he representative of his sovereign;
but the objection declared the attitude which Charles was resolved to
maintain, and which, in fact, he maintained throughout. "The emperor,"
wrote Lord Wiltshire to Henry, "is stiffly bent against your Grace's
matter, and is most earnest in it; while the pope is led by the emperor,
and neither will nor dare displease him."[259] From that quarter, so long
as parties remained in their existing attitude, there was no hope. It seems
to have been hinted, indeed, that if war broke out again between Charles
and Francis, something might be done as the price of Henry's surrendering
the French alliance;[260] but the suggestion, if it was made, was probably
ironical; and as Charles was unquestionably acting against his interest in
rejecting the English overtures, it is fair to give him credit for having
acted on this one occasion of his life, upon generous motives. A respectful
compliment was paid to his conduct by Henry himself in the reproaches which
he addressed to the pope.[261]

So terminated the first and the last overture on this subject which Henry
attempted with Charles V. The ambassadors remained but a few days at
Bologna, and then discharged their commission and returned. The pope,
however, had played his part with remarkable skill, and by finessing
dexterously behind the scenes, had contrived to prevent the precipitation
of a rupture with himself. His simple and single wish was to gain time,
trusting to accident or Providence to deliver him from his dilemma. On the
one hand, he yielded to the emperor in refusing to consent to Henry's
demand; on the other, he availed himself of all the intricacies to parry
Catherine's demand for a judgment in her favour. He even seemed to part
with the emperor on doubtful terms. "The latter," said the Bishop of
Tarbes,[262] "before leaving Bologna, desired his Holiness to place two
cardinals' hats at his disposal, to enable him to reward certain services."
His Holiness ventured to refuse. During his imprisonment, he said he had
been compelled to nominate several persons for that office whose conduct
had been a disgrace to their rank; and when the emperor denied his orders,
the pope declared that he had seen them. The cardinals' hats, therefore,
should be granted only when they were deserved, "when the Lutherans in
Germany had been reduced to obedience, and Hungary had been recovered from
the Turks." If this was acting, it was skilfully managed, and it d