[Sidenote: The king's assurances.]

It cannot be supposed that such a leaning could be manifested toward the
Huguenot party, and such amity concluded with the Protestant kingdom of
England, without arousing grave solicitude on the part of the Pope and
other Roman Catholic sovereigns of Europe. Pius the Fifth determined, if
possible, to deter Charles from permitting the hateful marriage between
his sister and the heretical Prince of Navarre. He therefore promptly
despatched his nephew, the Cardinal of Alessandria,[874] first to
Sebastian of Portugal, whom he found no great difficulty in persuading
again to entertain the project of a marriage with Margaret of Valois, and
thence, with the utmost haste, to the court of Charles the Ninth.[875] The
legate, when admitted to an audience, unfolded at great length the
grievances of the pontiff--the mission of a heretic, formerly a bishop, as
envoy to Constantinople, the rumored opposition of the king to the Holy
League against the Turk, but especially the contemplated nuptials of a
daughter of France with the son of Jeanne d'Albret. Charles replied to
these charges in the most politic manner. He prayed that the earth might
open and swallow him up, rather than that he should stand in the way of so
illustrious and holy league as that against the infidel. As to his zeal
for the Christian faith, he demonstrated it--albeit some might object that
the fraternal affection which was reported to subsist between the parties
hardly rendered this argument convincing--by the fact of his having
exposed, in its defence, his dearest brother, the Duke of Anjou, to all
the perils of war. By civil war the resources of his kingdom had been so
weakened that they barely sufficed for its protection. He justified the
Navarrese marriage by alleging the remarkable traits which made Henry
superior to any other prince of the Bourbon family, and by the great
benefit which religion would gain from his conversion. In short, Charles
was profuse in protestations of his sincere determination to maintain the
Catholic faith; and, drawing a valuable diamond ring from his finger, he
presented it to the legate as a pledge, he said, of his unalterable
fidelity to the Holy See, and a token that he would more than redeem his
promises. The cardinal legate, however, declined to receive the gift,
saying that he was amply satisfied with the plighted word of so great a
king, a security more firm than any other pledge that coul