re were increasing,
his own earlier dislike to France and fear of an alliance with her,
appear to have essentially diminished. Already, in the secret political
conferences held at Marburg, he directed his attention to that country,
and it may indeed have been through a French channel, that a portion of
the news concerning the transactions of the Emperor in Spain and Italy,
especially with the Roman See, reached there. Still the French monarch,
Francis I., was not at all friendly to the Reformation. In his own
kingdom he tried to keep it down by force. His queen, a sister of
Charles V., did much to strengthen this feeling. Just at that time
letters from her brother at Augsburg, full of bitter complaints against
the spirit of the Protestants, so hostile to all civil and
ecclesiastical rule, were received in France. But what the King was not
willing to suffer in his own dominions, he beheld not without secret
pleasure in those of his envied and hated rival, for so he always
considered the Emperor, in spite of all ties of relationship. Out of
policy, therefore, in order to weaken the power of Austria, he
supported the German Protestants; and out of policy his envoys in
Switzerland, Dangerant, _seigneur de Boisrigault_ and Maigret,
_seigneur de Villequoy_, sought access even to Zwingli. With Maigret it
appears to have been equally a matter of spiritual interest; for he was
inclined to the Gospel and in after life became a decided Huguenot.

We have seen how Zurich, as well as the other cantons, was formerly
kept back from entering into a closer alliance with France chiefly
through Zwingli's efforts. It is remarkable to observe now a total
change in his views. Let us not condemn him unjustly, but hear him once
more tell his own story. The true picture of the event will show that
apparent inconsistency only sprang from an abiding enthusiasm, in
behalf of the one great idea, to which he had consecrated his life.
"The ambassadors of the King of France," he writes to Jacob Sturm,
"have asked me for an opinion, as to how the power of the Emperor might
be broken, or circumscribed, which I have written out in Latin; I had
refused it twice, and only when they applied the third time, sent it to
them with the knowledge of the Privy Council. It is now (Feb. 28th,
1530) the seventh day since Collin was despatched with it to the French
embassy. I cannot tell whether my paper will be sent along with the
messenger to the King or not." This