could have felt, yet in other respects this letter has the most pleasant merit of honesty. Hawkins was so much overcome by 'the sweetness of it,' that 'he nothing doubted if that the Emperor read the same, by God's grace he should be utterly persuaded;' and although in this expectation he was a little over sanguine, as in calmer moments he would have acknowledged, yet plain speech is never without its value; and Charles himself, after he had tried other expedients, and they had not succeeded with him, found it more prudent to acquiesce in what could no longer be altered, and to return to cordiality.
For the present he remained under the impression that by the great body of the English the divorce was looked upon with coldness and even with displeasure, that the King was supported only by the complacency of a few courtiers, and that the nation were prepared to compel him to undo the wrong which had been inflicted upon Catherine and the princess. So he was assured by the Spanish party in England; so all the disaffected assured him, who were perhaps themselves deceived. He had secured Ireland, and Scotland also in so far as James's promises could secure it;[1] and he was not disposed to surrender for the present so promising a game till he had tried his strength and proved his weakness. He replied coldly to Hawkins, 'That for the King of England's amity he would be glad thereof, so the said King would do works according. The matter
- ↑ Northumberland to Henry VIII.: State Papers, vol. iv. pp. 598-9.
