ve. Henry merely said
he would mediate, and, if France would not agree to reasonable terms, he
would then declare for the Emperor.[440]

The Emperor, like many other persons, had attributed the whole of Henry's
conduct to the attractions of Anne Boleyn. He had supposed that after his
eyes had been opened he would abandon all that he had done, make his peace
with the Pope, and return to his old friends with renewed heartiness. He
was surprised and disappointed. Mediation would do no good at all, he
said. If the King would join him against France, the Emperor would
undertake to make no peace without including him, and would take security
for the honour and welfare of the realm. But he declined to quarrel with
the Pope to please the King; and if the King would not return to the
obedience of the Holy See or submit his differences with the Pope to the
Emperor and the Council, he said that he could make no treaty at all with
him. He directed Chapuys, however, to continue to discuss the matter in a
friendly way, to gain time till it could be seen how events would
turn.[441]

How events did turn is sufficiently well known. The war broke out--the
French invaded Italy; the Emperor, unable to expel them, turned upon
Provence, where he failed miserably with the loss of the greater part of
his army.

Henry took no part. The state of Europe was considered at length before
the English Council. Chapuys was heard, and the French Ambassador was
heard; and the result was a declaration of neutrality--the only honourable
and prudent course where the choice lay between two faithless friends who,
if the King had committed himself to either, would have made up their own
quarrels at England's expense.

CHAPTER XXIV.

Expectation that Henry would return to the Roman Communion--Henry persists
in carrying out the Reformation--The Crown and the clergy--Meeting of a
new Parliament--Fresh repudiation of the Pope's authority--Complications
of the succession--Attitude of the Princess Mary--Her reluctant
submission--The King empowered to name his successor by will--Indication
of his policy--The Pilgrimage of Grace--Cost of the Reformation--The
martyrs, Catholic and Protestant.

Whether Henry, on the exposure of the character of the woman for whom, in
the world's union, he had quarrelled with Rome and broken the union of
Christendom, would now reverse his course and return to the communion of
the Apostolic See, was the question on which al