royal disillusionment, there were those who represented the young King as the victim of a designing woman, and who affected to believe that Mary's pretended pregnancy was a mere device to detain her husband by her side. The Council, on the other hand, had to listen to allegations which asserted that the King, despairing of a lineal succession, was meditating a coup de main, by bringing over large bodies of Spanish troops and occupying the harbours and ports, and thus realising the long-suspected design of the Habsburg,—the reduction of England to a dependency of Spain. Both Charles and Philip, again, became aware that with Mary's vanished hopes a considerable advantage in their negotiations with France had also disappeared; and the malicious exultation of Noailles knew no bounds. Rarely in the annals of royalty in England had satire and ridicule been at once so rancorous and so unmerited. The haughty Habsburg, acutely sensitive, under a seemingly impassive exterior, to all that affected his personal dignity, determined to quit the country, and, in obedience to his father's behest, to devote himself to the affairs of those vast possessions which he was soon to be called upon to rule. On August 28, 1555, Philip sailed for the Low Countries.
The incidents which preceded his departure are described in detail by Michiel. Before embarking, the King summoned the lords of the Council to the Council Chamber, and there handed them a series of suggestions for the government of the realm during his absence, together with a list of names of those whom he deemed most eligible for the conduct of affairs. If we may credit the Venetian envoy, the judgment and ability displayed in this document excited the approval and admiration of all who perused it. At Greenwich, where Philip embarked, he took leave of Mary at the head of the staircase of their apartments; the Queen maintaining her self-possession until he was gone, and then giving way to uncontrollable grief. Pole, whom the King had designated as her chief counsellor, was indeed now the only adviser to whom she could turn with any confidence, and her sense of loneliness and desertion was intense. The Cardinal, touched by her pitiable condition, compiled a short prayer for her use during her husband's absence.
The departure of Philip was, however, perfectly justified by the pressing state of affairs at the imperial Court, whither he had already received more than one urgent summons from his father. Charles' health was giving way, and, although only in his fifty-sixth year, he was already contemplating retirement to "our kingdoms of Spain," there "to pass the rest of our life in repose and tranquillity." But before this could be, it was imperative that he should make the necessary dispositions for the succession in his own imperial domains; while he also aspired to arrange, if possible, for the regal succession in England. Although no reasonable hope of issue from his son's marriage could now be entertained, the astute Emperor would not abandon his project
