Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/182

162 'To allure you to travail with us, to bring their purpose to pass,' he replied, 'they make you believe it is the mean to bind them to work against the Bishop of Rome, which tale, as it is new to you, and pleasant, because you do desire it, so it is to us very familiar. Heretofore when they would work anything with us, then had they nothing in their mouths but the Bishop of Rome's matters, the devising of a Patriarchate, which hath been so often said, so little done.' What had been their real conduct? They had bound themselves in their last treaty with the Emperor to maintain the Council of Trent, and the two Courts were known to be plotting a Catholic league. The safeguard of the Reformation would have been the Evangelical Alliance, and Bruno, while he regretted that it had not been completed, admitted that the fault had not been with England.

Evidently Bruno had not been admitted to the full secrets of the mission, and the minister repaired to Sturmius.

Privatus cum privato, in strictest secrecy, the latter said that he was allowed to mention the terms of peace to which the King of France had resolved to consent. Both Francis and the Dauphin distrusted the Emperor. Milan would never be surrendered. Madame d'Estampes hated the Admiral and all the Imperial faction; and the prolonged stay of Gardiner at Brussels had filled the friends of England at Paris with alarm. Granvelle was believed to have repeated the suggestion of a daughter of Ferdinand as a suitable wife for Prince