Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/92

 7& REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [c. 63. chanics' workshops. Galilean fishermen were the first to die for the Gospel, and a burnt cobbler did as much honour to Protestantism as an executed noble to Rome. But the conversion of so many men of rank was po- litically of extreme importance. The spirit of the Kidolfi conspiracy was evidently reviving. It was a question of life and death, and the Government deter- mined to be masters. Jesuits and seminary priests continued to arrive in tens and twenties. The Earl of Westmoreland received a summons to Rome from the Pope, and brought back a pile of bullion to Flanders. ' The Papists said openly they hoped to see Westmore- land and the Duke of Alva in England before the com- ing Midsummer.' The Catholics, for the first time, refused generally to attend the Anglican services, and one of Walsing- ham's spies in England warned him that ' the times were perilous, the people wilful and desirous of change, with greater danger on hand than was provided for/ 1 Walsingham, with Burghley at his side, a<jcepted the challenge. Attendance at church was made a test of loyalty, and Lord Paget and other suspected nobles were required to hear the service at Paul's Cross at their peril. 2 Parliament was called to grant extra- ordinary powers, the same Parliament which had been returned in 1572, in the excitement which followed the rebellion. The Protestant majority was valuable, and there had been no dissolution. to Walsingham, June | * Paget to Walsingham, January 5, 1581 : MSS. Domestic. JO, 1581 : MSS. Ibid.