Grand, vol iii. p. 28. Strype, vol. i. p. 93, with App. No.
23-24, etc.

** Lord Herbert, p. 221 Burnet, p. 59.

Campeggio lay under some obligations to the king; but his dependence on
the pope was so much greater, that he conformed himself entirely to the
views of the latter; and though he received his commission in April,
he delayed his departure under so many pretences, that it was October
before he arrived in England. The first step which he took was to exhort
the king to desist from the prosecution of his divorce; and finding
that this counsel gave offence, he said, that his intention was also to
exhort the queen to take the vows in a convent, and that he thought
it his duty previously to attempt an amicable composure of all
differences.[* ]The more to pacify the king, he showed to him, as also
to the cardinal the decretal bull, annulling the former marriage with
Catharine; but no entreaties could prevail on him to make any other of
the king's council privy to the secret.[**] In order to atone in some
degree for this obstinacy, he expressed to the king and the cardinal the
pope's great desire of satisfying them in every reasonable demand; and
in particular, he showed that their request for suppressing some more
monasteries, and converting them into cathedrals and episcopal sees, had
obtained the consent of his holiness.[***]

These ambiguous circumstances in the behavior of the pope and the
legate, kept the court of England in suspense, and determined the king
to wait with patience the issue of such uncertain councils.

{1529.} Fortune, meanwhile, seemed to promise him a more sure and
expeditious way of extricating himself from his present difficulties.
Clement was seized with a dangerous illness; and the intrigues, for
electing his successor, began already to take place among the cardinals.
Wolsey, in particular, supported by the interest of England and of
France, entertained hopes of mounting the throne of St. Peter;[****] and
it appears, that if a vacancy had then happened, there was a probability
of his reaching that summit of his ambition. But the pope recovered,
though after several relapses; and he returned to the same train of
false and deceitful politics, by which he had hitherto amused the court
of England. Be still flattered Henry with professions of the most
cordial attachment, and promised him a sudden and favorable issue to his
process: he still continued his secret negotiations wi