[144] Or Willyams. The words are used indifferently.

[145] The clause enclosed between brackets is struck through.

[146] Struck through.

CHAPTER VII.

THE LAST EFFORTS OF DIPLOMACY.

I have now to resume the thread of the political history where it was
dropped at the sentence of divorce pronounced by Cranmer, and the
coronation of the new queen. The effect was about to be ascertained of
these bold measures upon Europe; and of what their effect would be, only
so much could be foretold with certainty, that the time for trifling was
past, and the pope and Francis of France would be compelled to declare
their true intentions. If these intentions were honest, the
subordination of England to the papacy might be still preserved in a
modified form. The papal jurisdiction was at end, but the spiritual
supremacy of the Bishop of Rome, with a diminished but considerable
revenue attached to it, remained unaffected; and it was for the pope to
determine whether, by fulfilling at last his original engagements, he
would preserve these remnants of his power and privileges, or boldly
take up the gage, excommunicate his disobedient subjects, and attempt by
force to bring them back to their allegiance.

[Sidenote: April 22.]

[Sidenote: The king's marriage compels Clement to declare himself.]

The news of what had been done did not take him wholly by surprise. It
was known at Brussels at the end of April that the king had married. The
queen regent[147] spoke of it to the ambassador sternly and
significantly, not concealing her expectation of the mortal resentment
which would be felt by her brothers;[148] and the information was
forwarded with the least possible delay to the cardinals of the imperial
faction at Rome. The true purposes which underlay the contradiction of
Clement's language are undiscoverable. Perhaps in the past winter he had
been acting out a deep intrigue--perhaps he was drifting between rival
currents, and yielded in any or all directions as the alternate pressure
varied; yet whatever had been the meaning of his language, whether it
was a scheme to deceive Henry, or was the expression only of weakness
and good-nature desiring to avoid a quarrel to the latest moment, the
decisive step which had been taken in the marriage, even though it was
nominally undivulged, obliged him to choose his course and openly
adhere to it. After the experience of the past, there could be no doubt
what that course would be.