us conformity. Rome
had abandoned its dreams of conciliation on her refusal to own the
Council of Trent, and though Philip's entreaties brought Pius to suspend
the issue of a Bull of Deposition, the Papacy opened the struggle by
issuing in August 1562 a brief which pronounced joining in the Common
Prayer schismatic and forbade the attendance of Catholics at church. On
no point was Elizabeth so sensitive, for on no point had her policy
seemed so successful. Till now, whatever might be their fidelity to the
older faith, few Englishmen had carried their opposition to the Queen's
changes so far as to withdraw from religious communion with those who
submitted to them. But with the issue of the brief this unbroken
conformity came to an end. A few of the hotter Catholics withdrew from
church. Heavy fines were laid on them as recusants; fines which, as
their numbers increased, became a valuable source of supply for the
royal exchequer. But no fines could compensate for the moral blow which
their withdrawal dealt. It was the beginning of a struggle which
Elizabeth had averted through three memorable years. Protestant
fanaticism met Catholic fanaticism, and as news of the massacre at Vassy
spread through England the Protestant preachers called for the death of
"Papists." The tidings of Dreux spread panic through the realm. The
Parliament which met again in January 1563 showed its terror by
measures of a new severity. There had been enough of words, cried one
of the Queen's ministers, Sir Francis Knollys, "it was time to draw the
sword."

[Sidenote: The Test Act.]

The sword was drawn in the first of a series of penal statutes which
weighed upon English Catholics for two hundred years. By this statute an
oath of allegiance to the Queen and of abjuration of the temporal
authority of the Pope was exacted from all holders of office, lay or
spiritual, within the realm, with the exception of peers. Its effect was
to place the whole power of the realm in the hands either of Protestants
or of Catholics who accepted Elizabeth's legitimacy and her
ecclesiastical jurisdiction in the teeth of the Papacy. The oath of
supremacy was already exacted from every clergyman and every member of
the universities. But the obligation of taking it was now widely
extended. Every member of the House of Commons, every officer in the
army or the fleet, every schoolmaster and private tutor, every justice
of the peace, every municipal magistrate, to whom the