Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/85

1552.] madly of the banishment of their preachers.' Fresh companies of Spaniards were brought into the town, and the Germans marched beyond the walls.

Having lighted the match with his own hands, the Emperor set out for Innspruck, leaving Maurice behind him to follow out his own plans at his leisure. The Italian quarrel had expanded, and war with France was now openly declared. The Turkish fleet, as in the old times of Francis, came down into the Mediterranean as the allies of France; a Turkish army again threatened Hungary; and in the same spirit and in the same policy the French Court concluded a secret league with the Protestant princes. Maurice undertook to keep Charles in play with fair words till the moment came to strike, and, with the spring, the French troops were to enter Germany.

Over the thin crust of the mine which was to burst under their feet the Council of Trent recommenced their sessions on the 1st of September. The Italian and Spanish bishops were duly in their places; the German Catholics were reported as on the way; the Diet had undertaken for the appearance of the Lutherans; the French bishops had not come, and nothing was known of them. France was the point to which the eyes of the fathers were most anxiously turning. If France was true to the Church, her differences with the Emperor could be soon composed, and all would be well. But France, if the eldest child of the Church,