On account of her religion she became the center of the hopes and of the actual machinations of all English malcontents.
In these plots she participated as far as she dared.
[Sidenote: The Catholic Powers] Elizabeth's crown would have been jeoparded had the Catholic powers, or any one of them, acted promptly.

That they did not do so is proof, partly of their mutual jealousies, party of the excellence of Cecil's statesmanship.

Convinced though he was that civil peace could only be secured by religious unity, for five years he played a hesitating game in order to hold off the Catholics until his power should be strong enough to crush them.

By a system of espionage, by permitting only nobles and sailors to leave the kingdom without special licence, by welcoming Dutch Protestant refugees, he clandestinely fostered the strength of his party.

His scheme was so far successful that the pope hesitated more than eleven years before issuing the bull of deprivation.