oreover, so well suited to the delicate mission to England,
was a coincidence so remarkable, that Philip and Mary might well be
excused for discerning in it the finger of Providence.

On the seventeenth of the month, parliament, owing to the queen's
indisposition, met at Whitehall; and Pole made that celebrated speech in
which he recapitulated some of the leading events of his own life, and
the persecutions he had endured for conscience' sake. He reviewed the
changes in religion which had taken place in England, and implored his
audience to abjure their spiritual errors, and to seek a reconciliation
with the Catholic Church. He assured them of his plenary power to grant
absolution for the past; and--what was no less important--to authorize
the present proprietors to retain possession of the abbey lands which
had been confiscated under King Henry. This last concession, which had
been extorted with difficulty from the pope, reconciling, as it did,
temporal with spiritual interests, seems to have dispelled whatever
scruples yet lingered in the breasts of the legislature. There were few,
probably, in that goodly company, whose zeal would have aspired to the
crown of martyrdom.

The ensuing day, parliament, in obedience to the royal summons, again
assembled at Whitehall. Philip took his seat on the left of Mary, under
the same canopy, while Cardinal Pole sat at a greater distance on her
right.[120]

[Sidenote: THE CATHOLIC CHURCH RESTORED.]

The chancellor, Gardiner, then presented a petition in the name of the
lords and commons, praying for reconciliation with the papal see.
Absolution was solemnly pronounced by the legate, and the whole assembly
received his benediction on their bended knees. England, purified from
her heresy, was once more restored to the communion of the Roman
Catholic Church.

Philip instantly despatched couriers, with the glad tidings, to Rome,
Brussels, and other capitals of Christendom. Everywhere the event was
celebrated with public rejoicings, as if it had been some great victory
over the Saracens. As Philip's zeal for the faith was well known, and as
the great change had taken place soon after his arrival in England, much
of the credit of it was ascribed to him.[121] Thus, before ascending the
throne of Spain, he had vindicated his claim to the title of Catholic,
so much prized by the Spanish monarchs. He had won a triumph greater
than that which his father had been able to win after years of