Page:History of england froude.djvu/281

1529–30] than man, and would rely on comfort from the Saviour against those who abused their authority, they were then to withdraw. The tone of the directions was not sanguine, and the political complications of Europe, on which the Emperor's reply must more or less have depended, were too involved to allow us to trace the influences which were likely to have weighed with him. There seems no primâ facie reason, however, why the attempt might not have been successful. The revolutionary intrigues in England had decisively failed, and the natural sympathy of princes, and a desire to detach Henry from Francis, must have combined to recommend a return of the old cordiality which had so long existed between the sovereigns of England and Flanders. But whatever was the cause, the opening interview assured the Earl of Wiltshire that he had nothing to look for. He was received with distant courtesy; but Charles objected even to hearing him read his instructions, as an interested party. The Earl replied that he stood there, not as the father of the Queen's rival, but as the representative of his sovereign; but the objection declared the attitude which Charles was resolved to maintain, and which, in fact, he maintained throughout. 'The Emperor,' wrote Lord Wiltshire to Henry, 'is stiffly bent against your Grace's matter, and is most earnest in it; while the Pope is led by the Emperor, and neither will nor dare displease him.' From that quarter, so long as parties