kingdom; her ministers controlled everything, and, though they had fomented the troubles that rendered the rule of its king (James VI.) almost nominal, when they saw that he was destined for Elizabeth's successor, they paid such obvious court to him as embittered her declining years. Ireland was in reality a foreign country, where her treasures were exhausted in contending, with but a very moderate share of success, against the arts and arms of the popes and the king of Spain; its disturbed state prevented the following up with the necessary vigour the measures proper to recommend the reformed doctrines to the people, and from this fact the most lamentable consequences have ensued.

At home, for many years, Elizabeth was harassed by plots against her life, some real, some imaginary P; the unjustifiable death of Mary did not lessen her anxieties; the Puritans gave her deep uneasiness by the freedom of their attacks on the Church; her chief favourite, Leicester, was undeserving her esteem; his successor, Essex, provoked an untimely fate, and the queen at length died, worn out as much with grief and anxiety as age, March 24, 1603, and was buried in the chapel of Henry VII., in Westminster Abbey.

The younger Cecil and Ralegh especially courted his favour; both were unprincipled men, but Cecil was probably the worst. He is suspected of having contrived the strange plot in which Ralegh was involved, and he is thought to have been privy to the proceedings of Catesby and his associates, but to have suffered them to proceed unmolested, in order to secure the forfeiture of their estates.

P Of the various plotters, Parry, it would seem, never intended more than to obtain money; probably the same may be said of Squire; Babington's conspiracy was known from the very outset to her ministers, and guarded against; the attempt of Lopez, the physician, to poison her at the instigation of Spain, has the appearance of truth, and was very probably real.

Though Elizabeth was never married, the numerous negotiations into which she entered on that subject form an important feature of her reign. It is probable that her affections were really given to Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester, although state reasons prevented her accepting him for a husband. She fed with delusive hopes others of her subjects, as Sir William Pickering and Henry Fitzalan, earl of Arundel; she listened with apparent complacency to Eric, king of Sweden; to the Archduke Ferdinand of Austria; and to a French prince who bore successively the titles of duke of Alençon and of Anjou. Perhaps she never intended to give her hand to any of them, but the apprehensions of her subjects were raised as to the French match, and one Puritan (Thomas Stubbe, a lawyer, and brother-in-law of Cartwright,) published a pamphlet, entitled, "The Discovery of a Gaping Gulf," in which he gave vent to remonstrances with a freedom that was highly resented and severely punished.

Elizabeth bore the same arms as her father and brother, but occasionally she employed a white greyhound for the sinister supporter. Her motto was "DIEU ET MON DROIT," and sometimes "SEMPER EADEM." Her badge is a Tudor rose, with the motto, "ROSA SINE SPINA;" she likewise used the badge of her mother, Anne Boleyn.

Arms of Elizabeth.

S

The reign of Elizabeth is a very memorable era under every aspect in which the state of a nation can be considered. In religion, the reform that her father had begun was accomplished, not so completely as could be wished, for the governors of the Church met with opposition at every step from the Puritans, but still in a degree that should be ever thankfully remembered. Literature flourished as it had never done before, and works were produced, both in theology and on secular subjects, which it may be reasonably concluded will endure as long as the English language itself. Archbishop Parker¶

"Matthew Parker was born at Norwich in 1504, and was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he studied in company with Ridley, Cecil, Nicholas Bacon, and others, and, like them, imbibed the opinions of the reformers. He became chaplain to Anne Boleyn, but on her death returned to Cambridge, where he was chosen master of his college, and twice served the office of vice-chancellor. He was expelled on the accession of Mary, and lived in retirement during her reign; but when his friend Cecil became Elizabeth's minister, Parker was by him brought forward, and induced, though reluctantly, to accept the archbishopric of Canterbury. This high station he filled with dignity, providing such men as Grindal, Sandys, and Jewel to occupy the vacant sees; opposing the designs of the courtiers on the property of the Church; extending a liberal patronage to learning, and cultivating it himself; settling the service and vestments of the ministers on a scale of decent splendour; and, though presenting a firm front to the intemperate zeal of some among the returned Marian exiles, ever desirous of conciliating them by Christian charity. He died May 17, 1575, and was buried at Lambeth; his remains were disturbed during the Civil War, but they were again collected and interred by Archbishop Sheldon.

was a munificent patron of learning, and preserved many valuable records that might otherwise have perished; Jewel and Hookers defended the religious changes that had been effected against the Romanists, as did Whitgift against the Puritans; and Shakspeare, Spenser, Sydney, and Buckhurst, not to mention minor names, displayed the poetic riches of their native tongue. In other matters most important progress was made. The credit of the nation was re-established by the withdrawal of the base coinage of former sovereigns; new branches

John Jewel was a native of Devon, and was born in 1522. He was educated at Merton College, Oxford, was a most laborious student, and embraced with eagerness the doctrines of the reformers, attaching himself particularly to Peter Martyr, whose lectures he took down in short-hand. On the accession of Mary the fellows of his college expelled him on their own authority; but he continued in the university, and was weak enough to recant his opinions; soon repenting of this unhappy step, he resigned his archdeaconry of Chichester, and fled to Germany, where he made a public confession of his fault. He lived chiefly with his friend Peter Martyr, laboured to compose the differences on points of discipline which broke out among the English exiles, visited Italy, and, returning to his native country, took an active part in the disputation at Westminster in the year 1559. The next year he was raised to the see of Salisbury, and died September 23, 1571, worn out by his earnest endeavours to discharge every duty of his office; though an invalid, he travelled unceasingly through his diocese, and he preached within a few days of his death. Bishop Jewel had a principal part in the revision of the Articles of Religion, and his famous Apology has ever been esteemed a masterpiece both in matter and manner.

Richard Hooker, a native of Devonshire, was born in 1554. He found a patron in Bishop Jewel, was educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and, after some minor preferments, became master of the Temple. Here he was involved in a painful controversy with the lecturer, Walter Travers, a Puritan; but this, in its result, was a matter of joy to all who adhere to the unity of the Church, free alike from papal as from puritan innovations; for it led him to produce his matchless work on Ecclesiastical Polity. His humble and lowly spirit induced him to confine himself to his living of Bishopsbourne, in Kent, though his services to the Church would have commanded its highest dignities, and there he died, Nov. 2, 1600. His Life, penned by Izaak Walton, is one of the most delightful pieces of biography in the English language.

of industry were introduced by foreign refugees; the spirit of the people was kept alive by the favour with which bold and costly enterprises for the furtherance of trade and commerce were regarded; Hawkins, Drake, Forbisher, Cavendish, and other hardy navigators, displayed

"Her cross, triumphant on the main,

The guard of commerce, and the dread of Spain;" and Elizabeth's reign witnessed the beginnings of two of the most wonderful empires of the world, the English East India Company and the United States of North America.

But the era so full of benefits for posterity was very far from a quiet or a happy one for the people of its own time. The government was a pure despotism, both in Church and State, the Courts of High Commission and of Star Chamber being the great instruments of government, and their proceedings not controlled, when any reason of state interfered, by any rules of law or equity. A large proportion of the people, either as Romish or as Protestant nonconformists, lived exposed to penalties and restrictions that would at the present day be justly regarded as unbearable; the law of treason was strained so as to include very trifling offences, and its barbarous penalties were inflicted to the very letter", while torture

"We, of our prerogative royal, which we will not have argued nor brought in question," is the phrase employed by Elizabeth in a patent, dated May 10, 1591, which grants protection from all suits for debt for both person and property to an Irish noble (Patrick lord Dunsany) and a London gentleman (John Mathewe); if any suit should be commenced, the judges of the different courts are directed to stay it, "without other warrant than the sight of these our letters patent or the inrolment thereof.'

These penalties, which the humane Henry VI. pronounced "too grievous to be done unto any Christian creature," were, as appears from the record of each conviction, as follows: the prisoners were