Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/396

376 who regarded his career with the saddest displeasure.

Inevitably, being what he was, when the ruffle of the Reformation arose in England, James inclined to the Papacy. As the English were then on friendly terms with France, their antagonism, diverted from its old quarter, was directed against the Pope and the Emperor: the King of Scotland, therefore, or his advisers, followed with a corresponding opposition. The Emperor humoured his new friend with the prospect of an alliance. The Queen Regent of the Netherlands was suggested to the boy-bridegroom as a venerable wife; and although James continued to write respectfully to his uncle, his efforts were all bent steadily, in a mischievous direction, towards the revival of the animosities which Henry had so temperately laboured to overcome. The sea, from the Humber to the Forth, was infested with Scotch pirates; the rough night-riders of the Borders perceived the leanings of the Court, and were swift to indulge in excesses for which they assured themselves of impunity. Still Henry continued patient, till James arrived at an age when he could be treated as responsible; and then, at last, he wrote to him a letter of moderate remonstrance, following it up with the despatch of a herald, for special complaint on the disorders of the Marches, and with the following message, which ought to have been received as it was intended. 'The herald,' so the King said, 'need use no accumulation of words, save only to put his nephew in remembrance,