Henry urged for a time his disinclination to contract a second marriage,
alleging that his first had proved so unfortunate in every way, that he
was reluctant to rivet anew the chain which had been so rudely riven
asunder; but the unflinching minister did not fail to remind him that
much as he owed to himself, he still owed even more to a people who had
faith in his wisdom and generosity; and the frank-hearted King suffered
himself, although with evident distaste, to be ultimately convinced.

He then began to pass in review all the marriageable princesses who were
eligible to share his throne, but to each in succession he attached some
objection which tended to weaken her claim. After what he had already
undergone, as he declared, there were few women, and still fewer women
of royal blood, to whom he would willingly a second time confide his
chance of happiness. "In order not to encounter once more the same
disappointment and displeasure," he said at length, "I must find in the
next woman whom I may marry seven qualities with which I cannot
dispense. She must be handsome, prudent, gentle, intellectual, fruitful,
wealthy, and of high extraction; and thus I do not know a single
princess in Europe calculated to satisfy my idea of feminine
perfection."

Then, after a pause during which the minister remained silent, he added,
with some inconsistency: "I would readily put up with the Spanish
Infanta,[32] despite both her age and her ugliness, did I espouse the
Low Countries in her person; neither would I refuse the Princess
Arabella of England,[33] if, as it is alleged, the crown of that country
really belonged to her, or even had she been declared heiress
presumptive; but we cannot reasonably anticipate either contingency. I
have heard also of several German princesses whose names I have
forgotten, but I have no taste for the women of that country; besides