The difference of religion was long an almost insuperable obstacle. Catherine pretended scruples of conscience on behalf of her daughter; and Joan of Navarre, who was really anxious on the matter, hesitated so much, that up to the 29th March the marriage continued doubtful. “I have now the wolf by the ears,” said the Queen of Navarre, “for in concluding or not concluding the marriage, I see danger every way.” “But,” adds the English embassador, “I do not think assuredly that hardly any cause will make them break--so many necessary causes there are why the same should proceed.”[514] The Huguenot ministers, like unpractical divines as they were, looked more coldly upon the projected union than the nobility and gentry, who valued it as a great stroke of policy. There were some even of these who foreboded nothing but evil. Rosny, father of the illustrious Sully, refused to take any part in the ceremony, declaring that “the wedding-favors would be crimson.” His party stoutly advocated a marriage with Elizabeth of England. What would have been the fortunes of the two countries had they been thus united? At length all the negotiations were ended, the settlements drawn up, and the contract signed by the plenipotentiaries on each side (11th April, 1572). A few days later Charles expressed to La Mothe-Fénelon his satisfaction at the happy conclusion of the tedious business, adding that “if the queen had been a little more strengthened against those ailments, which are usual to women in her condition, the wedding-day would have been already fixed. We shall depart hence [Blois?] to go toward Paris and Fontainebleau, where my wife will lie in.” The only obstacle now was the dispensation, which Pius V. refused to grant: “I would rather lose my head than grant a marriage dispensation to a heretic.”[515] Charles determined to proceed in spite of the pope: “If he tries it on too far, I will take Margaret by the hand and see her married in open conventicle.”[516] His written answer to Pius V. was to the same effect, but in more courtly strain. He expressed his sincere love for the Catholic Church, but urged that the country and the exchequer were exhausted by civil war. As for the marriage and the heresy, he continued: “Mild remedies are usually more efficacious than sharp ones in curing this disease, especially in the minds of princes. I am persuaded that Henry will not only become all that you can wish him, but will some day be a great ornament and help to the Church.... If he who is now the chief of the wanderers should be brought back to the true fold, how great the advantage!” Charles then proceeded to indulge in that ambiguous language which has made this period of history so difficult to understand: “I confess that I am under necessity, and have had to put up with many disagreeable things; but I swear I would rather imperil my kingdom than leave the outrages against God unpunished. But what my designs are can not yet