istendom became such as to favour the enterprise, England
might evidently look for the worst which the pope, with the Catholic
powers, could execute. If the papal court was roused into so menacing a
mood by the mere intimation of the secret marriage, it was easy to foresee
what would ensue when the news arrived of the proceedings at Dunstable.
Bennet entreated that the process should be delayed till the interview; but
the pope answered coldly that he had done his best and could do no more;
the imperialists were urgent, and he saw no reason to refuse their
petition.[598] This was Clement's usual language, but there was something
peculiar in his manner. He had been often violent, but he had never shown
resolution, and the English agents were perplexed. The mystery was soon
explained. He had secured himself on the side of France; and Francis, who
at Calais had told Henry that his negotiations with the see of Rome were
solely for the interests of England, that for Henry's sake he was marrying
his son into a family beneath him in rank, that Henry's divorce was to form
the especial subject of his conference with the pope, had consented to
allow these dangerous questions to sink into a secondary place, and had
relinquished his intention, if he had ever seriously entertained it, of
becoming an active party in the English quarrel.

The long-talked-of interview was still delayed. First it was to have taken
place in the winter, then in the spring; June was the date last fixed for
it, and now Bennet had to inform the king that it would not take place
before September; and that, from the terms of a communication which had
just passed between the parties who were to meet, the subjects discussed at
the conference would not be those which he had been led to expect. Francis,
in answer to a question from the pope, had specified three things which he
proposed particularly to "intreat." The first concerned the defence of
Christendom against the Turks, the second concerned the general council,
and the third concerned "the extinction of the Lutheran sect."[599] These
were the points which the Most Christian king was anxious to discuss with
the pope. For the latter good object especially, "he would devise and treat
for the provision of an army." In the King of England's cause, he trusted
"some means might be found whereby it might be compounded;"[600] but if
persuasion failed, there was no fear lest he should have recourse to any
other method.