principles, even if the new sovereign had been—as Elizabeth pre-eminently was not—in anywise disposed to do so. Nevertheless, the reign commenced with an ecclesiastical revolution almost as complete, though not so rapid and violent, as that which we have seen in Mary's reign. Indeed, it could hardly have been otherwise; for while Mary's legislation had replaced the Church, theoretically, in the most authoritative position which it had ever held in England, her administration had tended to reduce the theory to practice in its cruellest and most unmitigated form. This was to bring about a state of things which had never been popular in England; and if, as we see no reason to doubt, all the earlier part of Henry VIII.'s anti-Papal policy had been carried out with the full assent of the bulk of the nation, it is scarcely possible to suppose that Mary's reversal of it could have been permanently acceptable. When, to these general considerations, we add the almost universal disgust occasioned by Mary's continual burnings, and the enthusiasm stirred up by the courage and boldness, for the greater part, of the victims, we need be at no loss to account for the general ill-feeling which existed at the close of her reign. But it must not be supposed that other causes of discontent were wanting. There existed also scarcity, high prices, heavy taxation, and a debased coinage, and, to complete all, a deep feeling of national humiliation at the loss of Calais. These last potent causes were amply sufficient of themselves, as they have often proved, to account for general disaffection; but they were all, as it were, brought to a focus, by the circumstances of the times, upon the one point of religion.
Elizabeth's chief adviser, from the very moment of
