Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/114

94 words, for which we may perhaps credit Lord Hertford.

'They desired the Emperor to consider the matter, and to remember that his Majesty was a prince of knowledge and of courage, who, upon confidence of the Emperor's amity, had entered the war with a marvellous charge. Hitherto the treaty had served the Emperor's purpose, and now it was reason his Majesty had some commodity by it; and if it was not regarded now, it would never be regarded. And how that would wound his Majesty's heart, and the hearts of his Highness's subjects likewise, it was good to be considered, and with speed. England had stood the Emperor in good stead. Let the Emperor order England so as it might do so again. The world of itself was changeable, and he had to do with a people that had changed with him often.'

The circulars for the Council of Trent had meanwhile been sent round among the higher clergy. The unwearied Pope began again to weave a league against England; and in the first week in December a war was talked of in the Netherlands, which events seemed as if they might easily precipitate. Charles's Catholic subjects, who wished well to France, had fitted out ships in the Scheldt, and carried stores into the French harbours. French merchants had hired