hed her still more nearly, her resentment, excited
by pride, no longer knew any bounds, and the princess was visibly
exposed to the greatest danger.[v]

Cardinal Pole, who had never taken priest's orders, was another party
proposed to the queen; and there appeared many reasons to induce her to
make choice of this prelate. The high character of Pole for virtue and
humanity; the great regard paid him by the Catholic church, of which he
had nearly reached the highest dignity on the death of Paul III.;[v*]
the queen's affection for the countess of Salisbury, his mother, who
had once been her governess; the violent animosity to which he had been
exposed on account of his attachment to the Romish communion; all these
considerations had a powerful influence on Mary. But the cardinal was
now in the decline of life; and having contracted habits of study and
retirement, he was represented to her as unqualified for the bustle of a
court and the hurry of business.[v**]

* Thuan. lib. ii. cap. 3.

** Depeches de Noailles, vol. ii. p. 147, 163, 214, 215;
vol. iii. p. 27.

*** Godwin, p. 339.

**** Dep. de Noailles, vol. ii. passim.

v Heylin, p. 31. Burnet, vol. ii. p, 255.

v* Father Paul, book iii.

v** Heylin, p. 31.

The queen, therefore, dropped all thoughts of that alliance: but as
she entertained a great regard for Pole's wisdom and virtue, she still
intended to reap the benefit of his counsel in the administration of her
government. She secretly entered into a negotiation with Commendone, an
agent of Cardinal Dandino, legate at Brussels; she sent assurances to
the pope, then Julius III, of her earnest desire to reconcile herself
and her kingdoms to the holy see; and she desired that Pole might be
appointed legate for the performance of that pious office.[*]

These two marriages being rejected, the queen cast her eye towards the
emperor's family, from which her mother was descended, and which, during
her own distresses, had always afforded her countenance and protection.
Charles V., who a few years before was almost absolute master of
Germany, had exercised his power in such an arbitrary manner, that he
gave extreme disgust to the nation, who apprehended the total extinction
of their liberties from the encroachments of that monarch.[**] Religion
had served him as a pretence for his usurpations; and from the same
principle he met with that opposition which overthrew his