Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/284

 264 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 59 was not so much as imagined that when the Irish people came forward of their own accord to do his bidding, he would obstruct their wishes. The King of .Spain con- jectured more accurately the Pope's probable feelings. His conduct with respect to England had given small satisfaction at the Yatican. He had stood between his sister-in-law and Paul IY. He had not interfered with her himself, and he had prevented the French from inter- fering. When the ruling Pontiff would wait no longer, and had fulminated his excommunication, Philip had forbidden the publication of the Bull both in Spain and in Flanders. When the Irish petition was therefore pre- sented to him, he refused to reply to it till the pleasure of the Pope should be known ; and the Pope soon justi- fied his hesitation by expressing the strongest dis- approval of the proposal. He was weary of the luke- warmness of Spain. He was expecting a Catholic revolution in England which would restore the faith, and give the throne to Mary Stuart ; and he had not the slightest intention of allowing her expected dominions to be dismembered in favour of a prince who had done so little to deserve his favour. The Archbishop of Cashel had written a letter to Pius full of eagerness and confidence. The Cardinal Secretary replied, with cold brevity, that his Holiness was astonished that the Irish Church and people should have ventured to transfer their allegiance without his sanction. They ought to have remembered that Ireland was a fief of the See of Eome, which only a grant under the Pope's seal could alienate. If the Catholic King would ask the Pope to