In the midst of all his difficulties at home and abroad, the consummate skill with which Olivares played upon the English statesmen is almost amusing at this distance of time. Hopton's spirits rose and fell from week to week, as those of Anstruther did in Vienna. Olivares and the Emperor understood each other perfectly, and had no difficulty between them in keeping England quiet with the old bait of the restoration of the Palatinate. A specimen from Hopton's letters will illustrate the clever way in which Olivares beguiled his interlocutor.
"In the time my memorial was in debate { 250} I sometimes took occasion to see the Conde (_i.e._ Olivares). On one it happened that the _Ave Maria_ bell rang, and when he had ended his prayer he examined me in all the material points of our religion, wherein, I perceive, he is not ignorant. In the sacrament of baptism I said all the essential parts are the same in both Churches. But, he said, here they say, 'O! he was christened by a minister; but I (Olivares) tell them that I see no cause why a man may not as well be saved being christened by a minister as by a priest.' This was in the palace, on the occasion of the christening of our Princess, of whom they have begun to talk of as theirs.[36] When the Duke of Lennox went to kiss the Prince's hand, the Countess of Olivares, who was present, bade the Prince ask for his cousin's hand, and said, 'You have a mistress there; and then, turning to us, she said, 'We are beginning to _galantear_ (_i.e._ to court) already.' He (Olivares) examined me upon the Lord's supper, and was much pleased to know the chiefest difference is in the manner of the presence. He asked me concerning divorces, and approved of the practice of confession, though, he said, that it was too lightly practised amongst them. Did we, he asked, receive the blessed Virgin? I said he who did so was not considered a good Christian. He said, 'The top of the difference is the Pope's supremacy, and the chiefest scruple was in temporalities, because you would not have him meddle in matters of Kings.' I said yes; whereupon he shook his head and said no more. I know his meaning, as { 251} things stand between him and the Pope. He said that if that point could be agreed I think it would not be hard to reconcile Protestants to the Church."[37]