Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 11.djvu/96

 So KEIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 65 Our Church, compared to the persecuting Papal Church, has been lenient and merciful, but when fair means have done no good, and behind our tolerance there come in these emissaries of rebellion and sedition, it is time to look more strictly to them. They have been en- couraged so far by the lenity of the laws. We must show them that as the Pope's curses do not hurt us, so his blessings cannot save them. We must make laws to restrain these people, and we must prepare force to resist violence which 'may be offered here or abroad.' 1 With this preface a bill was introduced, ' to restrain her Majesty's subjects in their due obedience/ On the publication of the Bull of Pope Pius, an Act had been passed making the introduction of this or any other Papal rescript into England treasonable ; but it had been proved inadequate, and Parliament was now therefore requested to enact ' that all persons pretending to any power of absolving subjects from their allegiance or practising to withdraw them to the Romish religion, with all persons after the present session willingly so absolved or reconciled to the See of Rome, should be held guilty of high treason ; ' and ' that those who abetted or concealed such persons should be held guilty of misprision of high treason ; ' that the saying mass in private houses which had been winked at for twenty years should be permitted no longer, that whoever should say or sing a mass should be fined 500 marks and im- prisoned for a year, and that those who refused to attend Speech of Sir Walter Mildway ; If Ewes' Journals, 1580-81