Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/282

 262 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [cif. 43. council took it in hand ; and shall I hope to do that which the Queen's Majesty will have done ? What I hear and see, what complaints he brought to me, I shall not report, [or] how I am used of many men's hands. I commit all to God. If I die in this cause malice so far prevailing I shall commit my soul to God in a good conscience. If the Queen's Majesty he no more con- sidered, I shall not marvel what he done or said to me. If you hear and see so manifestly as may be seen, and will not consult in time to prevent so many miseries, I have and do by these presents discharge my duty and conscience to you in such place as ye be. I can promise to do nothing but hold me in silence within my own conscience, and make my complaints to God ut exsurgat Deus et judicet causam istam, ille, ille, qui comprehendit sapientes in astutia eorum. 1 God be with your honour. ' Your honour's in Christ, 'i 'MATT. CANTTJAR.' The alarm produced by Elizabeth's attitude was not confined to the English Protestants. Adam Loftus, titular Archbishop of Armagh, bewailed to Cecil the malice of the crafty ' devil and subtle Satan ' who was ' turmoiling and turning things topsy-turvy, bringing in ' a mingled religion, neither wholly with nor wholly against God's word.' Such a religion was ' the more dangerous,' the Irish primate thought, 'as it was ac- counted good and comely ; ' but for himself he would 1 * That God may arise, and may judge in this caiise, Ho lie who taketh the wise in their own craftiness.'