Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/284

264 satisfied that the Queen's alarm on this head was not exaggerated.

In opinions so emphatically given, the Pope was obliged to acquiesce, and the same view was enforced upon him equally strongly by the Emperor. Charles knew England tolerably well; he was acquainted perfectly well with the moral and intellectual unfitness of the intended legate for any office which required discretion; and Julius, therefore, was obliged to communicate to the eager Cardinal the necessity of delay, and to express his fear that, by excess of zeal, he might injure the cause and alienate the well-affected Queen. Though Pole might not go to England, however, he might go, as he went before, to the immediate neighbourhood; he might repair to Flanders, with a nominal commission to mediate in the peace which was still hoped for. In Flanders, though the Pope forbore to tell him so, he would be under the Emperor's eyes and under the Emperor's control, till the vital question of the Queen's marriage had been disposed of, or till England was in a calmer humour.

About the marriage Charles was more anxious than ever; Pole was understood to have declined the honour of being a competitor; Renard