Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/401

1536.] an Englishman; and English influences would have surrounded the cradle of his child and of his race. But it might not be. The house of Stuart, like the house of Atreus, could not escape its destiny of blood and calamity. The meeting continued to be talked of. As late as March, 1536, James professed to be steady to his resolution. He was environed with 'spiritual, unghostly councillors, who,' wrote an English minister from Edinburgh, 'if they might destroy us with a word, their devilish endeavours should nothing fail.' But the King, he said, was 'bonæ indolis,' of honest disposition; and on the 16th of that month the queen-mother assured her brother that 'her son was still constant to the meeting, and would not be solicited therefrom by no person.' To sustain him in his purpose Henry at this time proposed to do for him what the Emperor had idly boasted that he would do to create him Duke of York, and nominate him by Act of Parliament in the line of inheritance. Unluckily, 'the unghostly councillors' were strong, and James was weak. They were many, and he stood alone; and an interview between their King and a monarch whose name made the blood run cold in the veins of every priest in the three kingdoms, was too dreadful a peril to be endured. With the whole energy of their united powers the clergy flung themselves into an opposition. From their pulpits they poured out