oad told too
plainly its tale. The world was slowly drifting to a gigantic conflict
between the tradition of the past and a faith that rejected the
tradition of the past; and in this conflict men saw that England was
ranging itself not on the side of the old belief but of the new. The
real meaning of Elizabeth's attitude was revealed in her refusal to own
the Council of Trent. From that moment the hold which she had retained
on all who still clung strongly to Catholic doctrine was roughly shaken.
Her system of conformity received a heavy blow from the decision of the
Papacy that attendance at the common prayer was unlawful. Her religious
compromise was almost destroyed by the victory of the Guises. In the
moment of peril she was driven on Protestant support, and Protestant
support had to be bought by a Test Act which excluded every zealous
Catholic from all share in the government or administration of the
realm, while the re-enactment of Edward's Articles by the Convocation of
the clergy was an avowal of Protestantism which none could mistake.
Whatever in fact might be Elizabeth's own predilections, even the most
cautious of Englishmen could hardly doubt of the drift of her policy.
The hopes which the party of moderation had founded on a marriage with
Philip, or a marriage with the Austrian Archduke, or a marriage with
Dudley, had all passed away. The conciliatory efforts of Pope Pius had
been equally fruitless. The last hope of a quiet undoing of the
religious changes lay in the succession of Mary Stuart. But with the
fall of Mary a peaceful return to the older faith became impossible; and
the consciousness of this could hardly fail to wake new dangers for
Elizabeth, whether at home or abroad.

[Sidenote: Progress of the Reformation.]

It was in fact at this moment of seeming triumph that the great struggle
of her reign began. In 1565 a pontiff was chosen to fill the Papal chair
whose policy was that of open war between England and Rome. At no moment
in its history had the fortunes of the Roman See sunk so low as at the
accession of Pius the Fifth. The Catholic revival had as yet done
nothing to arrest the march of the Reformation. In less than half a
century the new doctrines had spread from Iceland to the Pyrenees and
from Finland to the Alps. When Pius mounted the throne Lutheranism was
firmly established in Scandinavia and in Northern Germany. Along the
Eastern border of the Empire it had conquered Livonia and Old