Well as they deserved to be punished, he would not, to punish them, acquiesce in the subjugation of the whole civilised world.

He set himself therefore to surmount some difficulties and to evade others.

The Scandinavian powers he conciliated by waiving, reluctantly indeed, and not without a hard internal struggle, some of his maritime rights.

[294] At Rome his influence, though indirectly exercised, balanced that of the Pope himself.

Lewis and James found that they had not a friend at the Vatican except Innocent; and Innocent, whose nature was gentle and irresolute, shrank from taking a course directly opposed to the sentiments of all who surrounded him.