Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/483

 CHAPTER LXV11. THE BOND OF ASSOCIATION. IN a review of the state of England, written in the year 1585, Lord Burghley describes the Queen as ' for her own person inwardly loved by all that loved God, and professed true religion ; ' and the realm ' in outward shew by order of Justice, obedient, and dis- posed to peace.' The people, he said, ' were generally rich and able to endure all reasonable charges for the national defence ; ' and a ' great multitude, gentlemen, merchants, and vulgar people, especially in good towns where they were taught by discreet preachers, were very zealous towards God, and earnestly bent to all service for her Majesty's safety.' l Protestantism, on the Continent, had brought with it war and misery. In England, the affinity between the more genuine creed and material prosperity, had opportunity to show itself. The manufacturers of Ghent and Bruges, leaving the grass to grow in the 1 Memorial of the State of the Realm, in Lord Burghley's hand, No- vember 28, 1585 : MSS. Domtsttt.