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."

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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

was commonly employed to extort confessions*. The state of the Church was not more satisfactory. The queen's council was mainly composed of the new nobility and gentry, who had already gained so much of its property, but who were desirous to obtain still more. As a means to this end they encouraged the Puritans to bring forward their "platform," or "godly discipline," the success of which would have placed all the bishops' lands at their disposal; but the firmness of Parker and Whitgift defeated the scheme, although they could not prevent the sees on each vacancy from being plundered to a greater or less extent to gratify the hungry courtiers.

The character by which Elizabeth is ordinarily known is manifestly exaggerated in some particulars and false in others. Quite as learned, and quite as imperious as her father, she yet suffered herself to be guided by a few to be drawn on hurdles to the place of execution (that is, in many cases, from the Tower or Newgate to Tyburn) and hanged, then cast down to the ground by cutting the rope, and their bowels drawn out of their bellies and burnt, they living; then their heads cut off and their bodies divided into four quarters, and their heads and quarters to be disposed of at the queen's pleasure. The heads were usually placed on spikes in some conspicuous situation, as the tower on London bridge; the quarters were generally buried, but sometimes they were steeped in pitch and exposed. One sufferer (Dr. Story) is related to have struggled with and struck the executioner who disembowelled him; many others are mentioned as groaning heavily" under his hands.

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Torture was allowed to be contrary to law, but it was sanctioned by prerogative. The courts, however, thought themselves authorized to pass sentences of almost incredible barbarity; as one instance, we find (March 2, 1571) one Timothy Penredd, who had forged the seal of the king's bench, adjudged to stand on the pillory in Cheapside on two successive market days, "and on the first of such days he is to have one ear nailed to the pillory, and on the second day his other ear nailed to the pillory, and in such a manner that he, the said Timothy, shall, by his own proper motion, be compelled to tear away his two ears from the pillory."

chosen ministers, who, for their own ends, strove successfully against the natural fickleness of her temper, and kept her the head of the Protestant party, but also led her to consent to many acts that bear heavily on her memory. She usually receives the credit of the able policy of her statesmen, and therefore ranks high as a sovereign, but her personal character had many grievous deferts. Though she early in her reign professed an intention to live and die a virgin queen, she gave encourageinent to worthless favourites hardly consistent with the declaration; she indulged in boundless expense for splendid dress, though in more important matters her parsimony was often carried to an unwise extreme; the language which her favourites, and even her parliaments, used towards her shew that no flattery could be too gross for her; on many occasions she descended to the meanest dissimulation; her bursts of passion were extravagant, and accompanied by oaths and blows; and an innate cruelty of disposition unmistakably appears in her treatment of her near kinswomen, Lady Katherine Grey and Mary of Scotland.

Her treatment of Mary is but too well known; the unhappy fate of Katherine is not so frequently alluded to. She was a younger sister of Lady Jane Grey, and having been married in May, 1553, to Lord Herbert, was divorced by him a short time after, on the fall of her family, and apparently for no other reason. She lived unmolested during the reign of Mary, but about 1561, venturing to marry Edward Seymour, earl of Hertford (son of the Protector), without asking the royal license, she and her husband were committed to the Tower; Hertford was heavily fined, on the charge of "corrupting a princess of the blood," the marriage was annulled in the ecclesiastical court by virtue of the queen's prerogative, and Ka therine died after a ten years' imprisonment. On her death, Hertford was liberated, and lived till 1621; the legality of his marriage had previously been established by the ordinary courts, and he was succeeded by his grandson, who suffered very similarly to himself for an attempt to marry the unhappy Lady Arabella Stuart.