Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/21

 CHAPTER XL1. THE ENGLISH AT HAVRE. IN the face of enormous difficulties Elizabeth and her ministers had restored England to its rank in Eu- rope. They had baffled Spain, wrested Scotland from the Guises, and played with accomplished dexterity on the rivalries and jealousies of the Romanist powers. By skill and good fortune they had brought the Catholics at home to an almost desperate submission ; and now, with the country armed to the teeth, they were subsi- dizing a Protestant rebellion in France, and fastening themselves once more upon the French soil. The expenses of so aggressive and dangerous a policy had been great, yet Elizabeth's talent for economy had saved her from deep involvements ; and while courtiers whined over her parsimony, the burden of public debt bequeathed by Mary had received no increase, and was even somewhat diminished. The wounds were still green which twenty years of religious and social con- fusion had inflicted on the. common wealth ; but here too there were visible symptoms of amendment : above all, VOL. VII. 1