the Greenwich friar, who was in his train, wrote to her, reflecting impolitely on her age, and adding Scripture commendations of celibacy as the more perfect state.[1] It was even feared that the impatient legate had advised the Pope to withhold the dispensations.
Mary, beyond measure afflicted, wrote to Pole at last, asking what in his opinion she ought to do. He sent his answer through a priest, by whom it could be conveyed with the greatest emphasis. First, he said, she must pray to God for a spirit of counsel and fortitude; next, she must, at all hazards, relinquish the name of Head of the Church; and, since she could trust neither peer nor prelate, she must recall Parliament, go in person to the House of Commons, and demand permission with her own mouth for himself to return to England. The Holy See was represented in his person, and was freshly insulted in the refusal to receive him; the Pope's vast clemency had volunteered unasked to pardon the crimes of England; if the gracious offer was not accepted, the legation would be cancelled, the
- ↑ 'Un des principaulx qu'il a avec luy que se nomme William Peto, theologien, luy a escript luy donnant conseil de non se marrier, et vivre en celibat; meslant en ses lettres plusieurs allegations du Vieux et Nouveau Testament, repetant x ou xii fois qu'elle tombera en la puissance et servitude du mari, qu'elle n'aura enfans, sinon soubz danger de sa vie pour l'age dont elle est.'—Renard to Charles V.: Tytler, vol. ii. p. 303.
Wotton to learn his authority. The Venetian ambassador, Wotton said, was the person who had told him; but the quarter from which the information originally came, he believed, might be relied on.—Wotton to the Queen and Council: MS. State Paper Office.
