She liked candles, crucifixes and ritual just as she inordinately loved personal display.

And politically she learned very early to fear the republicanism of Knox.
[Sidenote: Most of people Catholic] The conservatism of Elizabeth's policy was determined also by the consideration that, though the more intelligent and progressive classes were Protestant, the mass of the people still clung to the Roman faith, and, if they had no other power, had at least the _vis inertiae_.
Accurate figures cannot be obtained, but a number of indications are significant.

In 1559 Convocation asserted the adherence of the clergy to the ancient faith.

Maurice Clenoch estimated in 1561 that the majority of the people would welcome foreign intervention in favor of Mary Stuart and the old faith.

Nicholas Sanders, a contemporary Catholic apologist, said that the common people of that period were divided into three classes: husbandmen, shepherds and mechanics.