Page:The house of Cecil.djvu/53

 WILLIAM, LORD BURGHLEY 37

One of the first things that claimed his attention was the state of the Church, and the religious settlement of 1559 was largely due to his modera- tion and statesmanship. He had to steer his course between the Romanists on the one hand and the Puritans on the other, and the best proof of the wisdom of his policy lies in the fact that each party complained that he favoured the other. His difficulties were increased by the fact that Elizabeth was, at least at the beginning of her reign, personally attracted to many of the rites of the Roman Church, and was not easily persuaded to go so far in the direction of reform as Cecil thought necessary. The attitude of the Bishops, however, made a settlement imperatively necessary, and in April, 1559, the Act of Supremacy which " restored to the Crown the ancient juris- diction over the State Ecclesiastical " received the Royal assent, after considerable opposition in the House of Lords. The Act of Uniformity, which enforced the use of the Revised Prayer Book, was passed at the same time, and in the course of the next two years, according to Strype, " the Church of England was reduced to the same good state wherein it was at the latter years of King Edward."

Even more credit is due to Cecil for his share in bringing about an enduring peace with Scotland. On the death of Henry I. of France in June, 1559, Mary Stuart became Queen Consort, and her pretensions to the throne of England could no longer be ignored. Her mother, Mary of Guise, was Regent in Scotland, and there was grave fear

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