and, in return, the Emperor had stirred up Pope
Clement to deprive him of his kingdom.

Chapuys said it was not the Emperor's doing. The Pope had done it himself,
at the solicitation of other parties.

So the conference ended, and not satisfactorily. Henry was not a child to
be whipped and caressed. Charles wanted him now, because he was
threatened by France; and he, of his own judgment, preferred the Imperial
alliance, like the rest of his countrymen; but Charles had coerced the
Pope into refusing a concession which the Pope had admitted to be just,
and the King knew better than his Council that the way to secure the
Emperor's friendship was not to appear too eager for it.

The sharpness with which the King had spoken disappointed and even
surprised Cromwell, who, when the audience was over, could hardly speak
for vexation. His impression apparently was that the French faction had
still too much influence with the King, and the French faction was the
faction of Anne. He recovered his spirits when Chapuys informed him of the
concessions which the Emperor was prepared to make, and said that he still
hoped for "a good result."

The next morning, Wednesday, 19th of April, the Privy Council met again in
full number. They sate for three hours. The future of England, the future
of Europe, appeared to them at that moment to be hanging on the King's
resolution. They went in a body to him and represented on their knees that
they believed the Imperial alliance essential to the safety of the
country, and they implored him not to reject a hand so unexpectedly held
out to him on a mere point of honour. Henry, doubtless, felt as they did.
Since his quarrel with Charles he had hardly known a quiet hour; he had
been threatened with war, ruin of trade, interdict, and internal
rebellion. On a return to the old friendship the sullen clergy, the angry
Peers, would be compelled into submission, for the friend on whom they
most depended would have deserted them; the traders would no longer be in
alarm for their ventures; the Pope and his menaces would become a
laughingstock, and in the divorce controversy the right would be tacitly
allowed to have been with the King, since it was to be passed over without
being mentioned. Immense advantages. But the imperious pride of Henry
insisted on the form as well as the substance--on extorting a definite
confession in words as well as a practical acknowledgment. All the
troubles which had fallen on