The French Cardinal was pompously received, entertained in the palace, and honored with personal visits in his lodgings by the Pope.

Weary of Trent and the tiresome intrigues of the Council, this unscrupulous prelate was still further inclined to negotiation after the murder of his brother, Duke of Guise.

It must be remembered that the Guises in France were after all but a potent faction of semi-royal adventurers, who had risen to eminence by an alliance with Diane de Poitiers.

The murder of the duke shook the foundations of their power; and the Cardinal was naturally anxious to be back again in France.

For the moment he basked in the indolent atmosphere of Rome, surrounded by those treasures of antique and Renaissance luxury which still remained after the Sack of 1527.