Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/448

434 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 56 A Bill became law also to check the profligate ad- ministration of Church, property by ecclesiastical cor- porations ; 1 and a companion measure was introduced, originally perhaps as part of the same statute, so singular in some of its provisions as to deserve par- ticular notice. Puritanism had not yet blinded the eyes of Protestants to the merits of the faith of their fathers ; the House of Commons could still acknow- ledge an excellence in the clergy of earlier times, to which they saw but faint approaches in the degenerate ministry which had taken the place of the Catholic priests. 'The Queen's noble progenitors/ so ran an Act which never reached maturity, * had in times past en- dowed the clergy of the realm with most ample and large possessions, that godly religion might be the better advanced among the people, that the poor might be relieved, the children of the nobility and gentlemen of the realm be virtuously educated in the fear and knowledge of the Almighty. Whether the revenues of these estates were now employed and bestowed accord- ing to the intent and meaning of their donors, was a thing to be pondered and considered. The clergy being now married and having wives, did overmuch alienate their minds from the honest and careful duty to which they were bound to attend. The poor were left in their poverty. The ancient hospitality was no longer main- tained. The ministers of the Church accepted and re- 13 Elizabeth, cap. x.