488 REIGN OF ELIZABETH. [CH. 67. sons for which most of them might be ignorant. The old league with Spain was still popular with the country party, and Spaniards were now the best customers for English wares ; Parliament might refuse supplies, and the war, after being commenced, might have to be aban- doned. Yet Burghley, who himself drew out the objec- tions in the strongest form, considered them weaker than the arguments for energy. He held it ' less peril- ous to encounter the enemy abroad at the side of power- ful allies than to wait to meet him single-handed at home with a prospect of rebellion at his back.' l He recommended the Queen to complete her half-formed purpose, and at once, and on all sides, nerve herself for the struggle : to call Parliament, and throw herself heartily on the loyalty and advice of her people ; to communicate with the King of Navarre ; to spare no expense in conciliating Scotland and its King; and lastly, as the Alpha and Omega, to remember that there was something in religion, that it was not a mere idle name, and that subjects well ruled, and taught to fear God, were the sovereign's best supports in time of danger. 2 In this case she would have to fall back after all on the despised ' brothers in Christ/ The pill would be a bitter one, and Walsingham considered that sooner than submit to it sooner than abandon once and for ever her fiddling policy she would prefer, 'unless God 1 Considerations on the death of the Prince of Orange, 1584 : MSS. Hollarui. 2 j^a
