History of Elizabeth

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History of Queen Elizabeth

Jacob Abbott

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HARVARD COLLEGELIBRARY

FROM THE ESTATE OF

EDWIN HALE ABBOT

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HISTORY

QUEEN ELIZABETH,

BY JACOB ABBOTT.

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NEW YORK:

HARPER * BROTHERS, PUBLISHERS

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HARVARD COLLEGE LIBRARY

FROM THE ESTATE OF

EDWIN HALE ABBOT

DECEMBER 28, 1931

Entered, According to Act of Congress, in the year one thousandeight hundred and forty- nine, by

Harper & Brothers,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern Districtof New York.

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PREFACE.

The author of this series has made it his spe-cial object to confine himself very strictly, evenin the most minute details which he records, tohistoric truth. The narratives are not talesfounded upon history, but history itself, withoutany embellishment or any deviations from thestrict truth, so far as it can now be discovered

by an attentive examination of the annals writ-ten at the time when the events themselves oc-curred. In writing the narratives, the authorhas endeavored to avail himself of the bestsources of information which this country af-fords; and though, of course, there must bein these volumes, as in all historical accounts,more or less of imperfection and error, there isno intentional embellishment. Nothing is stat-ed, not even the most minute and apparently

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viii Preface.

imaginary details, without what was deemedgood historical authority. The readers, there-

fore, may rely upon the record as the truth, andnothing but the truth, so far as an honest pur-pose and a careful examination have been effect-ual in ascertaining it.

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CONTENTS.

Chapter Page

i. Elizabeth's mother 13

II. THE CHILDHOOD OP A PRINCESS 39

III. LADY JANE GREY 57

IV. THE SPANISH MATCH 81

V. ELIZABETH IN THE TOWER 100

VI. ACCESSION TO THE THRONE 120

VII. THE WAR IN SCOTLAND 141

VIII. ELIZABETH'S LOVERS 161

IX. PERSONAL CHARACTER 187

X. THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA 208

XI. THE EARL OP ESSEX 232

XII. THE CONCLUSION 260

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ENGRAVINGS.



PagePORTRAIT OF DRAKE FrotltispitCC.

PORTRAIT OF HENRY VIII 16

PORTRAIT OF ANNE BOLEYN . - 20

GROUP OF CHRISTENING GIFTS - 25

TOWER OF LONDON % 31

PORTRAIT OF EDWARD VI 44

LADY JANE GREY AT STUDY 63

PORTRAIT OF PHILIP OF SPAIN .- - 84

ELIZABETH IN THE TOWER - 112

ELIZABETH'S PROGRESS TO LONDON 135

THE FRITH OF FORTH, WITH LEITH AND EDIN-BURGH IN THE DISTANCE 156

LEICESTER 1 69

THE BARGES ON THE RIVER 182

PORTRAIT OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 203

THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA 229

THE HOUSE OF THE EARL OF ESSEX 242

ELIZABETH IN HER LAST HOURS 270

HEAD OF JAMES 1 275

ELIZABETH'S TOMB 279

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QUEEN ELIZABETH.

Chapter I.Elizabeth's Mother.

Greenwich. The hospital Its inmates.

mRAVELERS, in ascending the Thames■*■ by the steamboat from Rotterdam, on

their return from an excursion to the Rhine,have often their attention strongly attracted by



what appears to be a splendid palace on thebanks of the river at Greenwich. The edificeis not a palace, however, but a hospital, or,rather, a retreat where the worn out, maimed,and crippled veterans of the English navy spendthe remnant of their days in comfort and peace,

on pensions allowed them by the government inwhose service they have spent their strengthor lost their limbs. The magnificent buildingsof the hospital stand on level land near the river.Behind them there is a beautiful park, whichextends over the undulating and rising groundin the rear ; and on the summit of one of theeminences there is the famous Greenwich Ob-

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14 Queen Elizabeth. [1533.

Greenwich Observatory. Manner of taking time

servatory, on the precision of whose quadrantsand micrometers depend those calculations bywhich the navigation of the world is guided.The most unconcerned and careless spectatoris interested in the manner in which the shipswhich throng the river all the way from Green-wich to London, "take their time" from thisobservatory before setting sail for distant seas.From the top of a cupola surmounting the edi-fice, a slender pole ascends, with a black ball uponit, so constructed as to slide up and down for afew feet upon the pole. When the hour of 12 M.approaches, the ball slowly rises to within a fewinches of the top, warning the ship-masters inthe river to be ready with their chronometers,to observe and note the precise instant of itsfall. When a few seconds only remain of thetime, the ball ascends the remainder of the dis-tance by a very, deliberate motion, and thendrops suddenly when the instant arrives. Theships depart on their several destinations, and

for months afterward when thousands of milesaway, they depend for their safety in dark andstormy nights, and among dangerous reefs androcky shores, on the nice approximation to oor-reotness in the note of time whioh this descend-ing ball had given them.

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1533.] Elizabeth's Mother. 17

Henry the Eighth. His character. His six wives.

This is Greenwich, as it exists at the presentday. At the time when the events occurredwhich are to be related in this narrative, it wasmost known on account of a royal palace whichwas situated there. This palace was the resi-

dence of the then queen consort of England.The king reigning at that time was Henry theEighth. He was an unprincipled and crueltyrant, and the chief business of his life seem-ed to be selecting and marrying new queens,making room for each succeeding one by dis-carding, divorcing, or beheading her predeces-sor. There were six of them in all, and, withone exception, the history of each one is a dis-tinct and separate, but dreadful tragedy. Asthere were so many of them, and they figuredas queens each for so short a period, they arecommonly designated in history by their per-sonal family names, and even in these namesthere is a great similarity. There were threeCatharines, two Annes, and a Jane. The onlyone who lived and died in peace, respected andbeloved to the end, was the Jane.

Queen Elizabeth, the subject of this narra-tive, was the daughter of the second wife in thisstrange succession, and her mother was one ofthe Annes. Her name in full was Anne Bo-B

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Anne Boleyu. Catharine of Aragon. Henry discards her.

leyn. She was young and very beautiful, andHenry, to prepare the way for making fier hiswife, divorced his first queen, or rather declaredhis marriage with her null and void, becauseshe had been, before he married her, the wife

of his brother. Her name was Catharine ofAragon. She was, while connected with him,



a faithful, true, and affectionate wife. She wasa Catholic. The Catholic rules are very strictin respect to the marriage of relatives, and aspecial dispensation from the pope was neces-sary to authorize marriage in such a case asthat of Henry and Catharine. This dispensa-

tion had, however, been obtained, and Catharinehad, in reliance upon it, consented to becomeHenry's wife. When, however, she was nolonger young and beautiful, and Henry had be-come enamored of Anne Boleyn, who was so,he discarded Catharine, and espoused the beau-tiful girl in her stead. He wished the pope toannul his dispensation, which would, of course,annul the marriage ; and because the pontiffrefused, and all the efforts of Henry's govern-ment were unavailing to move him, he aban-doned the Catholic faith, and established an in-dependent Protestant church in England, whose

supreme authority would annul the marriage.

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Portrait op Aknk Bolkyw.

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Origin of the English Church. Henry marries Anne Boleyn.

Thus, in a great measure, came the Reforma-tion in England. The Catholics reproach us,and, it must be confessed, with some justice,

with the ignominiousness of its origin.

The course which things thus took created agreat deal of delay in the formal annulling ofthe marriage with Catharine, which Henry wastoo impatient and imperious to bear. He wouldnot wait for the decree of divoroe, but took AnneBoleyn for his wife before his previous connec-tion was made void. He said he was privatelymarried to her. This he had, as he maintained,a right to do, for he considered his first mar-riage as void, absolutely and of itself, withoutany decree. When, at length, the decree was

finally passed, he brought Anne Boleyn forwardas his queen, and introduced her as such to En-



gland and to the world by a genuine marriageand a most magnificent coronation. The peo-ple of England pitied poor Catharine, but theyjoined very cordially, notwithstanding, in wel-coming the youthful and beautiful lady whowas to take her place. All London gave itself

up to festivities and rejoicings on the occasionof these nuptials. Immediately after this theyoung queen retired to her palace in Greenwich,and in two or three months afterward little

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22 Queen Elizabeth. [L533.

Birth of Elizabeth. Ceremony of christening.

Elizabeth was born. Her birth-day was the7th of September, 1533.

The mother may have loved the babe, butHenry himself was sadly disappointed that hischild was not a son. Notwithstanding her sex,however, she was a personage of great distinc-tion from her very birth, as all the realm lookedupon her as heir to the crown. Henry washimself, at this time, very fond of Anne Bo-leyn, though his feelings afterward were entire-ly changed. He determined on giving to theinfant a very splendid christening. The usagein the Church of England is to make the chris-tening of a child not merely a solemn religiousceremony, but a great festive occasion of con-gratulations and rejoicing. The unconscioussubject of the ceremony is taken to the church.Certain near and distinguished friends, gentle-men and ladies, appear as godfathers and god-mothers, as they are termed, to the child. They,in the ceremony, are considered as presentingthe infant for consecration to Christ, and as be-coming responsible for its future initiation intothe Christian faith. They are hence sometimes

called sponsors. These sponsors are supposedto take, from the time of the baptism forward,a strong interest in all that pertains to the wel-

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Baptism of Elizabeth. Grand procession.

fare of their little charge, and they usually man-



ifest this interest by presents on the day of thechristening. These things are all conductedwith considerable ceremony and parade in ordi-nary cases, occurring in private life ; and whena princess is to be baptized, all, even the mostminute details of the ceremony, assume a great

importance, and the whole scene becomes oneof great pomp and splendor.

The babe, in this case, was conveyed to thechurch in a grand procession. The mayor andother civic authorities in London came downto Greenwich in barges, tastefully ornamented,to join in the ceremony. The lords and ladiesof King Henry's court were also there, in at-tendance at the palace. When all were assem-bled, and every thing was ready, the processionmoved from the palace to the church with greatpomp. The road, all the way, was carpeted

with green rushes, spread upon the ground.Over this road the little infant was borne byone of her godmothers. She was wrapped ina mantle of purple velvet, with a long train ap-pended to it, which was trimmed with ermine,a very costly kind of fur, used in England as abadge of authority. This train was borne bylords and ladies of high rank, who were appoint-

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Train-bearers. The church. The silver font

ed for the purpose by the king, and who deemedtheir office a very distinguished honor. Besidesthese train-bearers, there were four lords, whowalked two on each side of the child, and whoheld over her a magnificent canopy. Other per-sonages of high rank and station followed, bear-ing various insignia and emblems, such as bythe ancient customs of England are employed

on these occasions, and all dressed sumptuous-ly in gorgeous robes, and wearing the badgesand decorations pertaining to their rank or theoffices they held. Vast crowds of spectatorslined the way, and gazed upon the scene.

On arriving at the church, they found the in-terior splendidly decorated for the occasion. Itswalls were lined throughout with tapestry, andin the center was a crimson canopy, under whichwas placed a large silver font, containing the_water with which the child was to be baptized.The ceremony was performed by Cranmer, the

archbishop of Canterbury, which is the officeof the highest dignitary of the English Church.



After it was performed, the procession returnedas it came, only now there was an addition offour persons of high rank, who followed the childwith the presents intended for her by the god-fathers and godmothers. These presents oon-

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Thk Chbistining Gifts.


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The presents. Name of the infant princess.

sisted of cups and bowls, of beautiful workman-ship, some of silver gilt, and some of solid gold.They were very costly, though not prized muchyet by the unconscious infant for whom theywere intended. She went and came, in themidst of this gay and joyous procession, littleimagining into what a restless and unsatisfyinglife all this pageantry and splendor were usher-ing her.

They named the child Elizabeth, from hergrandmother. There have been many queensof that name, but Queen Elizabeth of Englandbecame so much more distinguished than anyother, that that name alone has become her usu-al designation. Her family name was Tudor.As she was never married — for, though her lifewas one perpetual scene of matrimonial schemes

and negotiations, she lived and died a maidenlady — she has been sometimes called the VirginQueen, and one of the states of this Union, Vir-ginia, receives its name from this designationof Elizabeth. She is also often familiarly calledQueen Bess.

Making little Elizabeth presents of gold andsilver plate, and arranging splendid pageantsfor her, were not the only plans for her aggran-dizement which were formed during the period

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Elizabeth made Princess of Wales. Matrimonial schemes.

of her infantile unconsciousness. The king, herfather, first had an act of Parliament passed,solemnly recognizing and confirming her olaimas heir to the crown, and the title of Princess ofWales was formally conferred upon her. Whenthese things were done, Henry began to consid-er how he could best promote his own politicalschemes by forming an engagement of marriagefor her, and, when she was only about two yearsof age, he offered her to the King of France asthe future wife of one of his sons, on certainconditions of political service which he wished

him to perform. But the King of France wouldnot accede to the terms, and so this plan wasabandoned. Elizabeth was, however, notwith-standing this failure, an object of universal in-terest and attention, as the daughter of a verypowerful monarch, and the heir to his crown.Her life opened with very bright and sereneprospects of future greatness ; but all these pros-pects were soon apparently cut off by a veryheavy cloud which arose to darken her sky.This cloud was the sudden and dreadful falland ruin of her mother.

Queen Anne Boleyn was originally a maidof honor to Queen Catharine, and became ac-quainted with King Henry and gained his af-

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1536.J Elizabeth's Mother. 29

Jane Seymour. The tournament The king's suspicions

feotions while she was acting in that capacity.When she became queen herself, she had, ofcourse, her own maids of honor, and amongthem was one named Jane Seymour. Janewas a beautiful and accomplished lady, and inthe end she supplanted her mistress and queenin Henry's affections, just as Anne herself hadsupplanted Catharine. The king had removedCatharine to make way for Anne, by annullinghis marriage with her on account of their rela-tionship : what way could he contrive now toremove Anne, so as to make way for Jane ?

He began to entertain, or to pretend to en-tertain, feelings of jealousy and suspicion that



Anne was unfaithful to him. One day, at asort of tournament in the park of the royal pal-ace at Greenwich, when a great crowd of gayly-dressed ladies and gentlemen were assembledto witness the spectacle, the queen dropped herhandkerchief. A gentleman whom the king had

suspected of being one of her favorites picked itup. He did not immediately restore it to her.There was, besides, something in the air andmanner of the gentleman, and in the attendantcircumstances of the case, which the king's mindseized upon as evidence of criminal gallantrybetween the parties. He was, or at least pre-

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Queen Anne arrested. She ia sent to the Tower.

tended to be, in a great rage. He left the fieldimmediately and went to London. The tour-nament was broken up in confusion, the queenwas seized by the king's orders, conveyed to herpalace in Greenwich, and shut up in her cham-ber, with a lady who had always been her rivaland enemy to guard her. She was in greatconsternation and sorrow, but she declared mostsolemnly that she was innocent of any crime,and had always been true and faithful to theking.

The next day she was taken from her palaceat Greenwich up the river, probably in a bargewell guarded by armed men, to the Tower ofLondon. The Tower is an ancient and very ex-tensive castle, consisting of a great number ofbuildings inclosed within a high wall. It is inthe lower part of London, on the bank of theThames, with a flight of stairs leading down tothe river from a great postern gate. The un-happy queen was landed at these stairs and con-

veyed into the castle, and shut up in a gloomyapartment, with walls of stone and windowsbarricaded with strong bars of iron. Therewere four or five gentlemen, attendants uponthe queen in her palace at Greenwich, whomthe king suspected, or pretended to suspect, of

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In this letter, she said that she was so dis-tressed and bewildered by the king's displeas-ure and her imprisonment, that she hardlyknew what to think or to say. She assuredhim that she had always been faithful and trueto him, and begged that he would not cast an

indelible stain upon her own fair fame and thatof her innocent and helpless child by such un-just and groundless imputations. She beggedhim to let her have a fair trial by impartial per-sons, who would weigh the evidence against herin a just and equitable manner. She was surethat by this course her innocence would be es-tablished, and he himself, and all mankind,would see that she had been most unjustly ac-

But if, on the other hand, she added, the king

had determined on her destruction, in order to

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Anne's fellow-prisoners. They are executed.

remove an obstacle in the way of his possessionof a new object of love, she prayed that Godwould forgive him and all her enemies for sogreat a sin, and not call him to account for itat the last day. She urged him, at all events,to spare the lives of the four gentlemen whohad been accused, as she assured him they werewholly innocent of the crime laid to their charge,begging him, if he had ever loved the name ofAnne Boleyn, to grant this her last request.She signed her letter his " most loyal and everfaithful wife," and dated it from her " dolefulprison in the Tower."

The four gentlemen were promised that their

lives should be spared if they would confess theirguilt. One of them did, accordingly, admit hisguilt, and the others persisted to the end in firm*ly denying it. They who think Anne Boleynwas innocent, suppose that the one who con-fessed did it as the most likely mode of avert-ing destruction, as men have often been known,under the influence of fear, to confess crimesof which it was afterward proved they couldnot have been guilty. If this was his motive,it was of no avail. The four persons accused,after a very informal trial, in which nothing wasreally proved against them, were condemned,



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Anne tried and condemned. She protest! her innocence.

apparently to please the king, and were exeeuted together.

Three days after this the queen herself was'brought to trial before the peers. The numberof peers of the realm in England at this timewas fifty-three. Only twenty-six were presentat the trial. The king is charged with makingsuch arrangements as to prevent the attendanceof those who would be unwilling to pass sen-

tenoe of condemnation. At any rate, those whodid attend professed to be satisfied of the guiltof the accused, and they sentenced her to beburned, or to be beheaded, at the pleasure of theking. He decided that she should be beheaded.

The execution was to take place in a littlegreen area within the Tower. The platformwas erected here, and the block placed upon it,the whole being covered with a black cloth, asusual on such occasions. On the morning ofthe fatal day, Anne sent for the constable ofthe Tower to come in and receive her dyingprotestations that she was innocent of the crimesalleged against her. She told him that she un-derstood that she was not to die until 12 o'clock,and that she was sorry for it, for she wished tohave it over. The constable told her the painwould be very slight and momentary. "Yes,"

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1536.] Elizabeth's Mother. 3?

Anne's execution. Disposition of the body.

she rejoined, "I am told that a very skillfulexecutioner is provided, and my neck is veryslender.".

At the appointed hour she was led out intothe court-yard where the execution was to takeplace. There were about twenty persons pres-ent, all officers of state or of the city of London.The bodily suffering attendant upon the execu-tion was very soon over, for the slender neck

was severed at a single blow, and probably allsensibility to pain immediately ceased. Still,



the lips and the eyes were observed to moveand quiver for a few seconds after the separa-tion of the head from the body. It was a reliefhowever, to the spectators when this strangeand unnatural prolongation of the mysteriousfunctions of life came to an end.

No coffin had been provided. They found,however, an old wooden chest, made to containarrows, lying in one of the apartments of thetower, which they used instead. They firstlaid the decapitated trunk within it, and thenadjusted the dissevered head to its place, as ifvainly attempting to repair the irretrievable in-jury they had done. They hurried the body,thus enshrined, to its burial in a chapel, whichwas also within the tower, doing all with such

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38 Queen Elizabeth. [1536

The king's brutality. Elizabeth's forlorn condition.

dispatch that the whole was finished before theclock struck twelve ; and the next day the un-feeling monster who was the author of this dread-ful deed was publicly married to his new favor-ite, Jane Seymour.

The king had not merely procured Anne'spersonal condemnation ; he bad also obtained adecree annulling his marriage with her, on theground of her having been, as he attemptedto prove, previously affianced to another man.This was, obviously, a mere pretense. The ob-ject was to cut off Elizabeth's rights to inheritthe crown, by making his marriage with hermother void. Thus was the little princess leftmotherless and friendless when only three yearsold.

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1536.] Childhood op a Princess. 39

Elizabeth's condition at the death of her mother. Her residence.

Chapter II.

The Childhood of a Princess.



ELIZABETH was about three years old atthe death of her mother. She was a prin-cess, but she was left in a very forlorn and des-olate condition. She was not, however, entirelyabandoned. Her claims to inherit the crownhad been set aside, but then she was, as all ad-

mitted, the daughter of the king, and she must,of course, be the object of a certain degree of.consideration and ceremony. It would be en-tirely inconsistent with the notions of royal dig-nity which then prevailed to have her treatedlike an ordinary child.

She had a residence assigned her at a placecalled Hunsdon, and was put under the chargeof a governess whose name was Lady Bryan.There is an ancient letter from Lady Bryan,still extant, which was written to one of theking's officers about Elizabeth, explaining her

destitute condition, and asking for a more suit-able supply for her wants. It may entertainthe reader to see this relic, which not only illus-

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Letter of Lady Bryan, Elizabeth's gorerneas.

trates our little heroine's condition, but alsoshows how great the changes are which our lan-guage has undergone within the last three hund-red years. The letter, as here given, is abridg-ed a little from the original :

f*$ JLor* :

Wbtn sour 3Lor*sbtp toas last (ere, ft pleas eHSou to sa$ tbat X sfiouITi not fie mistrustful of tbe Sing's€frace, nor of sour JLor*sblp, toblcb toot* toas of great com*fort to me, an* embol*enetb me noto to speatt m$ poor mln*.

Xoto so ft Is, ms lor*, tbat ms l.a*s Elfjabetb Is putfrom tbe *egree sbe toas afore, an* tobat *egree ©J)e ft atnoto* £ frnoto not tut b$ bearsas* Cberefbre X frnoto notboto to or*er J)er, nor myself, nor none of bers tbat X babetbe rule of — tbat Is, J)er toomen an* bet grooms. ' 3Sut X be*seed) sou to be goo*, ms JLor*, to tier an* to all tiers, an* tolet ber babe some raiment ; for stie bas neither goton, norftfrtle, nor no manner of linen, nor fbresmocfcs, nor frercbf efs,nor sleebes, nor rails, nor bo*sstltcbets, nor mufflers, norbiggfns. &U tbese ber ©race's toants X babe *rlben off asIons as X can, iij m$ trotb* tut X can not aus longer. 3fre*seecblng sou, m$ JLor*, tbat $ou tofll see tbat bet ©racema$ t)abe tbat fs nee*ful for ber, an* tbat X mas fcnoto ^ rom

Sou, In torltfng, boto X sball or*er m$self totoar*s ber, an*tobateber (s tbe Sing's ©race's pleasure an* sours, fn ebers



tbteJU tbat X sball *o.

JttS lor* Jttr. Sbelton tooul* babe ms Ea*s Ellf abetbto *(ne art* sup at tbe boar* of estate. Silas, ms JLor*, Itfs not meet for a cjwl* of ber age to fteep sucb rule set Xpromise jou, m$ JLor*, X *are not tafce upon me to keep

* That is, in what light the king and the government wishto have her regarded, and how they wish her to be treated.

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1536.] Childhood of a Princess. 41

Conclusion of letter. Trouble! and trials of infancy.

J)er fn fcaltf) ant! s$e fceep tjrat rule ; for t&ere s$e sjjall seetofbers meats, an* frufts, antr brines, tobtcjj toouft tie fiartifor me to restrain Jet ©race from ft ITou fcnoto, m$ JLorti,t&ere fs no place of correction* tfcere, antr sbe fs set tooStrung to correct greatly. X itnoto toell, arti s$e te t&ere, Xsfiall neber bring Jier up to t&e IRfug's ©race's fjonor norJ>ers, nor to ber bealt&, nor mj poor J>onest2>. Wherefore,X oeseecj) sou* mj JLorti, t&at mj JLatog mas J>*te a messof meat to ber oton lotigfng, toftb a gootr trfsb or Itoo t&at tomeet for tier ©race to eat ot

$$S JLaTis batb Ufcetofse great pafn toftb ber teetb, art)tt>ea? come berg slotolj forty, an* tbfs causetb me to raftertier ©race to babe ber tofll more t&an X tooulti. X trust to©oft, antr feer tertb toere toell graft, to Jjabe fier ©race afteranother fasbfon tban sbe fs jet, so as X trust tbe 3fcfng f s©race sball babe great comfort fn be* ©race; for sbe fs astotoarfc a cbflfc, antr as gentle of contritions, as eber X frnetoanj tn mj Ufe. Sesu preserbe ber ©race.

©ootr ms 2,ort>, babe ms Hate's ©race, art* us t&at beber poor serbants, fn $our remembrance.

This letter evinces that strange mixture ofstate and splendor with discomfort and destitu-tion, which prevailed very extensively in royal

households in those early times. A part of theprivation which Elizabeth seems, from this let-ter, to have endured, was doubtless owing to therough manners of the day ; but there is no doubtthat she was also, at least for a time, in a neg-lected and forsaken condition. The new queen,Jane Seymour, who succeeded Elizabeth's moth-

* That is, opportunity for correction.

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Birth of Edward. The king reconciled to his daughters.

er, had a son a year or two after her marriage.

He was named Edward. Thus Henry hadthree children, Mary, Elizabeth, and Edward,each one the child of a different wife ; and thelast of them, the son, appears to have monopo-lized, for a time, the king's affection and care.

Still, the hostility which the king had felt forthese queens in succession was owing, as hasbeen already said, to his desire to remove themout of his way, that he might be at liberty tomarry again ; and so, after the mothers were,one after another, removed, the hostility itself,so far as the children were concerned, gradually

subsided, and the king began to look both uponMary and Elizabeth with favor again. Heeven formed plans for marrying Elizabeth topersons of distinction in foreign countries, andhe entered into some negotiations for this pur-pose. He had a decree passed, too, at last, re-versing the sentence by which the two princess-es were cut off from an inheritance of the crown.Thus they were restored, during their father'slife, to their proper rank as royal princesses.

At last the king died in 1547, leaving onlythese three children, each one the child of a dif-ferent wife. Mary was a maiden lady, of aboutthirty-one years of age. She was a stern, aus-

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Portrait of Edward VI.



Death of King Henry. His children.

tere, hard-hearted woman, whom nobody loved.She was the daughter of King Henry's first wife,

Catharine of Aragon, and, like her mother, wasa decided Cathplic.



Next came Elizabeth, who was about four-teen years of age. She was the daughter ofthe king's second wife, Queen Anne Boleyn.She had been educated a Protestant. She wasnot pretty, but was a very lively and sprightly

child, altogether different in her cast of charac-ter and in her manners from her sister Mary.

Then, lastly, there was Edward, the son ofJane Seymour, the third queen. He was aboutnine years of age at his father's death. He wasa boy of good character, mild and gentle in hisdisposition, fond of study and reflection, and ageneral favorite with all who knew him.

It was considered in those days that a kingmight, in some sense, dispose of his crown bywill, just as, at the present time, a man may

bequeath his house or his farm. Of course,there were some limits to this power, and theconcurrence of Parliament seems to have beenrequired to the complete validity of such a set-dement. King Henry the Eighth, however, hadlittle difficulty in carrying any law through Par-liament which he desired to have enacted. It

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46 Qijeen Elizabeth. [1547.

King Henry's violence. The order of succession.

is said that, on one occasion, when there wassome delay about passing a bill of his, he sentfor one of the most influential of the membersof the House of Commons to come into his pres-ence. The member came and kneeled beforehim. " Ho, man !" said the king, " and willthey not suffer my bill to pass ?" He then cameup and put his hand upon the kneeling legisla-tor's head, and added, " Get my bill passed to-

morrow, or else by to-morrow this head of yoursshall be off." The next day the bill was passedaccordingly.

King Henry, before he died, arranged the or-.der of succession to the throne as follows: Ed-ward was to succeed him ; but, as he was a mi-nor, being then only nine years of age, a greatcouncil of state, consisting of sixteen persons ofthe highest rank, was appointed to govern thekingdom in his name until he should be eighUeen years of age, when he was to become kingin reality as well as in name. In case he

should die without heirs, then Mary, his old-est sister, was to succeed him ; and if she died



without heirs, then Elizabeth was to succeedher. This arrangement went into full effect.The council governed the kingdom in Edward'sname until he was sixteen years of age, when

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Elizabeth's troubles. The two Seymours.

he died. Then Mary followed, and reigned asqueen five years longer, and died without chil-dren, and during all this time Elizabeth heldthe rank of a princess, exposed to a thousand

difficulties and dangers from the plots, intrigues,and conspiracies of those about her, in which,on account of her peculiar position and pros-pects, she was necessarily involved.

One of the worst of these cases occurred soonafter her father's death. There were two broth-ers of Jane Seymour, who were high in KingHenry's favor at the time of his decease. Theoldest is known in history by his title of theEarl of Hertford at first, and afterward bythat of Duke of Somerset. The youngest wascalled Sir Thomas Seymour. They were bothmade members of the government which wasto administer the affairs of state during youngEdward's minority. They were not, however,satisfied with any moderate degree of power.Being brothers of Jane Seymour, who was Ed-ward's mother, they were his uncles, of course,and the oldest one soon succeeded in causinghimself to be appointed protector. By this of-fice he was, in fact, king, all except in name.

The younger brother, who was an agreeableand accomplished man, paid his addresses to the

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The queen dowager's marriage. The Seymours quarrel.

queen dowager, that is, to the widow whomKing Henry left, for the last of his wives wasliving at the time of his death. She consented -to marry him, and the marriage took place al-

most immediately after the king's death — sosoon, in fact, that it was considered extremely



hasty and unbecoming. This queen dowagerhad two houses left to her, one at Chelsea, andthe other at Hanworth, towns some little dis-tance up the river from London. Here she re-sided with her new husband, sometimes at oneof the houses, and sometimes at the other. The

king had also directed, in his will, that the Prin-oess Elizabeth should be under her care, so thatElizabeth, immediately after her father's death,lived at one or the other of these two houses un-der the oare of Seymour, who, from having beenher uncle, became now, in some sense, her fa-ther. He was a sort of uncle, for he was thebrother of one of her father's wives. He was asort of father, for he was the husband of anoth-er of them. Yet, really, by blood, there was norelation between them.

The two brothers, Somerset and Seymour,

quarreled. Eaoh was very ambitious, and veryjealous of the other. Somerset, in addition tobeing appointed protector by the council, got a

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1647.] Childhood of a Princess. 4©

Somerset's power and influence. Jealousies and quarrels.

grant of power from the young king called apatent. This commission was executed withgreat formality, and was sealed with the greatseal of state, and it made Somerset, in somemeasure independent of the other nobles whomKing Henry had associated with him in the gov-ernment. By this patent he was placed in su-preme command of all the forces by land andsea. He had a seat on the right hand of thethrone, under the great canopy of state, andwhenever he went abroad on public occasions,he assumed all the pomp and parade whichwould have been expected in a real king. Young

Edward was wholly under his influence, and didalways whatever Somerset recommended him todo. Seymour was very jealous of all this great-ness, and was contriving every means in hispower to circumvent and supersede his brother.The wives, too, of these great statesmen quar-reled. The Duchess of Somerset thought shewas entitled to the precedence, because she wasthe wife of the protector, who, being a kind ofregent, she thought he was entitled to have hiswife considered as a sort of queen. The wifeof Seymour, on the other hand, contended thatshe was entitled to the precedence as a real

queen, having been herself the actual consortD



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Mary Queen of Scots. Marriage schemes.

of a reigning monarch. The two ladies disput-ed perpetually on this point, which, of course,could never be settled. They enlisted, howev-er, on their respective sides various partisans,producing a great deal of jealousy and ill will,and increasing the animosity of their husbands.

All this time the celebrated Mary Queen of

Scots was an infant in Janet Sinclair's arms,at the castle of Stirling, in Scotland. KingHenry, during his life, had made a treaty withthe government of Scotland, by which it wasagreed that Mary should be married to his sonEdward as soon as the two children should havegrown to maturity ; but afterward, the govern-ment of Scotland having fallen from Protestantinto Catholic hands, they determined that this »match must be given up. The English author-ities were very much incensed. They wishedto have the marriage take effect, as it wouldend in uniting the Scotch and English king-doms ; and the protector, when a time arrivedwhich he thought was favorable for his purpose,raised ah army and marched northward to makewar upon Scotland, and compel the Scots tofulfill the contract of marriage.

While his brother was gone to the northward,Seymour remained at home, and endeavored, by

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Seymour's promotion. Jane Grey. • Family quarrels.

— i ■

every means within his reach, to strengthen hisown influence and increase his power. He con-trived to obtain from the council of governmentthe ofKce of lord high admiral, which gave himthe command of the fleet, and made him, nextto his brother, the most powerful and important

personage m the realm. He had, besides, ashas already been stated, the custody and care



of Elizabeth, who lived in his house ; though,as he was a profligate and unprincipled man,this position for the princess, how fast growingup to womanhood, was considered by many per-sons as of doubtful propriety. Still, she was atpresent only fourteen years old. There was

another young lady likewise in his family, aniece of King Henry, and, of course, a secondcousin of Elizabeth. Her name was Jane Grey.It was a very unhappy family. The mannersand habits of all the members of it, exceptingJane Grey, seem to have been very rude andirregular. The admiral quarreled with his wife,and was jealous of the very servants who wait-ed upon her. The queen observed somethingin the manners of her husband toward the youngprincess which made her angry both with himand her. Elizabeth resented this, and a violentquarrel ensued, which ended in their separation.

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§2 Queen Elizabeth. [1548.

Death of the queen dowager. Seymour's scheme*.

Elizabeth went away, and resided afterward ata place called Hatfield.

Very soon after this, the queen dowager diedsuddenly. People accused Seymour, her hus-band, of having poisoned her, in order to makeway for the Princess Elizabeth to be his wife.He denied this, but he immediately began tolay his plans for securing the hand of Elizabeth.There was a probability that she might, at somefuture time, succeed to the crown, and then, ifhe were her husband, he thought he should bethe real sovereign, reigning in her name.

Elizabeth had in her household two persons,a certain Mrs. Ashley, who was then her gov-

erness, and a man named Parry, who was a sortof treasurer. He was called the cofferer. Theadmiral gained these persons over to his inter-ests, and, through them, attempted to opencommunications with Elizabeth, and persuadeher to enter into his designs. Of course, thewhole affair was managed with great secrecy.They were all liable to a charge of treasonagainst the government of Edward by suohplots, as his ministers and counselors mightmaintain that their design was to overthrow Ed-ward's government and make Elizabeth queen.They, therefore, were all banded together to



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1548.] Childhood op a Princess. 5&

Seymour's arrest His trial and attainder.

keep their councils secret, and Elizabeth wasdrawn, in some degree, into the scheme, thoughprecisely how far was never fully known. Itwas supposed that she began to love Seymour,• although he was very much older than herself,and to be willing to become his wife. It is notsurprising that, neglected and forsaken as shehad been, she should have been inclined to re-gard with favor an agreeable and influentialman, who expressed a strong affection for her,

and a warm interest in her welfare.

However this may be, Elizabeth was oneday struck with consternation at hearing thatSeymour was arrested by order of his brother,who had returned from Scotland and had re-ceived information of his designs, and that hehad been committed to the Tower. He had ahurried and irregular trial, or what, in thosedays, was called a trial. The council went them-selves to the Tower, and had him brought beforethem and examined. He demanded to have thecharges made out in form, and the witnessesconfronted with him, but the council were satis-fied of his guilt without these formalities. TheParliament immediately afterward passed a billof attainder against him, by which he was sen-tenced to death. His brother, the protector.

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Seymour beheaded. Elizabeth's trials.

signed the warrant for his execution, and hewas beheaded on Tower Hill.

The protector sent two messengers in thecourse of this affair to Elizabeth, to see what' they could ascertain from her about it. SirRobert Tyrwhitt was the name of the principalone of these messengers. When the coffererlearned that they were at the gate, he went ingreat terror into his chamber, and said that hewas undone. At the same time, he pulled off a

chain from his neck, and the rings from his fin-gers, and threw them away from him with ges-



ticulations of despair. The messengers thencame to Elizabeth, and told her, falsely as itseems, with a view to frighten her into confes-sions, that Mrs. Ashley and the cofferer wereboth seoured.and sent to the Tower. She seem-ed very much alarmed ; she wept bitterly, and

it was a long time before she regained her com-posure. She wanted to know whether theyhad confessed any thing. The protector's mes-sengers would not tell her this, but they urgedher to confess herself all that had occurred ; for,whatever it was, they said that the evil andshame would all be ascribed to the other per-sons concerned, and not to her, on account ofher youth and inexperience. But Elizabeth

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1648.] Childhood op a Princess. 83

Elizabeth's firmness. Lady Tyrwbitt

would confess nothing. The messengers wentaway, convinced, as they said, that she wasguilty ; they could see that in her countenance ;and that her silence was owing to her firm de-termination not to betray her lover. They sentword to the protector that they did not believethat any body would succeed in drawing theleast information from her, unless it was theprotector, or young King Edward himself.

These mysterious oircumstances produced asomewhat unfavorable impression in regard toElizabeth, and there were some instances, it wassaid, of light and trifling behavior between Eliz-abeth and Seymour, while she was in his houseduring the life-time of his wife. They tookplace in the presence of Seymour's wife, andseem of no consequence, except to show thatdukes and princesses got into frolics sometimesin those days as well as other mortals. People

censured Mrs. Ashley for not enjoining a great-er dignity and propriety of demeanor in heryoung charge, and the government removed herfrom her place.

Lady Tyrwhitt, who was the wife of themessenger referred to above that was sent toexamine Elizabeth, was appointed to succeedMrs. Ashley. Elizabeth was very much dis-pleased at this change. She told kady Tyr-

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56 Queen Elizabeth. [154b.

Elizabeth's sufferings. Her fidelity to her friend*.

whitt that Mrs. Ashley was her mistress, andthat she had not done any thing to make it nec-essary for the oouncil to put more mistressesover her. Sir Robert wrote to the protectorthat she took the affair so heavily that she" wept all night, and lowered all the next day."He said that her attachment to Mrs. Ashleywas very strong ; and that, if any thing weresaid against the lord admiral, she could not bearto hear it, but took up his defense in the mostprompt and eager manner.

How far it is true that Elizabeth loved the

unfortunate Seymour can now never be known.There is no doubt, however, but that this wholeaffair was a very severe trial and affliction toher. It came upon her when she was but four-teen or fifteen years of age, and when she wasin a position, as well of an age, which ren-ders the heart acutely sensitive both to the ef-fect of kindness and of injuries. Seymour, byhis death, was lost to her forever, and Elizabethlived in great retirement and seclusion duringthe remainder of her brother's reign/ She didnot, however, forget Mrs. Ashley and Parry.On her accession to the throne, many years af-terward, she gave them offices very valuable,considering their station in life, and was a truefriend to them both to the end of their days.

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1550.] Lady Jane Grey. 57

Lady Jane Grey. Her disposition and character.

Chapter III.Lady Jane Grey.

AMONG Elizabeth's companions and play-mates in her early years was a younglady, her cousin, as she was often called, thoughshe was really the daughter of her cousin, namedJane Grey, commonly called in history LadyJane Grey. Her mother was the Marchionessof Dorset, and was the daughter of one of KingHenry the Eighth's sisters. King Henry had

named her as the next in the order of successionafter his own children, that is, after Edward his



son, and Mary and Elizabeth his two daughters ;and, consequently, though she was very young,yet, as she might one day be Queen of England,she was a personage of considerable importance.She was, accordingly, kept near the court, andshared, in some respects, the education and the

studies of the two princesses.

Lady Jane was about four years youngerthan the Princess Elizabeth, and the sweetnessof her disposition, united with an extraordinaryintellectual superiority, which showed itself at

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Lady Jane's parents. Restraints put upon her.

a very early period, made her a ujiiversal favor-ite. Her father and mother, the Marquis andMarchioness of Dorset, lived at an estate theypossessed, called Broadgate, in Leicestershire,which is in the central part of England, althoughthey took their title from the county of Dorset,which is on the southwestern coast. They werevery proud of their daughter, and attached in-finite importance to her descent from HenryVII., and to the possibility that she might oneday succeed to the English throne. They werevery strict and severe in their manners, andpaid great attention to etiquette and punotilio,as persons who are ambitious of rising in theworld are very apt to do. In all ages of theworld, and among all nations, those who havelong been accustomed to a high position areeasy and unconstrained in their manners anddemeanor, while those who have been newlyadvanced from a lower station, or who are an-ticipating or aspiring to such an advance, makethemselves slaves to the rules of etiquette andceremony. It was thus that the father and

mother of Lady Jane, anticipating that shemight one day become a queen, watched andguarded her incessantly, subjected her to athousand unwelcome restraints, and repressed

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Lady Jane's attainments. Character of her teacher.



all the spontaneous and natural gayety and 'sprightiiness which belongs properly to such achild.

She became, however, a very excellent schol-ar in consequence of this state of things. She

had a private teacher, a man of great eminencefor his learning and abilities, and yet of a verykind and gentle spirit, which enabled him togain a strong hold on his pupil's affection andregard. His name was John Aylmer. TheMarquis of Dorset, Lady Jane's father, becameacquainted with Mr. Aylmer when he was quiteyoung, and appointed him, when he had finishedhis education, to come and reside in his familyas chaplain and tutor to his children. Aylmerafterward became a distinguished man, wasmade Bishop of London, and held many highoffices of state under Queen Elizabeth, when

she came to reign. He became very much at-tached to Queen Elizabeth in the middle andlatter part of his life, as he had been to LadyJane in the early part of it. A curious inoident.occurred during the time that he was in theservice of Elizabeth, which illustrates the char-acter of the man. The queen was sufferingfrom the toothache, and it was necessary thatthe tooth should be extracted. The surgeon

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Anecdote of Elizabeth and Aylmer. Lady Jane's attachment to Aylmer.

was ready with his instruments, and severalladies and gentlemen of the royal householdwere in the queen's room commiserating hersufferings ; but the queen dreaded the operationso excessively that she could not summon for-titude enough to submit to it. Aylmer, aftertrying some time in vain to encourage her, took

his seat in the chair instead of her, and said tothe surgeon, " I am an old man, and have butfew teeth to lose ; but come, draw this one, andlet her majesty see how light a matter it is."One would not have supposed that Elizabethwould have, allowed this to be done ; but she did ;and, finding that Aylmer made so light of theoperation, she submitted to have it performedupon herself.

But to return to Lady Jane. She was verystrongly attached to her teacher, and made greatprogress in the studies which he arranged for

her. Ladies of high rank, in those days, wereaccustomed to devote great attention to the an-



cient and modern languages. There was, infact, a great necessity then, as indeed there isnow, for a European princess to be acquaintedwith the principal languages of Europe ; for thevarious royal families were continually inter-marrying with each other, which led to a great

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1550.] Lady Jane Grey.

61

Elizabeth's studies.

Roger Ascham.

many visits, and other intercourse between thedifferent courts. There was also a great dealof intercourse with the pope, in which the Latinlanguage was the medium of communication.Lady Jane devoted a great deal of time to allthese studies, and made rapid proficiency inthem all.

The Princess Elizabeth was also an excellentscholar. Her teacher was a very learned andcelebrated man, named Roger Ascham. Shespoke French and Italian as fluently as shedid English. She also wrote and spoke Latinwith correctness and readiness. She made con-siderable progress in Greek too. She couldwrit^the Greek character very beautifully, andcould express herself tolerably well in conversa-tion in that language. One of her companions,a young lady of the name of Cecil, is said tohave spoken Greek as well as English. Roger

Ascham took great interest in advancing theprinoess in these studies, and in the course ofthese his instructions he became acquaintedwith Lady Jane, and he praises very highly, inhis letters, the industry and assiduity of LadyJane in similar pursuits.

One day Roger Ascham, being on a journeyfrom the north of England to London, stopped

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Lady Jane's acquirements in Greek. Her interview with Aschnm.

to make a call at the mansion of the Marquis

of Dorset. He found that the family were allaway ; they had gone off upon a hunting ex-cursion in the park. Lady Jane, however, hadbeen left at home, and Ascham went in to seeher. He found her in the library reading Greek.Ascham examined her a little, and was verymuch surprised to find how well acquaintedwith the language she had become, althoughshe was then only about fifteen years old. Hetold her that he should like very much to haveher write him a letter in Greek, and this shereadily promised to do. He asked her, also,how it happened that, at her age, she had made

such advances in learning. " I will tell you,"said she, " how it has happened. One of thegreatest benefits that God ever conferred uponme was in giving me so sharp and severe par-ents and so gentle a teacher ; for, when I amin the presence of either my father or mother,whether I speak, keep silence, sit, stand, or go ;eat, drink, be merry or sad ; be sewing, play-ing, dancing, or doing any thing else, I mustdo it, as it were, in just such weight, measure,and number, as perfectly as possible, or else Iam so sharply taunted, so cruelly threatened,yea, presently, sometimes with pinches, nips, and

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1550.] La.dy Jane Grey. 65

Lady Jane's intimacy with Edward. The Earl of Northumberland.

bobs, and other ways, which I will not namefor the honor I bear my parents, that I am con-tinually teased and tormented. And then, whenthe time comes for me to go to Mr. Elsmer, heteaches me so gently, so pleasantly, and withsuch fair allurements to learning, that I thinkall the time nothing while I am with him ; andI am always sorry to go away from him, be-

cause whatsoever else I do but learning is fullof grief, trouble, fear, and suffering."



Lady Jane Grey was an intimate friend andcompanion of the young King Edward as longas he lived. Edward died when he was sixteenyears of age, so that he did not reach the periodwhich his father had assigned for his reigning

in his own name. One of King Edward's mostprominent and powerful ministers during thelatter part of his life was the Earl of Northum-berland. The original name of the Earl ofNorthumberland was John Dudley. He wasone of the train who came in the procession atthe close of the baptism of Elizabeth, carryingthe presents. He was a Protestant, and wasvery friendly to Edward and to Lady JaneGrey, for they were Protestants too. But hisfeelings and policy were hostile to Mary, for shewas a Catholic. Mary was sometimes treatedE

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Harsh treatment of Mary. Decline of Edward's health.

very harshly by him, and she was subjected tomany privations and hardships on account ofher religious faith. The government of Ed-ward justified these measures, on account ofthe necessity of promoting the Reformation, anddiscouraging popery by every means in theirpower. Northumberland supposed, too, that itwas safe to do this, for Edward being veryyoung, it was probable that he would live andreign a long time. It is true that Mary wasnamed, in her father's will, as his successor, ifshe outlived him, but then it was highly prob-able that she would not outlive him, for she wasseveral years older than he.

All these calculations, however, were spoiled

by the sudden failure of Edward's health wheyhe was sixteen years old. Northumberland wasmuch alarmed at this. He knew at onoe that ifEdward should die, and Mary succeed him, allhis power would be gone, and he determined tomake desperate efforts to prevent such a result.

It must not be understood, however, that incoming to this resolution, Northumberland con-sidered himself as intending and planning a de-liberate usurpation of power. There was a realuncertainty in respect to the question who wasthe true and rightful heir to the crown. Nor-



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Uncertainty in respect to the succession. Straggles for power.

thumberland was, undoubtedly, strongly biasedby his interest, but he may have been unoon-soious of the bias, and in advocating the modeof succession on which the continuance of hisown power depended, he may have really be-lieved that he was only maintaining what wasin itself rightful and just.

In fact, there is no mode which human inge-nuity has ever yet devised for determining the

hands in which the supreme executive of a na-tion shall be lodged, which will always avoiddoubt and contention. If this power devolvesby hereditary descent, no rules can be made sominute and full as that cases will not some-times occur that will transcend them. If, onthe other hand, the plan of election be adopted,there will often be technical doubts about a por-tion of the votes, and oases will sometimes occurwhere the result will depend upon this doubtfulportion. Thus there will be disputes under anysystem, and ambitious men will seize such oc-casions to struggle for power.

In order that our readers may clearly under-stand the nature of the plan which Northum-berland adopted, we present, on the followingpage, a sort of genealogical table of the royalfamily of England in the days of Elizabeth.

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68

Queen Elizabeth.

[1650.

Queen Elizabeth's family connections.



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Explanation of the table. King Henry's wflL

By examination of this table, it will be seenthat King Henry VII. left a son and two daugh-ters. The son was King Henry VHL, and hehad three children. His third child was KingEdward VI., who was now about to die. Theother two were the Princesses Mary and Eliza-beth, who would naturally be considered thenext heirs after Edward; and besides, KingHenry had left a will, as has been already ex-plained, confirming their rights to the succes-

sion. This will he had made near the time ofhis death ; but it will be recollected that, dur-ing his life-time, both the marriages from whichthese princesses had sprung had been formallyannulled. His marriage with Catharine of Ar-agon had been annulled on one plea, and thatof Anne Boleyn on another. Both these deoreesof annulment had afterward been revoked, andthe right of the princesses to succeed had beenrestored, or attempted to be restored, by the will.Still, it admitted of a question, after all, whetherMary aad Elizabeth were to be considered as thechildren of true and lawful wives or not.

If they were not, then Lady Jane Grey wasthe next heir, for she was placed next to theprincesses by King Henry the Eighth's will.This will, for some reason or other, set aside all

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Various claimants for the throne. Perplexing questions.

the descendants of Margaret, who went to Soot-land as the wife of James IV. of that country.What right the king had thus to disinherit thechildren of his sister Margaret was a greatquestion. Among her descendants was MaryQueen of Soots, as will be seen by the table,and she was, at this time, the representative ofthat branch of the family. The friends of MaryQueen of Scots claimed that she was the law-ful heir to the English throne after Edward.They maintained that the marriage of Catha-

rine, the Frinoess Mary's mother, and also thatof Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth's mother, had both



been annulled, and that the will could not re-store them. They maintained, also, that thewill was equally powerless in setting aside theclaims of Margaret, her grandmother. MaryQueen of Scots, though silent now, advancedher claim subsequently, and made Elizabeth a

great deal of trouble.

Then there was, besides these, a third party,who maintained that King Henry the Eighth'swill was not effectual in legalizing again theannulled marriages, but that it was sufficientto set aside the claims Of Margaret. Of course,with them, Lady Jane Grey, who, as will beseen by the table, was the representative of the

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Power of Northumberland- His schemes.

second sister of Henry VIII., was the only heir.The Earl of Northumberland embraoed thisview. His motive was to raise Lady Jane Greyto the throne, in order to exclude the PrincessMary, whose accession he knew very well wouldbring all his greatness to a very sudden end.

The Earl of Northumberland was at thistime the principal minister of the young king.The protector Somerset had fallen long ago.Northumberland, whose name was then JohnDudley, had supplanted him, and had acquiredso great influence and power at court that al-most every thing seemed to be at his disposal.He was, however, generally hated by the othercourtiers and by the nation. Men who gain theconfidence of a young or feeble-minded prince,90 as to wield a great power not properly theirown, are almost always odious. It was expected,however, that his career would be soon brought

to an end, as all knew that King Edward mustdie, and it was generally understood that Marywas to succeed him.

Northumberland, however, was very anxiousto devise some scheme to continue his power,and in revolving the subject in his mind, heconceived of plans which seemed to promise notonly to continue, but also greatly to increase it.

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Marriage of Lady Jane. Feelings of the people.

His scheme was to have the princesses' claims

set aside, and Lady Jane Grey raised to thethrone. He had several sons. One/ of themwas young, handsome, and accomplished. Hethought of proposing him to Lady Jane's fatheras the husband of Lady Jane, and, to inducethe marquis to consent to this plan, he promisedto obtain a dukedom for him by means of hisinfluence with the king. The marquis agreedto the proposal. Lady Jane did not object tothe husband they offered her. The dukedomwas obtained, and the marriage, together withtwo others which Northumberland had arrang-ed to strengthen his influence, were celebrated,

all on the same day, with great festivities andrejoicings. The people looked on moodily, jeal-ous and displeased, though they had no openground of displeasure, except that it was un-suitable to have such scenes of gayety and re-joicing among the high officers of the courtwhile the young monaroh himself was lyingupon his dying bed. They did not yet knowthat it was Northumberland's plan to raise hisnew daughter-in-law to the throne.

Northumberland thought it would greatly in-crease his prospeot of success if he could ob-tain some act of acknowledgment of Lady Jane's

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Efforts to set Mary aside. Northumberland works on the young king

claims to the crown before Edward died. Anopportunity soon occurred for effecting this pur-

pose. One day, as he was sitting by young Ed-ward's bedside, he turned the conversation tothe subject of the Reformation, which had madegreat progress during Edward's reign, and heled Edward on in the conversation, until he re-marked that it was a great pity to have thework all undone by Mary's accession, for shewas a Catholic, and would, of course, endeavorto bring the country back again under the spir-itual dominion of Rome* Northumberland thentold him that there was one way, and one wayonly, to avert such a calamity, and that was tomake Lady Jane his heir instead of Mary.

King Edward was a very thoughtful, consid-



signed by the king, and sealed with the greatseal, so that, in case they were ever chargedwith treason, the pardon would save them frompunishment. This plan succeeded. The par*don was made out, being written with greatformality upon a parchment roll, and sealed

with the great seal. The judges then preparedand signed the deed of settlement by which thecrown was given to Lady Jane, though, after all,they did it with much reluctance and manyforebodings.

Northumberland next wanted to contrivesome plan for getting the princesses into hispower, in order to prevent their heading anymovement m behalf of their own claims at thedeath of the king. He was also desirous ofmaking such arrangements as to conceal thedeath of the king for a few days after it should

take place, in order that he might get LadyJane and her officers in complete possession ofthe kingdom before the demise of the crownshould be generally known. For this purposehe dismissed the regular physicians who had at-tended upon the king, and put him under thecharge of a woman, who pretended that she hada medioine that would certainly cure him. Hesent, also, messengers to the princesses, who

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Death of Edward. Escape of the prince — em.

were then in the country north of London, re-questing that they would oome to Greenwich,to be near the siok chamber where their broth-er was lying, that they might cheer and com-fort him in his siokness and pain.

The prinoesses obeyed the summons. They

each sat out immediately on the journey, andmoved toward London on their way to Green-wich. In the mean time, Edward was rapidlydeclining. The change in the treatment whichtook place when his physicians left him, madehim worse instead of better. His cough in-creased, his breathing became more labored anddifficult ; in a word, his case presented all thesymptoms of approaching dissolution. At lengthhe died. Northumberland attempted to keepthe faot conoealed until after the prinoessesshould arrive, that he might get them into hispower. Some faithful friend, however, made

all haste to meet them, in order to inform themwhat was going on. In this way Mary received



intelligence of her brother's death when she hadalmost reaohed London, and was informed, also,of the plans of Northumberland for raising LadyJane to the throne. The two princesses wereextremely alarmed, and both turned back atonce toward the northward again. Mary stopped

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Precautions of Mary. Lady Jane proclaimed queen.

to write a letter to the council, remonstratingagainst their delay in proclaiming her queen,

and then proceeded rapidly to a strong castleat a place called Framlingham, in the countyof Suffolk, on the eastern coast of England.She made this her head-quarters, because shesupposed that the people of that county wereparticularly friendly to her ; and then, besides,it was near the sea, and, in case the course ofevents should turn against her, she could makeher escape to foreign lands. It is true that theprospect of being a fugitive and an exile wasvery dark and gloomy, but it was not so terribleas the idea of being shut up a prisoner in theTower, or being beheaded on a block for treason.In the mean time, Northumberland went, atthe head of a troop of his adherents, to the res-idence of Lady Jane Grey, informed her of thedeath of Edward, and announced to her theirdetermination to proclaim her queen. LadyJane was very much astonished at this news.At first she absolutely refused the offered hon-or ; but the solicitations and urgency of Nor-thumberland, and of her father and her younghusband, at length prevailed. She was con-ducted to London, and instated in at least thesemblance of power.

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Great excitement Public opinion in favor of Mary.

As the news of these transactions spreadthroughout the land, a universal and strong ex-citement was produced, every body at once tak-ing sides either for Mary or Lady Jane. Bands

of armed men began to assemble. It soon be-came apparent, however, that, beyond the imme-



diate precincts of London, the country was al-most unanimous for Mary. They dreaded, itis true, the danger which they anticipated fromher Catholic faith, but still they had all consid-ered it a settled point, since the death of Henrythe Eighth, that Mary was to reign whenever

Edward should die ; and this general expecta-tion that she would be queen had passed in-sensibly into an opinion that she ought to be.Considered strictly as a legal question, it wascertainly doubtful which of the four claimantsto the throne had the strongest title ; but thepublic were not disposed so to regard it. Theychose, on the whole, that Mary should reign.Large military masses consequently flocked toher standard. Elizabeth took sides with her,and, as it was important to give as much pub-lic effect to her adhesion as possible, they fur-nished Elizabeth with a troop of a thousand

horsemen, at the head of which she rode to meetMary and tender her aid.

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Northumberland taken prisoner. He ia beheaded.

Northumberland went forth at the head ofsuoh foroes as he could collect, but he soon foundthat the attempt was vain. His troops forsookhim. The castles which had at first been underhis command surrendered themselves to Mary.The Tower of London went over to her side.Finally, all being lost, Northumberland himselfwas taken prisoner, and all his influential friendswith him, and were committed to the Tower.Lady Jane herself too, together with her hus-band and father, were seized and sent to prison.

Northumberland was immediately put uponhis trial for treason. He was condemned, and

brought at once to the block. In fact, the wholeaffair moved very promptly and rapidly on, fromits commencement to i$s consummation. Ed-ward the Sixth died on the 5th of July, and itwas only the 22d of August when Northumber-land was beheaded. The period for which theunhappy Lady Jane enjoyed the honor of beingcalled a queen was nine days.

It was about a month after this that Marypassed from the Tower through the city of Lon-don in a grand triumphal procession to becrowned. The royal chariot, covered with cloth

of golden tissue, was drawn by six horses mostsplendidly caparisoned. Elizabeth, who had aid-



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Mary'* triumphal procession. 8hared by Elizabeth.

ed her sister, so far as she oould, in the strug-gle, was admitted to share the triumph. Shehad a carriage drawn by six horses too, withcloth and decorations of silver. They proceed-ed in this manner, attended and followed by agreat cavalcade of nobles and soldiery, to West-minster Abbey, where Mary took her seat withgreat formality upon her father's throne.

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1553.] The Spanish Match. 81

Queen Mary's character. Bigotry.

Chapter IV.

The Spanish Match.

T^THEN Queen Mary ascended the throne,* * she was a maiden lady not far from thir-ty-five years of age. She was cold, austere, andforbidding in her appearance and manners,though probably conscientious and honest inher convictions of duty. She was a very firmand decided Catholic, or, rather, she evinced acertain strict adherence to the principles of herreligious faith, which we generally call firmnesswhen it is exhibited by those whose opinions

agree with our own, though we are very apt toname it bigotry in those who differ from us.

For instance, when the body of young Ed-ward, her brother, after his death, was to bedeposited in the last home of the English kingsin Westminster Abbey, which is a very mag-nificent cathedral a little way up the river fromLondon, the services were, of course, conductedaccording to the ritual of the English Church,which was then Protestant. Mary, however,could not conscientiously countenance such serv-F



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Bigotry and firmness. Suitors for Queen Mary's hand.

ices even by being present at them. She ac-cordingly assembled her immediate attendantsand personal friends in her own private chapel,and celebrated the interment there, with Cath-olic priests, by a service conformed to the Cath-olic ritual. Was it a bigoted, or only a firmand proper, attachment to her own faith, whiohforbade her joining in the national commemo-ration ? The reader must decide ; but, in de-ciding, he is bound to render the same verdiot

that he would have given if it had been a caseof a Protestant withdrawing thus from Catho-lic forms.

At all events, whether bigoted or not, Marywas doubtless sincere; but she was so cold,and stern, and austere in her character, that shewas very little likely to be loved. There werea great many persons who wished to become herhusband, but their motives were to share hergrandeur and power. Among these persons, themost prominent one, and the one apparentlymost likely to sucoeed, was a prince of Spain.His name was Philip.

It was his father's plan, and not his own, thathe should marry Queen Mary. His father wasat this time the most wealthy and powerfulmonarch in Europe. His name was Charles.

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Portrait of Philip op Spain.

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Emperor Charles the Fifth. Character of his son Philip.



He is commonly called in history Charles V.of Spain. He was not only King of Spain, butEmperor of Germany. He resided sometimesat Madrid, and sometimes at Brussels in Flan-ders. His son Philip had been married to aPortuguese princess, but his wife had died, and

thus Philip was a widower. Still, he was onlytwenty-seven years of age, but he was as stern,severe, and repulsive in his manners as Mary.His personal appearance, too, corresponded withhis charaoter. He was a very decided Catholiealso, and in his natural spirit, haughty, ambi-tious, and domineering.

The Emperor Charles, as soon as he heardof young Edward's death and of Mary's acces-sion to the English throne, conceived the plan**of proposing to her his son Philip for a husband.He sent over a wise and sagacious statesman

from his court to make the proposition, and tourge it by such reasons as would be most likelyto influence Mary's ipind, and the minds of thegreat officers of her government. The embas-sador managed the affair well. In fact, it wasprobably easy to manage it. Mary would nat-urally be pleased with the idea of suoh a younghusband, who, besides being young and accom-plished, was the son of the greatest potentate in

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The emperor proposes his son. Mary pleased with the proposal.

Europe, and likely one day to take his father'splaoe on that lofty elevation. Besides, MaryQueen of Soots, who had rival claims to QueenMary's throne, had married, or was about tomarry, the son of the King of France, and therewas a little glory in outshining her, by havingfor a husband a son of the King of Spain. It

might, however, perhaps, be a question whiohwas the greatest match ; for, though the courtof Paris was the most brilliant, Spain, being atthat time possessed of the gold and silver minesof its American colonies, was at least the rich*est country in the world.

Mary's ministers, when they found that Maryherself liked the plan, fell in with it too. Maryhad been beginning, very quietly indeed, butvery efficiently, her measures for bringing backthe English government and nation to the Cath-olic faith. Her ministers told her now, howev-

er, that if she wished to succeed in effectingthis match, she must suspend all these plans



until the match was consummated. The peo-ple of England were generally of the Protestantfaith. They had been very uneasy and restlessunder the progress which the queen had beenmaking in silencing Protestant preachers, andbringing back Catholic rites and ceremonies;

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Plans of the ministers. The people alarmed.

and now, if they found that their queen wasgoing to marry so rigid and uncompromising a

Catholic as Philip of Spain, they would bedoubly alarmed. She must suspend, therefore,for a time, her measures for restoring papacy,unless she was willing to give up her husband.The queen saw that this was the alternative,and she decided on following her ministers' ad-vice. She did all in her power to quiet andcalm the public mind, in order to prepare theway for announcing the proposed connection.

Rumors, however, began to be spread abroadthat suoh a design was entertained before Marywas fully prepared to promulgate it. Theserumors produced great excitement, and awak-ened strong opposition. The people knew Phil-ip's ambitious and overbearing character, andthey believed that if he were to come to En-gland as the husband of the queen, the wholegovernment would pass into his hands, and, ashe would naturally be very much under the in-fluence of his father, the connection was likelyto result in making England a mere appendageto the already vast dominions of the emperor.The House of Commons appointed a committeeof twenty members, and sent them to the queen,with a humble petition that she would not mar-

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Opposition to the match. The emperor furnishes money.

ry a foreigner. The queen was much displeasedat receiving such a petition, and she dissolvedthe Parliament. The members dispersed, car-

rying with them every where expressions oftheir dissatisfaction and fear. England, they



that Mary should have the exclusive power ofthe appointment of officers of government in

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Stipulations of the treaty of marriage.

England, and that no Spaniards should be eli-gible at all. Particular provisions were made inrespect to the children which might result fromthe marriage, as to how they should inheritrights of government in the two countries.Philip had one son already, by his former wife.

This son was to succeed his father in the king-dom of Spain, but the other dominions of Philipon the Continent were to descend to the offspringof this new marriage, in modes minutely spec-ified to fit all possible cases which might occur.The making of all these specifications, however,turned out to be labor lost, as Mary never hadchildren.

It was also specially agreed that Philip shouldnot bring Spanish or foreign domestics into therealm, to give uneasiness to the English peo-ple ; that he would never take the queen out ofEngland, nor 'carry any of the children away,without the consent of the English nobility;and that, if the queen were to die before him,all his rights and claims of every sort, in re-spect to England, should forever cease. Healso agreed that he would never carry away anyof the jewels or other property of the crown, norsuffer any other person to do so.

These stipulations, guarding so carefully the

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Wyatfs rebellion. — — Duke of Suffolk.

rights of Mary and of England, were intendedto satisfy the English people, and remove theirobjections to the match. They produced someeffect, but the hostility was too deeply seated tobe so easily allayed. It grew, on the contrary,more and more threatening, until at length a

conspiracy was formed by a number of influen-tial and powerful men, and a plan of open re-



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Wyatt surrenders. The Duke of Suffolk sent to the Tower.

several accidental circumstances which occur-red, detained him so long that a considerableforce had been got together to receive him whenhe was ready to enter the city. He pushed bold-ly on into the narrow streets, which received himlike a trap or a snare. The city troops hemmedup his way after he had entered. They barri-caded the streets, they shut the gates, and arm-ed men poured in to take possession of all the av-

enues. Wyatt depended upon finding the peo-ple of London on his side. They turned, in-stead, against him. All hope of success in hisenterprise, and all possibility of escape from hisown awful danger, disappeared together. Aherald c&rne from the queen's officer calling uponhim to surrender himself quietly, and save theeffusion of blood. He surrendered in an agonyof terror and despair.

The Duke of Suffolk learned these facts inanother county, where he was endeavoring toraise a force to aid Wyatt. He immediatelyfled, and hid himself in the house of one of hisdomestics. He was betrayed, however, seized,and sent to the Tower. Many other promi-nent actors in the insurrection were arrested,and the others fled in all directions, whereverthey could find concealment or safety.

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Beheading of Lady Jane Grey. Her heroic fortitude.

Lady Jane's life had been spared thus far," al-though she had been, in fact, guilty of treasonagainst Mary by the former attempt to takethe crown. She now, however, two days afterthe capture of Wyatt, received word that shemust prepare to die. She was, of course, sur-prised and shocked at the suddenness of this an-nouncement ; but she soon regained her com-posure, and passed through the awful scenespreceding her death with a fortitude amounting

to heroism, which was very astonishing in oneso young. Her husband was to die too. He



was beheaded first, and she saw the headlessbody, as it was brought back from the place ofexecution, before her turn came. She acknowl-edged her guilt in having attempted to seize hercousin's crown. As the attempt to seize thiscrown failed, mankind consider her technically

guilty. If it had succeeded, Mary, instead ofJane, would have been the traitor who wouldhave died for attempting criminally to usurp athrone.

In the mean time Wyatt and Suffolk re-mained prisoners in the Tower. Suffolk wasoverwhelmed with remorse and sorrow at hav-ing been the means, by his selfish ambition, ofthe cruel death of so innocent and lovely a child.

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Death of Suffolk. Imprisonment of Elizabeth. Execution of Wyatt.

He did not suffer this anguish long, however,for five days after his son and Lady Jane wereexecuted, his head fell too from the block.Wyatt was reserved a little longer.

He was more formally tried, and in his ex-amination he asserted that the Princess Eliza-beth was involved in the conspiracy. Officerswere immediately sent to arrest Elizabeth.She was taken to a royal palace at Westmin-ster, just above London, called Whitehall, andshut up there in close confinement, and no onewas allowed to visit her or speak to her. Theparticulars of this imprisonment will be de-scribed more fully in the next chapter. Fiftyor sixty common conspirators, not worthy ofbeing beheaded with an ax, were hanged, anda company of six hundred more were brought,their hands tied, and halters about their necks,

a miserable gang, into Mary's presence, beforeher palace, to be pardoned. Wyatt was thenexecuted. When he came to die, however, heretracted what he had alleged of Elizabeth. Hedeclared that she was entirely innocent of anyparticipation in the scheme of rebellion. Eliza-beth's friends believe that he accused her be-cause he supposed that such a charge would beagreeable to Mary, and that he should himself

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The wedding plan proceeds. Hostility of the sailors.

be more leniently treated in consequence of it,

but that when at last he found that sacrificingher would not save him, his guilty consciencescourged him into doing her justice in his lasthours.

All obstacles to the wedding were now appa-rently removed ; for, after the failure of Wyatt'srebellion, nobody dared to make any open oppo-sition to the plans of the queen, though therewas still abundance of secret dissatisfaction.Mary was now very impatient to have the mar-riage carried into effect. A new Parliamentwas called, and its concurrence in the plan ob-

tained. Mary ordered a squadron of ships tobe fitted out and sent to Spain, to convey thebridegroom to England. The admiral who hadcommand of this fleet wrote to her that thesailors were so hostile to Philip that he did notthink it was safe for her to intrust him to theirhands. Mary then commanded this force to bedismissed, in order to arrange some other wayto bring Philip over. She was then full of anx-iety and apprehension lest some accident mightbefall him. His ship might be wrecked, or hemight fall into the hands of the French, whowere not at all well disposed toward the match.Her thoughts and her conversation were run-

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Mary's fears and complainings. Philip lands at Southampton.

ning upon this topic all the time. She wasrestless by day and sleepless by night, until

her health was at last seriously impaired, andher friends began really to fear that she mightlose her reason.' She was very anxious, too, lestPhilip should find her beauty so impaired byher years, and by the state of her health, thatshe should fail, when he arrived, of becomingthe object of his love.

. In fact, she complained already that Philipneglected her. He did not write to her, or ex-press in any way the interest and affectionwhich she thought ought to be awakened in hismind by a bride who, as she expressed it, was go-

ing to bring a kingdom for a dowry. This sortof cold and haughty demeanor was, however, in



keeping with the self-importance and the pridewhich then often marked the Spanish charac-ter, and which, in Philip particularly, alwaysseemed to be extreme.

At length the time arrived for his embarka-

tion. He sailed across the Bay of Biscay, andup the English Channel until he reached South-ampton, a famous port on the southern coast ofEngland. There he landed with great pompand parade. He assumed d very proud andstately bearing, which made a very unfavorable

a

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Philip's proud and haughty demeanor. The marriage ceremony.

impression upon the English people who hadbeen sent by Queen Mary to receive him. Hedrew his sword when he landed, and walkedabout with it, for a time, in a very pompousmanner, holding the sword unsheathed in hishand, the crowd of by-standers that had collect-ed to witness the spectacle of the landing look-ing, on all the time, and wondering what suchan action could be intended to intimate. It wasprobably intended simply to make them wonder.The authorities of Southampton had arrangedit to come in procession to meet Philip, andpresent him with the keys of the gates, an em-blem of an honorable reception into the city.Philip received the keys, but did not deign aword of reply. The distance and reserve whichit had been customary to maintain between theEnglish sovereigns and their people was alwayspretty strongly marked, but Philip's loftinessrand grandeur seemed to surpass all bounds.

Mary went two thirds of the way from Lon-don to the coast to meet the bridegroom. Herethe marriage ceremony was performed, and thewhole party came, with great parade and re-joicings, back to London, and Mary, satisfiedand happy, took up her abode with her new lordin Windsor Castle.

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Philip abandons Mary. Her repinings. Her death.

The poor queen was, however, in the end, sad-ly disappointed in her husband. He felt no lovefor her ; he was probably, in fact, incapable of

love. He remained in England a year, and then,growing weary of his wife and of his adoptedcountry, he went back to Spain again, greatlyto Queen Mary's vexation and chagrin. Theywere both extremely disappointed in not hav-ing children. Philip's motive for marryingMary was ambition wholly, and not love ; andwhen he found that an heir to inherit the twokingdoms was not to be expected, he treated hisunhappy wife with great neglect and cruelty,and finally went away from her altogether. He^came back again, it is true, a year afterward,but it was only to compel Mary to join with him

in a war against France. He told her that ifshe would not do this, he would go away fromEngland and never see her again. Mary yield-ed ; but at length, harassed and worn down withuseless regrets and repinings, her mental suf-ferings are supposed to have shortened her days.She died miserably a few years after her mar-riage, and thus the Spanish match turned outto be a very unfortunate match indeed.

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Elizabeth's position. Legitimacy of Mary and Elizabeth's birth.

Chapter V.Elizabeth in the Tower.

THE imprisonment of Queen Elizabeth inthe Tower, whioh was briefly alluded to in

the last chapter, deserves a more full narrationthan was possible to give to it there. She had re-tired from court some time before the difficultiesabout the Spanish match arose. It is true thatshe took sides with Mary in the contest withNorthumberland and the friends of Jane Grey,and she shared her royal sister's triumph in thepomp and parade of the coronation ; but, after all,she and Mary could not possibly be very goodfriends. The marriages of their respective moth-ers could not both have been valid. Henry theEighth was so impatient that he could not waitfor a divorce from Catharine before he married

Anne Boleyn. The only way to make the lat-ter marriage legal, therefore, was to consider the



former one null and void from the beginning;and if the former one was not thus null and void,the latter must be so. If Henry had waited for9 divorce, then both marriages might have been

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1554.] Elizabeth in the Tower. 101

Mazy and Elizabeth's differences. Courteney's long imprisonment

valid, each for the time of its own continuance,and both the princesses might have been lawfulheirs; but as it was, neither of them couldmaintain her own claims to be considered a law-

ful daughter, without denying, by implicationat least, those of the other. They were there-fore, as it were, natural enemies. Though theymight be outwardly civil to each other, it wasnot possible that there could be any true har-mony or friendship between them.

A circumstance occurred, too, soon afterMary's accession to the throne, which result-ed in openly alienating the feelings of the twoladies from each other. There was a certainprisoner in the Tower of London, a gentlemanof high rank and great consideration, namedCourteney, now about twenty-six years of age,who had been imprisoned in the Tower by KingHenry the Eighth when he was only twelveyears old, on account of some political offensesof his father ! He had thus been a close pris-oner for fourteen years at Mary's accession ; butMary released him. It was found, when he re-turned to society again, that he had employedhis solitary hours in cultivating his mind, ac-quiring knowledge, and availing himself of allthe opportunities for improvement which his

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Mary's attentions to Courteney. Courteney's attentions to Elizabeth.

situation afforded, and that he came forth apintelligent, accomplished, and very agreeableman. The interest which his appearance andmanners excited was increased by the sympa-thy naturally felt for the sufferings that he had

endured. In a word, he became a general fa-vorite. The rank of his family was high enough



for Mary to think of him for her husband, forthis was before the Spanish match was thoughtof. Mary granted him a title, and large estates,and showed him many other favors, and, asevery body supposed, tried very hard to makean impression on his heart. Her efforts were,

however, vain. Courteney gave an obvious pref-erence to Elizabeth, who was young then, atleast, if not beautiful. This successful rivalryon the part of her sister filled the queen's heartwith resentment and envy, and she exhibitedher chagrin by -so many little marks of neglectand incivility, that Elizabeth's resentment wasroused in its turn, and she asked permission toretire from court to her residence in the coun-try. Mary readily gave the permission, andthus it happened that when Wyatt's rebellionfirst broke out, as described in the last chapter,Elizabeth was living in retirement and seclu-

sion at Ashridge, an estate of hers at some dis-

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Mary's plan to get Elizabeth in her power. Elizabeth'! wariness.

lance west of London. As to CourteneyJ Maryfound some pretext or other for sending himback again to his prison in the Tower.

Mary was immediately afraid that the mal-contents would join with Elizabeth and attemptto put forward her name and her claims to thecrown, which, if they were to do, it would maketheir movement very formidable. She was im-pressed immediately with the idea that it wasof great importance to get Elizabeth back againinto her power. The most probable way ofsucceeding in doing this, she thought, was towrite her a kind and friendly letter, inviting herto return. She accordingly wrote such a letter.

She said in it that certain evil-disposed personswere plotting some disturbances in the kingdom,and that she thought that Elizabeth was notsafe where she was. She urged her, therefore,to return, saying that she should be truly wel-come, and should be protected against all dan-ger if she would come.

An invitation from a queen is a oommand,and Elizabeth would have felt bound to obeythis summons, but she was sick when it came.At least she was not well, and she was notmuch disposed to underrate her sickness for the

sake of being able to travel on this occasion.



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Wyatt accrues Elisabeth. Her seizure.

The officers of her household made out a formalcertificate to the effect that Elizabeth was notable to undertake such a journey.

In the mean time Wyatt's rebellion brokeout; he marched to London, was entrappedthere and taken prisoner, as is related at lengthin the last chapter. In his confessions he im-plicated the Princess Elizabeth, and also Courte-

ney, and Mary's government then determinedthat they must secure Elizabeths person at allevents, sick or well. They sent, therefore, threegentlemen as commissioners, with a troop ofhorse to attend them, to bring her to London.They carried the queen's litter with them, tobring the princess upon it in case she shouldbe found unable to travel in any other way.

This party arrived at Ashridge at ten o'clockat night. They insisted on being admitted atonce into the chamber of Elizabeth, and therethey made known their errand. Elizabeth wasterrified ; she begged not to be moved, as shewas really too sickto go. They called in somephysicians, who certified that she could be movedwithout danger to her life. The next morningthey put her upon the litter, a sort of coveredbed, formed like a palanquin, and borne, like apalanquin, by men. It was twenty-nine miles

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Elizabeth borne in a litter. She is examined and released.

to London, and it took the party four days toreach the city, they moved so slowly. This cir-cumstance is mentioned sometimes as showinghow siok Elizabeth must have been. But thefact is, there was no reason whatever for anyhaste. Elizabeth was now completely in Mary'spower, and it could make no possible differencehow long she was upon the road.

The litter passed along the roads in greatstate. It was a princess that they were bear-



ing. As they approached London, a hundredmen in handsome uniforms went before, and anequal number followed. A great many peoplecame out from the city to meet the princess, asa token of respect. This displeased Mary, butit could not well be prevented or punished. On

their arrival they took Elizabeth to one of thepalaces at Westminster, called Whitehall Shewas examined by Mary's privy council. Noth-ing was proved against her, and, as the rebellionseemed now wholly at an end, she was at lengthreleased, and thus ended her first durance as apolitical prisoner.

It happened, however, that other persons im-plicated in Wyatt's plot, when examined, madecharges against Elizabeth in respeot to it, andQueen Mary sent another force and arrested

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Ettnbeth again arrested. Her letter to Mary,

her again. She was taken now to a famousroyal palace, called Hampton Court, which issituated on the Thames, a few miles above thecity. She brought many of the officers of herhousehold and of her personal attendants withher ; but one of the queen's ministers, accom-panied by two other officers, came soon after,and dismissed all her own attendants, and placedpersons in the service of the queen in their place.They also set a guard around the palace, andthen left the princess, for the night, a closeprisoner, and yet without any visible signs ofcoercion, for all these guards might be guardsof honor.

The next day some officers came again, andtold her that it had been deoided to send her to

the Tower, and that a barge was ready at theriver to convey her. She was very much agi-tated and alarmed, and begged to be allowed tosend a letter to her sister before they took heraway. One of the officers insisted that sheshould have the privilege, and the other thatshe should not. The former conquered in thecontest, and Elizabeth wrote the letter and sentit. It contained an earnest and solemn disavow-al of all participation in the plots whioh she hadbeen charged with encouraging, and begged

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Situation of the Tower. The Traitors' Gate

Mary to believe that she was innocent, and al-low her to be released.

The letter did no good. Elizabeth was tak-en into the barge and conveyed in a very pri-vate manner down the river. Hampton Courtis above London, several miles, and the Toweris just below the city. There are several en-trances to this vast castle, some of them bystairs from the river. Among these is one bywhich prisoners accused of great political crimeswere usually taken in, and whioh is called the

Traitors' Gate. There was another entrance,also, from the river, by which a more honorableadmission to the fortress might be attained. TheTower was not solely a prison. It was often a!place of retreat for kings and queens from anysudden danger, and was frequently occupied bythem as a somewhat permanent residence.There were a great number of structures with-in the walls, in some of which royal apartmentswere fitted up with great splendor. Elizabethhad often been in the Tower as a resident ora visitor, and thus far there was nothing in thecircumstances of the case to forbid the supposi*tion that they might be taking her there as aguest or resident now. She was anxious anduneasy, it is true, but she was not certain thatshe was regarded as a prisoner.

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108 Queen Elizabeth.' [1554.

Elizabeth conveyed to the Tower. She i* landed at the Traitors' Gate.

In the mean time, the barge, with the otherboats in attendance, passed down the river inthe rain, for it was a stormy day, a circum-stance which aided the authorities in their ef-fort to convey their captive to her gloomy pris-on without attracting the attention of the pop-ulace. Besides, it was the day of some greatreligious festival, when the people were gener-ally in the churches. This day had been cho-sen on that very account. The barge and theboats came down the river, therefore, withoutattracting much attention ; they approached the

landing-place at last, and stopped at the flightof steps leading up from the water to the Trai-



tors' Gate.

Elizabeth declared that she was no traitor,and that she would not be landed there. Thenobleman who had charge of her told her sim-ply, in reply, that she could not have her choice

of a place to land. At the same time, he offeredher his cloak to protect her from the rain in pass-ing from the barge to the castle gate. Umbrel-las had not been invented in those days. Eliz-abeth threw the cloak away from her in vexa-tion and anger. She found, however, that itwas of no use to resist. She could not choose.She stepped from the barge out upon the stairs

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Elisabeth's reception at the Tower. Her unwillingness to enter.

in the rain, saying, as she did so, " Here landsas true and faithful a subjeot as ever landed aprisoner at these stairs. Before thee, O God, Ispeak it, having now no friends but thee alone."

A large company of the warders and keepersof the castle had been drawn up at the Traitors'Gate to receive her, as was customary on occa-sions when prisoners of high rank were to en-ter the Tower. As these men were alwaysdressed in uniform of a peculiar antique char-acter, such a parade of them made quite an im-posing appearance. Elizabeth asked what itmeant. They told her that that was the cus-tomary mode of receiving a prisoner. She saidthat if it was, she hoped that they would dis-pense with the ceremony in her case, and ask-ed that, for her sake, the men might be dismiss-ed from suoh attendance in so inclement a sea-son. The men blessed her for her goodness, andkneeled down and prayed that God would pre-

serve her.

She was extremely unwilling to go into theprison. As they approached the part of the ed-ifice where she was to be confined, through thecourt-yard of the Tower, she stopped and satdown upon a stone, perhaps a step, or the curbBtone of a walk. The lieutenant urged her to

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EUzabeth'f indignation and grie£ She it closely imprisoned.

go in out of the cold and wet. " Better sittinghere than in a worse place," she replied, " for

God knoweth whither you are bringing me."However, she rose and went on. She enteredthe prison, was conducted to her room, and thedoors were looked and bolted upon her.

Elizabeth was kept closely imprisoned for amonth ; after that, some little relaxation in thestrictness of her seclusion was allowed. Per-mission was very reluctantly granted to her towalk every day in the royal apartments, whichwere now unoccupied, so that there was no so-ciety to be found there, but it afforded her asort of pleasure to range through them for rec-

reation and exercise. But this privilege couldnot be accorded without very strict limitationsand conditions. Two officers of the Tower andthree women had to attend her ; the windows,too, were shut, and she was not permitted togo and look out at them. This was rather mel-ancholy recreation, it must be allowed, but itwas better than being shut up all day in a sin-gle apartment, bolted and barred.

There was a small garden within the castlenot far from the prison, and after some timeElizabeth was permitted to walk there. Thegates and doors, however, were kept carefully

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Elizabeth in the garden. The little child and the flowers.

closed, and all the prisoners, whose rooms looked



into it from the surrounding buildings, wereclosely watched by their respective keepers,while Elizabeth was in the garden, to preventtheir having any communication with her bylooks or signs. There were a great many per-sons confined at this time, who had been ar-

rested on charges connected with Wyatt's re-bellion, and the authorities seem to have beenvery specially vigilant to prevent the possibil-ity of Elizabeth's having communication withany of them. There was a little child of fiveyears of age who used to come and visit Elizasbeth in her room, and bring her flowers. Hewas the son of one of the subordinate dfficersof the Tower. It was, however, at last suspect-ed that he was acting as a messenger betweenElizabeth and Courteney. Gourteney, it willbe recollected, had been sent by Mary back tothe Tower again, so that he and Elizabeth were

now suffering the same hard fate in neighbor-ing oells. When the boy was suspeoted of bear-ing communications between these friends andcompanions in suffering, he was called beforean officer and closely examined* His answerswere all open and childlike, and gave no con-firmation to the idea which had been entertain-H

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Elizabeth greatly alarmed. Her removal from the Tower.

ed. The child, however, was forbidden to goto Elizabeth's apartment any more. He wasvery much grieved at this, and he watched forthe next time that Elizabeth was to walk inthe garden, and putting his mouth to a hole inthe gate, he called out, " Lady, I can not bringyou any more flowers."

After Elizabeth had been thus confined aboutthree months, she was one day terribly alarmedby the sounds of martial parade within the Tow-er, produced by the entrance of an officer fromQueen Mary, named Sir Thomas Beddingfield,at the head of three hundred men. Elizabethsupposed that they were come to execute sen-tence of death upon her. She asked immedi-ately if the platform on which Lady Jane Greywas beheaded had been 1 taken away. Theytold her that it had been removed. She wasthen somewhat relieved. They afterward toldher that Sir Thomas had come to take her away

from the Tower, but that it was not knownwhere she was to go. This alarmed her again,



and she sent for the constable of the Tower,whose name was Lord Chandos, and questionedhim very closely to learn what they were goingto do with her. He said that it had been de-cided to remove her from the Tower, and send

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Elizabeth's fears. Mary's designs.

her to a place called Woodstock, where she wasto remain under Sir Thomas Beddingfield's cus-tody, at a royal palace which was situated there.

Woodstock is forty or fifty miles to the west-ward of London, and not far from the city ofOxford.

Elizabeth was very much alarmed at this in-telligence. Her mind was filled with vagueand uncertain fears and forebodings, whichwere none the less oppressive for being uncer-tain and vague. She had, however, no imme-diate cause for apprehension. Mary found thatthere was no decisive evidence against her, anddid not dare to keep her a prisoner in the Tow-er too long. There was a large and influentialpart of the kingdom who were Protestants.They were jealous of the progress Mary wasmaking toward bringing the Catholic religionin again. They abhorred the Spanish match.They naturally looked to Elizabeth as their lead-er and head, and Mary thought that by too greator too long-continued harshness in her treat-ment of Elizabeth, she would only exasperatethem, and perhaps provoke a new outbreakagainst her authority. She determined, there-fore, to remove the princess from the Tower tosome less odious place of confinement.

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Elizabeth taken to Richmond. Mary's plan for marrying hen

She was taken first to Queen Mary's court,which was then held at Riohmond, just aboveLondon ; but she was surrounded here by sol-diers and guards, and confined almost as strict-

ly as before. She was destined, however, hereto another surprise. It was a proposition of



King Philip, after his marriage, gradually

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Elizabeth pertisU in her innocence. The torch-light visit.

interested himself in her behalf, and exerted hisinfluence to have her released ; and Mary's min-isters had frequent interviews with her, and en-deavored to induce her to make some confessionof guilt, and to petition Mary for release as amatter of mercy. They could not, they said,release her while she persisted in her innocence,

without admitting that they and Mary had beenin the wrong, and had imprisoned her unjustly.But the princess was immovable. She declar-ed that she was perfectly innocent, and that shewould never, therefore, say that she was guilty.She would rather remain in prison for the truth,than be at liberty and have it believed that shehad been guilty of disloyally and treason.

At length, one evening in May, Elizabethreceived a summons to go to the palace andvisit Mary in her chamber. She was conduct-ed there by torch-light. She had a long inter-view with the queen, the conversation beingpartly in English and partly in Spanish. It wasnot very satisfactory on either side. Elizabethpersisted in asserting her innocence, but inother respects she spoke in a kind and concilia-tory manner to the queen. The interview endedin a sort of reconciliation. Mary put a valua-ble ring upon Elizabeth's finger in token of the

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Reconcilation between Elizabeth and Mary. Elizabeth's release.

renewal of friendship, and soon afterward thelong period of restraint and confinement wasended, and the prinoess returned to her own es-tate at Hatfield in Hertfordshire, where shelived some time in seclusion, devoting herself,in a great measure, to the study of Latin andGreek, under the instructions of Roger Ascham.



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Mary's unhappy reign. Unrequited lore.

Chapter VI.

Accession to the Throne.

TF it were the story of Mary instead of that-*■ of Elizabeth that we were following, weshould have now to pause and draw a verymelancholy picture of the scepes which dark-ened the close of the queen's unfortunate and

unhappy history. Mary loved her husband, butshe could not secure his love in return. Hetreated her with supercilious coldness and neg-lect, and evinoed, from time to time, a degreeof interest in other ladies which awakened herjealousy and anger. Of all the terrible convul-sions to which the human soul is subject, thereis not one which agitates it more deeply thanthe tumult of feeling produced by the minglingof resentment and love. Such a mingling, or,rather, such a conflict, between passions appa-rently inconsistent with each other, is generallyconsidered not possible by those who have neverexperienced it. But it is possible. It is possi-ble to be stung with a sense of the ingratitude,and selfishness^ and cruelty of an object, which,

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1555.] Accession to the Throne. 121

Mary's sufferings. Her religions principles.

after all, the heart will persist in clinging towith the fondest affection. Vexation and anger,a burning sense of injury, and desire for revenge,on the one hand, and feelings of love, resistlessand uncontrollable, and bearing, in their turn,all before them, alternately get possession of thesoul, harrowing and devastating it in their aw-ful conflict, and even sometimes reigning overit, for a time, in a temporary but dreadful calm,like that of two wrestlers who pause a moment,exhausted in a mortal combat, but grapplingeach other with deadly energy all the time,while they are taking breath for a renewal of

the conflict. Queen Mary, in one of these par-oxysms, seized a portrait of her husband and



tore it into shreds. • The reader, who has his orher experience in affairs of the heart yet tocome, will say, perhaps, her love for him thenmust have been all gone. No ; it was at itsheight. We do not tear the portraits of thosewho are indifferent to us.

At the beginning of her reign, and, in fact,during all the previous periods of her life, Maryhad been an honest and conscientious Catholic.She undoubtedly truly believed that the Chris-tian Church ought to be banded together in onegreat communion, with the Pope of Rome as its

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Progress of Mary's Catholic zeal Her moderation at first

spiritual head, and that her father had brokenaway from this communion — which was, in fact,strictly true — merely to obtain a pretext for get-ting released from her mother. How natural,under such circumstances, that she should havedesired to return. She commenced, immediatelyon her accession, a course of measures to bringthe nation back to the Roman Catholic com-munion. She managed very prudently andcautiously at first — especially while the affairof her marriage was pending — seemingly verydesirous of doing nothing to exasperate thosewho were of the Protestant faith, or even toawaken their opposition. After she was mar-ried, however, her desire to please her Catholichusband, and his widely-extended and influentialcircle of Catholic friends on the Continent, madeher more eager to press forward the work ofputting down the Reformation in England ; andas her marriage .was now effected, she was lessconcerned about the consequences of any oppo-sition which she might excite. Then, besides,

her temper, never very sweet, was sadly souredby her husband's treatment of her. She vent-ed her ill will upon those who would not yieldto her wishes in respect to their religious faith.She caused more and more severe laws to be

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Mary's terrible persecution of the Protestants. Burning at the stake.



passed, and enforced them by more and moresevere penalties. The more she pressed theseviolent measures, the more the fortitude and res-olution of those who suffered from them werearoused. And, on the other hand, the more

they resisted, the more determined she becamethat she would compel them to submit. Shewent on from one mode of coercion to another,until she reached the last possible point, andinflicted the most dreadful physical sufferingwhich it is possible for roan to inflict upon hisfellow-man.

This worst and most terrible injury is to burnthe living victim in a fire. That a woman couldever order this to be done would seem to be in-credible. Queen Mary, however, and her gov-ernment, were so determined to put down, at

all hazards, all open disaffection to the Catho-lic cause, that they did not give up the contestuntil they had burned nearly three hundred per-sons by fire, of whom more than fifty were wom-en, and four were children ! This horrible per-secution was, however, of no avail. Dissen-tients increased faster than they could be burn-*ed; and such dreadful punishments became atlast so intolerably odious to the nation that theywere obliged to desist, and then the various

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TTietttteof Bloody given to Mary. Mary and Elizabeth reconciled.

ministers of state concerned in them attempt-ed to throw off the blame upon each other. TheEnglish nation have never forgiven Mary forthese atrocities. They gave her the name ofBloody Mary at the time, and she has retainedit to the present day. In one of the ancient his-

tories of the realm, at the head of the chapterdevoted to Mary, there is placed, as an appro-priate emblem of the character of her reign, thepicture of a man writhing helplessly at a stake,with the flames purling around him, and a fe-rocious-looking soldier standing by, stirring upthe fire.

The various disappointments, vexations, andtrials which Mary endured toward the close ofher life, had one good effect ; they softened theanimosity which she had felt toward Elizabeth,and in the end something like a friendship seem-

ed to spring up between the sisters. . Abandon-ed by her husband, and looked upon with dis-



like or hatred by her subjects, and disappointedin all her plans, she seemed to turn at last toElizabeth for companionship and comfort. Thesisters visited each other. First Elizabeth wentto London to visit the queen, and was receivedwith great oeremony and parade. Then the

queen went to Hatfield to visit the princess, at-

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Scenes of festivity. The war with France.

tended by a large company of ladies and gentle-

men of the court, and several days were spentthere in festivities and rejoicings. There wereplays in the palace, and a bear-baiting in thecourt-yard, and hunting in the park, and manyother schemes of pleasure. This renewal offriendly intercourse between the queen and theprincess brought the latter gradually out of herretirement. Now that the queen began to evincea friendly spirit toward her, it was safe for oth-ers, to show her kindness and to pay her atten-tion. The disposition to do this increased rap-idly as Mary's health gradually declined, and itbegan to be understood that she would not livelong, and that, consequently, Elizabeth wouldsoon be called to the throne.

The war which Mary had been drawn intowith France, by Philip's threat that he wouldnever see her again, proved very disastrous.The town of Calais, which is opposite to Dover,across the straits, and, of course, on the Frenchside of the channel, had been in the possessionof the English for two hundred years. It wasvery gratifying to English pride to hold posses-sion of such a stronghold on the French shore;but now every thing seemed to go against Mary.Calais was defended by a citadel nearly as large

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Loss of Calais. Murmur* of the English.

as the town itself, and was deemed impregna-ble. In addition to this, an enormous English

force was concentrated there. The French gen-eral, however, contrived, partly by stratagem,



and partly by overpowering numbers of troops,and ships, and batteries of cannon, to get pos-session of the whole. The English nation wereindignant at this result. Their queen and hergovernment, so energetic in imprisoning andburning her own subjects at home, were pow-

erless, it seemed, in coping with their enemiesabroad. Murmurs of dissatisfaction were heardevery where, and Mary sank down upon hersick bed overwhelmed with disappointment, vex-ation, and chagrin. She said that she shoulddie, and that if, after her death, they examinedher body, they would find Calais like a loadupon her heart.

In the mean time, it must have been Eliza-beth's secret wish that she would die, since herdeath would release the princess from all theembarrassments and restraints of her position,

and raise her at once to the highest pinnacleof honor and power. She remained, however,quietly at Hatfield, acting in all things in avery discreet and cautious manner. At onetime she received proposals from the King of

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JL557.] Accession to the Throne. 127

King of Sweden's proposal to Elizabeth. Mary's energy.

Sweden that she would accept of his son as herhusband. She asked the embassador if he hadcommunicated the affair to Mary. On his re-plying that he had not, Elizabeth said that shecould not entertain at all any such question,unless her sister were first consulted and shouldgive her approbation. She acted on the sameprinciples in every thing, being very cautious to*give Mary and her government no cause ofcomplaint against her, and willing to wait pa-tiently until her own time should come.

Though Mary's disappointments and lossesfilled her mind with anguish and suffering, theydid not soften her heart. She seemed to growmore cruel and vindictive the more her plansand projects failed. Adversity vexed and irri-tated, instead of calming and subduing her.She revived her persecutions of the Protest-ants. She fitted out a fleet of a hundred andtwenty ships to make a descent upon the Frenchcoast, and attempt to retrieve her fallen fortunesthere. She called Parliament together and ask-ed for more supplies. All this time she was

confined to her sick chamber, but not consideredin danger. The Parliament were debating the



question of supplies. Her privy council wereholding daily meetings to carry out the plans

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Mary's privy council alarmed. Their perplexity.

and schemes which she still continued to form,and all was excitement and bustle in and aroundthe court, when one day the council was thun-derstruck by an announcement that she wasdying.

They knew very well that her death wouldbe a terrible blow to them. They were allCatholics, and had been Mary's instruments inthe terrible persecutions with which she hadoppressed the Protestant faith. With Mary'sdeath, of course they would fall. A Protestantprincess was ready, at Hatfield, to ascend thethrone. Every thing would be changed, andthere was even danger that they might, in theirturn, be sent to the stake, in retaliation for thecruelties which they had caused others to suffer.They made arrangements to have Mary's death,whenever it should take place, concealed for afew hours, till they could consider what theyshould do.

There was nothing that they could do. Therewas now no other considerable claimant to thethrone but Elizabeth, except Mary Queen ofScots, who was far away in France. She wasa Catholic, it was true ; but to bring her intothe country and place her upon the throneseemed to be a hopeless undertaking. Queen

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Uncertainty about Elizabeth's future course. Her cautious policy.

Mary's counselors soon found that they mustgive up their cause in despair. Any attemptto resist Elizabeth's claims would be high trea-son, and, of course, if unsuccessful, would bringthe heads of all concerned in it to the block.

Besides, it was not certain that Elizabethwould act decidedly as a Protestant. She had



been very prudent and cautious during Mary'sreign, and had been very careful never to man-ifest any hostility to the Catholics. She neverhad acted as Mary had done on the occasionof her brother's funeral, when she refused evento countenance with her presence the national

service because it was under Protestant forms.Elizabeth had always accompanied Mary tomass whenever occasion required ; she had al-ways spoken respectfully of the Catholic faith ;and once she asked Mary to lend her some Cath-olic books, in order that she might inform her-self more fully on the subject of the principlesof the Roman faith. It is true, she acted thus,not because there was any real leaning in hermind toward the Catholic religion ; it was allmerely a wise and sagac ous policy. Surround-ed by difficulties and dangers as she was dur-ing Mary's reign, her only hope of safety was

in passing as quietly as possible along, and man-T

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Death of Mary. Announcement to Parliament

aging warily, so as to keep the hostility whiohwas burning secretly against her from break-ing oat into an open flame. This was her ob-ject in retiring so much from the court and fromall participation in public affairs, in avoiding allreligious and political contests, and spending hertime in the study of Greek, and Latin, andphilosophy. The consequence was, that whenMary died, nobody knew certainly what courseElizabeth would pursue. Nobody had anystrong motive for opposing her succession. Thecouncil, therefore, after a short consultation, con-cluded to do nothing but simply to send a mes-sage to the House of Lords, announcing to them

the unexpected death of the queen.

The House of Lords, on receiving this intel-ligence, sent for the Commons to come into theirhall, as is usual when any important commu-nication is to be made to them either by theLords themselves or by the sovereign. Thechancellor, who is the highest civil officer of thekingdom in respect to rank, and who presidesin the House of Lords, clothed in a magnificentantique costume, then rose and announced tothe Commons, standing before him, the deathof the sovereign. There was a moment's sol-

emn pause, such as propriety on the occasion of



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Elizabeth proclaimed. Joy of the people,

an announcement like this required, all thoughtsbeing, too, for a moment turned to the chamberwhere the body of the departed queen was ly-ing. But the sovereignty was no longer there.The mysterious principle had fled with the part-ing breath, and Elizabeth, though wholly un-conscious of it, had been for several hours thequeen. The thoughts, therefore, of the augustand solemn assembly lingered but for a moment

m the royal palace, which had now lost all itsglbry j they soon turned spontaneously, and witheager haste, to the new sovereign at Hatfield,and the lofty arches of the Parliament hall rungwith loud acclamations, " God save Queen Eliz-abeth, and grant her a long and happy reign."The members of the Parliament went forthimmediately to proclaim the new queen. Thereare two principal places where it was then cus-tomary to proclaim the English sovereigns. Oneof these was before the royal palace at West-minster, and the other in the city of London,at a very public place called the Great Crossat Cheapside. The people assembled in greatcrowds at these points to witness the ceremony,and received the announcement which the her-alds made, with the most ardent expressions ofjoy. The.beUs were every where rung; tables

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The Te Deum. Elizabeth's emotion*.

were spread in the streets, and booths erected ;bonfires and illuminations were prepared for theevening, and every thing indicated a deep anduniversal joy.

In fact, this joy was so strongly expressed asto be even in some degree disrespectful to thememory of the departed queen. There is a fa-mous ancient Latin hymn which has long beensung in England and on the Continent of Eu-rope on occasions of great public rejoicing. It

is called the Te Deum, or sometimes the *TeDeum Laudamus. These last are the three



Latin words with which the hymn commences,and mean, Thee, Ood, we praise. They sungthe Te Deum in the churches of London onthe Sunday after Mary died.

In the mean time, messengers from the coun-

cil proceeded with all speed to Hatfield, to an-nounce to Elizabeth the death of her sister, andher own accession to the sovereign power. Thetidings, of course, filled Elizabeth's mind withthe deepest emotions. The oppressive sense ofconstraint and danger which she had enduredas her daily burden for so many years, was liftedsuddenly from her soul. She could not but re-joice, though she was too much upon her guardto express her joy. She was overwhelmed with

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Cecil made secretary of state. His faithfulness.

a profound agitation, and, kneeling down, sheexclaimed in Latin, " It is the Lord's doing,and it is wonderful in our eyes."

Several of the members of Mary's privy coun-cil repaired immediately to Hatfield. Thequeen summoned them to attend her, and intheir presence appointed her chief secretary ofstate. His name was Sir William Cecil. Hewas a man of great learning and ability, and heremained in office under Elizabeth for fortyyears. He became her chief adviser and instru-ment, an able, faithful, and indefatigable serv-ant and friend during almost the whole of herreign. His name is accordingly indissolublyconnected with that of Elizabeth in all the po-litical events which occurred white she contin-ued upon the throne, and it will, in consequence,very frequently occur in the sequel of this his-

tory. He was now about forty years of age.Elizabeth was twenty-five.

Elizabeth had known Cecil long before. Hebad been a faithful and true friend to her in heradversity. He had been, in many cases, a con-fidential adviser, and had maintained a seoretcorrespondence with her in certain trying peri-ods of her life. She had resolved, doubtless, tomake him her chief secretary of state so soon

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Elizabeth's charge to Cecil. Her Journey to London.

as she should succeed to the throne. And nowthat the time had arrived, she instated him sol-emnly in his office. In so doing, she pronounc-ed, in the hearing of the other members of thecouncil, the following oharge :

" I give you this charge that you shall be ofmy privy council, and content yourself to takepains for me and my realm. This judgment 1have of you, that you will not be corrupted withaay gift ; and that you will be faithful to thestate ; and that, without respect of my privatewill, you will give me that counsel that you

think best; and that, if you shall know anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy,you shall show it to myself only ; and assureyourself I will not fail to keep taciturnity there-in. And therefore herewith I charge you."

It was about a week after the death of Marybefore the arrangements were completed forElizabeth's journey to London, to take posses-sion of the castles and palaces which pertainthere to the English sovereigns. She was fol-lowed on this journey by a train of about a thou-sand attendants, all nobles or personages of highrank, both gentlemen and ladies. She wentfirst to a palace called the Charter House, near

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Elizabeth's triumphant entrance into the Tower.

London, where she stopped until preparationscould be made for her formal and public entrance

into the Tower ; not, as before, through the Trai-tors' Gate, a prisoner, but openly, through the



grand entrance, in the midst of acclamations,as the proud and applauded sovereign of themighty realm whose capital the ancient fortresswas stationed to defend. The streets throughwhich the gorgeous procession was to pass werespread with fine, smooth gravel ; bands of mu-

sicians were stationed at intervals, and decora-ted arches, and banners, and flags, with count-less devices of loyalty and welcome, and wavinghandkerchiefs, greeted her all the way. Heraldsand other great officers, magnificently dressed,and mounted on horses richly caparisoned, rodebefore her, announcing her approach, with trum-pets and proclamations; while she followed inthe train, mounted upon a beautiful horse, theobject of universal homage. Thus Elizabethentered the Tower; and inasmuch as forgettingher friends is a fault with which she can not just-ly be charged, we may hope, at least, that one of

the first acts which she performed, after gettingestablished in the royal apartments, was to sendfor and reward the kind-hearted child who hadbeen reprimanded for bringing her the flowers.

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The coronation. Pageant* in the streets.

The coronation, when the time arrived for it,was very splendid. The queen went in statein a sumptuous ohariot, preceded by trumpetersand heralds in armor, and accompanied by along train of noblemen, barons, and gentlemen,and also of ladies, all most riohly dressed inorimson velvet, the trappings of the horses be-ing of the same material The people of Lon-don thronged all the streets through which shewas to pass, and made the air resound withshouts and acclamations. There were triumph-al arohes erected here and there on the way,

with a great variety of odd and quaint devioes,and a child stationed upon each, who explain-ed the devices to Elizabeth as she passed, inEnglish verse, written for the occasion. Oneof these pageants was entitled " The Seat ofworthy Governance." There was a throne,supported by figures which represented the car-dinal virtues, such as Piety, Wisdom, Temper*ance, Industry, Truth, and beneath their feetwere the opposite vices, Superstition, Ignorance,Intemperance, Idleness, and Falsehood: thesethe virtues were trampling upon. On the thronewas a representation of Elizabeth. At one place

were eight personages dressed to represent theeight beatitudes pronounced by our Savior in



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Devices. Presentation of the Bible. The heavy purse.

his sermon on the Mount — the meek, the merci-ful, &o. Each of these qualities was ingenious-ly ascribed to Elizabeth. This could be donewith much more propriety then than in subse-quent years. In another place, an anoient fig-ure, representing Time, came out of a cave whichhad been artificially constructed with great in-genuity, leading his daughter, whose name was

Truth. Truth had an English Bible in heihands, which she presented to Elizabeth as shepassed. This had a great deal of meaning ; forthe Catholic government of Mary had discour-aged the circulation of the Scriptures in the ver-nacular tongue. When the procession arrivedin the middle of the city, some officers of thecity government approached the queen's char-iot, and delivered to her a present of a very largeand heavy purse filled with gold. The queenhad to employ both hands in lifting it in. Itcontained an amount equal in value to two orthree thousand dollars.

The queen was very affable and gracious toall the people on the way. Poor women wouldcome up to her carriage and offer her flowers,whioh she would very condescendingly accept.Several times she stopped her carriage whenshe saw that any one wished to speak with her,

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The sprig of rosemary. The wedding ring.

or had something to offer ; and so great was theexaltation of a queen in those days, in the esti-mation of mankind, that these acts were con-sidered by all the humble citizens of London asacts of very extraordinary affability, and theyawakened universal enthusiasm. There wasone branch of rosemary given to the queen bya poor woman in Fleet Street ; the queen putit up conspicuously in the carriage, where it re-

mained all the way, watched by ten thousandeyes, till it got to Westminster.



The coronation took place at Westminster onthe following day. The crown was placed uponthe young maiden's head in the midst of a greatthrong of ladies and gentlemen, who were allsuperbly dressed, and who made the vast edifice

in which the service was performed ring withtheir acclamations and their shouts of " Longlive the Queen !" During the ceremonies, Eliz-abeth placed a wedding ring upon her fingerwith great formality, to denote that she consid-ered the occasion as the celebration of her es-pousal to the realm of England ; she was thatday a bride, and should never have, she said, anyother husband. She kept this, the only wed-ding ring she ever wore, upon her finger, with-out once removing it, for more than forty years.

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1559.] The War in Scotland. 141

Elisabeth and Mary Queen of Scots. Their rivalry.

Chapter VII.The War in Scotland.

QUEEN Elizabeth and Mary Queen ofSoots are strongly associated together inthe minds of all readers of English history.They were cotemporary sovereigns, reigning atthe same time over sister kingdoms. Theywere cousins, and yet, precisely on account ofthe family relationship which existed betweenthem, they became implacable foes. The rival-ry and hostility, sometimes open and sometimesconcealed, was always in action, and, after acontest of more than twenty years, Elizabethtriumphed. She made Mary her prisoner, kepther many years a captive, and at last closed the

contest by commanding, or at least allowing,her fallen rival to be beheaded.

Thus Elizabeth had it all her own way whilethe scenes of her life and of Mary's were trans-piring, but since that time mankind have gen-erally sympathized most strongly with the con-quered one, and condemned the conqueror.There are several reasons for this, and among

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142 C^ueen Elizabeth. [1559.

Character of Mary. Character of TMntXAh.

them is the vast influence exerted by the dif-

ference in the personal character of the parties.Mary was beautiful, feminine in spirit, and love-ly. Elizabeth was talented, masculine, andplain. Mary was artless, unaffected, and gen-tle. Elizabeth was heartless, intriguing, andinsincere. With Mary, though her ruling prin-ciple was ambition, her ruling passion was love.Her love led her to great transgressions and intomany sorrows, but mankind pardon the sinsand pity the sufferings which are caused by lovemore readily than those of any other origin.With Elizabeth, ambition was the ruling prin-ciple, and the ruling passion too. Love, with

her, was only a pastime. Her transgressionswere the cool, deliberate, well-considered actsof selfishness and desire of power. During herlifetime her success secured her the applausesof the world. The world is always ready toglorify the greatness which rises visibly beforeit, and to forget sufferings which are meeklyand patiently borne in seclusion and solitude.Men praised and honored Elizabeth, therefore,while she lived, and neglected Mary. But sincethe halo and the fascination of the visible great-A68S and glory have passed away, they havefound a far greater charm in Mary's beauty and

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Elizabeth's celebrity while living. Interest in Mary when dead.

misfortune than in her great rival's pride andpower.

There is often thus a great difference in thecomparative interest we take in persons orscenes, when, on the one hand, they are reali-ties before our eyes, and when, on the other,they axe only imaginings which are brought toour minds by pictures or descriptions. Thehardships which it was very disagreeable orpainful to bear, afford often great amusementor pleasure in the recollection. The old brokengate which a gentleman would not tolerate anhour upon his grounds, is a great beauty in thepicture which hangs in his parlor. We shunpoverty and distress while they are actually ex-

isting ; nothing is more disagreeable to us ; andwe gaze upon prosperity and wealth with nevef-



rel between these royal cousins was, as has beenalready remarked, their consanguinity, whichmade them both competitors for the same throne ;and as that throne was, in some respects, thehighest and most powerful in the world, it isnot surprising that two such ambitious women

should be eager and persevering in their contestfor it. By turning to the genealogical table onpage 68, where a view is presented of the royalfamily of England in the time of Elizabeth, thereader will see once more what was the preciserelationship which the two queens bore to eachother and to the succession. By this table it isvery evident that Elizabeth was the true in-heritor of the crown, provided it were admit-ted that she was the lawful daughter and heirof King Henry the Eighth, and this dependedon the question of the validity of her father'smarriage with his first wife, Catharine of Ara-

gon ; for, as has been before said, he was mar-ried to Anne Boleyn before obtaining any thinglike a divorce from Catharine; consequently,the marriage with Elizabeth's mother could notbe legally valid, unless that with Catharine hadbeen void from the beginning. The friends ofMary Queen of Scots maintained that it wa«



Views of Mary's friends. Views of Elizabeth's friends.

not thus void, and that, consequently, the mar-riage with Anne Boleyn was null ; that Eliza-beth, therefore, the descendant of the marriage,was not, legally and technically, a daughter ofHenry the Eighth, and, consequently, not enti-tied to inherit his crown ; and that the crown,of right, ought to descend to the next heir, thatis, to Mary Queen of Scots herself.

Queen Elizabeth's friends and partisans main-tained, on the other hand, that the marriage of

King Henry with Catharine was null and voidfrom the beginning, because Catharine had beenbefore the wife of his brother. The circumstan-ces of this marriage were very curious and pe-culiar. It was his father's work, and not hisown. His father was King Henry the Seventh.Henry the Seventh had several children, andamong them were his two oldest sons, Arthurand Henry. When Arthur was about sixteenyears old, his father, being very much in wantof money, conceived the plan of replenishing hiscoffers by marrying his son to a rich wife. Heaccordingly contracted a marriage between him

and Catharine of Aragon, Catharine's fatheragreeing to pay him two hundred thousand



orowns as her dowry. The juvenile bridegroomenjoyed the honors and pleasures of marriedlife for a few months, and then died.

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Circumstances of Henry the Eighth's first marriage.

This event was a great domestic calamity tothe king, not because he mourned the loss ofhis son, but that he could not bear the idea ofthe loss of the dowry. By the law and usagein such cases, he was bound not only to forego

the payment of the other half of the dowry, buthe had himself no right to retain the half thathe had already received. While his son lived,being a minor, the father might, not improper-ly, hold the money in his son's name ; but whenhe died this right ceased, and as Arthur left nochild, Henry perceived that he should be obligedto pay back the money. To avoid this un-pleasant necessity, the king conceived the planof marrying the youthful widow again to hissecond boy, Henry, who was about a yearyounger than Arthur, and he made proposalsto this effect to the King of Aragon.

The King of Aragon made no objection tothis proposal, except that it was a thing un-heard of among Christian nations, or heard ofonly to be condemned, for a man or even a boyto marry his brother's widow. All laws, humanand divine, were clear and absolute against this.Still, if the dispensation of the pope could beobtained, he would make no objection. Catha-rine might espouse the second boy, and he would

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The papal dispensation. Doubts about it

allow the one hundred thousand crowns alreadypaid to stand, and would also pay the otherhundred thousand. The dispensation was ac-cordingly obtained, and every thing made readyfor the marriage.

Very soon after this, however, and before thenew marriage was carried into effect, King



Henry the Seventh died, and this second boy,now the oldest son, though only about seven-teen years of age, ascended the throne as KingHenry the Eighth. There was great discussionand debate, soon after his accession, whetherthe marriage which his father had arranged

should proceed. Some argued that no papaldispensation could authorize or justify such amarriage. Others maintained that a papal dis-pensation could legalize any thing; for it is adoctrine of the Catholic Church that the popehas a certain discretionary power over all laws,human and divine, under the authority givento his great predecessor, the Apostle Peter, bythe words of Christ : " Whatsoever thou shaltbind on earth shall be bound in heaven, andwhatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall beloosed in heaven."* Henry seems not to havepuzzled his head at all with the legal question ;

• Matthew, xvi., 19.

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England turns Protestant The marriage annulled.

he wanted to have the young widow for hiswife, and he settled the affair on that groundalone. They were married.

Catharine was a faithful and dutiful spouse ;but when, at last, Henry fell in love with AnneBoleyn, he made these old difficulties a pretextfor discarding her. He endeavored, as has beenalready related, to induce the papal authoritiesto annul their dispensation ; because they wouldnot do it, he espoused the Protestant cause, andEngland, as a nation, seceded from the Catho-lic communion. The ecclesiastical and parlia-mentary authorities of his own realm then, be-

ing made Protestant, annulled the marriage,and thus Anne Boleyn, to whom he had pre-viously been married by a private ceremony,became legally and technically his wife. Ifthis annulling of his first marriage were valid,then Elizabeth was his heir — otherwise not ;for if the pope's dispensation was to stand, thenCatharine was a wife. Anne Boleyn would inthat case, of course, have been only a compan-ion, and Elizabeth, claiming through her, ausurper.

The question, thus, was very complicated. It

branched into extensive ramifications, whichopened a wide field of debate, and led to end-



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Mmry in France. She becomes Queen of France.

less controversies. It is not probable, however,that Mary Queen of Scots, or her friends, gavethemselves much trouble about the legal pointsat issue. She and they were all Catholics, andit was sufficient for them to know that thfeHoly Father at Rome had sanctioned the mar-riage of Catharine, and that that marriage, ifallowed to stand, made her the Queen of Erjr

gland. She was at this time in France. Shehad been sent there at a very early period ofher life, to escape the troubles of her native land,and also to be educated. She was a gentle andbeautiful child, and as she grew up amid thegay scenes and festivities of Paris, she becamea very great favorite, being universally beloved*She married at length, though while she wasstill quite young, the son of the French king.Her young husband became king himself soonafterward, on account of his father's being kill-ed, in a very remarkable manner, at a tourna-ment ; and thus Mary, Queen of Scots before,became also Queen of France now. All theseevents, passed over thus very summarily here;are narrated in full detail in the History ofMary Queen of Scots pertaining to this series.While Mary was thus residing in France asthe wife of the king, she was surrounded by a

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Mary'f pretensions to the English crown. Elizabeth's fears.

very large and influential circle, who were Cath-olics like herself, and who were also enemies ofElizabeth and of England, and glad to find anypretext for disturbing her reign. These per-sons brought forward Mary's claim. They per-suaded Mary that she was fairly entitled to theEnglish crown. They awakened her youthfulambition, and excited strong desires in herheart to attain to the high elevation of Queenof England. Mary at length assumed the title

in some of her official acts, and combined thearms of England with those of Scotland in the



escutcheons with which her furniture and herplate were emblazoned.

When Queen Elizabeth learned that Marywas advancing such pretensions to her crown,she was made very uneasy by it. There was,

perhaps, no immediate danger, but then therewas a very large Catholic party in England,and they would naturally espouse Mary's cause,and they might, at some future time, gatherstrength so as to make Elizabeth a great dealof trouble. She accordingly sent an embassa-dor over to France to remonstrate against Ma-ry's advancing these pretensions. But she couldget no satisfactory reply. Mary would not dis-avow her claim to Elizabeth's crown, nor would

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Measures of Elizabeth. Progress of Protestantism in Scotland.

she directly assert it. Elizabeth, then, know-ing that all her danger lay in the power and in-fluence of her own Catholic subjects, went towork, very cautiously and warily, but in a veryextended and efficient way, to establish the Ref-ormation, and to undermine and destroy all tra-ces of Catholic power. She proceeded in thiswork with great circumspection, so as hot toexcite opposition or alarm. .

Jn the mean time, the Protestant cause wasmaking progress in Scotland too, by its own in-herent energies, and against the influence of thegovernment. Finally, the Scotch Protestantsorganized themselves, aud commenced an openrebellion against the regent whom Mary hadleft in power while she was away. They sentto Elizabeth to come and aid them. Mary andher friends in France sent French troops to as-

sist the government. Elizabeth hesitated verymuch whether to comply with the request ofthe rebels. It is very dangerous for a sovereignto countenance rebellion in any way. Thenshe shrunk, too, from the expense which sheforesaw that such an attempt would involve.To fit out a fleet, and to levy and equip an army,and to continue the forces thus raised in actionduring a long and uncertain campaign, would

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Difficulties in Scotland. Elizabeth's interference.

cost a large sum of money, and Elizabeth was

constitutionally economical and frugal. Butthen, on the other hand, as she deliberatedupon the affair long and anxiously, both aloneand with her council, she thought that, if sheshould so far succeed as to get the governmentof Scotland into her power, she could compelMary to renounce forever all claims to the En-glish crown, by threatening her, if she wouldnot do it, with the loss of her own.

Finally, she decided on making the attempt.Cecil, her wise and prudent counselor, stronglyadvised it. He said it was far better to carry

on the contest with Mary and the French inone of their countries than in her own. She be-gan to make preparations. Mary and the Frenchgovernment, on learning this, were alarmed intheir turn. They sent word to Elizabeth thatfor her to render countenance and aid to rebelsin arms against their sovereign, in a sister king-dom, was wholly unjustifiable, and they remon-strated most earnestly against it. Besides mak-ing this remonstrance, they offered, as an induce-ment of another kind, that if she would refrainfrom taking any part in the contest in Scotland,they would restore to her the great town andcitadel of Calais, which her sister had been so

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Fruitless negotiations. The war goes on.

much grieved to lose. To this Elizabeth re-plied that, so long as Mary adhered to her pre-

tensions to the English crown, she should becompelled to take energetic measures to protectherself from them ; and as to Calais, the pos-session of a fishing town on a foreign coast wasof no moment to her in comparison with thepeace and security of her own realm. Thisanswer did not tend to close the breach. Be-sides the bluntness of the refusal of their offer,the French were irritated and vexed to hear theirfamous sea-port spoken of so contemptuously.

Elizabeth accordingly fitted out a fleet andan army, and sent them northward. A French

fleet, with re-enforcements for Mary's adherentsin this contest, set sail from France at about the



same time. It was a very important questionto be determined which of these two fleets shouldget first upon the stage of action.

In the mean time, the Protestant party inScotland, or the rebels, as Queen Mary and

her government called them, had had very hardwork to maintain their ground. There was alarge French force already there, and their co-operation and aid made the government toostrong for the insurgents to resist. But, whenElizabeth's English army crossed the frontier.

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!

Q

I

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The French shut up in Leith. Situation of the town.

the face of affairs was changed. The Frenchforces retreated in their turn. The Englisharmy advanced. The Scotch Protestants cameforth from the recesses of the Highlands towhich they had retreated, and, drawing closer

and closer around the French and the govern-ment forces, they hemmed them in more andmore narrowly, and at last shut them up in theancient town of Leith, to which they retreatedin search of a temporary shelter, until the Frenchfleet, with re-enforcements, should arrive.

The town of Leith is on the shore of theFirth of Forth, not far from Edinburgh. It isthe port or landing-place of Edinburgh, in ap-proaching it from the sea. It is on the south-ern shore of the firth, and Edinburgh stands onhigher land, about two miles south of it. Leith

was strongly fortified in those days, and theFrench army felt very secure there, though yfet



anxiously awaiting the arrival of the fleet whichwas to release them. The English army ad-vanced in the mean time, eager to get posses-sion of the city before the expected succor*should arrive. The English made an assaultupon the walls. The French, with desperate

bravery, repelled it. The French made a sor-tie ; that is, they rushed out of a sudden and

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The English victorious. The Treaty of Edinburgh.

attacked the English lines. The English con-centrated their forces at the point attacked, anddrove them back again. These struggles con-tinued, both sides very eager for victory, andbotfi watching all the time for the appearanceof a fleet in the offing.

At length, one day, a cloud of white sails ap-peared rounding the point of land which formsthe southern boundary of the firth, and theFrench were thrown at once into the higheststate of exultation and excitement. But thispleasure was soon turned into disappointmentand chagrin by finding that it was Elizabeth'sfleet, and not theirs, which was coming intoview. This ended the contest. The Frenchfleet never arrived. It was dispersed and de-stroyed by a storm. The besieged army sentout a flag of truce, proposing to suspend hostil-ities until the terms of a treaty could be agreedupon. The truce was granted. Commission-ers were appointed on each side. These com-missioners met at Edinburgh, and agreed uponthe terms of a permanent peace. The treaty,which is called in history the Treaty of Edin-burgh, was solemnly signed by the commission-ers appointed to make it, and then transmitted

to England and to France to be ratified by the

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Stipulations of the treaty. Jflary refuses to ratify it

respective queens. Queen Elizabeth's forces

and the French forces were then both, as thetreaty provided, immediately withdrawn. The



so she got safe to land. After this there wasquiet between Mary and Elizabeth for manyyears', but no peace.

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1560.] Elizabeth's Lovers. 161

Claimants to the throne. General character of Elizabeth's reign.

Chapter VIII.

Elizabeth's Lovers.

Tj^LIZABETH was now securely established•*— ^ upon her throne. It is true that MaryQueen of Soots had not renounced her preten-sions, but there was no immediate prospect ofher making any attempt to realize them, andvery little hope for her that she would be suc-cessful, if she were to undertake it. There wereother claimants, it is true, but their claims weremore remote and doubtful than Mary's. Theseconflicting pretensions were likely to make thecountry some trouble after Elizabeth's death,but there was very slight probability that theywould sensibly molest Elizabeth's possession ofthe throne during her lifetime, though theycaused her no little anxiety.

The reign which Elizabeth thus commenoedwas one of the longest, most brilliant, and, inmany respects, the most prosperous in the wholeseries presented to our view in the long succes-sion of English sovereigns. Elizabeth contin-ued a queen for forty-five years, during all whichL

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Elizabeth's suitor* Their motives

time she remained a single lady ; and she died,at last, a venerable maiden, seventy years of age.It was not for want of lovers, or, rather, ofadmirers and suitors, that Elizabeth lived singleall her days. During the first twenty years of

her reign, one half of her history is a history ofmatrimonial schemes and negotiations. It seem-



ed as if all the marriageable princes and poten-tates of Europe were seized, one after another,with a desire to share her seat upon the Englishthrone. They tried every possible means towin her consent. They dispatched embassa-dors ; they opened long negotiations ; they sent

her ship-loads of the most expensive presents :some of the nobles of high rank in her own realmexpended their vast estates, and reduced them-selves to poverty, in vain attempts to please her.Elizabeth, like any other woman, loved theseattentions They pleased her vanity, and grat-ified those instinctive impulses of the femaleheart by which woman is fitted for happinessand love. Elizabeth encouraged the hopes ofthose who addressed her sufficiently to keepthem from giving up in despair and abandoningher. And in one or two cases she seemed tocome very near yielding. But it always hap-

pened that, when the time arrived in which a

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Philip of Spain proposes. His strange conduct

final decision must be made, ambition and de-sire of power proved stronger than love, and shepreferred continuing to occupy her lofty positionby herself, alone.

Philip of Spain, the husband of her sisterMary, was the first of these suitors. He hadseen Elizabeth a good deal in England duringhis residence there, and had even taken herpart in her difficulties with Mary, and had ex-erted his influence to have her released fromher confinement. As soon as Mary died andElizabeth was proclaimed, one of her first actswas, as was very proper, to send an embassa-dor to Flanders to inform the bereaved husband

of his loss. It is a curious illustration of thedegree and kind of affection that Philip hadborne to his departed wife, that immediately onreceiving intelligence of her death by Elizabeth'sembassador, he sent a special dispatch to hisown embassador in London to make a proposalto Elizabeth to take him for her husband !

Elizabeth decided very soon to decline thisproposal. She had ostensible reasons, and realreasons for this. The chief ostensible reasonwas, that Philip was so inveterately hated byall the English people, and Elizabeth was ex-

tremely desirous of being popular. She relied



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Elizabeth declines Philip's proposal. Her reasons for so doing.

solely on the loyalty and faithfulness of her Prot-estant subjects to maintain her rights to the suc-cession, and she knew that if she displeasedthem by such an unpopular Catholic marriage,her reliance upon them must be very muchweakened. They might even abandon her en-tirely. The reason, therefore, that she assignedpublicly was, that Philip was a Catholic, andthat the connection could not, on that account,

be agreeable to the English people.

Among the real reasons was one of a verypeculiar nature. It happened that there wasan objection to her marriage with Philip simi-lar to the one urged against that of Henry withCatharine of Aragon. Catharine had been thewife of Henry's brother. Philip had been thehusband of Elizabeth's sister. Now Philip hadoffered to procure the pope's dispensation, bywhich means this difficulty would be surmount-ed. But then all the world would say, that ifthis dispensation could legalize the latter mar-riage, the former must have been legalized byit, and this would destroy the marriage of AnneBoleyn, and with it all Elizabeth's claims to thesuccession. She could not, then, marry Philip,without, by the very act, effectually undermin-ing all her own rights to the throne. She was

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The English people wish Elizabeth to be married.

far too subtle and wary to stumble into such apitfall as that.

Elizabeth rejected this and some other offers,and one or two years passed away. In themean time, the people of the country, thoughthey had no wish to have her marry such astern and heartless tyrant as Philip of Spain,

were very uneasy at the idea of her not beingmarried at all. Her life would, of course, in



due time, come to an end, and it was of im-mense importance to the peace and happinessof the realm that, after her death, there shouldbe no doubt about the succession. If she wereto be married and leave children, they wouldsucceed to the throne without question ; but if

she were to die single and childless, the resultwould be, they feared, that the Catholics wouldespouse the cause of Mary Queen of Scots, andthe Protestants that of some Protestant descend-ant of Henry VII., and thus the country be in-volved in all the horrors of a protracted civil war.

The House of Commons in those days was avery humble counoil, convened to discuss andsettle mere internal and domestic affairs, andstanding at a vast distance from the splendorand power of royalty, to which it looked up withthe profoundest reverence and awe. The Com-

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Petition of the Parliament Elizabeth'* " gracious" reply.

mons, at the olose of one of their sessions, ventured, in a very timid and cautious manner, tosend a petition to the queen, urging her to con-sent, for the sake of the future peace of therealm, and the welfare of her subjects, to acceptof a husband. Few single persons are offendedat a recommendation of marriage, if properlyoffered, from whatever quarter it may come.The queen, in this instance, returned what wascalled a very gracious reply. She, however,very decidedly refused the request. She saidthat, as they had been very respectful in theform of their petition, and as they had confinedit to general terms, without presuming to sug-gest either a person or a time, she would nottake offense at their well-intended suggestion,

but that she had no design of ever being mar-ried. At her coronation, she was married, shesaid, to her people, and the wedding ring wasupon her finger still. Her people were the ob-jects of all her affection and regard. She shouldnever have any other spouse. She said sheshould be well contented to have it engravedupon her tomb-stone, " Here lies a queen wholived and died a virgin."

This answer silenced the Commons, but itdid not settle the question in the public mind.



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Elizabeth attacked with the small-pox. Alarm of the country.

Cases often occur of ladies saying very positive-ly that they shall never consent to be married,and yet afterward altering their minds; andmany ladies, knowing how frequently this takesplace, sagaciously conclude that, whatever se-cret resolutions they may form, they will be si-lent about them, lest they get into a positionfrom which it will be afterward awkward to re-treat. The princes of the Continent and thenobles of England paid no regard to Elizabeth'sdeclaration, but continued to do all in their pow-

er to obtain her hand.

One or two years afterward Elizabeth wasattacked with the small-pox, and for a time wasdangerously sick. In fact, for some days herlife was despaired of, and the country was thrown ,into a great state of confusion and dismay. Par-ties began to form — the Catholics for. MaryQueen of Scots, and the Protestants for the fam-ily of Jane Grey. Every thing portended adreadful contest. Elizabeth, however, recov-ered ; but the country had been so much alarm-ed at their narrow escape, that Parliament ven-tured once more to address the queen on thesubject of her marriage. They begged that shewould either consent to that measure, or, if shewas finally determined not to do that, that she

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The Earl of Leicester. His character.

would cause a law to be passed, or an edict tobe promulgated, deciding beforehand who wasreally to succeed to the throne in the event «ofher decease.

Elizabeth would not do either. Historianshave speculated a great deal upon her motives ;all that is certain is the fact, she would not doeither.

But, though Elizabeth thus resisted all theplans formed for giving her a husband, she had,

in her own court, a famous personal favorite,who has always been considered as in some



rious circumstance occurred, which produced agreat deal of exoitement, and has ever sinoemarked a very important era in the history ofLeicester and Elizabeth's attachment. It wasthe sudden and very singular death of Leices-ter's wife.

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Leicester'* wife. Her mysteriou* death.

Leicester had, among his other estates, alonely mansion in Berkshire, about fifty miles

west of London. It was oalled Cumnor House.Leicester's wife was sent there, no one knewwhy ; she went under the oharge of a gentle-man who was one of Leicester's dependents, andentirely devoted to his will. The house, too,was .occupied by a man who had the characterof being ready for any deed which might be re-quired of him by hfe master. The name ofLeicester's wife was Amy Robesart.

In a short time news came to London thatthe unhappy woman was killed by a fall downstairs ! The instantaneous suspioion darted atonce into every one's mind that she had beenmurdered. Rumors circulated all around theplace where the death had occurred that shehad been murdered. A conscientious clergy-man of the neighborhood sent an account of theoase to London, to the queen's ministers, stat-ing the facts, and urging the queen to order aninvestigation of the affair, but nothing was everdone. It has accordingly been the general be-lief of mankind since that time, that the un-principled courtier destroyed his wife in the vainhope of becoming afterward the husband of thequeen.

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Leicester hated by the people. Various minors.

The people of England were greatly inoensedat this transaction. They had hated Leicesterbefore, and they hated him now more inveterate-

ly still. Favorites are very generally hated ;royal favorites always. He, however, grew more



and more intimate with the queen, and everybody feared that he was going to be her hus-band. Their conduct was watched very close-ly by all the great world, and, as is usual insuch cases, a thousand circumstances and oc-currences were reported busily from tongue to

tongue, which the actors in them doubtless sup-posed passed unobserved or were forgotten.

One night, for instance, Queen Elizabeth,having supped with Dudley, was going home inher chair, lighted by torch -bearers. At thepresent day, all London is lighted brilliantly atmidnight with gas, and ladies go home fromtheir oonvivial and pleasure assemblies in lux-urious oarriages, in which they are rooked gen-tly along through broad and magnificent ave-nues, as bright, almost, as day. Then, how-ever, it was very different. The lady was

borne slowly along through narrow, and dingy,and dangerous streets, with a train of torchesbefore and behind her, dispelling the darknessa moment with their glare, and then leaving it

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The torchlight conversation. The servants quarrel.

more deep and somber than ever. On the nightof which we are speaking, Elizabeth, feeling ingood humor, began to talk with some of thetorch-bearers on the way. They were Dudley'smen, and Elizabeth began to praise their mas-ter. She said to one of them, among otherthings, that she was going to raise him to ahigher position than any of his name had everborne before. Now, as Dudley's father was aduke, which title denotes the highest rank ofthe English nobility, the man inferred that thequeen's meaning was that she intended to mar-

ry him, and thus make him a sort of king. Theman told the story boastingly to one of theservants of Lord Arundel, who was also a suit-or of the queen's. The servants, each takingthe part of his master in the rivalry, quarreled.Lord Arundel's man said that he wished thatDudley had been hung with his father, or elsethat somebody would shoot him in the streetwith a dag. A dag was, in the language ofthose days, the name for a pistol.

Time moved on, and though Leioester seem-ed to become more and more a favorite, the

plan of his being married to Elizabeth, if anysuch were entertained by either party, appeared



to come no nearer to an accomplishment. Eliz-

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Splendid style of living. Public ceremonies.

abeth lived in great state and splendor, some*'times residing in her palaces in or near London,and sometimes making royal progresses abouther dominions. Dudley, together with the otherprominent members of her court, accompaniedher on these excursions, and obviously enjoyeda very high degree of personal favor. She en-

couraged, at the same time, her other suitors,so that on all the great public occasions of state,at the tilts and tournaments, at the plays — whioh, by-the-way, in those days were perform-ed in the churches — on all the royal progressesand grand receptions at cities, castles, and uni-versities, the lady queen was surrounded al-ways by royal or noble beaux, who made herpresents, and paid her a thousand compliments,and offered her gallant attentions without num-ber — all prompted by ambition in the guise oflove. They smiled upon the queen with a per-petual sycophancy, and gnashed their teeth se-cretly upon each other with a hatred whioh,unlike the pretended love, was at least honestand sincere. Leicester was the gayest, mostaccomplished, and most favored of them all, andthe rest accordingly combined and agreed inhating him more than they did each other.Queen Elizabeth, however, never really ad*

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Elizabeth recommend* Leicester to Mary Qneen of Scot*.

mitted that she had any design of making Lei-cester, or Dudley, as he is indiscriminately call-ed, her husband. In fact, at one time she rec-ommended him to Mary Queen of Scots for ahusband. After Mary returned to Scotland,the two queens were, for a time, on good terms,as professed friends, though they were, in fact,all the time, most inveterate and implacablefoes; but each, knowing how much injury the

other might do her, wished to avoid excitingany unnecessary hostility. Mary, particularly,



as she found she could not get possession of theEnglish throne during Elizabeth's life-time,concluded to try to conciliate her, in hopes topersuade her to acknowledge, by act of Parlia-ment, her right to the succession after herdeath. So she used to confer with Elizabeth

on the subject of her own marriage, and to askher advice about it. Elizabeth did not wish tohave Mary married at all, and so she alwaysproposed somebody who she knew would be outof the question. She at one time proposed Lei-cester, and for a time seemed quite in earnestabout it, especially so long as Mary seemedaverse to it. At length, however, when Mary,in order to test her sincerity, seemed inclinedto yield, Elizabeth retreated in her turn, and

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Mary marries Darnley. Elizabeth's visit to Kenilworth.

withdrew her proposals. Mary then gave upthe hope of satisfying Elizabeth in any way,and married Lord Darnley without her consent.Elizabeth's regard for Dudley, however, stillcontinued. She made him Earl of Leicester,and granted him the magnificent castle of Ken-ilworth, with a large estate adjoining and sur-rounding it ; the rents of the lands giving hima princely income, and enabling him to live inalmost royal state. Queen Elizabeth visitedhim frequently in this castle. One of these vis*its is very minutely described by the chroniolersof the times. The earl made the most expens-ive and extraordinary preparations for the re-ception and entertainment of the queen and herretinue on this occasion. The moat — which isa broad canal rilled with water surrounding thecastle — had a floating island upon it, with afictitious personage whom they called the lady

of the lake upon the island, who sung a song inpraise of Elizabeth as she passed the bridge.There was also an artificial dolphin swimmingupon the water, with a band of musicians with-in it. As the queen advanced across the park,men and women, in strange disguises, came outto meet her, and to offer her salutations andpraises. One was dressed as a sibyl, anotherM

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Leicester's marriage. Elizabeth sends him to prison.

like, an American savage, and a third, who was

concealed, represented an echo. This visit wascontinued for nineteen days, and the stories ofthe splendid entertainments provided for thecompany — the plays, the bear-baitings, the fire-works, the huntings, the mock fights, the feast-ings and revelries — filled all Europe at thetime, and have been celebrated by historiansand story-tellers ever since. The Castle ofKenilworth is now a very magnificent heap ofruins, and is explored every year by thousandsof visitors from every quarter of the globe.

Leicester, if he ever really entertained any

serious designs of being Elizabeth's husband,at last gave up his hopes, and married anotherwoman. This lady had been the wife of theEarl of Essex. Her husband died very sud-denly and mysteriously just before Leicestermarried her. Leicester kept the marriage se-cret for some time, and when it came at last tothe queen's knowledge she was exceedingly an-gry. She had him arrested and sent to prison.However, she gradually recovered from her fitof resentment, and by degrees restored him toher favor again.

Twenty years of Elizabeth's reign thus pass-ed- away, and no one of all her suitors had sue-

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Prosperity of Elizabeth's reign. The Duke of Anjou.

oeeded in obtaining her hand. All this time her

government had been administered with muchefficiency and power. All Europe had been ingreat commotion during almost the whole pe-riod, on account of the terrible conflicts whichwere raging between the Catholics and theProtestants, eaoh party having been doing itsutmost to exterminate and destroy the other.Elizabeth and her government took part, veryfrequently, in these contests ; sometimes by ne-gotiations, and sometimes by fleets and armies,but always sagaciously and cautiously, and gen-erally with great effect, In the mean time,however, the queen, being now forty-five years

of age, was rapidly approaching the time whenquestions of marriage could no longer be enter-



tained. Her lovers, or, rather, her suitors, had,one after another, given up the pursuit, anddisappeared from the field. One only seemedat length to remain, on the deoision of whosefate the final result of the great question of thequeen's marriage seemed to be pending.

It was the Duke of Anjou. He was a Frenchprince. His brother, who had been the Dukeof Anjou before him, was now King Henry III.of France. His own name was Francis. Hewas twenty five years youngejr than Elizabeth,

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Catharine de Medici She proposes her aon to Elizabeth.

and he was only seventeen years of age whenit was first proposed that he should marry her.He was then Duke of Alen$on. It was hismother's plan. She was the great Catharinede Medici, queen of France, and one of the mostextraordinary women, for her talents, her man-agement, and her power, that ever lived. Hav-ing one son upon the throne of France, she want-ed the throne of England for the other. Thenegotiation had been pending fruitlessly formany years, and now, in 1581, it was vigorous-ly renewed. The duke himself, who was atthis time a young man of twenty-four or five,began to be impatient and earnest in his suit.There was, in fact, one good reason why heshould be so. Elizabeth was forty-eight, and, un-less the match were soon concluded, the time foreffecting it would be obviously forever gone by.He had never had an interview with thequeen. He had seen pictures of her, however,and he sent an embassador over to England tourge his suit, and to convince Elizabeth howmuoh he was in love with her charms. The

name of this agent was Simier. He was avery polite and accomplished man, and soonlearned the art of winning his way to Eliza-beth's favor, Leicester was very jealous of his

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Quarrels of the favorites. The shot

success. The two favorites soon imbibed a ter-rible enmity for each other. They filled thecourt with their quarrels. The progress of thenegotiation, however, went on, the people tak-ing sides very violently, some for and % someagainst the projected marriage. The animosi-ties became exceedingly virulent, until at lengthSimier's life seemed to be in danger. He saidthat Leicester had hired one of the guards toassassinate him ; and it is a fact, that one day,as he and the queen, with other attendants,

were making an excursion upon the river, a shotwas fired from the shore into the barge. Theshot did no injury except to wound one of theoarsmen, and frighten all the party pretty thor-oughly. Some thought the shot was aimed atSimier, and others at the queen herself. It wasafterward proved, or supposed to be proved, thatthis shot was the accidental discharge of a gun,without any evil intention whatever.

In the mean time, Elizabeth grew more andmore interested in the idea of having the youngduke for her husband ; and it seemed as if themaidenly resolutions, which had stood theirground so firmly for twenty years, were to beconquered at last. The more, however, sheseemed to approach toward a consent to the

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The people oppose the match. The arran g e m ents completed

measure, the more did all the officers of her gov-ernment, and the nation at large, oppose it.There were, in their minds, two insuperable ob-jections to the match. The candidate was aFrenchman, and he was a papist. The coun-cil interceded. Friends remonstrated. The na-tion murmured and threatened. A book waspublished entitled " The Discovery of a gapingGulf wherein England is like to be swallowedup by another French marriage, unless the Lordforbid the Bans by letting her see the Sin andPunishment thereof." The author of it had

his right hand cut oflj for his punishment.



At length, after a series of most extraordi-nary discussions, negotiations, and occurrences,which kept the whole country in a state of greatexcitement for a long time, the affair was atlast all settled. The marriage articles, bothpolitical and personal, were all arranged. The

nuptials were to be celebrated in six weeks.The duke came over in great state, and wasreceived with all possible pomp and parade.Festivals and banquets were arranged withoutnumber, and in the most magnificent style, todo him and his attendants honor. At one ofthem, the queen took off a ring from her finger,and put it upon his, in the presence of a great

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The match broken off. The duke's rage.

assembly, which was the first announcement tothe public that the affair was finally settled.The news spread every where with great rapid-ity. It produced in England great consterna-tion and distress, but on the Continent it waswelcomed with joy, and the great English alli-ance, now so obvipusly approaching, was cele-brated with ringing of bells, bonfires, and grandilluminations.

And yet, notwithstanding all this, as soon asthe obstacles were all removed, and there wasno longer opposition to stimulate the determi-nation of the queen, her heart failed her at last,and she finally concluded that she would not bemarried, after all. She sent for the duke onemorning to come and see her. What takes placeprecisely between ladies and gentlemen whenthey break off their engagements is not gener-ally very publicly known, but the duke came outfrom this interview in a fit of great vexation and

anger. He pulled off the queen's ring andthrew, it from him, muttering curses upon thefickleness and faithlessness of women.

Still Elizabeth would not admit that thematch was broken off. She continued to treatthe duke with civility and to pay him manyhonors. He decided, however, to return to the

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186 Queen Elizabeth. [1581:

The duke's departure. The farewell.

Continent. She accompanied him a part of theway to the coast, and took leave of him with

many professions of sorrow at the parting, andbegged him to come back soon. This he prom-ised to do, but he never returned. He livedsome time afterward in comparative neglect andobscurity, and mankind considered the questionof the marriage of Elizabeth as now, at last,settled forever.

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1560-SO.] Personal Character. 187

Opinions of Elizabeth's character. The Catholics and Protestants.

Chapter IX

Personal Character.

Tt/CANKIND have always been very much —▼A divided in opinion in respect to the per-sonal character of Queen Elizabeth, but in onepoint all have agreed, and that is, that in themanagement of public affairs she was a wom-an of extraordinary talent and sagacity, com-bining, in a very remarkable degree, a certaincautious good sense and prudence with the mostdetermined resolution and energy.

She reigned about forty years, and duringalmost all that time the whole western part ofthe Continent of Europe was convulsed with themost terrible conflicts between the Protestantand Catholic parties. The predominance ofpower was with the Catholics, and was, of

course, hostile to Elizabeth. She had, more-over, in the field a very prominent competitorfor her throne in Mary Queen of Scots. Theforeign Protestant powers were ready to aid thisclaimant, and there was, besides, in her owndominions a very powerful interest in her favor.

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188 Queen Elizabeth. [1560-80.



Parties in England. Elizabeth's wise administration.

The great divisions of sentiment in England,and the energy with which each party struggledagainst its opponents, produced, at all times, aprodigious pressure of opposing forces, which

bore heavily upon the safety of the state and ofElizabeth's government, and threatened themwith continual danger. The administration ofpublic affairs moved on, during all this time,trembling continually under the heavy shocks itwas constantly receiving, like a ship staggeringon in a storm, its safety depending on the niceequilibrium between the shocks of the seas, thepressure of the wind upon the sails, and theweight and steadiness of the ballast below.

During all this forty years it is admitted thatElizabeth and her wise and sagacious minis-

ters managed very admirably. They main-tained the position and honor of England, as aProtestant power, with great success ; and thecountry, during the whole period, made greatprogress in the arts, in commerce, and in im-provements of every kind. Elizabeth's great-est danger, and her greatest source of solicitudeduring her whole reign, was from the claims ofMary Queen of Soots. We have already de-scribed the energetic measures whioh she toojcat the commencement of her reign to counter-

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1560-80.] Personal Character. 189

Mary claims the English throne. She is made prisoner by Elizabeth.

act and head off, at the outset, these dangerouspretensions. Though these efforts were tri-umphantly successful at the time, still the vie*tory was not final. It postponed, but did notdestroy, the danger, Mary continued to claim

the English throne. Innumerable plots werebeginning to be formed among the Catholics, inElizabeth's own dominions, for making herqueen. Foreign potentates and powers werewatching an opportunity to assist in these plans.At last Mary, on account of internal difficultiesin her own land, fled across the frontier intoEngland to save her life, and Elizabeth madeher prisoner.

In England, to plan or design the dethrone-ment of a monarch is, in a subject, high trea*son. Mary had undoubtedly designed the de-

thronement of Elizabeth, and was waiting onlyan opportunity to accomplish it. Elizabeth,



consequently, condemned her as guilty of trea-son, in effect ; and Mary's sole defense againstthis charge was that she was not a subject.Elizabeth yielded to this plea, when she firstfound Mary in her power, so far as not to takeher life, but she consigned her to a long and

weary captivity.

This, however, only made the matter worse,

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Various plots. * - Execution of Mary.

It stimulated the enthusiasm and zeal of all theCatholics in England, to have their leader, and,as they believed, their rightful queen, a captivein the midst of them, and they formed contin-ually the most extensive and most dangerousplots. These plots were discovered and sup-pressed, one after another, each one producingmore anxiety and alarm than the preceding.For a time Mary suffered no evil consequencesfrom these discoveries farther than an increaseof the rigors of her confinement. At last thepatience of the queen and of her governmentwas exhausted. A law was passed againsttreason, expressed in such terms as to includeMary in the liability for its dreadful penaltiesalthough she was not a subject, in case of anynew transgression ; and when the next case oc-curred, they brought her to trial and condemn-ed her to death. The sentence was executedin the gloomy castle of Fotheringay, where shewas then confined.

As to the question whether Mary or Eliza-beth had the rightful title to the English crown,it has not only never been settled, but from itsvery nature it can not be settled. It is one of

those cases in which a peculiar contingency oc-curs which runs beyond the scope and reach of

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1586.] Personal Character. 191

The impossibility of settling the claims of Mary and Elizabeth.

all the ordinary principles by which analogouscases are tried, and leads to questions which



can not be decided. As long as a hereditarysuccession goes smoothly on, like a river keep-ing within its banks, we can decide subordinateand incidental questions which may arise ; butwhen a case occurs in which we have the om-nipotence of Parliament to set off against the

infallibility of the pope — the sacred obligationsof a will against the equally sacred principlesof hereditary succession — and when we have, atlast, two contradictory actions of the same ul-timate umpire, we find all technical grounds ofcoming to a conclusion gone. We then, aban-doning these, seek for some higher and moreuniversal principles — essential in the nature ofthings, and thus independent of the will and ac-tion of man — to see if they will throw any lighton the subject. But we soon find ourselves asmuch perplexed and confounded in this inquiryas we were before. We ask, in beginning the

investigation, What is the ground and natureof the right by which any king or queen suc-ceeds to the power possessed by his ancestors ?And we give up in despair, not being able toanswer even this first preliminary inquiry.Mankind have not, in their estimate of Eliz-

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Elizabeth's duplicity. Her scheming to entrap Mary.

abeth's character, condemned so decidedly thesubstantial acts which she performed, as theduplicity, the false-heartedness, and the falsepretensions which she manifested in perform-ing them. Had she said frankly and openly toMary before the world, If these schemes for rev-olutionizing England and placing yourself uponthe throne continue, your life must be forfeited ;my own safety and the safety of the realm ab-solutely demand it ; and then had fairly, and

openly, and honestly executed her threat, man-kind would have been silent on the subject, ifthey had not been satisfied. But if she hadreally acted thus, she would not have beenElizabeth. She, in fact, pursued a very differ-ent course. She maneuvered, schemed, andplanned ; she pretended to be full of the warm-est affection for her cousin ; she contrived plotafter plot, and scheme after scheme, to ensnareher ; and when, at last, the execution took place,in obedience to her own formal and written au-thority, she pretended to great astonishment andrage. She never meant that the sentence should

take effect. She filled England, France, andScotland with the loud expressions of her re-



gret, and she punished the agents who had ex-ecuted her will. This management was to pre-

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Maiden ladies. Their benevolent spirit

vent the friends of Mary from forming plans ofrevenge.

This was her character in all things. Shewas famous for her false pretensions and doubledealings, and yet, with all her talents and sa-

gacity, the disguise she assumed was sometimesso thin and transparent that her assuming itwas simply ridiculous.

Maiden ladies, who spend their lives, in somerespects, alone, often become deeply imbuedwith a kind and benevolent spirit, which seeksits gratification in relieving the pains and pro-moting the happiness of all around them. Con-scious that the circumstances which have causedthem to lead a single life would secure for themthe sincere sympathy and the increased esteemof all who know them, if delicacy and proprie-ty allowed them to be expressed, they feel astrong degree of self-respect, they live happily,and are a continual means of comfort and joyto all around them. This was not so, however,with Elizabeth. She was jealous, petulant, ir-ritable. She envied others the love and the do-mestic enjoyments which ambition forbade herto share, and she seemed to take great pleasurein thwarting and interfering with the plans ofothers for securing this happiness.N

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Elizabeth's selfishness and jealousy. The maid* of honor.

One remarkable instance of this kind occur-red. It seems she was sometimes accustomedto ask the young ladies of the court — her maidsof honor — if they ever thought about being mar-ried, and they, being cunning enough to know

what sort of an answer would please the queen,always promptly denied that they did so. Oh



no ! they never thought about being married atall. There was one young lady, however, art-less and sincere, who, when questioned in thisway, answered, in her simplicity, that she oftenthought of it, and that she should like to bemarried very much, if her father would only

oonsent to her union with a certain gentlemanwhom she loved, " Ah !" said Elizabeth ; " well,I will speak to your father about it, and seewhat I can do." Not long after this the fatherof the young lady came to court, and the queenproposed the subject to him. The father saidthat he had not been aware that his daughterhad formed such an attachment, but that heshould certainly give his consent, without anyhesitation, to any arrangement of that kindwhich the queen desired and advised, " Thatis all, then," said the queen ; " I will do the rest."So she called the young lady into her presence,

and told her that her father had given his free

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Instance of EHzabeth'a cruelty. Her irritable temper.

consent. The maiden's heart bounded with joy,and she began to express her happiness and hergratitude to the queen, promising to do everything in her power to please her, when Eliza-beth interrupted her, saying, "Yes, you willact so as to please me, I have no doubt, but youare not going to be a fool and get married.Your father has given his consent to me 9 andnot to you, and you may rely upon it you willnever get it out of my possession. You werepretty bold to acknowledge your foolishness tome so readily."

Elizabeth was very irritable, and could neverbear any contradiction. In the case even of

Leioester, who had such an unbounded influ-ence over her, if he presumed a little too muchhe would meet sometimes a very severe rebuff,such as nobody but a courtier would endure ;but courtiers, haughty and arrogant as they arein their bearing toward inferiors, are generallyfawning sycophants toward those above them,and they will submit to any thing imaginablefrom a queen.

It was the custom in Elizabeth's days, as itis now among the great in European countries,to have a series or suite of rooms, one beyond

the other, the inner one being the presenoe-



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Leicester's friend and the gentleman of the black rod.

chamber, and the others being occupied by at-tendants and servants of various grades, to reg-ulate and control the admission of company.Some of these officers were styled gentlemen ofthe black rod, that name being derived from apeculiar badge of authority which they wereaccustomed to carry. It happened, one day,that a certain gay captain, a follower of Leices-ter's, and a sort of favorite of his, was stopped

in the antechamber by one of the gentlemen ofthe black rod, named Bowyer, the queen hav-ing ordered him to be more careful and partic-ular in respect to the admission of company.The captain, who was proud of the favor whichhe enjoyed with Leicester, resented this affront,and threatened the officer, and he was engagedin an altercation with him on the subject whenLeicester came in. Leicester took his favor-ite's part, and told the gentleman usher that hewas a knave, and that he would have him turn-ed out of office. Leicester was accustomed tofeel so much confidence in his power over Eliz-abeth, that his manner toward all beneath himhad become exceedingly haughty and overbear-ing. He supposed, probably, that the officerwould humble himself at once before his re*bukes.

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Elizabeth in a rage. Her invectives against Leicester.

The officer, however, instead of this, steppeddirectly in before Leicester, who was then go-ing in himself to the presence of the queen ;kneeled before her majesty, related the facts ofthe case, and humbly asked what it was herpleasure that he should do. He had obeyed hermajesty's orders, he said, and had been calledimperiously to account for it, and threatenedviolently by Leicester, and he wished now toknow whether Leicester was king or her maj-esty queen. Elizabeth was very much dis-

pleased with the conduct of her favorite. Sheturned to him, and, beginning with a sort of



oath which she was accustomed to use whenirritated and angry, she addressed him in in-vectives and reproaches the most severe. Shegave him, in a word, what would be called ascolding, were it not that scolding is a term notsufficiently dignified for history, even for such

humble history as this. She told him that shehad indeed shown him favor, but her favorwas not so fixed and settled upon him that no-body else was to have any share, and that if heimagined that he could lord it over her house-hold, she would contrive a way very soon toconvince him of his mistake. There was onemistress to rule there, she said, but no master.

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Leicester*! ehagria. EHzabetfa'e powers of eetire.

She then dismissed Bowyer, telling Leicesterthat, if any evil happened to him, she shouldhold him, that is, Leicester, to a strict accountfor it, as she should be convinced it would havecome through his means.

Leicester was exceedingly chagrined at thisresult of the difficulty. Of course he dared notdefend himself or reply. All the other courtiersenjoyed his confusion very highly, and one ofthem, in giving an account of the affair, said,in conclusion, that " the queen's words so quell*ed him, that, for some time after, his feignedhumility was one of his best virtues."

Queen Elizabeth very evidently possessedthat peculiar combination of quickness of intel-lect and readiness of tongue which enablesthose who possess it to say very sharp and bit-ing things, when vexed or out of humor. It isa brilliant talent, though it always makes those

who possess it hated and feared. Elizabethwas often wantonly cruel in the exercise of thissatirical power, considering very little — as isusually the case with such persons — the justiceof her invectives, but obeying blindly the im-pulses of the ill nature which prompted her toutter them. We have already said that sheseemed always to have a special feeling of ill

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Elizabeth's views of marriage. Her insulting conduct

will against marriage and every thing that per-tained to it* and she had, particularly, a theory

that the bishops and the clergy ought not to bemarried. She could not absolutely prohibittheir marrying, but she did issue an injunctionforbidding any of the heads of the colleges oroathedrals to take their wives into the same, orany of their precincts. At one time, in one ofher royal progresses through the country, shewas received, and very magnificently and hos-pitably entertained, by the Archbishop of Can-terbury, at his palace. The arohbishop's wifeexerted herself very particularly to please thequeen and to do her honor. Elizabeth evincedher gratitude by turning to her, as she was

about to take her leave, and saying that shecould not call her the archbishop's wife, and didnot like to call her his mistress, and so she didnot know what to call her ; but that, at allevents, she was very much obliged to her forher hospitality.

Elizabeth's highest officers of state were con-tinually exposed to her sharp and sudden re-proaches, and they often incurred them by sin-cere and honest efforts to gratify and serve her.She had made an arrangement, one day, to gointo the city of London to St. Paul's Church, to

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The Dean of Christ Church and the Prayer Book.

hear the Dean of Christ Churoh, a distinguish-ed clergyman, preach. The dean^ procured acopy of the Prayer Book, and had it splendidly

bound, with a great number of beautiful andcostly prints interleaved in it. These printswere all of a religious character, being repre-sentations of sacred history, or of scenes in thelives of the saints. The volume, thus prepared,was very beautiful, and it was placed, when theSabbath morning arrived, upon the queen'scushion at the church, ready for her use. Thequeen entered in great state, and took her seatin the midst of all the parade and ceremonycustomary on such occasions. As soon, how-ever, as she opened the book and saw the pic-tures, she frowned, and seemed to be much dis-

pleased. She shut the book and put it away,and oalled for her own ; and, after the service,



she sent for the dean, and asked him who broughtthat book there. He replied, in a very humbleand submissive manner, that he had procuredit himself, having intended it as a present forher majesty. This only produced fresh expres-sions of displeasure. She proceeded to rebuke

him severely for countenancing such a popishpractice as the introduction of pictures in thechurches. All this time Elizabeth had herself

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Elizabeth's good qualities. Her courage.

a crucifix in her own private chapel, and thedean himself, on the other hand, was a firm andconsistent Protestant, entirely opposed to theCatholic system of images and pictures, as Eliz-abeth very well knew.

This sort of roughness was a somewhat mas-culine trait of character for a lady, it must beacknowledged, and not a very agreeable one,even in man ; but with some of the bad qual-ities of the other sex, Elizabeth possessed, also,some that were good. She was courageous, andshe evinced her courage sometimes in a verynoble manner. At one time, when political ex-citement ran very high, her friends thought thatthere was serious danger in her appearing open-ly in public, and they urged her not to do it,but to confine herself within her palaces for atime, until the excitement should pass away.But no ; the representations made to her pro-duced no effect. She said she would continueto go out just as freely as ever. She did notthink that there was really any danger ; andbesides, if there was, she did not care ; she wouldrather take her chance of being killed than tobe kept shut up like a prisoner.

At the time, too, when the shot was fired atthe barge in which she was going down the

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The shot at the barge. EUxmbeth'i ruaitj

Thames, many of her ministers thought it was



aimed at her. They endeavored to convinceher of this, and urged her not to expose herselfto suoh dangers. She replied that she did notbelieve that the shot was aimed at her ; andthat, in fact, she would not believe any thing ofher subjects which a father would not be willing

to believe of his own children. So she went onsailing in her barge just as before.

Elizabeth was very vain of her beauty,though, unfortunately, she had very little beau-ty to be vain of. Nothing pleased her so muchas compliments. She sometimes almost exact-ed them. At one time, when a distinguishedembassador from Mary Queen of Soots was ather court, she insisted on his telling her wheth-er she or Mary was the most beautiful Whenwe consider that Elizabeth was at this time overthirty years ^of age, and Mary only twenty-two,

and that the fame of Mary's loveliness had filledthe world, it must be admitted that this ques-tion indicated a considerable degree of self-com-placency. The embassador had the prudenceto attempt to evade the inquiry. He said atfirst fhat they were both beautiful enough. ButElizabeth wanted to know, she said, which wasmost beautiful. The embassador then said that

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POBTKAXT Or QUKN ELIZABETH.


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Elizabeth and the embassador. The pictures.

his queen was the most beautiful queen in Scot-land and Elizabeth in England. Elizabeth wasnot satisfied with this, but insisted on a definiteanswer to her question ; and the embassadorsaid at last that Elizabeth had the fairest com*plexion, though Mary was considered a verylovely woman. Elizabeth then wanted to knowwhich was the tallest of the two. The embas-sador said that Mary was. " Then," said Eliz-

abeth, " she is too tall,- for I am just of the rightheight myself."



At one time during Elizabeth's reign, thepeople took *a fancy to engrave and print por-traits of her, which, being perhaps tolerablyfaithful to the original, were not very alluring. 'The queen was much vexed at the circulation

of these prints, and finally she caused a graveand formal proclamation to be issued againstthem. In this proclamation it was stated thatit was the intention of the queen, at some fu-ture time, to have a proper artist employed toexecute a correct and true portrait of herself,which should then be published; and, in themean time, all persons were forbidden to makeor sell any representations of her whatever.

Elizabeth was extremely fond of pomp andparade. The magnificence and splendor, of the

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Elizabeth •fondness for pomp and panda.

oelebrations and festivities which characterizedher reign have scarcely ever been surpassed inany oountry or in any age. She once went toattend Church, on a particular occasion, acoompanied by a thousand men in full armorof steel, and ten pieces of cannon, with drumsand trumpets sounding. She received her for-eign embassadors with military spectacles andshows, and with banquets and parties of pleas*ure, which for many days kept all London ina fever of excitement. Sometimes she madeexcursions on the river, with whole fleets ofboats and barges in her train ; the shores, onsuch occasions, swarming with spectators, andwaving with flags and banners. Sometimesshe WQuld make grand progresses through herdominions, followed by an army of attendants

- — lords and ladies dressed and mounted in themost oostly manner — - and putting the nobleswhose seats she visited to a vast expense in en-tertaining such a crowd of visitors. Being verysaving of her own means, she generally con-trived to bring the expense of this magnificenceupon others. The honor was a sufficient equiv-alent. Or, if it was not, nobody dared to com-plain.To .sum up all, Elizabeth was very great,

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Summary of Elizabeth's character.

and she was, at the same time, very little. Lit-tleness and greatness mingled in her characterin a manner which has scarcely ever been par-alleled, except by the equally singular mixtureof admiration and contempt with which man-kind have always regarded her

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Fierce contest! between Catholics and Protestants. Philip's cruelty

Chapter X.

The Invincible Armada.

FflHIRTY years of Queen Elizabeth's reign-*• passed away. During all this time themurderous contests between the Catholic gov-ernments of France and Spain and their Prot-estant subjects went on with terrible energy.Philip of Spain was the great leader and headof the Catholic powers, and he prosecuted hiswork of exterminating heresy with the stern-est and most merciless determination. Obsti-nate and protracted wars, cruel tortures, andimprisonments and executions without number,marked his reign.

Notwithstanding all this, however, strangeas it may seem, the country increased in pop-ulation, wealth, and prosperity. It is, after all,but a very small proportion of fifty millions ofpeople which the most cruel monster of a ty-rant can kill, even if he devotes himself fully tothe work. The natural deaths among the vastpopulation within the reach of Philip's poweramounted, probably, to two millions every year ;

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1585.] The Invincible Armada. 209

Fffecte of War. Napoleon and Xerxes.

and if he destroyed ten thousand every year,

it was only adding one death by violence totwo hundred produced by accidents, disasters,or age. Dreadful as are the atrocities of per-secution and war, and vast and incalculable asare the encroachments on human happinesswhioh they produce, we are often led to over-rate their relative importance, compared withthe aggregate value of the interests and pur-suits which are left unharmed by them, by notsufficiently appreciating the enormous extentand magnitude of these interests and pursuitsin such communities as England, France, andSpain.

Sometimes, it is true, the operations of mil-itary heroes have been on such a prodigiousscale as to make very serious inroads on thepopulation of the, greatest states. Napoleon,for instance, on one occasion took five hundredthousand men out of France for his expeditionto Russia. The campaign destroyed nearly allof them. It was only a very insignificant frac-tion of the vast army that ever returned. Bythis transaction, Napoleon thus just about doub-led the annual mortality in France at a singleblow. Xerxes enjoys the glory of having de-stroyed about a million of men — and these, notO

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March of improrement Sptnkh armadas.

enemies, but countrymen, followers, and friends

— in the same way, on a single expedition.Suoh vast results, however, were not attainedin the oonfliots which marked the reigns ofElizabeth and Philip of Spain. Notwithstand-ing the long-protracted international wars, anddreadful civil commotions of the period, theworld went on increasing in wealth and popu*lation, and all the arts and improvements oflife made very rapid progress. America hadbeen discovered, and the way to the East In-dies had been opened to European ships* andthe Spaniards, the Portuguese, the Dutch, theEnglish, and the French, had fleets of merchant

vessels and ships of war in every sea. TheSpaniards, particularly, had acquired great pos-



sessions in America, whioh contained very richmines of gold and silver, and there was a par-ticular kind of vessels oalled galleons, whichwent regularly once a year, under a strong con-voy, to bring home the treasure. They used tocall these fleets armada, which is the Spanish

word denoting an armed squadron. Nations atwar with Spain always made great efforts tointercept and seize these ships on their home-ward voyages, when, being laden with gold andsilver, they became prizes of the highest value.


1585,] The Invincible Armada. 211

The Low Countries. Their situation and condition.

Things were in this state about the year1585, when Queen Elisabeth received a propo-sition from the Continent of Europe which threwher into great perplexity. Among the otherdominions of Philip of Spain, there were certainstates situated in the broad tract of low, levelland which lies northeast of France, and whichconstitutes, at the present day, the countries ofHolland and Belgium. This territory was thendivided into several provinoes, which were call-ed, usually, the Low Countries, on account ofthe low and level situation of the land. In fact,there are vast tracts of land bordering the shore*which lie so low that dikes have to be built tokeep out the sea. In these cases, there arelines of windmills, of great size and power, allalong the coast, whose vast wings are alwaysslowly revolving, to pump out the water whichpercolates through the dikes, or which flowsfrom the water-courses after showers of rain.

The Low Countries were very unwilling tosubmit to the tyrannical government whichPhilip exercised over them. The inhabitants

were generally Protestants, and Philip perse-cuted them cruelly. They were, in consequenceof this, continually rebelling against his author-ity, and Elizabeth secretly aided them in these

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Kmbemage from the Low Countries. Their proposition.



struggles, though she would not openly assistthem, as she did not wish to provoke Philip toopen war. She wished them success, however,for she knew very well that if Philip could oncesubdue his Protestant subjects at home, hewould immediately turn his attention to En-

gland, and perhaps undertake to depose Eliza-beth, and place some Catholio prince or prin-cess upon the throne in her stead.

Things were in this state in 1585, when theconfederate provinces of the Low Countriessent an embassage to Elizabeth, offering herthe government of the country as sovereignqueen, if she would openly espouse their causeand protect them from Philip's power. Thisproposition called for very serious and anxiousconsideration. Elizabeth felt very desirous tomake this addition to her dominions on its own

aooount, and besides, she saw at once that suchan acquisition would give her a great advant-age in her future contests with Philip, if actualwar must come. But then, on the other hand,by accepting the proposition, war must necessa-rily be brought on at once. Philip would, infact, consider her espousing the cause of his re-bellious subjects as an actual declaration of waron her part, so that making such a league with

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Elizabeth's decision. Leicester and Drake.

these countries would plunge her at once intohostilities with the greatest and most extendedpower on the globe. Elizabeth was very un-willing thus to precipitate the contest; butthen, on the other hand, she wished very muchto avoid the danger that threatened, of Philip'sfirst subduing his own dominions, and then ad-

vancing to the invasion of England with his un-divided strength. She finally concluded not toaccept the sovereignty of the countries, but tomake a league, offensive and defensive, withthe governments, and to send out a fleet and anarmy to aid them. This, as she had expected,brought on a general war.

The queen commissioned Leicester to takecommand of the forces which were to proceedto Holland and the Netherlands ; she also equip-ped a fleet, and placed it under the commandof Sir Francis Drake, a very celebrated naval

captain, to proceed across the Atlantic and at-tack the Spanish possessions on the American



shores. Leicester was extremely elated withhis appointment, and set off on his expeditionwith great pomp and parade. He had not gen-erally, during his life, held stations of any greattrust or responsibility. The queen had confer-red upon him high titles and vast estates, but

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Leicester seta oat for the Low Countries. His reception.

she had confided all real power to far more ca-pable and trustworthy hands. She thought

however, perhaps, that Leicester would answerfor her allies ; so she gave him his commissionand sent him forth, charging him, with manyinjunctions, as he went away, to be discreetand faithful* and to do nothing which shouldcompromise, in any way, her interests or honor.

It will, perhaps, be recollected that Leicester'swife had been, before her marriage with him,the wife of a nobleman named the Earl of Es-sex. She had a son, who, at his father's death,succeeded to the title. This young Essex ac-companied Leicester on this occasion. His sub-sequent adventures, which were romantic andextraordinary, will be narrated in the nextchapter.

The people of the Netherlands, being extreme-ly desirous to please Elizabeth, their new ally,thought that they could not honor the greatgeneral she had sent them too highly. Theyreceived him with most magnificent militaryparades, and passed a vote in their assembly in-vesting him with absolute authority as head ofthe government, thus putting him, in fact, inthe very position which Elizabeth had herselfdeclined receiving. Leicester was extremely


1585.] The Invicible Armada. 215

Leicester's elation. Elizabeth's displeasure.

pleased and elated with these honors. He wasking all but in name. He provided himself

with a noble life-guard, in imitation of royalty,and assumed all the state and airs of a monarch.



Things went on so very prosperously with himfor a short time, until he was one day thunder-struck by the appearance at his palace of a no-bleman from the queen's court, named Hene-age, who brought him a letter from Elizabeth,which was in substance as follows :

" How foolishly, and with what contempt ofmy authority, I think you have acted, the mes-senger I now send to you will explain. I littleimagined that a man whom I had raised fromthe dust, and treated with so much favor, wouldhave forgotten all his obligations, and acted insuch a manner. I command you now to putyourself entirely under the direction of this mes-senger, to do in all things precisely as he re-quires, upon pain of further periL"

Leicester humbled himself immediately un-

der this rebuke, sent home most ample apolo-gies and prayers for forgiveness, and, after atime, gradually recovered the favor of the queen.He soon, however, became very unpopular in

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Drake's success. His deeds of cruelty.

the Netherlands. Grievous complaints weremade against him, and he was at length recalled.

Drake was more successful. He was a bold,undaunted, and energetic seaman, but unprin-cipled and merciless. He manned and equippedhis fleet, and set sail toward the Spanish pos-sessions in America. He attacked the colonies,sacked the towns, plundered the inhabitants,intercepted the ships, and searched them for sil-ver and gold. In a word, he did exactly whatpirates are hung for doing, and execrated aft-

erward by all mankind. But, as Queen Eliz-abeth gave him permission to perform these ex-ploits, he has always been applauded by man-kind as a hero. We would not be understoodas denying that there is any difference betweenburning and plundering innocent towns androbbing ships, whether there is or is not a gov-ernmental permission to commit these crimes.There certainly is a difference. It only seemsto us surprising that there should be so great adifference as is made by the general estimationof mankind.

Drake, in fact, had acquired a great and hon-orable celebrity for such deeds before this time,



by a similar expedition, several years before, inwhich he had been driven to make the circum-

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Brake'! expedition in 1977. Execution of Doughty

navigation of the globe. England and Spainwere then nominally at peace, and the expedi-tion was really in pursuit of prizes and plunder.Drake took five vessels with him on this hisfirst expedition, but they were all very small.The largest was only a vessel of one hundred

tons, while the ships which are now built areoften of three thousand. With this little fleetDrake set sail boldly, and crossed the Atlantic,being fifty-five days out of sight of land. Hearrived at last on the coast of South America,and then turned his course southward, towardthe Straits of Magellan. Two of his vessels,he found, were so small as to be of very littleservice ; so he shipped the men on board theothers, and turned the two adrift. When hegot well into the southern seas, he charged hischief mate, whose name was Doughty, withsome offense against the discipline of his littlefleet, and bad him condemned to death. Hewas executed at the Straits of Magellan — be-headed. Before he died, the unhappy convicthad the sacrament administered to him, Drakehimself partaking of it with him. It was said,and believed at the time, that the charge againstDoughty was only a pretense, and that thereal cause of his death was, that Leicester had

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Straits of Magellan. Drake plunder* the Spaniards.

agreed with Drake to kill him when far away,on account of his having assisted, with others,in spreading the reports that Leicester had mur-dered the Earl of Essex, the former husbandof his wife.

The little squadron passed through the Straitsof Magellan, and then encountered a dreadful

storm, which separated the ships, and drovethem several hundred miles to the westward,



over the then boundless and trackless watersof the Pacific Ocean. Drake himself afterwardrecovered the shore with his own ship alone,and moved northward. He found Spanish shipsand Spanish merchants every where, who, notdreaming of the presence of an English enemy

in those distant seas, were entirely secure; andthey fell, one after another, a very easy prey.The very extraordinary story is told of his find-ing, in one place, a Spaniard asleep upon theshore, waiting, perhaps, for a boat, with thirtybars of silver by his side, of great weight andvalue, which Drake and his men seized and car-ried off, without so much as waking the owner.In one harbor which he entered he found threeships, from which the seamen had all goneashore, leaving the vessels completely unguard-ed, so entirely unconscious were they of any

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Chase of the Cacofogo. Drake captures her.

danger near. Drake broke into the cabins ofthese ships, and found fifty or sixty wedges ofpure silver there, of twenty pounds each. Inthis way, as he passed along the coast, he col-lected an immense treasure in silver and gold,both coin and bullion, without having to strikea blow for it. At last he heard of a very richship, called the Cacofogo, which had recentlysailed for Panama, to which place they weretaking the treasure, in order that it might betransported across the isthmus, and so takenhome to Spain; for, before Drake's voyage,scarcely a single vessel had ever passed roundCape Horn. The ships which he had plun-dered had been all built upon the coast, bySpaniards who had come across the country atthe Isthmus of Darien, and were to be used

only to transport the treasure northward, whereit could be taken across to the Gulf of Mexico.Drake gave chase to the Cacofogo. At lasthe came near enough to fire into her, and oneof his first shots cut away her foremast and dis-abled her. He soon captured the ship, and hefound immense riches on board. Besides pearlsand precious stones of great value, there wereeighty pounds of gold, thirteen chests of silvercoin, and silver enough in bars "to ballast aship."

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Drake's escape by going round the world.

Drake's vessel was now richly laden withtreasures, but in the mean time the news of hisplunderings had gone across the Continent, andsome Spanish ships of war had gone south tointercept him at the Straits of Magellan on hisreturn. In this dilemma, the adventurous sail-or conceived of the sublime idea of avoidingthem by going round the world to get home.He pushed boldly forward, therefore, across thePacific Ocean to the East Indies, thence throughthe Indian Ocean to the Cape of Good Hope,and, after three years from the time he left En-

gland, he returned to it safely again, his shiploaded with the plundered silver and gold.

As soon as he arrived in the Thames, thewhole world flocked to see the little ship thathad performed all these wonders. The vesselwas drawn up alongside the land, and a bridgemade to it, and, after the treasure was takenout, it was given up, for some time, to banquet-ings and celebrations of every kind. The queentook possession of all the treasure, saying thatPhilip might demand it, and she be forced tomake restitution, for it must be rememberedthat all this took place several years before thewar. She, however, treated the successful sail-or with every mark of consideration and honor ;

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Character of Drake. Philip demands the treasure.

she went herself on board his ship, and partookof an entertainment there, conferring the honorof knighthood, at the same time, on the admi-ral, so that " Sir Francis Drake" was thence-forth his proper title.

If the facts already stated do not give suffi-cient indications of the kind of character whichin those days made a naval hero, one other cir-cumstance may be added. At one time duringthis voyage, a Spaniard, whose ship Drake hadspared, made him a present of a beautiful ne-gro girl. Drake kept her on board his ship foi

a time, and then sent her ashore on some islandthat he was passing, and inhumanly abandoned



her there, to become a mother among strangers,utterly friendless and alone. It must be added,however, in justice to the rude men amongwhom this wild buccaneer lived, that, thoughthey praised all his other deeds of violence andwrong, this atrocious cruelty was condemned.

It had the effect, even in those days, of tarnish-ing his fame.

Philip did claim the money, but Elizabethfound plenty of good excuses for not paying itover to him.

This celebrated expedition occupied morethan three years. Going round the world is a

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Alarming newa. Elizabeth's navy^

long journey. The arrival of the ship in Lon-don took place in 1581, four years before thewar actually broke out between England andSpain, which was in 1585 ; and it was in con-sequence of the great celebrity which Drake hadacquired in this and similar excursions, thatwhen at last hostilities commenced, he was putin command of the naval preparations. It wasnot long before it was found that his serviceswere likely to be required near home, for ru-mors began to find their way to England thatPhilip was preparing a great fleet for the actualinvasion of England. The news put the wholecountry into a state of great alarm.

The reader, in order to understand fully thegrounds for this alarm, must remember that inthose days Spain was the mistress of the ocean,and not England herself. Spain possessed thedistant colonies and the foreign commerce, and

built and armed the great .ships, while Englandhad comparatively few ships, and those whichshe had were small. To meet the formidablepreparations which the Spaniards were making,Elizabeth equipped only four ships. To these,however, the merchants of London added twenty or thirty more, of various sizes, which theyfurnished on condition of having a share in the

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Brake's expedition against the Spaniards. His bold stroke.

plunder which they hoped would be secured.The whole fleet was put under Drake's com-

mand.

Robbers and murderers, whether those thatoperate upon the sea or on the land, are gener-ally courageous, and Drake's former , successhad made him feel doubly confident and strong,Philip had collected a considerable fleet of shipsin Cadiz, which is a strong sea-port in the south-eastern part of Spain, on the Mediterranean Sea,and others were assembling in all the ports andbays along the shore, wherever they could bebuilt or purchased. They were to rendezvousfinally at Cadiz. Drake pushed boldly forward,

and, to the astonishment of the world, forced hisway into the harbor, through a squadron of gal*leys stationed there to protect the entrance, andburned, sunk, and destroyed more than a hun-dred ships which had been collected there. Thewhole work was done, and the little Englishfleet was off again, before the Spaniards couldrecover from theif astonishment. Drake thensailed along the coast, seizing and destroying allthe ships he could find. He next pushed to seaa little way, and had the good fortune to inter*oept and capture a richly-laden ship of verylarge size, called a carmck> which was coming

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Exasperation of Philip. His preparations.

home from the East Indies. He then went baokto England in triumph. He said he had been" singeing the whiskers" of the King of Spain.

The booty was divided among the Londonmerchants, as had been agreed upon. Philipwas exasperated and enraged beyond expressionat this unexpected destruction of armamentswhich had cost him so much time and moneyto prepare. His spirit was irritated and arousedby the disaster, not quelled ; and he immediate-ly began to renew his preparations, making themnow on a still vaster scale than before. Theamount of damage which Drake effected was,therefore, after all, of no greater benefit to En-gland than putting back the invasion for about

a year.



At length, in the summer of 1588, the prep-arations for the sailing of the great armada,which was to dethrone Elizabeth and bring backthe English nation again under the dominion ofsome papal prince, and put down, finally, thecause of Protestantism in Europe, were com-

plete. Elizabeth herself, and the English peo-ple, in the mean time, had not been idle. Thewhole kingdom had been for months filled withenthusiasm to prepare for meeting the foe. Ar-mies were levied and fleets raised. Every mari*

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Elizabeth's preparations. The army and navy.

time town furnished ships ; and rich noblemen,in many cases, built or purchased vessels withtheir own funds, and sent them forward readyfor the battle, as their contribution toward themeans of defense. A large part of the force thusraised was stationed at Plymouth, which is thefirst great sea-port which presents itself on theEnglish coast in sailing up the Channel. Theremainder of it was stationed at the other end ofthe Channel, near the Straits of Dover, for it wasfeared that, in addition to the vast armamentwhich Philip was to bring from Spain, he wouldraise another fleet in the Netherlands, whichwould, of course, approach the shores of Englandfrom the German Ocean.

Besides the fleets, a large army was raised.Twenty thousand men were distributed alongthe southern shores, of England in such posi-tions as to be most easily concentrated at anypoint where the armada might attempt to land,and about as many more were marched downthe Thames, and encamped near the mouth ofthe river, to guard that access. This encamp-

ment was at a place on the northern bank ofthe river, just above its mouth. Leicester,strange as it may seem, was put in command ofthis army. The queen, however, herself, wentP

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Elizabeth reviews the troops. Her speech*



to visit this encampment, and reviewed thetroops in person. She rode to and fro on horse-back along the lines, armed like a warrior. Atleast she had a corslet of polished steel over hermagnificent dress, and bore a general's trun-

cheon, a richly-ornamented staff used as a badgeof command. She had a helmet, too, with awhite plume. This, however, she did not wear.A page bore it, following her, while she rode, at-tended by Leicester and the other generals, allmounted on horses and splendidly caparisoned,from rank to rank, animating the men to thehighest enthusiasm by her courageous bearing,her look of confidence, and her smiles.

She made an address to the soldiers. Shesaid that she had been warned by some of herministers of the danger of trusting herself to

the power of such an armed multitude, for theseforces were not regularly enlisted troops, butvolunteers from among the citizens, who hadsuddenly left the ordinary avocations and pur-suits of life to defend their country in this emer-gency. She had, however, she said, no suchapprehensions of danger. She could trust her-self without fear to the courage and fidelity ofher subjects, as she had always, during all herreign, considered her greatest strength and safe-

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Elizabeth's energy. Approach of the armada.

guard as consisting in their loyalty and goodwill. For herself, she had come to the camp,she assured them, not for the sake of emptypageantry and parade, but to take her sharewith them in the dangers, and toils, and terrorsof the actual battle. If Philip should land, they

would find their queen in the hottest of the con-flict, fighting by their sides. " I have," said she," I know, only the body of a weak and feeblewoman, but I have the heart of a king ; and Iam ready for my God, my kingdom, and mypeople, to have that body laid down, even in thedust. If the battle comes, therefore, I shallmyself be in the midst and front of it, to liveor die with you."

These were, thus far, but words, it is true,and how far Elizabeth would have vindicatedtheir sincerity, if the entranoe of the armada

into the Thames had put her to the test, wecan not now know. Sir Franois Drake saved



her from the trial. One morning a small ves-sel came into the harbor at Plymouth, wherethe English fleet was lying, with the news thatthe armada was coining up the Channel underfull sail. The anohors of the fleet were imme-diately raised, and great exertions made to get

it out of the harbor, whioh was difficult, as the

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A grand spectacle. A singular fight

wind at the time was blowing directly in. The

squadron got out at last, as night was comingon. The next morning the armada hove insight, advancing from the westward up theChannel, in a vast crescent, which extended forseven miles from north to south, and seemed tosweep the whole sea.

It was a magnificent spectacle, and it wasthe ushering in of that far grander spectaclestill, of which the English Channel was thescene for the ten days which followed, duringwhich the enormous naval structures of the ar-mada, as they slowly made their way along,were followed, and fired upon, and harassed bythe smaller, and lighter, and more active ves-sels of their English foes. The unwieldy mon-sters pressed on, surrounded and worried by theirnimbler enemies like hawks driven by kingfish-ers through the sky. Day after day this mostextraordinary contest, half flight and half bat-tle, continued, every promontory on the shorescovered all the time with spectators, who list-ened to the distant booming of the guns, andwatched the smokes which arose from the can-nonading and the conflagrations. One greatgalleon after another fell a prey. Some wereburned, some taken as prizes, some driven

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Defeat of the armada. A remnant escapes.

ashore; and finally, one dark night, the En-glish sent a fleet of fire-ships, all in flames, into

the midst of the anchorage to which the Span-iards had retired, which scattered them in ter-ror and dismay, and completed the discomfitureof the squadron.

The result was, that by the time the invin-cible armada had made its way through theChannel, and had passed the Straits of Dover,it was so dispersed, and shattered, and broken,that its commanders, far from feeling any dis-position to sail up the Thames, were only anx-ious to make good their escape from their inde-fatigable and tormenting foes. They did not

dare, in attempting to make this escape, to re-turn through the Channel, so they pushed north-ward into the German Ocean. Their only coursefor getting back to Spain again was to passround the northern side of England, among thecold and stormy seas that are rolling in contin-ually among the ragged rocks and gloomy isl-ands which darken the ocean there. At last amiserable remnant of the fleet — less than half — made their way back to Spain again.

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232 Queen Elizabeth. [158a

Character of Essex. Death of Leicester.

Chapter XL

The Earl of Essex.

FIlHE lady whom the Earl of Leicester mar--■- ried was, a short time before he marriedher, the wife of the Earl of Essex, and she hadone son, who, on the death of his father, becamethe Earl of Essex in his turn. He came tocourt, and continued in Leicester's family afterhis mother's second marriage. He was an ac-complished and elegant young man, and wasregarded with a good deal of favor by the queen.He was introduced at court when he was butseventeen years old, and, being the step-son ofLeicester, he necessarily occupied a conspicu-ous position ; his personal qualities, joined with

this, soon gave him a very high and honorablename.



About a month after the victory obtained bythe English over the invincible armada, Leices-ter was seized with a fever on a journey, and,after lingering for a few days, died, leaving Es-sex, as it were, in his place. Elizabeth seems

not to have been very inconsolable for her fa-

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1588.] The Earl op Essex. 233

Essex becomes the queen's favorite. Cecil and Essex

vorite's death. She directed, or allowed, his

property to be sold at auction, to pay somedebts which he owed her — or, as the historiansof the day express it, which he owed the crown — and then seemed at once to transfer her fond-ness and affection to the young Essex, who wasat that time twenty-one years of age. Eliza-beth herself was now nearly sixty. Cecil wasgrowing old also, and was somewhat infirm,though he had a son who was rapidly comingforward in rank and influence at court. Thisson's name was Robert. The young Earl ofEssex's name was Robert too. The elder Ce-cil and Leicester had been, all their lives,watchful and jealous of each other, and in somesense rivals. Robert Cecil and Robert Deve-reux — for that was, in full, the Earl of Essex'sfamily name — being young and ardent, inherit-ed the animosity of their parents, and were lesscautious and wary in expressing it. They soonbecame open foes.

Robert Devereux, or Essex, as he is common-ly called in history, was handsome and accom-plished, ardent, impulsive, and generous. Thewar with Spain, notwithstanding the destruc-tion of the armada, continued, and Essex en-tered into it with all zeal. The queen, who,

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Elizabeth's regard for Essex. His impaMre brarerj.

with all her ambition, and her proud and dom-ineering spirit, felt, like any other woman, the

necessity of having something to love, soon be-gan to take a strong interest in his person and



fortunes, and seemed to love him as a motherloves a son ; and he, in his turn, soon learnedto act toward her as a son, full of youthfulcourage and ardor, often acts toward a mother,over whose heart he feels that he has a strongcontrol. He would go away, without leave, to

mix in affrays with the Spanish ships in theEnglish Channel and in the Bay of Biscay, andthen come back and make his peace with thequeen by very humble petitions for pardon, andpromises of future obedience. When he went,with her leave, on these expeditions, she wouldcharge his superior officers to keep him out ofdanger ; while he, with an impetuosity whichstrongly marked his character, would evade andescape from all these injunctions, and press for-ward into every possible exposure, always eagerto have battle given, and to get, himself, intothe hottest part of it, when it was begun. At

one time, off Cadiz, the officers of the Englishships hesitated some time whether to venturean attack upon some ships in the harbor — Es-sex burning with impatience all the time — and

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1598.] The Earl of Essex. 285

Essex's ardor for battle. His duel.

when it was at length decided to make the at-tack, he was so excited with enthusiasm andpleasure that he threw his cap up into the air,and overboard, perfectly wild with delight, likea school-boy in anticipation of a holiday.

Ten years passed away, and Essex rose high-er and higher in estimation and honor. He wassometimes in the queen's palaces at home, andsometimes away on the Spanish seas, where heacquired great fame. He was proud and im-perious at court, relying on his influence with

the queen, who treated him as a fond mothertreats a spoiled ohild. She was often vexedwith his conduct, but she could not help lovinghim. One day, as he was coming into thequeen's presence ohamber, he saw one of thecourtiers there who had a golden ornament uponhis arm which the queen had given him theday before. He asked what it was ; they toldhim it was a " favor" from the queen. " Ah,"said he, " I see how it is going to be ; every foolmust have his favor." The courtier resentedthis mode of speaking of his distinction, andchallenged Essex to a duel. The combatants

met in the Park, and Essex was disarmed andwounded. The queen heard of the affair, and,



after inquiring very ouriously about all the par-

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Elizabeth's remark upon the duel. She gires Essex a ring.

tioulars, she said that she was glad of it ; for,unless there was somebody to take down hispride, there would be no such thing as doingany thing with him.

Elizabeth's feelings toward Essex fluctuatedin strange alternations of fondness and displeas-

ure. At one time, when affection was in theascendency, she gave him a ring, as a talismanof her protection. She promised him that if heever should become involved in troubles or diffi-culties of any kind, and especially if he shouldlose her favor, either by his own misconduct orby the false accusations of his enemies, if hewould send her that ring, it should serve to re-call her former kind regard, and incline her topardon and save him. Essex took the ring, andpreserved it with the utmost care.

Friendship between persons of such impetu-ous and excitable temperaments as Elizabethand Essex both possessed, though usually veryardent for a time, is very precarious and uncer-tain in duration. After various petulant andbrief disputes, which were easily reconciled,there came at length a serious quarrel. Therewas, at that time, great difficulty in Ireland;a rebellion had broken out, in fact, which wasfomented and encouraged by Spanish influence.

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The quarrel. The bos. on the ear.

Essex was one day urging very strongly the ap-pointment of one of his friends to take the com-mand there, while the queen was disposed toappoint another person. Essex urged his viewsand wishes with much importunity, and whenhe found that the queen was determined not toyield, he turned his back upon her in a con-

temptuous and angry manner. The queen lostpatience in her turn, and, advancing rapidly to



him, her eyes sparkling with extreme resent-ment and displeasure, she gave him a severebox on the ear, telling him, at the same time, to" go and be hanged." Essex was exceedinglyenraged ; he clasped the handle of his sword,but was immediately seized by the other court-

iers present. They, however, soon releasedtheir hold upon him, and he walked off out ofthe apartment, saying that he could not andwould not bear such an insult as that. Hewould not have endured it, he said, from KingHenry the Eighth himself. The name of KingHenry the Eighth, in those days, was the sym-bol and personification of the highest possiblehuman grandeur.

The friends of Essex among the courtiers en-deavored to soothe and calm him, and to per-suade him to apologize to the queen, and seek

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Mortification of Ease*. He and Elizabeth reconciled

a reconciliation. They told him that, whetherright or wrong, he ought to yield ; for in contestswith the law or with a prince, a man, theysaid, ought, if wrong, to submit himself to jus-tice ; if right, to necessity; in either case, itwas his duty to submit.

This was very good philosophy; but Essexwas not in a state of mind to listen to philoso-phy. He wrote a reply to the friend who hadcounseled him as above, that " the queen hadthe temper of a flint ; that she had treated himwith suoh extreme injustice and cruelty somany times that his patience was exhausted,and he would bear it no longer. He knew wellenough^ what duties he owed the queen as an

earl and grand marshal of England, but he didnot understand being cuffed and beaten like amenial servant ; and that his body suffered inevery part from the blow he had received."

His resentment, however, got soothed andsoftened in time, and he was again admitted tofavor, though the consequences of such quar-rels are seldom fully repaired. The reconcil-iation was, however, in this case, apparentlycomplete, and in the following year Essex washimself appointed the Governor, or, as styled inthose days, the Lord Deputy of Ireland.



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Essex sent to Ireland. Carious negotiations.

He went to his province, and took commandof the foroes which had been collected there,and engaged zealously in the work of suppress-ing the rebellion. For some reason or other,however, he made very little progress. Thename of the leader of the rebels was the Earlof Tyrone * Tyrone wanted a parley, but didnot dare to trust himself in Essex's power.It was at last, however, agreed that the twoleaders should come down to a river, one of

them upon each side, and talk aoross it, nei-ther general to have any troops or attendantswith him. This plan was carried into effeot.Essex, stationing a troop near him, on a hill,rode down to the water on one side, while Ty-rone came into the river as far as his horse couldwade on the other, and then the two earls at-tempted to negotiate terms of peace by shout-ing across the current of the stream.

Nothing effectual was accomplished by thisand some other similar parleys, and in the meantime the weeks were passing away, and littlewas done toward suppressing the rebellion.The queen was dissatisfied. She sent Essexletters of complaint and censure. These lettersawakened the lord deputy's resentment. The

* Spelled in the old histories Tir-Oen.

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240 Queen Elisabeth. [1599.

The queen's displeasure. Essex's sudden return.

breach was thus rapidly widening, when Essexall at once conceived the idea of going himselfto England, without permission, and withoutgiving any notice of his intention, to endeavor,by a personal interview, to reinstate himself inthe favor of the queen.

This was a very bold step. It was entireljcontrary to military etiquette for an officer tcleave his command and go home to his sover-

eign without orders and without permission.The plan, however, might have succeeded . Lei-



cester did once succeed in such a measure ; butin this case, unfortunately, it failed. Essex trav-eled with the utmost dispatch, crossed the Chan-nel, made the best of his way to the palacewhere the queen was then residing, and pressedthrough the opposition of all the attendants into

the queen's private apartment, in his travelingdress, soiled and way-worn. The queen wasat her toilet, with her hair down over her eyes.Essex fell on his knees before her, kissed herhand, and made great professions of gratitudeand love, and of an extreme desire to deserveand enjoy her favor. The queen was astonishedat his appearance, but Essex thought that shereceived him kindly. He went away after ashort interview, greatly pleased with the pros-

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Essex is arrested. Resentment and lore.

pect of a favorably issue to the desperate stephe had taken. His joy, however, was soon dis-pelled. In the course of the day he was arrest-ed by order of the queen, and sent to his houseunder the custody of an officer. He had pre-sumed too far.

Essex was kept thus secluded and confinedfor some time. His house was on the bank ofthe river. None of his friends, not even hiscountess, were allowed access to him. His im-

petuous spirit wore itself out in chafing againstthe restraints and means of coercion whichwere pressing upon him ; but he would not sub-mit. The mind of the queen, too, was deeplyagitated all the time by that most tempestuousof all mental conflicts, a struggle between re*sentment and love. Her affection for her proud-*spirited favorite seemed as strong as ever, butshe was determined to make him yield in thecontest she had commenced with him. Howoften cases precisely similar occur in less con-spicuous scenes of action, where they who loveeach other with a sincere and uncontrollable af-

fection take their stand in attitudes of hostili-ty, each determined that the obstinacy of the



other shall give way, and eaoh heart persistingin its own determination, resentment and love

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Essex's anger and chagrin. He is taken sick.

struggling all the time in a dreadful contest,which keeps the soul in a perpetual commotion,and allows of no peace till either the obstinacyyields or the love is extinguished and gone.

It was indirectly made known to Essex that

if he would confess his fault, ask the queen'sforgiveness, and petition for a release from con-finement, in order that he might return to hisduties in Ireland, the difficulty could be settled.But no, he would make no concessions. Thequeen, in retaliation, increased the pressureupon him. The more strongly he felt the press-ure, the more his proud and resentful spirit wasaroused. He walked his room, his soul boilingwith anger and chagrin, while the queen, equal-ly distressed and harassed by the conflict inher own soul, still persevered, hoping every daythat the unbending spirit with which she wascontending would yield at last.

At length the tidings came to her that Essex,worn out with agitation and suffering, was se-riously sick. The historians doubt whether hissickness was real or feigned; but there is notmuch difficulty in understanding, from the cir-cumstances of the case, what its real naturewas. Such mental conflicts as those which heendured suspend the powers of digestion and

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Nature of Essex's sickness. The queen's anxiety

accelerate the pulsations of the heart, whichbeats in the bosom with a preternatural fre-quency and force, like a bird fluttering to getfree from a snare. The result is a sort of fe-ver burning slowly in the veins, and an ema-ciation which wastes the strength away, and,

in impetuous and uncontrollable spirits, likethat of Essex, sometimes exhausts the powers



of life altogether. The sickness, therefore,though of mental origin, becomes bodily andreal ; but then the sufferer is often ready, insuch cases, to add a little to it by feigning.An instinct teaches him that nothing is so like-ly to move the heart whose cruelty causes him

to suffer, as a knowledge of the extreme towhich it has reduced Jiim. Essex was doubt-less willing that Elizabeth should know thathe was sick. Her knowing it had, in somemeasure, the usual effect. It reawakened andstrengthened the love she had felt for him, butdid not give it absolutely the victory. She senteight physioians to him, to examine and con-sult upon his case. She caused some broth tobe made for him, and gave it to one of thesephysicians to carry to him, directing the mes-senger, in a faltering voice, to say to Essexthat if it were proper to do so she would have

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The queen's kindneei to Eaaex. They are reconciled again.

oome to see himlierself. She then turned awayto hide her tears. Strange inconsistency of thehuman heart — resentment and anger holdingtheir ground in the soul against the object ofsuoh deep and unconquerable love. It would. be incredible, were it not that probably everysingle one of all the thousands who may readthis story has experienced the same.

Nothing has so great an effect in awakeningin the heart a strong sentiment of kindness asthe performance of a kind act. Feeling origi-nates and controls action, it is true, but then,on the other hand, action has a prodigious pow-er in modifying feeling. Elizabeth's acts ofkindness to Essex in his sickness produced a

renewal of her tenderness for him so strongthat her obstinacy and anger gave way beforeit, and she soon began to desire some mode ofreleasing him from his confinement, and restor-ing him to favor. Essex was softened too. Ina word, there was finally a reconciliation, though •it was accomplished by slow degrees, and bymeans of a sort of series of capitulations. Therewas an investigation of his case before the privycouncil, which resulted in a condemnation ofhis conduct, and a recommendation to the mer-cy of the queen ; and then followed some oom-



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Essex's promises. The queen's ungenerous conduct

munioations between Essex and his sovereign,in which he expressed sorrow for his faults, andmade satisfactory promises for the future.

The queen, however, had not magnanimityenough to let the quarrel end without tauntingand irritating the penitent with expressions oftriumph. In reply to his acknowledgments andprofessions, she told him that she was glad tohear of his good intentions, and she hoped thathe would show, by his future conduct, that he

meant to fulfill them; that he had tried herpatience for a long time, but she hoped thathenceforth she should have no further trouble.If it had been her father, she added, instead ofherself, that he had had to deal with, he wouldnot have been pardoned at all. It could not bea very cordial reconciliation which was consum-mated by such words as these. But it was verylike Elizabeth to utter them. They who aregoverned by their temper are governed by iteven in their love.

Essex was not restored to office. In fact, hedid not wish to be restored. He said that hewas resolved henceforth to lead a private life.But even in respeot to this plan he was at themercy of the queen, for his private income wasin a great measure derived from a monopoly, as

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Esaex'B monopoly of wine*. The queen reflates to renew it

it is called, in a certain kind of wines, whichhad been granted to him some time before. Itwas a very oustomary mode, in those days, ofenriching favorites, to grant them monopoliesof certain kinds of merchandise, that is, the ex-clusive right to sell them. The persons to whomthis privilege was granted would underlet theirright to merchants in various parts of the king-dom, on condition of receiving a certain shareof the profits. Essex had thus derived a greatrevenue from his monopoly of wines. The grant,

however, was expiring, and he petitioned thequeen that it might be renewed;



The interest which Essex felt in the renewalof this grant was one of the strongest induce-ments to lead him to submit to the humilia-tions which he had endured, and to make con-cessions to the queen. But he was disappoint-

ed in his hopes. The queen, elated a little withthe triumph already attained, and, perhaps, de-sirous of the pleasure of humbling Essex stillmore, refused at present to renew his monopo-ly, saying that she thought it would do himgood to be restricted a little, for a time, in hismeans. " Unmanageable beasts," she said, ' * hadto be tamed by being stinted in their provender."

Essex was sharply stung by such a refusal,

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Essex made desperate. His treasonable schemes.

accompanied, too, by such an insult. He wasfull of indignation and anger. At first he gavefree expression to his feelings of vexation inconversation with those around him. Thequeen, he said, had got to be a perverse and ob-stinate old woman, as crooked in mind as shewas in body. He had plenty of enemies to lis-ten to these speeches, and to report them in sucha way as that they should reach the queen. Anew breach was consequently opened, whiohseemed now wider than ever, and irreparable.

At least it seemed so to Essex ; and, aban-doning all plans for again enjoying the favor ofElizabeth, he began to consider what he coulddo to undermine her power and rise upon theruins of it. The idea was insanity, but passionalways makes men insane. James, king ofScotland, the son and successor of Mary, was

the rightful heir to the English throne afterElizabeth's death. In order to make his rightof succession more secure, he had wished tohave Elizabeth acknowledge it ; but she, alwaysdreading terribly the thoughts of death, couldnever bear to think of a successor, and seemedto hate every one who entertained any expec-tation of following her. Essex suppressed alloutward expressions of violence and anger; be-

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Ramification* of the plot It ifl discovered

came thoughtful, moody, and sullen ; held se-

cret consultations with desperate intriguers, andfinally formed a scheme to organize a rebellion,to bring King James's troops to England to sup-port it, to take possession of the Tower and ofthe strong-holds about London, to seize the pal-ace of the queen, overturn her government, andcompel her both to acknowledge James's rightto the succession and to restore Essex himselfto power.

The personal charaoter of Essex had givenhim a very wide-spread popularity and influ-ence, and he had, consequently, very extensive

materials at his command for organizing a pow-erful conspiracy. The plot was gradually ma-tured, extending itself, in the course of the fewfollowing months, not only throughout England,but also into Prance and Spain. The time forthe final explosion was drawing near, when, asusual in such cases, intelligence of the exist-ence of this treason, in the form of vague ru-mors, reaohed the queen. One day, when theleading conspirators were assembled at Essex'spalace, a messenger came to summon the earlto appear before the council. They reoeived,also, private intelligence that their plots wereprobably discovered. While they were consid-

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Anxious deliberation!. The rising determined upon.

ering what to do in this emergency — all in astate of great perplexity and fear — a person

eame, pretending to be a deputy sent from Someof the principal citizens of London, to say toEssex that they were ready to espouse hiscause. Essex immediately became urgent tocommence the insurrection at once. Some ofhis friends, on the other hand, were in favor ofabandoning the enterprise, and flying from thecountry ; but Essex said he had rather be shotat the head of his bands, than to wander all hisdays beyond the seas, a fugitive and a vagabond.The conspirators acceded to their leader'scouncils. They sent word, accordingly, intothe oity, and began to make their arrangements

to rise in arms the next morning. The nightwas spent in anxious preparations. Early in



the morning, a deputation of some of the high-est officers of the government, with a train ofattendants, came to Essex's palace, and de-manded entrance in the name of the queen.The gates of the palaoe were shut and guarded.At last, after some hesitation and delay, the

conspirators opened a wicket, that is, a smallgate within the large one, which would admitone person at a time. They allowed the officersthemselves to enter, but shut the gate immedi-

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The hostages. Essex enters the city.

ately so as to exclude the attendants. The offi-cers found themselves in a large court-yard fill-ed with armed men, Essex standing calmly atthe head of them. They demanded what wasthe meaning of such an unusual assemblage.Essex replied that it was to defend his life fromconspiracies formed against it by his enemies.The officers denied this danger, and began toexpostulate with Essex in angry terms, and theattendants on his side to reply with vocifera-tions and threats, when Essex, to end the alter-cation, took the officers into the palace. Heconducted them to a room and shut them up,to keep them as hostages.

It was now near ten o'clock, and, leaving hisprisoners in their apartment, under a properguard, Essex sallied forth, with the more reso-lute and desperate of his followers, and pro-ceeded into the city, to bring out into actionthe forces which he supposed were ready to co-operate with him there. He rode on throughthe streets, calling to arms, and shouting, "Forthe queen ! For the queen !" His design wasto convey the impression that the movement

which he was making was not against thequeen herself, but against his own enemies inher councils, and that she was herself on his

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The proclamation. Essex unsuccessful.

side. The people of London, however, could



not be so easily deceived. The mayor had re-ceived warning before, from the council, to beready to suppress the movement, if one shouldbe made. As soon, therefore, as Essex and hiscompany were fairly in the city, the gates wereshut and barred to prevent his return. One of

the queen's principal ministers of state too, atthe head of a small troop of horsemen, came inand rode through the streets, proclaiming Essexa traitor, and calling upon all the citizens toaid in arresting him. One of Essex's followersfired a pistol at this officer to stop his procla-mation, but the people generally seemed dis-posed to listen to him, and to comply with hisdemand. After riding, therefore, through someof the principal streets, he returned to thequeen, and reported to her that all was well inthe city ; there was no danger that Essex wouldsucceed in raising a rebellion there.

In the mean time, the further Essex proceed-ed, the more he found himself environed withdifficulties and dangers. The people began toassemble here and there with evident intent toimpede his movements. They blocked up thestreets with carts and coaches to prevent his es-oape. His followers, one after another, finding

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Essex's hopeless condition. He escapes to his palace.

all hope of success gone, abandoned their de-spairing leader and fled. Essex himself, withthe few who still adhered to him, wanderedabout till two o'clock, finding the way of retreatevery where hemmed up against him. Atlength he fled to the river side, took a boat,with the few who still remained with him, andordered the watermen to row as rapidly as pos-

sible up the river. They landed at Westmin-ster, retreated to Essex's house, fled into it withthe utmost precipitation, and barricaded thedoors. Essex himself was excited in the high-est degree, fully determined to die there ratherthan surrender himself a prisoner. The terri-ble desperation to whioh men are reduced inemergencies like these is shown by the faot thatone of his followers did actually station himselfat a window bare-headed, inviting a shot fromthe pistols of the pursuers, who had by this timeenvironed the house, and were preparing to forcetheir way in. His plan succeeded. He was

shot, and died that night.



Essex himself was not quite so desperate asthis. He soon saw, however, that he must soon-er or later yield. He could not stand a siegein his own private dwelling against the wholeforce of the English realm. He surrendered

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1600.] The Earl op Essex 255

Essex made prisoner, tried, and condemned. His remorse.

about six in the evening, and was sent to theTower. He was soon afterward brought to tri-al. The facts, with all the arrangements and

details of the conspiracy, were fully proved, andhe was condemned to die.

As the unhappy prisoner lay in his gloomydungeon in the Tower, the insane excitementunder which he had for so many months beenacting slowly ebbed away. He awoke from itgradually, as one recovers* his senses after adreadful dream. He saw Bow utterly irretriev-able was the mischief which had been done.Remorse for his guilt in having attempted todestroy the peaoe of the kingdom to gratify hisown personal feelings of revenge ; recollectionsof the favors which Elizabeth had shown him,and of the love which she had felt for him, ob-viously so deep and sincere ; the consciousnessthat his life was fairly forfeited, and that hemust die — vto lie in his cell and think of thesethings, overwhelmed him with anguish and de-spair. The brilliant prospects which were sorecently before him were all forever gone, leav-ing nothing in their place but the grim phan-tom of an executioner, standing with an ax bythe side of a dreadful platform, with a blockupon it, half revealed and half hidden by ( theblack cloth which covered it like a pall.

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Elizabeth's distress. The ring not sent

Elizabeth, in her palace, was in a state ofmind soareely less distressing than that of thewretched prisoner in his cell. The old conflict

was renewed — pride and resentment on the oneside, and love which would not be extinguished



on the other. If Essex would sue for pardon,she would remit his sentence and allow him tolive. Why would he not do it? If he wouldsend her the ring which she had given him forexactly such an emergency, he might be saved.Why did he not send it ? The courtiers and

statesmen about her urged her to sign the war-rant ; the peace of the country demanded theexecution of the laws in a case of such unques-tionable guilt. They told her, too, that Essexwished to die, that he knew that he was hope-lessly and irretrievably ruined, and that life, ifgranted to him, was a boon which would com-promise her own safety and confer no benefit onhim. Still Elizabeth waited and waited in anagony of suspense, in hopes that the ring wouldcome ; the sending of it would be so far an actof submission on his part as would put it in herpower to do the rest. Her love could bend her

pride, indomitable as it usually was, almost tothe whole concession, but it would not give upquite all. It demanded some sacrifice on his

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The warrant signed. The platform.

part, which sacrifice the sending of the ringwould have rendered. The ring did not come,nor any petition for meroy, and at length thefatal warrant was signed.

What the courtiers said about Essex's desireto die was doubtless true. Like every otherperison involved in irretrievable sufferings andsorrows, he wanted to live, and he wanted todie. The two contradictory desires shared do-minion in his heart, sometimes struggling to-gether in a tumultuous conflict, and sometimesreigning in alternation, in calms more terrible,

in fact, than the tempests which preceded andfollowed them.

At the appointed time the unhappy man wasled out to the court-yard in the Tower wherethe last scene was to be enacted. The lieuten-ant of the Tower presided, dressed in a blackvelvet gown, over a suit of black satin. The" scaffold" was a platform about twelve feetsquare and four feet high, with a railing aroundit, and steps by which to ascend. The blockwas in the center of it, oovered, as well as theplatform itself, with black cloth. There were

seats erected near for those who were appointedto be present at the execution. Essex ascend-



ed the platform with a firm step, and, survey-R

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Eases'! last words. The dosing scene.

ing the solemn scene around him with calmnessand composure, he began to speak.

He asked the forgiveness of God, of the spec-tators present, and of the queen, for the crimesfor which he was about to suffer. He acknowl-

edged his guilt, and the justice of his condem-nation. His mind seemed deeply imbued witha sense of his accountability to God, and heexpressed a strong desire to be forgiven, forChrist's sake, for all the sins which he had com-mitted, which had been, he said, most numer-ous and aggravated from his earliest years. Heasked the spectators present to join him in hisdevotions, and he then proceeded to offer a shortprayer, in which he implored pardon for bis sins,and a long life and happy reign for the queen.The prayer ended, all was ready. The execu-tioner, according to the strange custom on suchoccasions, then asked his pardon for the violencewhioh he was about to commit, which Essexreadily granted. Essex laid his head upon theblock, and it required three blows to completeits severance from the body. When the deedwas done, the executioner took up the bleedinghead, saying solemnly, as he held it, " God savethe queen."

There were but few spectators present at this

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1600.] The Eajil of Essex. 259

The courtier. His fiendish pleasure

dreadful scene, and they were chiefly personsrequired to attend in the discharge of their offi-cial duties. There was, however, one excep-tion ; it was that of a courtier of high rank, whohad long been Essex's inveterate enemy, andwho could not deny himself the savage pleasure

of witnessing his rival's destruction. But eventhe stern and iron-hearted officers of the Tower



were shocked at his appearing at the scaffold.They urged him to go away, and not distressthe dying man by his presence at such an hour.The oourtier yielded so far as to withdraw fromthe scaffold ; but he could not go far away. Hefound a place where he could stand unobserved

to witness the scene, at the window of a turretwhich overlooked the court-yard.

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Qnerion of Ettex'f guilt General opinion of mankind.

Chapter XII.The Conclusion.

THERE can be no doubt that Essex wasreally guilty of the treason for which he wascondemned, but mankind have generally beeninclined to consider Elizabeth rather than himas the one really accountable, both for the crimeand its consequences. To elate and intoxicate,in the first place, an ardent and ambitious boy,by flattery and favors, and then, in the end, onthe occurrence of real or fancied causes of dis-pleasure, to tease and torment so sensitive andimpetuous a spirit to absolute madness andphrensy, was to take the responsibility, in agreat measure, for all the effects which mightfollow. At least so it has generally been re-garded. By almost all the readers of the story,Essex is pitied and mourned — it is Elizabeththat is condemned. It is a melancholy story ;but scenes exactly parallel to this case are con-tinually occurring in private life all around us,where sorrows and sufferings which are, so faras the heart is concerned, precisely the same,

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1601.] The Conclusion. 261

Elizabeth's distress. Fall of Essex's party.

result from the combined aotion, or rather, per-haps, the alternating and contending action, offondness, passion, and obstinaoy. The results

are always, in their own nature, the same, thoughnot often on so great a scale as to make the



wrong which follows treason against a realm,and the consequences a beheading in the Tower.There must have been some vague conscious-ness of this her share in the guilt of the trans-action in Elizabeth's mind, even while the trialof Essex was going on. We know that she

was harassed by the most tormenting suspenseand perplexity while the question of the execu-tion of his sentence was pending. Of course,when the plot was discovered, Essex's partyand all his friends fell immediately from all in-fluence and consideration at court. Many ofthem were arrested and imprisoned, and fourwere executed, as he had been. The partywhich had been opposed to him acquired at oncethe entire ascendency, and they all, judges,counselors, statesmen, and generals, combinedtheir influence to press upon the queen the ne-cessity of his execution. She signed one war-

rant and delivered it to the officer ; but then, assoon as the deed was done, she was so over-whelmed with distress and anguish that she

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Wounds of the heart Elizabeth'! efforts to recorer her spirits.

sent to recall it, and had it canceled. Finallyshe signed another, and the sentence was exe-cuted.

Time will cure, in our earlier years, most ofthe sufferings, and calm most of the agitationsof the soul, however incurable and uncontrolla-ble they may at first appear to the sufferer. Butin the later periods of life, when severe shocksstrike very heavily upon the soul, there is foundfar less of buoyancy and recovering power tomeet the blow. In such cases the stunned andbewildered spirit moves on, after receiving its

wound, staggering, as it were, with faintnessand pain, and leaving it for a long time uncer-tain whether it will ultimately rise and recover,or sink down and die.

Dreadfully wounded as Elizabeth was, in allthe inmost feelings and affections of her heart,by the execution of her beloved favorite, shewas a woman of far too much spirit and ener-gy to yield without a struggle. She made thegreatest efforts possible after his death to ban-ish the subject from her mind, and to recoverher wonted spirits. She went on hunting ex-

cursions and parties of pleasure. She prosecu-ted with great energy her war with the Span-



iards, and tried to interest herself in the siege

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Embassage from France. A conversation

and defense of Continental cities. She receiv-ed an embassage from the court of France withgreat pomp and parade, and made a grand prog-ress through a part of her dominions, with along train of attendants, to the house of a no-bleman, where she entertained the embassadormany days in magnificent state, at her own

expense, with plate and furniture brought fromher own palaces for the purpose. She evenplanned an interview between herself and theKing of France, and went to Dover to effect it.

But all would not do. Nothing could drivethe thoughts of Essex from her mind, or dispelthe dejection with which the recollection of herlove for him, and of 4iis unhappy fate, oppressedher spirit. A year or two passed away, buttime brought no relief. Sometimes she wasfretful and peevish, and sometimes hopelesslydejected and sad. She told the French embas-sador one day that she was weary of her life,and when she attempted to speak of Essex asthe cause of her grief, she sighed bitterly andburst into tears.

When she reoovered her composure, she toldthe embassador that she had always been un-easy about Essex while he lived, and, knowinghis impetuosity of spirit and his ambition, she

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Thoughts of Ease je. Harrington.

had been afraid that he would one day attemptsomething which would compromise his life, andshe had warned and entreated him not to be ledinto any such designs, for, if he did so, his fatewould have to be decided by the stern authorityof law, and not by her own indulgent feelings;but that all her earnest warnings had been in-

sufficient to save him.



It was the same whenever any thing occurredwhich recalled thoughts of Essex to her mind ;it almost always brought tears to her eyes.When Essex was commanding in Ireland, itwill be recollected that he had, on one occasion,oome to a parley with Tyrone, the rebel leader,

across the current of a stream. An officer inhis army, named Harrington, had been withhim on this occasion, and present, though at alittle distance, during the interview. After Es-sex had left Ireland, another lord-deputy hadbeen appointed ; but the rebellion continued togive the government a great deal of trouble.The Spaniards came over to Tyrone's assist-ance, and Elizabeth's mind was much occupiedwith plans for subduing him. One day Har-rington was at court in the presence of thequeen, and she asked him if he had ever seen'Tyrone. Harrington replied that he had. The

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The Countess of Nottingham. The ring.

queen then recollected the former interviewwhich Harrington had had with him, and shesaid, " Oh, now I recollect that you have seenhim before !" This thought recalled Essex soforcibly to her mind, and filled her with suchpainful emotions, that she looked up to Har-rington with a countenance full of grief: tearscame to her eyes, and she beat her breast withevery indication of extreme mental suffering.

Things went on in this way until toward theclose of 1602, when an incident occurred whichseemed to strike down at once and forever whatlittle strength and spirit the queen had remain-ing. The Countess of Nottingham, a celebra-ted lady of the court, was dangerously sick, and

had sent for the queen to come and see her,saying that she had a communication to maketo her majesty herself, personally, which shewas very anxious to make to her before shedied. The queen went accordingly to see her.

When she arrived at the bedside the count-ess showed her a ring. Elizabeth immediatelyrecognized it as the ring which she had givento Essex, and whioh she had promised to con-sider a special pledge of her protection, andwhich was to be sent to her by him wheneverhe found himself in any extremity of danger



cruel fate was awakened afresh, and becamemore poignant than ever. She made themplace cushions for her upon the floor, in themost inner and secluded of her apartments, andthere she would lie all the day long, her hairdisheveled, her dress neglected, her food refused,

and her mind a prey to almost uninterruptedanguish and grief.

In January, 1603, she felt that she wasdrawing toward her end, and she decided to beremoved from Westminster to Richmond, be-cause there was there an arrangement of closetsoommunicating with her chamber, in whichshe could easily and conveniently attend divineservice. She felt that she had now done with

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KHiahetti growi worse. The private chapel and the cloaeta.

the world, and all the relief and comfort whichshe could find at all from the pressure of herdistress was in that sense of protection and safe-ty which she experienced when in the presenceof God and listening to the exercises of devotion.It was a cold and stormy day in Januarywhen she went to Richmond; but, being rest-less and ill at ease, she would not be deterredby that circumstance from making the journey.She became worse after this removal. Shemade them put cushions again for her upon thefloor, and she would lie upon them all the day,refusing to go to her bed. There was a com-munication from her chamber to closets con-nected with a chapel, where she had been ac-customed to sit and hear divine service. Theseclosets were of the form of small galleries, wherethe queen and her immediate attendants couldsit There was one open and public ; another

— a smaller one — was private, with curtainswhich could be drawn before it, so as to screenthose within from the notice of the congrega-tion. The queen intended, first, to go into thegreat closet ; but, feeling too weak for this, shechanged her mind, and ordered the private oneto be prepared. At last she decided not to at-tempt to make even this effort, but ordered the

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The wedding ring. The queen's friends abandon her

cushions to be put down upon the floor, nearthe entrance, in her own room, and she laythere while the prayers were read, listening tothe voice of the clergyman as it came in to herthrough the open door.

One day she asked them to take off the wed-

ding ring with which she had commemoratedher espousal^to her kingdom and her people onthe day of her coronation. The flesh had swoll-en around it so that it could not be removed.The attendants procured an instrument and cutit in two, and so relieved the finger from thepressure. The work was done in silence andsolemnity, the queen herself, as well as the at-tendants, regarding it as a symbol that the un-ion, of which the ring had been the pledge, wasabout to be sundered forever.

She sunk rapidly day by day, and, as it be-came more and more probable that she wouldsoon cease to live, the nobles and statesmenwho had been attendants at her court for somany years withdrew one after another fromthe palace, and left London secretly, but witheager dispatch, to make their way to Scotland,in order to be the first to hail King James, themoment they should learn that Elizabeth hadceased to breathe.

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272 Queen Elizabeth. [16Q3.

The queen's Voice fail* 8he calls her council together

Her being abandoned thus by these heartlessfriends did not escape the notice of the dyingqueen. Though her strength of body was al-most gone, the soul was as active and busy asever within its failing tenement. She watchedevery thing — noticed every thing, growing moreand more jealous and irritable just in propor-

tion as her situation became helpless and for-lorn. Every thing seemed to conspire to deep-



en the despondency and gloom which darkenedher dying hours.

Her strength rapidly declined. Her voicegrew fainter and fainter, until, on the 23d ofMarch, she could no longer speak. In the after-

noon of that day she aroused herself a little,and contrived to make signs to have her coun-cil called to her bedside. Those who had notgone to Scotland came. They asked her whomshe wished to have succeed her on the throne.She could not answer, but when they namedKing James of Scotland, she made a sign of as-sent. After a time the counselors went away.

At six o'clock in the evening she made signsfor the archbishop and her chaplains to come toher. They were sent for and came. Whenthey came in, they approached her bedside and

kneeled. The patient was lying upon her back

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The chaplains. The prayers.

speechless, but her eye, still moving watchfullyand observing every thing, showed that the fac-ulties of the soul were unimpaired. One of theclergymen asked her questions respecting herfaith. Of course, she could not answer in words.She made signs, however, with her eyes andher hands, which seemed to prove that she hadfull possession of all her faculties. The by-standers looked on with breathless attention.The aged bishop, who had asked the questions,then began to pray for her. He continued hisprayer a long time, and then pronouncing abenediction upon her, he was about to rise, butshe made a sign. The bishop did not under-stand what she meant, but a lady present said

that she wished the bishop to oontinue his de-votions. The bishop, though weary with kneel-ing, continued his prayer half an hour longer.He then closed again, but she repeated the sign.The bishop, finding thus that his ministrationsgave her so much oomfort, renewed them withgreater fervency than before, and continued hissupplications for a long time — so long, that thosewho had been present at the commencement ofthe service went away softly, one after another,so that when at last the bishop retired, the queenyras left with her nurses and her women alone.





The queen's death. * King Jainea proclaimed

These attendants remained at their dying sov-ereign's bedside for a few hours longer, watch-ing the failing pulse, the quickened breathing,and all the other indications of approaching dis-solution. As hour after hour thus passed on,they wished that their weary task was done,and that both their patient and themselves wereat rest. This lasted till midnight, and then theintelligence was communicated about the pal-ace that Elizabeth was no more.

In the mean time all the roads to Scotlandwere covered, as it were, with eager aspirants

for the favor of the distinguished personagethere, who, from the instant Elizabeth ceasedto breathe, became King of England. Theyflocked into Scotland by sea and by land, urg-ing their way as rapidly as possible, each eagerto be foremost in paying his homage to the ris-ing sun. The oouncil assembled and proclaim-ed King James. Elizabeth lay neglected andforgotten. The interest she had inspired wasawakened only by her power, and that beingjgone, nobody mourned for her, or lamented herdeath. The attention of the kingdom was soonuniversally absorbed in the plans for receivingand proclaiming the new monarch from theNorth, and in anticipations of the splendid pa-

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1603.] Thte Conclusion. 275

Pcrtrait of James the First Burial of the queen.

geantry which was to signalize his taking his

seat upon the English throne.

Kino James I.

In due time the body of the deceased queenwas deposited with those of its progenitors, inthe ancient place of sepulture of the Englishkings, Westminster Abbey. Westminster Afy.



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Westminster Abbey. Ite history.

bey, in the sense in which that term is used inhistory, is not to be conceived of as a building,nor even as a group of buildings, but rather asa long succession of buildings like a dynasty,following each other in a line, the various struc-tures having been renewed and rebuilt con-stantly, as parts or wholes decayed, from cen-tury to century, for twelve or fifteen hundredyears. The spot received its consecration at avery early day. It was then an island formedby the waters of a little tributary to the

Thames, which has long since entirely disap-peared. Written records of its sacredness, andof the sacred structures which have occupied it,go back more than a thousand years, and be-yond that time tradition mounts still further,carrying the consecration of the spot almost tothe Christian era, by telling us that the ApostlePeter himself, in his missionary wanderings,had a chapel or an oratory there.

The spot has been, in all ages, the great bur-ial-place of the English kings, whose monu-ments and effigies adorn its walls and aisles inendless variety. A vast number, too, of thestatesmen, generals, and naval heroes of theBritish empire have been admitted to the hon-or of having their remains deposited under its

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1603] The Conclusion. 277

H»o Poetf Comer. Henry the Seventh*! ChapeL

marble floor. Even literary genius has a lit-tle corner assigned it — the mighty aristocracywhose mortal remains it is the main functionof the building to proteot having so far conde-scended toward intellectual greatness as to al.low to Milton, Addison, and Shakspeare mod-est monuments behind a door. The place iscalled the Poets' Corner ; and so famed and cel-ebrated is this vast edifice every where, that thephrase by which even this obscure and insig-nificant portion of it is known is familiar toevery ear and every tongue throughout the

English world.



Elizabeth 8 Tomb in Westminstkb Abbxt

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Feelings of viaiton. Summary of Elizabeths character.

differ in their architectural forms, it is foundthat the visitors who go continually to the spot

gaze with a brief though lively interest at theone, while they linger long and mournfully overthe other.

The character of Elizabeth has not generallyawakened among mankind muoh commendationor sympathy. They who censure or condemnher should, however, reflect how very conspicu-ous was the stage on which she acted, and howminutely all her faults have been paraded tothe world. That she deserved the reproacheswhich have been so freely cast upon her mem-ory can not be denied. It will moderate, how-ever, any tendency to censoriousness in ourmode of uttering them, if we consider to howlittle advantage we should ourselves appear, ifall the words of fretfulness and irritability whichwe have ever spoken, all our insincerity anddouble-dealing, our selfishness, our pride, ourpetty resentments, our caprice, and our count-less follies, were exposed as fully to the publicgaze as were those of this renowned and glori-ous, but unhappy queen.

The End.

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History of Elizabeth

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