“The enterprise,” said the Commander, “ought certainly to be undertaken as serving the cause of the Lord.  From the Pope we must endeavour to extract a promise of the largest aid we can get for the time when the enterprise can be undertaken.  We must not declare that time however, in order to keep the thing a secret, and because perhaps thus more will be promised, under the impression that it will never take effect.  He added that the work could not well be attempted before August or September of the following year; the only fear of such delay being that the French could hardly be kept during all that time in a state of revolt.”  For this was a uniform portion of the great scheme.  France was to be kept, at Philip’s expense, in a state of perpetual civil war; its every city and village to be the scene of unceasing conflict and bloodshed—­subjects in arms against king, and family against family; and the Netherlands were to be ravaged with fire and sword; all this in order that the path might be prepared for Spanish soldiers into the homes of England.  So much of misery to the whole human race was it in the power of one painstaking elderly valetudinarian to inflict, by never for an instant neglecting the business of his life.

Troops and vessels for the English invasion ought, in the Commander’s opinion, to be collected in Flanders, under colour of an enterprise against Holland and Zeeland, while the armada to be assembled in Spain, of galleons, galeazas, and galleys, should be ostensibly for an expedition to the Indies.

Then, after the conquest, came arrangements for the government of England.  Should Philip administer his new kingdom by a viceroy, or should he appoint a king out of his own family?  On the whole the chances for the Prince of Parma seemed the best of any.  “We must liberate the Queen of Scotland,” said the Grand Commander, “and marry her to some one or another, both in order to put her out of love with her son, and to conciliate her devoted adherents.  Of course the husband should be one of your Majesty’s nephews, and none could be so appropriate as the Prince of Parma, that great captain, whom his talents, and the part he has to bear in the business, especially indicate for that honour.”

Then there was a difficulty about the possible issue of such a marriage.  The Farneses claimed Portugal; so that children sprung from the bloodroyal of England blended with that of Parma, might choose to make those pretensions valid.  But the objection was promptly solved by the Commander:—­“The Queen of Scotland is sure to have no children,” he said.

That matter being adjusted, Parma’s probable attitude as King of England was examined.  It was true his ambition might cause occasional uneasiness, but then he might make himself still more unpleasant in the Netherlands.  “If your Majesty suspects him,” said the Commander, “which, after all, is unfair, seeing the way, in which he has been conducting himself—­it is to be remembered