t use ... but it might do no harm. He must, of course, however,
first consult the King of France." Cifuentes not liking the mention of
France, the Pope went on maliciously to say that, if he had not gone to
Marseilles, France would certainly have broken with the Church, as England
had done, and would have set up a Patriarchate of its own. Indeed he was
afraid it might yet come to that. The King of France had told him how he
had been pressed to consent, and had made a merit of refusing. Cifuentes
could but remark on the singular character of the King of France's
religious convictions.[288]

The embassy was not sent to England, and the Pope kept back his invocation
of the secular arm till a Prince could be found who would act. No one
would be the first to move, and the meeting of the two Kings at Calais was
indefinitely postponed. Francis complained of Henry's arbitrary manner,
"speaking to me at times as if I were his subject." The explanation given
to the world of the abandonment of the interview was that Henry found it
inconvenient to leave the realm. A letter of Chapuys explains where the
special inconvenience lay. The Lady Anne would be Regent in his absence,
and could not be trusted in her present humour. "I have received word from
a trustworthy source," he wrote on the 23d of June to the Emperor, "that
the concubine has said more than once, and with great assurance, that the
moment the King crosses the Channel to the interview, and she is left
Regent, she will put the Princess to death by sword or otherwise. Her
brother, Lord Rochford, telling her she would offend the King, she
answered she cared not if she did. She would do it if she was burnt or
flayed alive afterwards. The Princess knows her danger, but it gives her
no concern. She puts her trust in God."

Imperfect credit must be given to stories set current by malicious
credulity. But the existence of such stories shows the reputation which
Anne had earned for herself, and which in part she deserves. Chapuys
reiterated his warnings.

"Pardon my importunity," he continued, "but, unless your Majesty looks
promptly to it, things will be past remedy. Lutheranism spreads fast, and
the King calculates that it will make the people stand by him and will
gain the Germans. So long as danger is not feared from without, Parliament
will agree to all that he wishes. Were your Majesty even to overlook all
that he has done, he would persist in the same way. Good Catholics ar