n.]

The ruthless measures of repression which followed this revolt were the
first breach in the clemency of Elizabeth's rule. But they were signs of
terror which were not lost on her opponents. It was the general inaction
of the Catholics which had foiled the hopes of the northern Earls; and
Pope Pius resolved to stir them to activity by publishing in March 1570
the Bull of Excommunication and Deposition which had been secretly
issued in the preceding year. In his Bull Pius declared that Elizabeth
had forfeited all right to the throne, released her subjects from their
oath of allegiance to her, and forbade her nobles and people to obey her
on pain of excommunication. In spite of the efforts of the Government to
prevent the entry of any copies of this sentence into the realm the Bull
was found nailed in a spirit of ironical defiance on the Bishop of
London's door. Its effect was far from being what Rome desired. With the
exception of one or two zealots the English Catholics treated the Bull
as a dead letter. The duty of obeying the Queen seemed a certain thing
to them, while that of obeying the Pope in temporal matters was denied
by most and doubted by all. Its spiritual effect indeed was greater. The
Bull dealt a severe blow to the religious truce which Elizabeth had
secured. In the North the Catholics withdrew stubbornly from the
national worship, and everywhere throughout the realm an increase in the
number of recusants showed the obedience of a large body of Englishmen
to the Papal command. To the minds of English statesmen such an
obedience to the Papal bidding in matters of religion only heralded an
obedience to the Papal bidding in matters of state. In issuing the Bull
of Deposition Pius had declared war upon the Queen. He had threatened
her throne. He had called on her subjects to revolt. If his secret
pressure had stirred the rising of the Northern Earls, his open
declaration of war might well rouse a general insurrection of Catholics
throughout the realm, while the plots of his agents threatened the
Queen's life.

[Sidenote: The Ridolfi plot.]

How real was the last danger was shown at this moment by the murder of
Murray. In January 1570 a Catholic partizan, James Hamilton, shot the
Regent in the streets of Linlithgow; and Scotland plunged at once into
war between the adherents of Mary and those of her son. The blow broke
Elizabeth's hold on Scotland at a moment when conspiracy threatened her
hold on Englan