The two cardinals having been received by the pontiff, paid him every mark of respect, and tried to make him understand that, for the good of the holy see, he ought to preserve the goodwill of the most christian king. They therefore proposed an interview with Francis, and even with the King of England, that prince being eager to put an end to the difficulties of the divorce. 'Finally,' they added, laying a slight stress upon the word, 'certain proposals, formerly put forward in the king's name, might be carried out.'[359]—'These proposals,' says Du Bellay, 'would lead, it must be understood, to the great exaltation of the pope and his family.' The last argument was the decisive stroke which gained Clement VII. Francis, even while desiring to throw off the Roman tutelage, wished to gain the support of the pope in order to humiliate Charles V. He had therefore revived a strange idea, which he had once already hinted at, without overcoming, however, the excessive repugnance which it caused him. But he saw that the moment was critical, and that, to ally himself with both Henry and Clement, he must make some great sacrifice. He had therefore sent a special ambassador to Bologna, to carry out a scheme which would fill all Europe with surprise: a deplorable combination which by uniting the pope, indissolubly as it appeared, to the interests of the Valois, was sooner or later to separate France from England, change the channel that divides them into a deep gulf, infuse Florentine blood into the blood of France, introduce the vilest Machiavellism into the hearts of her kings who boasted of their chivalrous spirit, check the spread of learning, turn back on their hinges the gates that were beginning to open to the sun, confine the people in darkness, and install an era of debauchery, persecution, and assassination both private and public. The special ambassador charged with the execution of this scheme was John, Duke of Albany, qualified by his illustrious birth for transacting the great affair. Alexander Stuart, son of James II., King of Scotland, having been exiled by his eldest brother James III., had gone to France in 1485. His son John, the last Duke of Albany, attached himself to Louis XII., and followed him into Italy. Being recalled to Scotland, he was made regent of the kingdom in 1516, and again quitted his country to follow Francis I. into Lombardy. This royal personage, supported by Gramont and Tournon, was commissioned by the King of France to propose to the pope the marriage of his son Henry, Duke of Orleans, with a girl of fourteen, a relative of the popes, and who was named Catherine de Medici. [Sidenote: CATHERINE DE MEDICI.]