would make no more
concessions. Casalis prayed him to consider. Waving his arms violently,
Clement said, "I do consider. I consider the ruin which is hanging over
me. I repent what I have done. If heresies arise, is it my fault? I will
not violate my conscience. Let them, if they like, send the Legate back,
because he will not proceed. They can do as they please, provided they do
not make me responsible."

Did the Pope mean, then, Casalis asked, that the commission should not
proceed? The Pope could not say as much as that; he had told Campeggio, he
said, to dissuade the King and persuade the Queen. "What harm could there
be," Casalis inquired, "in showing the decretal, under oath, to a few of
the Privy Council?"

The Pope said the decretal ought to have been burnt, and refused to
discuss the matter further.[51]

CHAPTER V.

Demands of the Imperial Agent at Rome--The alleged Brief--Illness of the
Pope--Aspirations of Wolsey--The Pope recovers--Imperial menaces--Clement
between the anvil and the hammer--Appeal of Henry to Francis--The trial of
the cause to proceed--Instructions to Campeggio--Opinion at Rome--Recall
of Mendoza--Final interview between Mendoza and the King.

Human pity is due to the unfortunate Pope--Vicar of Christ, supreme judge
in Europe, whose decrees were the inspirations of the Holy Ghost--spinning
like a whipped top under the alternate lashes of the King of England and
the Emperor. He had hoped that his decretal would not be known. It could
not be concealed from Mendoza, who discovered, putting the worst
interpretation upon it, "that the Pope and King had been endeavouring to
intimidate the Queen into retiring into a convent." Finding that he, too,
could put no faith in Clement, the Emperor's representative at Rome now
forced a new promise from him. The proceedings in England were not to be
opened without a fresh direct order from the Pope, and this the Pope was
to be forbidden to give. If the King was obstinate and the Queen demanded
it, Campeggio was to leave England, and, notwithstanding his engagements
to the contrary, Clement was to advocate the cause to Rome. The new brief
was sufficient plea. Without it the Legates could come to no conclusion,
"the whole right of the Queen being based upon its contents." The Emperor
had it in his hands, and by refusing to allow it to be examined, except at
Rome, might prevent them from moving.

There was little doubt that the brief had been forg