Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/180

160 The Emperor would not openly interfere, but he allowed the Bishop to console himself for his disappointment by remaining at Brussels for a revision of the treaty. He held out a hope that, under a new form, it might recover its damaged obligations, and become in fact, as, if words had meaning, it ought to have been already, the basis of a genuine alliance. The other negotiation was entrusted to the only hands which combined the necessary delicacy with the equally necessary strength. Paget alone could be relied upon to ascertain the true disposition of the Lutherans. The German contingent, commanded by a friend of the Landgrave, had accepted the King's money, and had never crossed the frontier. Some thousands who had been with the army at Calais, had mutinied and deserted. The delegates at Worms had trifled with Henry's offers of alliance. The Elector personally hated him. The present ambassadors might be the willing instruments of French cunning, or they might be themselves its dupes.

After receiving their instructions from the French Government, the Protestant representatives arrived at Calais in the middle of November. They consisted of Sleidan the historian, John Bruno, Sturmius—not the theologian, but another person of the same name and of more worldly qualities—and two