A more private matter still had to be settled by Renard with the Queen. Which of her ministers and household should be pensioned and bribed by the Emperor, and to what extent, “as in order to gain them for his Highness [Philip] his Majesty had ordered us to be liberal to those she thought best”? and this question was gravely submitted to the Council for consideration. Charles, as usual, was dreadfully driven for money, but an extra turn of the screw could always be applied to long-suffering Castile; and when it was a question of gaining England, money had to be procured in plenty at any cost. As may be supposed, the list sent by the Council to Renard for presents to themselves and others did not err on the side of modesty; and four thousand crowns’ worth of gold shoulder-chains and as much ready money was promptly handed over to the itching palms of the English courtiers; whereupon “the Councillors gave us such a good response, that if the result corresponds with their words, we have no doubt that safety will attend the coming of his Highness to this country.”[34] The further to secure Philip from the attacks of the French, a fleet of twenty English ships was commissioned for his escort in the Channel; and when all this was arranged, a deputation of the Council on the 7th March came to lead Renard and Egmont to a chamber in Whitehall, where the Queen and her household awaited them. Upon an altar in the room the Blessed Host was exposed, and before it Mary and Egmont respectively swore that the conditions of the marriage treaty should be held binding. Mary was fervid and excited. Before taking the oath she spontaneously “fell upon her knees and cried to God to witness that the marriage she had agreed to had not been prompted by any carnal affection, by cupidity, or any other reason than the honour, welfare, and profit of her realm, the repose and tranquillity of her subjects; and that she had no other intention than to keep true to the marriage and oath that she had already made to her Crown; saying all this with such grace that the spectators were moved to tears.”[35] The ceremony ended with more devout prayer by the Queen on her knees; and then Egmont, handing to her the magnificent ring that had been sent by Philip as a token of his troth, bade her farewell and hurried off to Spain.[36]