him at his side; but further he would not
pledge himself. The time was past for a Wolsey patriarchate, and Francis,
curiously enough, expressed doubts whether Wolsey was not after all
betraying Henry. "There are some," he said, "which the King my brother
doth trust in that matter that would it should never take effect.
Campeggio told me he did not think the divorce would be brought about, but
should be dissembled well enough. When the Cardinal of England was with
me, as far as I could perceive, he desired the divorce might take place,
for he loved not the Queen; but I advise my brother not to trust any man
too much, and to look to his own matters. The Cardinal has great
intelligence with the Pope, and Campeggio and they are not inclined to
it."[65]

Things could not go on thus for ever. There would have been an excuse for
Clement, if with a consciousness of his high office he had refused to
anticipate a judgment till the case had been heard and considered. But
from the first the right or wrong of the cause itself had been disregarded
as of no moment. Nothing had been thought of but the alternate dangers to
be anticipated from the King or the Emperor. Had the French driven the
Imperialists out of Italy, the divorce would have been granted without
further question. The supreme tribunal in Christendom was transparently
influenced by no motive save interest or fear. Clement, in fact, had
anticipated judgment, though he dared not avow it. He had appointed a
commission, and by the secret decretal had ruled what the decision was to
be. The decretal could not be produced, but, with or without it, the King
insisted that the court should sit. Campeggio had been sent to try the
cause, and try it he should. Notice was given that the suit was to be
heard at the end of June. Wolsey perhaps had chosen a date not far from
the close of term, that the vacation might suspend the process, and give
time for further delay.

Since a trial of some kind could not be avoided, final instructions were
sent from Rome to Campeggio. "If," wrote Sanga to him, "the Pope was not
certain that he remembered the injunctions which he gave him by word of
mouth, and which had been written to him many times, he would be very
anxious. His Holiness had always desired that the cause should be
protracted in order to find some means by which he could satisfy the King
without proceeding to sentence. The citation of the cause to Rome, which
he had so often insisted