regarded as mean and miserable in a third-rate household.* Of the manner in which Maldon and Chelmsford testified their feeling we have no record. We cannot believe they allowed the maiden queen to dwell amongst them for days without due greeting. At Harwich, however, where she was lodged at a house in the middle of the High-street, she was right royally entertained by the borough; and when she took her departure, the magistrates attended her in procession as far as the windmill out of the town." Pleased with the dutiful attention she had received, her majesty seems to have designed to reward it with some special privilege or favour, and demanded of the officials what they had to request of her. "Nothing, but to wish your majesty a good journey," was the reply. Struck with this spirit of independence, the queen turned round her horse to take a survey of the town which found itself in such happy circumstances, and exclaiming, A pretty town, and wants nothing," took her leave of the then little paradise of content, nestling in the corner of the county. Colchester, too, which appears to have acted upon the principle of loyalty to the crown, "though it hang upon a bush," unlocked its liberality, and put on its brightest attire to receive her. The corporation was as generous of its fine words and its silver to Elizabeth, as it had been profuse of its old ale and its edibles to Mary. The raiment which its officers doffed seems rather grotesque in these plain days, but doubtless it was the height of splendour in those times; and accordingly we find it officially ordered that

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"The bailiffs and aldermen in the receipt of her majestie shall ride upon

* Hollingshed, writing shortly before that period, says " There are old men yet dwelling in the village where I remain, which have noted three things to be marvellously altered in England within their sound remembrance. One is the multitude of chimnies lately erected; whereas in their young days there were not above two or three, if so many, in most uplandish towns of the realm (the religious houses and manor places of their lords always excepted, and peradventure some great personage), but each made his fire against reredosse in the hall where he dined and dressed his meat. The second is the great amendment of lodging, for said they, our fathers, and we ourselves, have lain full oft upon straw pallettes covered only with a sheet, under coverlets made of dagswaine or hopsharlots (I use their own terms), and a good round log under their head instead of a bolster. If it were so that the father or good man of the house had a mattrass or flock bed, and thereto a sack of chaff to rest his head upon, he thought himself to be as well lodged as the lord of the town, so well were they contented. Pillows, said they, were thought meet only for women in childbed; as for servants, if they had any sheet above them it was well, for seldom had they any under their bodies to keep them from the pricking straws that ran oft through the canvass and raised their hardened hides. The third thing they tell us of is the exchange of platen (so called I suppose from tree or wood) into pewter and wooden spoons, into silver or tin. For so common were all sorts of treene vessels in old time that a man should hardly have found four pieces of pewter (of which one was perad venture salt) in a good farmer's house."

comely geldings with foot clothes in damask or satin cassocks or coats, or else jackets of the same, with satin sleeves in their scarlet gowns, with caps and black velvet tippets. The conceil to attend upon the bailiffs and aldermen at the same time, upon comely geldings, with foot-clothes, in grogram or silk cassock coats or jackets with silk doublets, or sleeves at the least, in their livery morray, gowns with caps, &c."

Thus attired, the corporation met the queen. The recorder, Sir Francis Walsingham, one of the Secretaries of State, and a leading statesman of the time, had been requested to prepare one of his best orations, and her Majesty was presented with a cup of silver, double gilt, of the value of 20 marks," with 40 angels in the same"-coins with an angel impressed thereon, of the value at that time of about 10s. each; which, remembering the strong tinge of avarice in the royal constitution, was no doubt a most acceptable present. The officers attendant upon the queen did not disdain to receive largess from the borough; and we might almost imagine that the courtiers were struck with the wealth of the town and the flavour of its good fare, as a few years after they insisted on exercising the right of purveyance within it-that is, the taking of corn and other provisions required for the queen's household, from which the borough had been before exempt. This prerogative of the crown, under which the storehouses of the people in this and the neighbouring counties could be searched, and the most precious corn, with the fattest animal and the plumpest capon, could be carried off to furnish the royal table and feed the hungry courtiers, was felt to be grievously oppressive. Payment for these commodities was very doubtful. When it was made the amount was very inadequate, the rates being fixed in former times, when prices were much below those which then prevailed. The Colchester folk, therefore, made a bold stand in defence of their invaded cupboards. With all their loyalty they respectfully intimated that her Majesty could not be allowed to forage for food within that liberty. It is almost needless to say that, like all who came into conflict with Elizabeth, they were beaten, and were compelled to compound for the safety of their sirloins by the payment of £6 a year.

The Puritans made a bold stand in parliament against these abuses of the prerogative, and in assertion of public liberty; but their freedom of speech in the House of Commons was haughtily put down by the queen. Morris, a lawyer, for bringing forward a motion of this kind, was degraded, and kept a close prisoner in Tilbury Castle for some years. Wentworth, too, a name which we find in the roll of Essex members in this reign, was placed in peril and imprisoned by the crown, for

The mark was of 13s. 4d. value.

asserting those principles which are now the recognized cornerstones of the constitution, but which contrast strongly with the bated breath and cringing conduct of the House of Commons of that day.

There would almost appear to have been something of fascination or fate about the popularity of Elizabeth. On turning to history it is difficult to understand its foundation. Her love was rather a dangerous distinction, so apt as it was to be curdled by jealousy. Her hatreds were sanguinary. Her notions of government led her to treat the House of Commons with a hauteur which to us appears unendurable. She sternly crushed every rising feeling of civil and religious liberty. She declared she would admit no toleration in her dominions, and Roman Catholics and Puritans were sent to the scaffold. Yet she never lost the favour of the nation, which she possessed on first ascending the throne. Wherever she appeared she was received with enthusiasm; the people were prepared to submit to her will and die in her defence; and when the country was menaced by the Spanish Armada, even the Roman Catholics, proud of the independent position of the kingdom under her sway, enrolled themselves as volunteers in the army. Essex was not backward in these proofs of loyalty. The queen, conscious that her power depended on the good will and the strong arms of her subjects, took care that they should be well trained in the military art. In all parts of the country, therefore, the rattle of arms and the tramp of the soldier were heard. All men between the ages of 16 and 60, if not sick, impotent, or lame, were required to muster at stated times at certain points, for the purpose of drill; and weapons and armour, according to the laws and regulations, were ordered to be brought for their use. This was especially enforced at the time when the haughty Spaniard was preparing to invade our island home. A sort of conscription, too, was carried out, and Essex men were impressed as soldiers for the foreign wars in which the sovereign at different times engaged. When, in 1585, aid was rendered to the United Provinces, 150 soldiers, fully armed and equipped, were provided by the county, and placed under the command of Sir Walter Walker. Of this force Colchester raised eight shot and two pikemen, armed and clothed in blue coats, at an expense of £21. 18s. 8d. In the year after the defeat of the Armada, when it was resolved to retaliate upon the Spaniards, 250 soldiers and 60 pioneers were impressed here, of which the boroughs furnished their proportion, the order being that there should be an allowance to every soldier, at the common charge of the county, of 13s. 4d., and to every pioneer 68. 8d.,

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which the deputy lieutenants of the county and the authorities of the boroughs were to see collected, with conduct money at the rate of 8d. per day, sufficient to bring them to Romford, where they were to be delivered to the captain at ten o'clock in the morning of the 20th of October. Again, in 1590-1, 150 able men were raised in the same way in the county, and despatched to the aid of Henry IV. against the Leaguers; a further body in March; and in July 150 more were impressed and embarked at Harwich for service in Normandy; followed by a further body of 135 in 1596, who were despatched from the same port, for France.

When the world was looking on, not without admiration of the attitude of England and its Queen, expecting to see this kingdom overwhelmed by the Spanish Armada, and the nation, resolved and armed, awaited the onslaught with set teeth, this county was placed in a position to make a stand for the throne and the hearth-stone. The plan was, for the Armada to sail up the Thames and land the whole Spanish army upon its banks. Essex might thus have to break the first lance with the invader. The people therefore furbished up their armour, and all the able men, even youths, studiously applied themselves to the expert handling of the matchlock and the pike. The seaports of the county sent forth their vessels to swell the pigmy fleet which at first hung doubtfully upon the rear of its bulky antagonist, and then, gaining confidence from success, went in and scattered that mighty armament to the winds, which literally fought on the side of this country, the storm and tempest contributing in no slight degree to the final discomfiture of the proud foe. Colchester sent three ships, the Foresight, of London, the Margaret and John, with the Mark Speedwell pinnance, manned, and victualled for two months, and provided with ammunition, the order being that they should join the navy on the seas, "for the defence of the kingdom," by the 25th of April. To meet the charge a tax of 2s. in the pound on goods, and 3s. on land, was levied on all the inhabitants of the borough-a heavy burthen in those times, but it appears to have been cheerfully and patriotically submitted to. Maldon contributed its little war craft and its ocean sons, as it was bound to do by ancient charter; and there is reason to believe that from along our sea-board went forth many of those vessels, fitted out at the private expense of the nobility and gentry, with which Effingham, after the first encounter, found himself promptly reinforced.

Dispositions for defence were made along the coasts; and at Tilbury Fort, then a mere block-house, which had been erected

by Henry VIII., an army of 22,000 foot and 1,000 horse was encamped to protect London. Where the peaceful mill now stands, a picturesque object in the landscape, stretched the long lines of martial tents, though the last faint traces of the camp are now almost obliterated. It was on this spot that Elizabeth uttered that memorable speech which infused heart into the nation and stamped her as a heroine. Mounted on a war charger she appeared in the midst of the army like another Boadicea, with happily a better fate; and riding along, and greeting with a noble smile of confidence the serried lines of the soldiery drawn up to receive her-presenting, perhaps, the proudest of our historical pictures-she gathered the host around her and thus addressed them :

"My loving people, we have been persuaded by some that are careful of our safety, to take heed how we commit ourselves to armed multitudes, for fear of treachery; but I assure you I do not desire to live to distrust my faithful and loving people. Let tyrants fear: I have always so behaved myself, that under God I have placed my chiefest strength and safeguard in the loyal hearts and goodwill of my subjects. And therefore I am come amongst you at this time, not as for my recreation or sport, but being resolved in the midst and heat of the battle to live or die amongst you all; to lay down, for my God, and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour and my blood, even in the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too; and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realms: to which rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms: I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. I know already by your forwardness, that you have deserved rewards and crowns; and we do assure you by the word of a prince, they shall be duly paid you. In the mean time my lieutenant-general shall be in my stead, than whom never prince commanded a more noble and worthy subject; not doubting by your obedience to my general, by your concord in the camp, and your valour in the field, we shall shortly have a famous victory over these enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people."

These words awoke the tenderness and commanded the admiration of the soldiery for the queen. "An attachment to her person," says the historian, "became a kind of enthusiasm amongst them; and they asked one another whether it were possible that Englishmen could abandon this glorious cause, and could display less fortitude than appeared in the female sex, or could ever by any dangers be induced to relinquish the defence of their heroic princess." Strange it is, and a reproach, too, that the spot on which this speech was spoken has been left, from the spring of 1588 to this present year of grace, unmarked by even a humble stone.

When, on the 19th of July, the Armada, stretching a distance of seven miles in the form of a crescent, was first descried by a Scottish pirate in the channel, and Effingham hurried out of Plymouth harbour to encounter it, all those persons in the