[Footnote 167: Renard to Charles V., October 31:
_Rolls House MSS._]

It was true that she had deliberately promised not to do what she was
now resolved on doing, but that was no matter.

The Commons' petition was by this time (November) ready, but the
agitation of the last scene brought on a palpitation of the heart
which for the time enabled the queen to decline to receive it; while
Renard assailed the different ministers, and extracted from them their
general views on the state of the country, and the measures which
should be pursued.

The Bishop of Winchester he found relaxing in his zeal for Rome, and
desiring a solid independent English government, the re-enactment of
the Six Articles, and an Anglican religious tyranny supported by the
lords of the old blood. Nobles and people were against the pope,
Gardiner said, and against foreign interference of all sorts; Mary
could not marry Philip without a papal dispensation, which must be
kept secret; the country would not tolerate it;[168] the French would
play into the hands of {p.073} the heretics, and the Spanish
alliance would give them the game; there would be a cry raised that
Spanish troops would be introduced to inflict the pope upon the people
by force. If the emperor desired the friendship of England, he would
succeed best by not pressing the connection too close. Political
marriages were dangerous. Cromwell tied Henry VIII. to Anne of Cleves;
the marriage lasted a night, and destroyed him and his policy. Let the
queen accept the choice of her people, marry Courtenay, send Elizabeth
to the Tower, and extirpate heresy with fire and sword.

[Footnote 168: "Il fauldra obtenir dispense du
Pape, pour le parentage, qui ne pourra estre
publique ains secrete, autrement le peuple se
revolteroit, pour l'auctorite du Pape qu'il ne
veult admettre et revoir."--Renard to Charles V.,
November 9: _Rolls House MSS._]

These were the views of Gardiner, from whom Renard turned next to
Paget.

If the queen sent Elizabeth to the Tower, Lord Paget said, her life
would not be safe for a day. Paget wished her to be allowed to choose
her own husband; but she must first satisfy parliament that she had no
intention of tampering with the succession. Should she die without
children, the country must not be left exposed to claims from Spain on