Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 10.djvu/529

 1580.] THE ALEN<^ON MARRIAGE. 509 the heart of heresy. It was in England that French, Flemings, Germans, Italians, Spaniards, fugitives for religion, found home and shelter. It was in England that the patriot armies recruited themselves ; and the English Protestant congregations supplied the money that supported them. So long as England was uncon- quered, the Reformation was felt to be unconquerable, and it was the more exasperating because the English Catholics believed that, had they received the smallest practical assistance at Elizabeth's accession, they could have compelled her to remain in the Roman commu- nion. Every year that had been allowed to pass had made recovery more difficult. Of the Catholic nobles some were dead, some were landless fugitives. The creed survived as a tradition, but the exercise of it was dying out. The more impetuous of the priests had gone abroad. Many had conformed ; many had adhered to the faith, and said mass with the connivance of the Government in private houses. But they were dropping off, and the vacancies were not replenished. The old ceremonial was not yet forgotten, but was more and more faintly remem- bered. The longer the invasion was delayed, the fainter the support which could be looked for in England itself, and the refugees, sick of pleading with Philip, had ap- pealed with more success to the Pope and the Church. A new and passionate impulse had been given to the Catholic creed by St Teresa and Ignatius Loyola. The Carmelite and Jesuit orders had revived something of the fervour of ancient Christendom, and personal and family ambition came to the help of religious