But there

of that day were content to wear. were some in Europe who looked with intense interest to the part that England seemed likely to play, amidst the wild agonising of the people for more truth and more freedom; many were the attempts made to bind her in with the trammels of policy or of association. Philip of Spain attempted marriage with Elizabeth, but the negative was instant and decided. Then he tried the bondage of the negociatory cord, but this too was useless: and France left no means untried to bring about a marriage, but in vain; England stood alone. Meantime she waved her flag, by no means a flag of mercy, but of terrible power, over seas untracked save by the Spanish navigator; that flag, it is to be feared, gave few traces of its waving in a Christian land; but fearfully as it blazed along, it proclaimed the might and enterprise of the land from whence it came; and the quiet merchantmen were raising for England an independent commercial greatness and fame. They were teaching in that day a policy more liberal than their neighbours; and thus on every hand a bold and unhesitating independence invested the name and character of everything English. It characterised the queen herself, defying the most venerable authority in Europe, in the per

son of the Bishop of Rome-and the most wealthy and potent monarchs; it characterised her navigators, piercing into every sea and coasting far and near around all discovered or undiscovered shores; it characterised her merchants, attempting to carry trade and commerce to all, to whom intercommunion and barter could be a blessing and a reciprocation of interests; it characterised her people, roused and fairly awakened to the value of the liberty already enjoyed, and resolutely bent upon resistance to any attempt at invading it, while yet disposed to press on boldly for more; in all these varieties of profession, unanimous in one feature of character, may be seen the several displays of one great phase, which, fused down into the page of History, gives magnificent prominence to the "Times of Queen Bess."

Thus stood England and England's queen with reference to Foreign Powers. This attitude of independence we have called its extreme position, but this was of course most naturally the result of a series of influences working within, at home.

There was not only

an external, there was an internal Fact, this was the rise of a Middle Class, and the dissemination of a public opinion abroad, through the various ranks of the community.

This again gives to the reign of Elizabeth a dignified pre-eminence over all the preceding reigns of English story. Great and manifold were the benefits resulting from the long peace of Henry VII., but there was a still more important idea marking the progress of society; this was the destruction of the old class of feudal nobles, who had been as terrible to the king almost, as they had been to the people. The great policy of all the three really reigning Tudors, Henry VII., and Henry VIII., and Elizabeth, had been to subvert their power. Henry VII., in order to secure to himself and his descendants undisturbed possession of the throne, and to avoid internal dissentions, resolved to lessen their influence and curb their power, which was to be done most effectually by permitting those so inclined to alienate their property. To bring this about, however, it was necessary to alter the law of entails, or to lessen its force. This was no easy matter, as the barons who were aware of the chance of civil wars, and of the risk thereby incurred of losing their estates, always as a body felt partial to the law of entails; and if a legislative enactment to that effect had been proposed, might have opposed it, or at least might have suspected the motive of the monarch in such an attempt,

which would have proved a bar to his plans. To aid this plan the courts of law lent their assistance, and by their connivance, the fiction was adopted of levying fines and suffering recoveries for the purpose of cutting off the farther extension of the entail: then the proprietors of estates found themselves relieved from the operation of the law, and soon availed themselves of the power lately acquired of alienating their property. At this time the estates of the barons were in general larger than at any subsequent period, but by this means, their wealth and estates decreased, while a powerful middle class was forming beneath them, and trade already was beginning to walk in the dress of departed feudalism. Thus, by imperceptible degrees, property was changing hands; and, consequently, this new order of society began to make its appearance. Industry and labour were especially promoted by the spread of Protestantism. It is strange, but true; we state a fact, merely; we do not trace a cause. Sterility and barrenness are the invariable attendants of Romanism, but the publication of the doctrines of the Reformation in England, expanded the genius of the people, kindled new life and enterprise in their bosoms. Labour expands thought as well as muscle; the middle

class was not immediately formed: time was required, and even at the close of the reign of Elizabeth it was but a small body, but there was the body and a strong and influential one; and Elizabeth knew of its existence-an existence that had never been dreamt of by the haughty Henries while they were scheming to subdue their barons. The more terrible shadow of popular power had not been noticed falling across the throne, but Elizabeth was brought immediately into contact with the new power, and it appeared to be always her boast to place herself at the head of the people. "Her subjects she would have to be her children; her kingdom was her palace." progresses to the mansions of her most distinguished nobles were all, doubtless, made with the design of humbling them by extravagant outlays. The sums that many of her entertainments cost were ruinous. Elizabeth affected the arts of popularity; indeed, she had them, she was wont to mix with the people; she made their amusements hers; she adhered to their prejudices; she gossipped with them; she joked with them; she swore with them; she dandled them on the knee; but she never flattered their aspiring tendencies. She patted aldermen and mayors on the head. We hear

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