on the 6th of April 1590, and in his will he left orders that he "should be buried without any such extraordinary ceremonies as usually appertain to a man serving in his place, in respect of the greatness of his debts." His wishes were carried out, and the funeral took place "about 10 of the clock of the next night following in Paules Church without solemnity."

Besides being an able and indefatigable politician, Walsingham was a man of great cultivation, and of wide sympathies, an ardent patron of literature, a correspondent of Richard Grenville and Humphrey Gilbert, and an enthusiastic supporter of the colonising enterprises. He was a

consistent and zealous Protestant, and it is to him that the wise saying is attributed, so far in advance of the religious toleration of the times, that men's consciences "are not to be forced but won, and seduced by force of truth, and with the aid of time, and use of all good means of instruction or persuasion."