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Papal usurpations,-sank before the temptation. He professed his willingness to join hand and heart with the Emperor in restoring unity to Christendom and crushing the Reformation. Anticipating and exceeding the requests which had been proposed to him, he volunteered his services to urge in his own person on Henry the necessity of submitting to the universal opinion of Christendom; and, to excuse or soften the effrontery of the demand, he suggested, that, in addition to the censures, a formal notice should be served upon all Christian princes and potentates, summoning them to the assistance of the Papacy to compel the King of England with the strong hand to obey the sentence of the See of Rome. A Catholic league was now on the point of completion. The good understanding so much dreaded by English ministers, between France, the Empire, and the Papacy, seemed to be achieved. A council, the decision of which could not be doubtful, would be immediately convoked by Paul, under the protectorate of the two powers; and the Reformation would become a question no longer of argument, but of strength.

Happily, the triple cord was not yet too secure to be broken by an accident. The confederacy promised favourably till the new year. At the end of January it became known in Italy that the January.

'Bien estoit d'advis quant au faict d'Angleterre, afin qu'il eust plus de couleur de presser le Roy dudit pays a se condescendre a l'opinion universelle des Chrêtiens, que l'Empereur fist que notre Sainct

1536.

Pere sommast de ce faire tous les princes et potentats Chrêtiens; et a luy assister, et donner main forte pour faire obeir le dit Roy à la sentence et determination de l'Eglise.' -DU BELLAY: Memoirs, p. 136.

original cause of the English quarrel existed no longer -that Queen Catherine was no more. On the first arrival of the news there was an outburst of indignation. Stories of the circumstances of her death were spread abroad with strange and frightful details. Even Charles himself hinted his suspicions to the Pope that she had been unfairly dealt with, and fears were openly expressed for the safety of the Princess Mary. But, in a short time, calmer counsels began to prevail. Authentic accounts of the Queen's last hours must have been received early in February from the Spanish ambassador, who was with her to the end; and as her decease gave no fresh cause for legitimate complaint, so it was possible that an embarrassing difficulty was peacefully removed. On both sides there might now, it was thought, be some relaxation without compromise of principle; an attempt at a reconciliation might at least be made before venturing on the extremity of war. Once more the Pope allowed the censures to sleep. The Emperor, no longer compelled by honour to treat Henry as an enemy, felt himself released from the necessity of making sacrifices to Francis. He allowed his offer of Milan to the Duke of Orleans to melt into a proposal which would have left uninjured the Imperial influence in Italy; and Francis,

March.

·

' DU BELLAY: Memoirs. Hic | Harvel to Starkey, from Venice, palam obloquuntur de morte illius Feb. 5, 1535-6: ELLIS, second ac verentur de Puellâ regiâ ne brevi series, vol. it. sequatur.' 'I assure you men speak here tragice of these matters which p. 442. is not to be touched by letters.'— ¦

2 Pole to Prioli: Epist. vol. i.

who had regarded the duchy at last as his own, was furious at his disappointment, and prepared for immediate war. So slight a cause produced effects so weighty. Henry, but a few weeks before menaced with destruction, found himself at once an object of courteous solicitation from each of the late confederates. The Pope found a means of communicating to him the change in his sentiments. Francis, careless of all considerations beyond revenge, laboured to piece together the fragments of a friendship which his own treachery had dissolved: and Charles, through his resident at the Court of London, and even with his own hand in a letter to Cromwell, condescended to request that his good brother would forget and forgive what was past. The occasion of their disagreement being removed, he desired to return to the old terms of amity. The Princess Mary might be declared legitimate, having been at least born in bonâ fide parentum; and as soon as this difficulty should have been overcome, he promised to use his good offices with the Pope, that, at the impending council, his good brother's present marriage should be declared valid, and the succession arranged as he desired. Finally, that he might lose no time in reaping the benefit of his advances, he reminded Henry that the old treaties remained in force by which they had bound themselves to assist each other in the event of

1 There hath been means made unto us by the Bishop of Rome himself for a reconciliation.'—Henry VIII. to Pace: BURNET's Collectanea, P. 476.

2 Henry VIII. to Pace: BURNET's Collectanea, p. 476. LORD HERBERT, P. 196. DU BELLAY'S Memoirs.

invasion; that he looked to his good offices and his assistance in the now imminent irruption of the French into Italy.

The English Government lavished large sums as secret service money in the European Courts. Though occasionally misled in reports from other quarters, they were always admirably informed by their agents at Rome. Henry knew precisely the history of the late coalition against him, and the value which he might attach to these new professions. He had no intention of retracing any step which he had taken. For his separation from the rest of Christendom, Rome and the other powers were alone responsible.

Events would now work for him. He had only to stand still. To the Pope he sent no answer; but he allowed Sir Gregory Cassalis to hold an indirect commission as his representative at the Papal Court. To Francis he remained indifferent. The application on the part of the Emperor had been the most elaborate, and to him his answer was the most explicit. He received the Spanish ambassador in an audience at Greenwich, and, after a formal declaration had been made of Charles's message, he replied with the terms on which he would consent to forget the events of the preceding years. The interruption of friendly relations between England and Spain was the fault wholly and entirely, he said, of the Emperor. When the crown of the

1 DU BELLAY.

Cæsars was last vacant, it had been at the disposal of
himself; and he it was who had permitted the choice to
fall on its present wearer. In Charles's difficulties he
had lent him money to him Charles was indebted for
his power, his influence, and his fame; and, in return,
he had met only with ingratitude. To remember in-
juries, however, was not in his nature.
'We can con-

tinue our displeasure to no man,' he said, 'if he do once
remove the cause thereof; so if he which is a prince of
honour, and a personage whom we once chose and
thought worthy for his virtue and qualities to be ad-
vanced, will, by his express writings, either desire us to
put his doings towards us in oblivion, or by the same
purge himself and declare that such things wherein we
have noted unkindness at his hands have been unjustly
imputed to him, we shall gladly embrace his offer
touching the reconciliation.' Being the injured party,
he could receive no advance and treat of no conditions
unless with this necessary preliminary. Let the Em-
peror deal with him frankly, and he should receive a
reasonable answer to all his reasonable requests.

'For the Bishop of Rome, he had not,' he continued, 'proceeded on so slight grounds as he would alter any one piece of his doings. In all his causes he had laid his foundation upon the laws of God, nature, and honesty, and established his works made upon the same with consent of the states of the realm in open and high court of Parliament.' The Bishop, however, had himself made known a desire for a return to a better under

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