OF PHILIP’S PUBLIC ENTRY INTO LONDON.

The court had not been long at Windsor Castle, ere most of the Spanish grandees who had accompanied Philip, finding that owing to the terms of the marriage-treaty, which were strictly enforced by Gardiner and the council, no posts could be given them in the government, quitted England in disgust. As the Duke of Alva took leave of the King, he observed, “I am loth to leave your Majesty with this people, but as you have no present need of my services, while I may be of use to the Emperor, I deem it best to go.”

“Have no fears for me, my lord Duke,” replied Philip. “I am perfectly secure. I have paid a heavy price for the support of the English nobles—but I think I can count upon it.”

“Do not trust them, Sire. The English nobles are treacherous as corrupt, and will fall off when most needed. Had your Majesty but listened to me, and pursued the bold course I suggested, you might now be King of England—not in name, merely, but in reality. It is not yet too late. Say the word and I remain.”

“No; you must go, Alva. I grieve to part with you, as with my other nobles, but your presence here is prejudicial to my plans.”

“I see not how that can be, Sire. You yield too much to English prejudices. Pardon me for saying so, but you 148ought to be lord and master in your own house, and not subject to your wife—albeit she is a Queen.”

“Why so I am, Alva,” replied the King, smiling. “Her Majesty refuses me nothing.”

“Except the matrimonial crown, Sire,” said the Duke, bluntly. “She will not give you that. Neither will she place the supreme power of government in your hands, nor cause you to be declared presumptive heir to the crown.”

“She dare not do so, Alva,” observed Philip, coldly.

“I know not that,” said the Duke. “For such a result all should be dared.”

“Her Majesty will accede to my wishes in due time,” said the King. “Should there be an heir to the throne, all difficulties will be removed.”

“Ay, if there should—but the event may never occur,” cried Alva, impatiently. “Again I say, why wait? With such a prize within your grasp, why hesitate to seize it? Oh! that your Majesty would leave the work to me.”

“I could not trust you,” said the King. “You would ruin all by precipitancy. My plan is slow, but sure. Farewell, my lord Duke. The saints give you a good journey to Brussels. Commend me in all love and duty to the Emperor, and say that in due time I trust he will have a grandson.”

“Would I could add that heresy were completely extirpated from the realm, and the papal supremacy re-established,” observed Alva.

“That will follow immediately on the arrival of Cardinal Pole,” said Philip. “Most of the English nobles and men of wealth, as you know, have shared in the monstrous spoliation of the Church that occurred during the two previous reigns, and these persons will never acknowledge the supreme authority of the Pontiff, unless their ill-gotten possessions are secured to them. Until this point be conceded by his Holiness, the Lord Chancellor assures me it will be futile and even dangerous to propose the measure. Mauriquez has been dispatched to Rome to argue the matter with the Pope, and, till the question be decided, Cardinal Pole must be detained at Brussels. This you will explain to the Emperor.”

“Humph!” exclaimed Alva. “I half hope the Pope 149may refuse your Majesty’s request, and then you will be compelled to have recourse to me to force these robbers to disgorge their plunder. ’Tis a dreadful wrong to the Church.”

“I feel the injustice as keenly as you can do, Alva,” rejoined the King; “but since the grievance cannot be redressed, it must be borne in patience.”

“Well, we must hope for better days, when these plunderers will meet their deserts on the scaffold and the gibbet,” said Alva. “I now take my leave of your Majesty.” So saying, he departed.

That any assumption of regal power on the part of Philip would be resisted, was shown by a slight incident which occurred shortly afterwards. On the King’s installation as a Knight of the Garter, in order to give greater importance to the proceeding, the royal arms of England were taken down in St. George’s Chapel by the chief herald, at the instance of Simon Renard, and the arms of Castile and Aragon set up in their stead. But as soon as the change was discovered by the Earl of Arundel and Sir John Gage, they sharply reprimanded the herald, and, at the risk of offending Philip, caused the Spanish arms to be forthwith taken down and those of England restored.

Philip had many secret enemies, but none so active or so dangerous as the French ambassador. Notwithstanding the ill success of his previous plot, and the narrow escape he had run, De Noailles continued his intrigues among the factious and discontented. As Mary could not refuse to receive him at court without embroiling herself with France, he had opportunities of carrying out a design which he had conceived, of occasioning a rupture between the King and Queen. Aware of Philip’s infidelities, and of the Queen’s jealousy of disposition, he did not despair of accomplishing this project. By means of spies, who were well paid for the service, he kept a strict watch over the King’s proceedings, hoping to make some discovery that mi............