Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 5.djvu/520

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
500
REIGN OF QUEEN MARY.
[ch. 32.

could not be persuaded, she would be otherwise removed Lord William Howard, her constant guardian, requested permission to see and speak with her, and learn her own feelings. He was refused; but he went to her notwithstanding, and had a long private interview with her; and the Court could only talk bitterly of his treason among themselves, make propositions to send him to the Tower which they durst not execute, and devise some other method of dealing with their difficulty.[1]

Meantime, Philip, who had pined for freedom after six weeks' experience of his bride, was becoming unmanageably impatient. A paper of advice and exhortation survives, which was addressed on this occasion by the ambassador to his master, with reflections on the condition of England, and on the conduct which the King should pursue.

'Your Majesty must remember,' said Renard, 'the purpose for which you came to England. The French had secured the Queen of Scotland for the Dauphin. They had afterwards made an alliance with the late King, and spared no pains to secure the support of England. To counteract their schemes, and to obtain a counter-advantage in the war, the Emperor, on the accession of the Queen, resolved that your Highness should marry her. Your Highness, it is true, might wish that she was more agreeable;[2] but, on the other hand, she is infinitely virtuous, and, things being as

  1. Renard to Charles V.: Granvelle Papers, vol. iv. pp. 404, 405.
  2. 'Et combien l'on pouvoit requérir plus de civilité en la Reyne.—Renard to Philip: Ibid. p. 394.