On the 21st of January Wriothesley wrote to Cromwell that he had no more hopes of the Duchess of Milan, and that the king must look elsewhere. "If this marriage may not be had," he said, "I pray his Grace may fix his noble stomach in some such other place as may be to his quiet." "And then," he added, chafed with the slight which had been passed upon his sovereign, "I fear not to see the day, if God give me life but for a small season, that as his Majesty is father to all Christian kings in time of reign and excellency of wisdom, so his Highness shall have his neighbours in that stay that they shall be glad to do him honour and to yield unto him his own."[376] [Sidenote: Henry may bring the Pope to reason at the gates of Rome.] For the present, however, the feeling of the Netherlanders was of mere hostility. The ruin of England was talked of as certain and instant. James of Scotland and Francis were "to do great things," and "the Emperor, it might be, would assist them." The ambassador tossed aside their presages. "These men," said one of his despatches, "publicly tell me how the Bishop of Rome hath now given a new sentence against the King's Majesty. I discourse to them how much every of the princes of Europe is bound to his Majesty; what every of them hath to do for himself; how little need we have to care for them if they would all break their faith and for kindness show ingratitude: and I show myself, besides, of no less hope than to see his Majesty, as God's minister, correct that tyrant--that usurper of Rome--even within Rome's gates, to the glory of God, and the greatest benefit that ever came to Christendom."[377] [Sidenote: February 21. Arrest of English ships in Flanders, and recall of the Spanish ambassador.] But, though Wriothesley carried himself proudly, his position was embarrassing. The regent grew daily more distant, her ministers more threatening. The Spaniards resident in England suddenly were observed to be hastening away, carrying their properties with them. At length, on the 21st of February, a proclamation was sent out laying all English ships in Flanders under arrest. Mendoza was recalled from London, and the common conversation on the Bourse at Antwerp was that the united force of France and the Empire would be thrown immediately on the English coasts.[378] For a closer insight into the Emperor's conduct, I must again go back over the ground. The history at this point is woven of many fibres. [Sidenote: Pole's Apology to Charles V.] [Sidenote: Henry of England "the king of fierce countenance" described by Daniel.]