Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 3.djvu/416

396 laboured for a union, and had laboured fruitlessly. It was not till a new power had been introduced, and a bond of concord had arisen between the two nations in a common Protestantism, that the inveterate antagonism consented at length to give way. Here too, by a mischievous fatality, the spirit of disagreement contrived to enter; but the uniting influence was stronger than the separative, and the work of fusion was accomplished at last, though painfully and arduously. The political condition of Scotland has been traced downwards to a point where it runs parallel to the general current of the story. I must go back a few years, to follow to its fountain the already visible stream of the spiritual Reformation.