and, hurried to such friends as he possessed
in the conclave to protest against the appointment. The king, he said,
would inevitably regard it as injurious to the realm and insulting to
himself;[449] and it was madness at such a moment to trifle with Henry's
displeasure.

[Sidenote: Cassalis protests, and the pope condescends to falsehood.]

The Pope, alarmed at the expressions which he was told that Cassalis had
used, sent in haste to urge him, if possible, to allay the storm. He
was not ashamed to stoop to falsehood--but falsehood too awkward to
deceive even the most willing credulity. He had thought, he said, of
nothing but to please Henry. He had been urged by the King of France to
seek a reconciliation with England, and in sending a hat to an English
bishop he had meant nothing but a compliment. The general council would
be held immediately; and it was desirable, according to the constitution
of the church, that a cardinal of every nation should be present. He had
no especial reason for choosing the Bishop of Rochester, except that he
had a high reputation for learning, and he imagined, therefore, that the
king would be gratified.[450] "He implored me," Cassalis wrote, "to make
his excuses to his Majesty, and to assure him how deeply he regretted
his mistake, especially when I assured him that the step was of a kind
which admitted of no excuse."[451]

[Sidenote: The appointment seals Fisher's fate.]

[Sidenote: June 17. He is tried at Westminster,]

[Sidenote: And is condemned.]

Cassalis himself was afterwards disposed to believe that the appointment
was made in thoughtlessness, and that the pope at the moment had really
forgotten Fisher's position.[452] But this could gain no credit in
England. The news reached the government in the middle of June, and
determined the fate of the unfortunate bishop; and with it the fate,
also, of his nobler companion. To the king, the pope's conduct appeared
a defiance; and as a defiance he accepted it. In vain Fisher declared
that he had not sought his ill-timed honours, and would not accept
them. Neither his ignorance nor his refusal could avail him. Once more
he was called upon to submit, with the intimation, that if he refused he
must bear the consequences. His reply remained what it had been; and on
the 17th of June he was taken[453] down in a boat to Westminster Hall,
where the special commission was sitting. The proceedings at his trial
are thus briefly summed up in t