Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/609

1543.] Romanists and Imperialists, who would gladly see a union among the Catholic powers, and a religious war against heresy. In England analogous parties were contending for supremacy. Gardiner and Bonner looked to an alliance with Charles as their own security against the Protestants. The Duke of Norfolk and his family, for reasons not easy to penetrate, were in the interest of France. Gardiner was the personal enemy of Marillac, the French ambassador. The Duke of Norfolk and his brother, Lord William Howard, were in the habit of paying mysterious midnight visits to the ambassador's house on Tower Hill, and never ceased to labour for the Orleans marriage. The Howards were out of favour at the Court in consequence of the discoveries which accompanied the exposure of the late Queen's misconduct, and it is certain that they were dissatisfied with the private policy of the kingdom; while Marillac was notorious as an adherent of the