iscussed on the Continent by the papal and imperial
party. The pope had spoken of his censures being enforced, and Francis had
revealed to Henry the nature of the dangerous overtures which had been made
to himself. The Lutheran princes had hurriedly declined to connect
themselves in any kind of alliance with England; and on the 25th of
September, Stephen Vaughan had reported that troops were being raised in
Germany, which rumour destined for Catherine's service.[633] Ireland, too,
as we shall hear in the next chapter, was on the verge of an insurrection,
which had been fomented by papal agents.

Nevertheless, there was no real danger from an invasion, unless it was
accompanied with an insurrection at home, or with a simultaneous attack
from Scotland; and while of the first there appeared upon the surface no
probability, with Scotland a truce for a year had been concluded on the 1st
of October.[634] The king, therefore, had felt himself reasonably secure.
Parliament had seemed unanimous; the clergy were submissive; the nation
acquiescent or openly approving;[635] and as late as the beginning of
November, 1533, no suspicion seems to have been entertained of the spread
of serious disaffection. A great internal revolution had been accomplished;
a conflict of centuries between the civil and spiritual powers had been
terminated without a life lost or a blow struck. Partial murmurs there had
been, but murmurs were inevitable, and, so far as the government yet knew,
were harmless. The Scotch war had threatened to be dangerous, but it had
been extinguished. Impatient monks had denounced the king from the pulpits,
and disloyal language had been reported from other quarters, which had
roused vigilance, but had not created alarm. The Nun of Kent had forced
herself into the royal presence with menacing prophecies; but she had
appeared to be a harmless dreamer, who could only be made of importance by
punishment. The surface of the nation was in profound repose. Cromwell,
like Walsingham after him, may perhaps have known of the fire which was
smouldering below, and have watched it silently till the moment came at
which to trample it out; but no symptom of uneasiness appears either in the
conduct of the government or in the official correspondence. The
organisation of the friars, the secret communication of the Nun with
Catherine and the Princess Mary, with the papal nuncio, or with noble lords
and reverend bishops, was either unknown, o