Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/24

 10 REIGN Of ELIZABETH. CH. 52. counties had represented for centuries the majesty of the sovereign whose word was law, and from whom in a continuous chain the civil order of the State descended, looked coldly on the new men who were rising by trade, who owned the lands which had been taken from the Church, who acknowledged no fealty to them or theirs. The sea rovers too, with their aiders and abettors, had no place in the stately system of Feudal England. The disintegration, which had alarmed even Cecil, shocked and outraged the old-fashioned nobility. Their place was gone from them. A new world was rising round them, and a new order of things in which all objects held most sacred were being trampled in the niire. The reception of Chatillon and the seizure of the Spanish treasure appeared to indicate that Elizabeth was yielding to the faction with whom, as they con- ceived, these mischiefs had originated. On the termination of the inquiry at Hampton Court their discontent took active shape. There was no longer a probability that Elizabeth would be brought to recognize the Queen of Scots' succession ; yet, in de- spair of finding a substitute for her, they satisfied them- selves that her right must be maintained, and the question now was of the means by which it could be effected. Some of them Lord Montague, Lord South- ampton, and others had been in correspondence with the Spanish ambassador about it before the meeting at York ; and it was by them that her marriage with the Duke of Norfolk had been first originated. But it has