Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/348

 328 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 60. When slie was gone, she said, there would be no living for him in ' England. 1 A policy however could not have been only selfish, which was attended with un- ceasing risk to her own life. Every year that could be saved to peace was so much gain to England ; and she persisted in hoping that through weariness and necessity the Catholic Powers would throw over the Council of Trent, and allow Europe to be settled on some quiet and moderate terms. How she worked in detail, how uncertain, how vacillating, how false and unscrupulous she could be, when occasion tempted, has appeared al- ready and will appear more and more ; but her object in itself was excellent, and those who pursue high purposes through crooked ways, deserve better of mankind, on the whole, than those who pick their way in blameless in- anity, and if innocent of ill, are equally innocent of good. Five years now passed, to England precious years of breathing-time. The storm continued to rage on the Continent. The annals of England are almost a blank; and the leading incidents may be passed over rapidly. Charles IX., in consenting to the massacre of St Bartholomew, had said that if tried at all it should be universal. From fifty to sixty thousand human crea- tures had been murdered ; but indignation created heretics faster than the sword could destroy them. The whole country beyond the Loire revolted, and the civil war broke out fiercer than ever. Anjou was driven 1 The Queen of Scots to the Archbishop of Glasgow, August 4, 1574 : LABANOFF, vol. iv.