and obedience only to the King's
Majesty, and to the heirs of his body, according to the limitation and
rehearsal within the statute of succession; and not to any other within
this realm, or foreign authority, prince, or potentate: and in case any
oath be made or hath been made by you to any other person or persons, that
then you do repute the same as vain and annihilate: and that to your
cunning, wit, and utmost of your power, without guile, fraud, or other
undue means, ye shall observe, keep, maintain, and defend this act above
specified, and all the whole contents and effects thereof; and all other
acts and statutes made since the beginning of this present parliament, in
confirmation or for due execution of the same, or of anything therein
contained. And thus ye shall do against all manner of persons, of what
estate, dignity, degree, or condition soever they be; and in no wise do or
attempt, or to your power suffer to be done or attempted, directly or
indirectly, any thing or things, privily or apertly, to the let, hindrance,
damage, or derogation thereof, by any manner of means, or for any pretence
or cause, so help you God and all saints."[702]

With this last resolution the House rose, having sat seventy-five days, and
despatched their business swiftly. A week later, the news arrived from Rome
that there too all was at length over; that the cause was decided, and
decided against the king. The history of the closing catastrophe is as
obscure as it is strange, and the account of the manner in which it was
brought about is unfortunately incomplete in many important particulars.
The outline only can be apprehended, and that very imperfectly.

On the receipt in Paris of the letter in which Henry threatened to organise
a Protestant confederacy, Du Bellay, in genuine anxiety for the welfare of
Christendom, had volunteered his services for a final effort. Not a moment
was to be lost, for the courts of Rome were already busy with the great
cause; but the king's evident reluctance to break with the Catholic powers,
gave room for hope that something might still be done; and going in person
to England, the bishop had induced Henry, at the last extremity, either to
entrust him with representative powers, or else to allow him after all to
make some kind of concession. I am unable to learn the extent to which
Henry yielded, but that an offer was made of some kind is evident from the
form of the story.[703] The winter was very co