Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/560

540 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 62. soldiers, ' there being no room for justice till the sword had made a way for the law/ l Elizabeth, halting between two opinions, concluded upon the course which would be least immediately troublesome. She left the establishment standing, and continued to squeeze a miserable revenue out of the neglected benefices ; while for religious reformers, who wished to impart some life to it, she had but one answer, that there should be no persecution and no straining of conscience. If the Irish were to become Protestants, they were to be won by time and instruction ; and Sidney had to acquiesce in the same resolution which, with equal emphasis, was enforced afterwards upon his successors. ' The miser- able state of the Church of Ireland/ wrote Walsingham a few years after, ' grieves me much to think upon, the rather for I see no help of remedy to be applied to it. The Lord Deputy's mind towards the reformation of the country is very honourable, but it has not been agree- able to our humours. He might have lived in better season in the time of King Henry YIIL, when princes were resolute to persist in honourable attempts ; but our age has been given to other manner of proceed*- ings, whereunto the Lord Deputy must be content to conform himself as other men do/ 2 The recommendations for civil govern- ment were more favourably attended to. Sir William Drury was appointed President of Munster, November. 1 Water-house to Walsingham, June 14, 1574: MSS. Ireland. 2 Walsingham to the Archbishop of Armagh, December, 1585 : MSS. Ibid.