THE PARLIAMENT OF 1624. ALLIANCE WITH FRANCE.

After the Prince had taken leave of his Spanish escort, and had gone
on board an English fleet at Santander, whither it had put in to fetch
him away, contrary winds, or, in the words of a contemporary
narrative, 'the brothers Boreas and Eurus,' for a while delayed his
departure. We are assured that people in England never regarded the
weathercocks and the direction of the smoke and of the clouds with
more painful anxiety than at that time. Even among the dependents of
the royal house many almost gave up the Prince as lost; for who, they
said, could trust the word of the Spaniards? The Protestant part of
the population thought that he would at least be compelled to abjure
his religion. At last the wind subsided. On October 5, after an
absence of almost eight months, the Prince arrived in Portsmouth, and
the day after in London. The universal joy with which he was received
was indescribable: all business was at a standstill; the shops were
shut; nothing was seen but waggons driving backwards and forwards,
laden with the wood intended for the bonfires which blazed at evening
in all the open squares, at all corners of the streets, even in the
inner courts, but were most brilliant and costly at the
Guildhall.[432] The joyful acclamations of the multitude mingled with
the sound of the bells; people congratulated each other that the heir
to the throne had returned as he had gone, and that without the
Infanta; for this marriage had never been popular; but above all, that
he returned rather confirmed than shaken in his religion. They
praised God for his deliverance out of the land of Egypt. Even
Buckingham, who was not loved at other times, enjoyed a moment of
universal popularity.

Nevertheless the effect which would have been most welcome to the
majority, that of banishing all thoughts of an alliance with Catholic
powers, and of causing a wife to be sought for the Prince among
Protestants, was certainly not produced, for the King had long been
revolving another plan. The combination with Spain, although it had
best corresponded to his wishes and ideas, had nevertheless been only
an experiment: when it miscarried, he was predisposed to return to the
thought of an alliance with France. The Prince, on his way through
France, had already seized the opportunity of seeing the Princess, his
possible bride, while she was dancing, without being remarked by her;
and the impression whic