and P._, iv., 1525, 1531, 1600, 1633.] [Footnote 476: _L.

and P._, iv., 1891.] [Footnote 477: _Ibid._, iv., 2039, 2148, 2320, 2325.] The policy of Clement, of Venice, and of other Italian States had been characterised by as much blindness as that of England.

Almost without exception they had united, in 1523, to expel the French from Italy.
The result was to destroy the balance of power south of the Alps, (p.

169) and to deliver themselves over to a bondage more galling than that from which they sought to escape.

Clement himself had been elected Pope by imperial influence, and the Duke of Sessa, Charles's representative in Rome, described him as entirely the Emperor's creature.[478] He was, wrote Sessa, "very reserved, irresolute, and decides few things himself.