better suited to a prince than, to a subject. His own intrigues, and not the will of Heaven, had placed him in the position which he had achieved. In a letter to the King of France he so curiously forgot himself that 'he called his Majesty brother,' and Dr Wotton, the ambassador, was requested to remind him who and what he was.[1] Such assistance as Heaven would grant him in the task which he had undertaken of governing England, he was likely to require. Of the religious factions at home, it was essential to the welfare of the country that neither should be allowed to prevail. With foreign powers there was peace, but it was a peace which had been dearly bought, and which the most delicate skill could alone succeed in maintaining.
The difficulty of the situation will be best seen in a review of the general condition of Europe.
1545And first for the Council of Trent.
From the commencement of the Reformation a general council had been in the mouth of the Christian world. All parties in turn had clamoured for it, all parties in turn had opposed it, as the predominant influence under which, if it assembled, it was likely to fall, varied between the great powers of Europe, the peoples, and the Papacy. So long as the Emperor was entangled in the war with France, he was compelled to temporize with the Protestant States of Germany, and the Germans pressed a council upon him which should be held within the frontiers of the Empire, where they could themselves
- ↑ MSS. France, Edward VI. bundle 1. State Paper Office.
