Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/644

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REIGN OF HENRY THE EIGHTH.
[ch. 20.

by him at Henry's disposal; and the disbanded Spaniards had so far forgotten the injuries of Queen Catherine, that they volunteered into the English service.[1]

Some embarrassment was created by the Scotch question, for the treaty bound Charles to be an enemy to the enemies of England, and as the attitude which Scotland had assumed towards Henry was the special work of the Pope and the Pope's friends, to side with Henry in his attempts at conquest would have increased the anomaly of his position.[2] But he contrived to evade or postpone the difficulty. Unpleasant subjects were buried under mutual civilities; and the year closed with an arrangement for the movements of the ensuing summer.

The two sovereigns agreed to invade France simultaneously, either in person or by their lieutenants. An English and Imperial army should enter on the 20th of June—the latter by the Upper Rhine, the former from Calais by the Somme—and endeavour, if possible, to effect a meeting at Paris. If they succeeded, their future operations would be decided on in the French capital; but it was admitted that the movements of armies could not be arranged beforehand with certainty;

  1. Wallop even wrote that, 'If it was his Majesty's pleasure to keep any arquebusses through the winter, they should be much better to serve him than any other nation, their desire was so much towards his Highness.'—State Papers, vol. ix. p. 545.
  2. Henry, in a message to Charles upon the subject, did not seem to hold the Scotch noblemen in very high esteem; he described James as having left his young child behind him, 'unprovided among the hands of a sort of wolves.'—Ibid. p. 534.