whose faith was what it had ever been, it implied the renewal of all those annoyances, scandals, and practical inconveniences and oppressions, from which Henry VIII.'s drastic measures had, as they hoped, delivered them for ever. Only to the really enthusiastic and bigoted Papists, a minority probably smaller even than that of the Protestant fanatics, could the Spanish marriage be a truly welcome measure.
Mary's great aim was undoubtedly the restoration of England to the unity of the Catholic Church. In this aim she was, as Mr. Green[1] very truly tells us, almost alone, and that she should have succeeded in it as far as she did, was due to the curious complication of political and religious aims and circumstances by which she was surrounded. Lord Paget looked upon the matter from a purely political point of view, and regarding, as he did, the peril to England from the impending union of Scotland with France, he was disposed to support the marriage with Philip as the best course for the safety of the country, though he loved neither the Pope nor religious persecution. Renard and his master, though objecting to neither of them when the times were suitable to them, advised a degree of caution and moderation in religious matters which were little in accord with Mary's fanatical enthusiasm; but their views of the religious question were quite overshadowed by their paramount anxiety to create a power in their own hands which should outweigh that of France. Gardiner, the ablest and most influential of Mary's ministers, Paget perhaps excepted, appears at this time to have held a view different from either of them, and far more in accord with that of the bulk of Englishmen of the time. Gardiner had been brought up by Cardinal Wolsey, and
- ↑ Green, vol. ii. p. 247.
