Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/186

166 yet there was a distrust of conditions arrived at in a passing humour, and disapproved by a powerful faction. The expenses of the war and the terms on which Boulogne was to be held, required to be ventilated; and suspicion was justified by a discovery soon after that Francis had sent to Scotland, instructing Beton to practise for a peace, and 'not to stick to promise what the King of England would, so that he would render Boulogne; for, whatsoever promises the Scots made, the Queen being an infant, she might go from it when she came of age.' The King had fallen among thieves, and more than ordinary precautions were necessary. In vain Sturmius flattered the English successes. Paget said that he had the peace so much at heart that he ate it, drank it, slept it, dreamt it; but he knew that the French were exhausted, and that sooner or later the same terms would be offered, with the consent of all parties, and with security that they would be faithfully observed.

The ambassador's own conduct must be described by no pen but his own. Troubled with a needless fear that, from youth and inexperience, he had fallen short of what he ought to have accomplished, at an intricate point in the negotiations he poured out his heart to Henry:—

'Good will,' he said, 'your Majesty is sure of in us all; and for my part, so that all things were concluded to your Majesty's contentation, I would say with all my heart, as St Paul said, Cupio dissolvi et esse cum