more than that her interests were secular. She once
said that she would rather hear a thousand masses than be guilty of the
millions of crimes perpetrated by some of those who had suppressed the
mass. She liked candles, crucifixes and ritual just as she
inordinately loved personal display. And politically she learned very
early to fear the republicanism of Knox.

[Sidenote: Most of people Catholic]

The conservatism of Elizabeth's policy was determined also by the
consideration that, though the more intelligent and progressive classes
were Protestant, the mass of the people still clung to the Roman faith,
and, if they had no other power, had at least the _vis inertiae_.
Accurate figures cannot be obtained, but a number of indications are
significant. In 1559 Convocation asserted the adherence of the clergy
to the ancient faith. Maurice Clenoch estimated in 1561 that the
majority of the people would welcome foreign intervention in favor of
Mary Stuart and the old faith. Nicholas Sanders, a contemporary
Catholic apologist, said that the common people of that period were
divided into three classes: husbandmen, shepherds and mechanics. The
first two classes he considered entirely Catholic; the third class, he
said, were not tainted with schism as a whole, but only in some parts,
those, namely of sedentary occupation such as weavers, cobblers and
some lazy "aulici," _i.e._ servants and humble retainers of the great.
The remote parts of the kingdom, he added, were least tainted with
heresy and, as the towns were few and small, he estimated that less
than one per cent. of the population was Protestant. Though these
figures are a tremendous exaggeration of the proportion of Catholics,
some support may be found for them in the information sent to the Curia
in 1567 that 32 English nobles were Catholic, 20 {326} well affected to
the Catholics and 15 Protestants. Only slightly different is the
report sent in 1571 that at that time 33 English peers were Catholic,
15 doubtful and 16 heretical. As a matter of fact, in religious
questions we find that the House of Lords would have been Catholic but
for the bishops, a solid phalanx of government nominees.

[Sidenote: But most powerful class Protestants]

But if the masses were Catholic, the strategically situated classes
were Reformed. The first House of Commons of Elizabeth proved by its
acts to be strongly Protestant. The assumption generally made that it
was packed by