Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/476

456 They regretted that they were obliged to entreat his Holiness to accept their excuses. His Holiness's summons to the council had invited them not to Bologna, but to Trent, as the spot the most opportune, on many grounds, for the settlement of religion. They were waiting, and would wait with meekness, till their brethren should return to them. The Pope was obstinate. The bishops were obstinate. Paul now desired to have the council at Rome, and the sittings at Bologna came to an end; 'but the evil-omened phantom at Trent continued to draw to it the timid and anxious eyes of Christendom, like a fiery portent in the sky.' Political complications, at the same time, combined more and more to unite the French and Papal interests against the Imperial. Gonzaga continued to hold Piacenza. Octavio Farnese, Duke of Parma, and son-inlaw of the Emperor, in the hope, perhaps, of recovering his patrimony, was falling off from the Pope, who was his grandfather, and attaching his fortunes to Charles. The Pope, indignant at his disobedience, himself sent troops into Parma, and took possession of it. Farnese failing in an attempt to drive them out, applied to Gonzaga. Gonzaga told him that Parma should be his if he would hold it as a fief of the Empire, and Farnese inclined to consent.

The occupation of the duchy by an Imperial force would be accepted by France, it was well known, as a declaration of war. The Emperor had made up his