Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 7.djvu/31

 j 56 1. ] THE ENGLISH AT HA VRE. 1 1 Cecil's is the single name which is never missed. In the Queen's cabinet or in his own, sketching Acts of Parlia- ment, drawing instructions for ambassadors, or weighing on paper the opposing arguments at every crisis of poli- tical action ; corresponding with archbishops on liturgies and articles, with secret agents in every corner of Europe or with foreign ministers in every court, Cecil is to be found ever restlessly busy ; and sheets of paper densely covered with brief memoranda remain among his manu scripts to show the vastness of his daily labour and the surface over which he extended his control. From the great duel with Rome to the terraces and orange groves at Burghley nothing was too large for his intellect to grasp, nothing too small for his attention to condescend ,to consider. In July 1561, under Cecil's direction, letters went round the southern and western counties desiring the magistrates to send in reports on the working of the laws which affected the daily life of the people, on the wages statutes, the acts of apparel, the poor laws; the tillage and pasture laws, the act for ' the maintenance of archery/ and generally on the condition of the popu- lation. A certain Mr Tyldsley was commissioned pri- vately to follow the circulars and observe how far the magistrates either reported the truth or were doing their duty ; and though the reports are lost Tyldsley's letters remain, with his opinion on the character of the Eng- lish gentry. If that opinion was correct the change of creed had not improved them. The people were no longer trained