till he could be carried off.

[Footnote 86: Renard says it was at these words
that the exasperation broke out.]

But the danger did not end there. The Protestant orators sounded the
alarm through London. Meetings were held, and inflammatory placards
were scattered about the streets. If {p.038} religion was to be
tampered with, men were heard to say, it was better at once to fetch
Northumberland from the Tower.

Uncertain on whom she could rely, Mary sent for Renard (August 16),
who could only repeat his former cautions, and appeal to what had
occurred in justification of them. He undertook to pacify Lord Derby;
but in the necessity to which she was so soon reduced of appealing to
him, a foreigner, in her emergencies, he made her feel that she could
not carry things with so high a hand. She had a rival in the Queen of
Scots, beyond her domestic enemies, whom her wisdom ought to fear; she
would ruin herself if she flew in the face of her subjects; and he
prevailed so far with her that she promised to take no further steps
till the meeting of parliament. After a consultation with the mayor,
she drew up a hasty proclamation, granting universal toleration till
further orders, forbidding her Protestant and Catholic subjects to
interrupt each other's services, and prohibiting at the same time all
preaching on either side without licence from herself.

Being on the spot, the ambassador took the opportunity of again trying
Mary's disposition upon the marriage question. His hopes had waned
since her arrival in London; he had spoken to Paget, who agreed that
an alliance with the Prince of Spain was the most splendid which the
queen could hope for; but the time was inopportune, and the people
were intensely hostile. The exigencies of the position, he thought,
might oblige the queen to yield to wishes which she could not oppose,
and accept Lord Courtenay; or possibly her own inclination might set
in the same direction; or, again, she might wish to renew her early
engagement with the emperor himself. The same uncertainty had been
felt at Brussels; the Bishop of Arras, therefore, had charged Renard
to feel his way carefully and make no blunder. If the queen inclined
to the emperor, he might speak of Philip as more eligible; if she
fancied Courtenay, it would be useless to interfere--she would only
resent his opposition.[87] Renard obeyed his instructions, and the
result was reassuring. When t