ff; which causes all sorts of doubts
and mistrusts, the effect whereof the premier minister of Spain, Count
Olivarez, is very careful to aggravate by saying that, if the pope
granted a dispensation for the marriage with France, the king his master
would march to Rome with an army, and give it up to sack."

"We will soon stop that," answered Mary de' Medici quickly; "we will cut
out work for him elsewhere." At last it was agreed that King James and
his son should sign a private engagement, not inserted in the contract of
marriage, "securing to the English Catholics more liberty and freedom in
all that concerns their religion, than they would have obtained by virtue
of any articles whatsoever accorded by the marriage treaty with Spain,
provided that they made sparing use of them, rendering to the King of
England the "obedience owed by good and true subjects; the which king,
of his benevolence, would not bind them by any oath contrary to their
religion." The promises were vague and the securities anything but
substantial; still, the vanity as well as the fears of King James were
appeased, and Richelieu had secured, simultaneously with his own
ascendency, the policy of France. Nothing remained but to send to Rome
for the purpose of obtaining the dispensation. The ordinary ambassador,
Count de Bethune, did not suffice for so delicate a negotiation;
Richelieu sent Father Berulle. Father Berulle, founder of the brotherhood
of the Oratory, patron of the Carmelites, and the intimate friend of
Francis de Sales, though devoid of personal ambition, had, been clever
enough to keep himself on good terms with Cardinal Richelieu, whose
political views he did not share, and with the court of Rome, whose most
faithful allies, the Jesuits, he had often thwarted. He was devoted to
Queen Mary de' Medici, and willingly promoted her desires in the matter
of her daughter's marriage. He found the court of Rome in confusion, and
much exercised by Spanish intrigue. "This court," he wrote to the
cardinal, "is, in conduct and in principles, very different from what
one would suppose before having tried it for one's self; for my part, I
confess to having learned more of it in a few hours, since I have been on
the spot, than I knew by all the talk that I have heard. The dial
constantly observed in this country is the balance existing between
France, Italy, and Spain." "The king my master," said Count de Bethune,
quite openly, "has obtained fr