gotiating at the same moment with the Protestant princes in Germany,
it seemed as if a council summoned under such auspices would endeavour
to compose the general discords in a temper of wise liberality, and that
some terms of compromise would be discovered where by mutual concessions
Catholic and Protestant might meet upon a common ground.

The moment was propitious for such a hope; for the accession of a
moderate pope coincided with the reaction in Germany which followed the
scandals at Munster and the excesses of John of Leyden; and Francis
pictured to himself a coalition between France, England, and the
Lutherans, which, if the papacy was attached to their side, would be
strong enough to bear down opposition, and reconstitute the churches of
Europe upon the basis of liberality which he seemed to have secured for
the church of France. The flattering vision in the autumn of the
following year dazzled the German princes. Perhaps in the novelty of
hope it was encouraged even by the pope, before he had felt the strong
hand of fate which ruled his will.

[Sidenote: Anxiety and alarm of the emperor.]

[Sidenote: The mission of the Count of Nassau to Paris with proposals
for a league.]

[Sidenote: The emperor's offers are rejected by Francis.]

To Charles V. the danger of some such termination of the great question
at issue appeared most near and real. Charles, whose resentment at the
conduct of England united with a desire to assert his authority over his
subjects in Germany, beheld with the utmost alarm a scheme growing to
maturity which menaced alike his honour, his desire of revenge, his
supremacy in Europe, and perhaps his religious convictions. A liberal
coalition would be fatal to order, to policy, to truth; and on the
election of Cardinal Farnese, the Count de Nassau was sent on a secret
mission to Paris with overtures, the elaborate condescension of which
betrays the anxiety that must have dictated them. The emperor, in his
self-constituted capacity of the Princess Mary's guardian, offered her
hand with the English succession to the Duke of Angoulesme. From the
terms on which he was thought to stand with Anne Boleyn, it was thought
possible that Henry might consent;[411] he might not dare, as
d'Inteville before suggested, to oppose the united demands of France and
the Empire.[412] To Margaret de Valois the Count was to propose the
splendid temptation of a marriage with Philip.[413] If Francis would
surrender t