Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/451

1554.] But prudence was the first and last essential; the legate must be content to wait, and also Philip must wait. The winter was coming on, and the Court, Renard said, was giving balls; the English and Spanish noblemen were learning to talk with one another, and were beginning to dance with each other's wives and daughters. The ill-feeling was gradually abating; and, in fact, it was not to be believed that God Almighty would have brought about so considerable a marriage without intending that good should come of it. The Queen believed herself enceinte, and if her hopes were well founded, a thousand causes of restlessness would be disposed of; but Philip must not be permitted to harass her with his impatience to be gone. She had gathered something of his intentions, and was already pretending more uncertainty than in her heart she felt, lest he should make the assurance of her prospects an excuse for leaving her. In a remarkable passage, Renard urged the Emperor on no account to encourage him in a step so eminently injudicious, from a problematic hope of embroiling England and France. 'Let Parliament meet,' he said, 'and pass off quietly, and in February his Highness may safely go.