595 Henry received solemn absolution from Clement the Eighth.
From that moment France rose again into her old power, and the old
national policy of opposition to the House of Austria threw her weight
into the wavering balance of Philip's fortunes. The death of Parma had
already lightened the peril of the United Provinces, but though their
struggle in the Low Countries was to last for years, from the moment of
Henry the Fourth's conversion their independence was secure. Nor was the
restoration of the French monarchy to its old greatness of less moment
to England. Philip was yet to send an armada against her coasts; he was
again to stir up a fierce revolt in northern Ireland. But all danger
from Spain was over with the revival of France. Even were England to
shrink from a strife in which she had held Philip so gloriously at bay,
French policy would never suffer the island to fall unaided under the
power of Spain. The fear of foreign conquest passed away. The long
struggle for sheer existence was over. What remained was the
Protestantism, the national union, the lofty patriotism, the pride in
England and the might of Englishmen, which had drawn life more vivid and
intense than they had ever known before from the long battle with the
Papacy and with Spain.

END OF VOL. IV

TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES:

The following words used an oe ligature in the original:

manoeuvres
manoeuvring

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