as
Northumberland's failure and Mary's accession were known at Rome,
England was looked upon in the Consistory {p.053} as already
recovered to the faith, and Pole was chosen by the unanimous consent
of the cardinals as the instrument of the reconciliation. The account
of the proclamation of the queen was brought to the Vatican on the 6th
of August by a courier from Paris; the pope in tears of joy drew his
commission and despatched it on the instant to the Lago di Garda; and
on the 9th Pole himself wrote to Mary to say that he had been named
legate, and waited her orders to fly to England. He still clung to his
conviction that the revolution in all its parts had been the work of a
small faction, and that he had but himself to set his foot upon the
shore to be received with an ovation; his impulse was therefore to set
out without delay; but the recollection, among other things, that he
was attainted by act of parliament, forced him to delay unwillingly
till he received formal permission to present himself.

Anxious for authentic information as to the state of England and the
queen's disposition, Julius had before despatched also a secret agent,
Commendone, afterwards a cardinal, with instructions to make his way
to London to communicate with Mary, and if possible to learn her
intentions from her own lips. Rapid movement was possible in Europe
even with the roads of the sixteenth century. Commendone was probably
sent from Rome as soon as Edward was known to be dead; he was in
London, at all events, on the 8th of August,[117] disguised as an
Italian gentleman in search of property which he professed had been
bequeathed him by a kinsman. By the favour of Providence,[118] he fell
in with an acquaintance, a returned Catholic refugee, who had a place
in the household; and from this man he learnt that the queen was
virtually a prisoner in the Tower, and that the heretics on the
council allowed no one of whose business they disapproved to have
access to her. Mary, however, was made acquainted with his arrival; a
secret interview was managed, at which she promised to do her very
best in the interests of the church; but she had still, she said, to
conquer her kingdom, and Pole's coming, much as she desired it, was
for the moment out of the question; before she could draw the
spiritual sword she must have the temporal sword more firmly in her
grasp, and she looked to marriage as the best means of strengthening
herself. If she marri