e had been in communication with the Queen. The Bishop, after some
hesitation, confessed that the Queen had sought his advice, and said that
he had declined to give an opinion without the King's command. Before
Wolsey left London, at a last interview at York Place, the King had
directed him to explain "the whole matter" to the Bishop. He went through
the entire history, mentioned the words of the Bishop of Tarbes, and
discussed the question which had risen upon it, on account of which he had
been sent into France. Finally, he described the extreme violence with
which Catherine had received the intelligence.

The Bishop greatly blamed the conduct of the Queen, and said he thought
that if he might speak to her he might bring her to submission. He agreed,
or seemed to agree, that the marriage had been irregular, though he did
not himself think that it could now be broken. Others of the bishops, he
thought, agreed with him; but he was satisfied that the King meant nothing
against the laws of God, and would be fully justified in submitting his
misgivings to the Pope.[15]

Mendoza's and the Queen's letters had meanwhile been despatched to Spain,
to add to the anxieties which were overwhelming the Emperor. Nothing
could have been less welcome at such a juncture than a family quarrel with
his uncle of England, whose friendship he was still hoping to retain. The
bird that he had caged at Rome was no convenient prisoner. The capture of
Rome had not been ordered by himself, though politically he was obliged to
maintain it. The time did not suit for the ambitious Church reforms of
Lope de Soria. Peace would have to be made with the Pope on some moderate
conditions. His own Spain was hardly quieted after the revolt of the
_Comunidades_. Half Germany was in avowed apostasy from the Church of
Rome. The Turks were overrunning Hungary, and sweeping the Mediterranean
with their pirate fleets, and the passionate and restless Francis was
watching his opportunity to revenge Pavia and attack his captor in the Low
Countries and in Italy. The great Emperor was moderate, cautious, prudent
to a fault. In a calmer season he might have been tempted to take the
Church in hand; and none understood better the condition into which it had
fallen. But he was wise enough to know that if a reform of the Papacy was
undertaken at all it must be undertaken with the joint consent of the
other Christian princes, and all his present efforts were directed to
pea