Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/33

1562] THE ENGLISH A T HA VRE. where lie would, Tyldsley said, ' lie could find 110 man earnestly bent to put laws in execution ; ' ' every man let slip and pass forth. : ' so that ' for his part he did look for nothing less than the subversion of the realm, to which end all things were working/ Equally unsatisfactory were the reports of the state of religion. The constitution of the Church offended the ' Puritans ; the Catholics were as yet unreconciled to tho forms which had been maintained to conciliate them ; and to the seeming cordiality with which the Liturgy was at first received, a dead inertia soon succeeded in which nothing lived but self-interest. The bishops and the higher clergy were the first to set an example of evil. The friends of the Church of England must acknowledge with sorrow that within two years of its establishment the prelates were alienating the estates in which they possessed but a life interest granting long leases and taking fines for their own advantage. The council had to inflict upon them the disgrace of a rebuke for neg- lecting the duties of common probity. 1 The marriage of the clergy was a point on which the people were peculiarly sensitive. 2 A mistress might be ont place to another, which thing was much cried out upon ; and they say that Mr Cecil was all the doer of that matter too. Surely,' said he, 4 he is not beloved ; and therefore for God's sake, sir, he you ware. I have not spoken any of this to the intent that I would have you either to leave off or to slack any part of all your godly doings, but rather if I could to sharp you further against the devil and all his wicked instru- ments.' ' MrTyldsley's lleport, Sep- tember 3, 1561 : Domestic MSS., Elizabeth, vol. xix. 1 Articles for the Bishops' obli- gation?, 1560: Domestic MSS. Eli- zabeth. ' z The frequent surnames of Clark, Parsons, Deacon, Archdeacon, Derm, Prior, Abbot, Bishop, Frcre, ana Monk, are memorials of the con-