Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 9.djvu/297

 1 5 70. ] EXCOMMUNICA TION OF ELIZA BE TH. ?$3 orders and could not meddle with. it. While his troops halted at Glasgow, he went down with, a party of horse to survey the fortress for future contingencies. He was shot at from the ditahes, but no harm was done, and after taking the necessary notes he rejoined his men. From Glasgow he went to Linlithgow, where a ' palace ' belonging to Chatelherault shared the fate of Hamilton, The house from which the Regent had been shot was destroyed, with every building or homestead belonging to any of the Hamiltons' name or lineage ; and with this emphatic act of justice the English at the end of the month returned to Edinburgh. Meanwhile a remarkable event had taken place in London. Desperate at this second invasion and the failure of La Mothe's threats, the Bishop of Ross had played the card which he had reserved in his hand. On the morning of the I5th of May the Bull declaring Elizabeth deposed and her subjects absolved from their allegiance was found nailed against the Bishop of Lon- don's door, and whatever the Catholic Powers might do or not do, the Catholic Church had formally declared war. The experiment had been tried before against Henry VIII. and had effected nothing. The super- stitious terrors once attaching to the Vatican thunders had long disappeared. But Elizabeth was not Henry, and the England and the Europe of 1570 were not the England and the Europe of 1539. In some respects the advantage was with the Queen. The Catholic Church had no longer the prestige of ancient sovereignty, for the first time disturbed and broken. It no longer