d and cannon. The spirit which was working in
them was the genius of freedom. On their own element they felt that
they could be the spiritual tyrants' masters. But as things were going,
rebellion was likely to break out at home; their homesteads might be
burning, their country overrun with the Prince of Parma's army, the
Inquisition at their own doors, and a Catholic sovereign bringing back
the fagots of Smithfield.

The Reformation at its origin was no introduction of novel heresies. It
was a revolt of the laity of Europe against the profligacy and avarice
of the clergy. The popes and cardinals pretended to be the
representatives of Heaven. When called to account for abuse of their
powers, they had behaved precisely as mere corrupt human kings and
aristocracies behave. They had intrigued; they had excommunicated; they
had set nation against nation, sovereigns against their subjects; they
had encouraged assassination; they had made themselves infamous by
horrid massacres, and had taught one half of foolish Christendom to hate
the other. The hearts of the poor English seamen whose comrades had been
burnt at Seville to make a Spanish holiday, thrilled with a sacred
determination to end such scenes. The purpose that was in them broke
into a wild war-music, as the wind harp swells and screams under the
breath of the storm. I found in the Record Office an unsigned letter of
some inspired old sea-dog, written in a bold round hand and addressed to
Elizabeth. The ships' companies which in summer served in Philip's
men-of-war went in winter in thousands to catch cod on the Banks of
Newfoundland. 'Give me five vessels,' the writer said, 'and I will go
out and sink them all, and the galleons shall rot in Cadiz Harbour for
want of hands to sail them. But decide, Madam, and decide quickly. Time
flies, and will not return. _The wings of man's life are plumed with the
feathers of death._'

The Queen did not decide. The five ships were not sent, and the poor
Castilian sailors caught their cod in peace. But in spite of herself
Elizabeth was driven forward by the tendencies of things. The death of
the Prince of Orange left the States without a Government. The Prince of
Parma was pressing them hard. Without a leader they were lost. They
offered themselves to Elizabeth, to be incorporated in the English
Empire. They said that if she refused they must either submit to Spain
or become provinces of France. The Netherlands, whether Spanish or