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the concealment of the ring, and all Elizabeth's attachment came back when it was too late.

Mute and motionless, the last three days of her life were spent apparently in deep thought. She sat on cushions on the floor, her eyes fixed on the ground, and her finger in her mouth. Cecil and others went near her when at last she had been lifted into a bed, and asked her who was to be her successor. A touch of the old spirit prompted her reply: "I told you," she said, "my seat has been the seat of kings, and who should succeed me but my cousin, the King of Scotland ?" In a few hours after this they asked her wishes again. She was now too feeble to speak, but she joined her hands over her head in semblance of a crown, and then died

-a ruler who combined nearly all the good and bad qualities of her race; with the strength of will and vigorous intellect of her father and grandfather, sometimes perverted, as in them, from their proper purpose by selfishness and ambition, but ennobled, in this greatest of the Tudor line, by a knowledge of the interests of her people and a reliance on their gratitude, which neither of the Henries would have understood, or which they would have considered below their notice.

§ 26. We have hitherto considered Elizabeth in her public capacity as governor of a State, and have found her (with some few blemishes, which belong perhaps to the necessities of her position and time) a great and wise ruler. The greatest men the country ever produced were proud to be her subjects. Bacon and Shakspeare, indeed, are born for all time; but the list of others who rose to eminence in war, and commerce, and statecraft, is sufficient to attest the skill with which she detected the talents that might be useful to the kingdom, and the liberality with which she rewarded them. A chivalrousness of feeling arose in all classes when they entered the service of a virgin queen. Masters of trading vessels had the ambition to discover or conquer foreign kingdoms. They

A.D. 1603.]

CHARACTER OF ELIZABETH.

499

were soon transferred to the royal navy, and became admirals of the English fleet. Sir Philip Sidney recalled the Knights of the Round Table by the heroic qualities of his nature, and displayed them in still higher elevation by the refinement of his published works. It was the period of a sudden uprising of all the noblest characteristics of the Saxon mind; and over the enterprise of Raleigh and Drake, and the poetry of Spenser and Shakspeare, and the statesmanship of Walsingham and the Cecils, presided the gracious and learned monarch who could enjoy the highest flights of literature, and understand the deepest schemes of policy.

§ 27. But if we look at her in her individual capacity of "one of Eve's family," we shall find that her achievements were of a very different kind. The contrast is almost laughable between the sagacious guider of public affairs and the remarkably vain and silly person she appeared whenever her merely personal behaviour was concerned. Though ostentatiously determined to lead a single life, the catalogue of the lovers whom she deluded with hopes of her hand is inexhaustible. Turning her feminine weakness to excellent public purpose, she was always ready to hold herself out as one of the rewards of a favourable treaty or a grant of commercial privileges. When France began to make preparations against her, she simpered and smiled at the French ambassador in such an extraordinary manner, that he could do nothing less than write to his king that Elizabeth would certainly marry one of the princes if he would only send him over to London. It was a new trial for an envoy to be ogled as representative of his sovereign's family. Caught by the bait, the Duke of Anjou made his appearance at Court, and soon discovered that the smiles had been merely political, and would only last so long as it was wished to keep France at enmity with Spain. Several other foreign potentates were drawn over by the glittering prospects of sharing the English throne. The Kings of Sweden and Denmark were rivals, and

paid their court by outbidding each other in the favours bestowed on English trade. But the habit of looking irresistible and of captivating all beholders grew into a passion. If she could not force a royal wooer on his knees by her winning looks and whispered communications, she was quite satisfied to blind her own courtiers by her glances, and enchant them by her words. They fooled her to the top of her bent. They held their hands before their eyes to shield them from the radiance of her countenance, and affected to tremble when they heard her voice. She walked, we are told, with a great deal of "grandity," turning her toes out, and pausing a moment on each foot, looking from side to side as she went, and swinging her furbelowed gown in a most majestic and ridiculous manner, while the bystanders hummed their admiration, or burst into loud applause.

With many of her attendants she was so unguarded in the marks of her favour that reports were spread abroad injurious to her reputation. Party spirit has continued the discussion to the present time, the advocates of the hapless Mary maintaining that the lover of Leicester, and Hatton, and Raleigh and Essex was not entitled to make any over-virtuous allusion to the levities attributed to their heroine. Her defenders appeal to the little influence exercised over her by the suspected sharers of her guilt; and say that, in all likelihood, the friendships of Elizabeth went no farther than the gratification of her insatiable love of admiration and appetite for fulsome praise. Of all these temporary and capricious attachments we have only dwelt on that towards Essex -for it was the only one that influenced her public acts, and seems to have been really sincere,-but at the time of his greatest favour she was nearly seventy years of age; and even after his unhappy death, when her own demise was near at hand, she is reported by the French ambassador to have been captivated by the looks of a tall young Irish earl, and to be as anxious as ever for flattery and devotion. The habit of being

A D. 1603.]

PERSONAL VANITY OF ELIZABETH.

501

courted had become her second nature, and the same person who as queen could withstand a coalition of all Europe against her throne, was wretched if she had not a handsome, designing cozener at her side, to tell her her brow was not wrinkled with seventy-two years of toil and care, and that her locks were as rich and auburn as when her earlier adorers had assured her they were sunbeams woven into ringlets, and clustered round the forehead of the chaste Diana.

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1570. The pope publishes his bull of 1588. Preparations of the Spaniards

excommunication against Eli

zabeth, absolving her subjects

from their allegiance.

for invading England. Their great armada, and its utter destruction.

The Royal Exchange finished by 1590-96. Naval operations against the

Sir Thomas Gresham.

1572. The Duke of Norfolk is con

victed of high treason, in treat-
ing of a marriage with Mary
Queen of Scots, and conspiring
to depose Queen Elizabeth.
His execution.

Massacre of St. Bartholomew. 1580. The Spaniards make a descent on Ireland, but are all made prisoners and put to the sword. 1584. Legislative measures against Jesuits and seminary priests. Conspiracies for releasing Mary Queen of Scots, and deposing Queen Elizabeth.

Spaniards carried on with great success by Sir Francis Drake, Sir John Hawkins, Sir Walter Raleigh, and others. 1598. The Earl of Tyrone's rebellion in Ireland, which continued for eight years.

1599-1601. The Earl of Essex appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, to put down the rebellion. Tried for conspiracy, convicted, and executed.

1601. The Queen abolishes trade monopolies and patents, which had been subjected to gross abuses.

Sir Walter Raleigh discovers 1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth.

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FRANCE.-Henry IV.; Louis XIII.

SPAIN. Philip III.; Philip IV.

EMPERORS OF GERMANY.-Rodolph II.; Matthias; Ferdi-
nand II.

POPES.-Clement VIII.; Leo XI.; Paul V.; Gregory XV.;
Urban VIII.

§ 1. Political condition of England in the preceding reigns. Degradation
of the House of Commons under the House of Tudor. -§ 2. Acces-
sion of James I. of Scotland. His conduct and traits of character.
His government and different measures.- §3. State of religious
parties. Sectarian contentions, and rebellious spirit attending them.
-§ 4. Conspiracy in favour of Arabella Stuart. Condemnation of
Lord Cobham and Sir Walter Raleigh. -§ 5. The Puritan party.
Conference at Hampton Court. Alterations in the Church services-
demanded. Declaration of the king in favour of Church conformity.
§ 6. Religious persecutions. Contentions with Parliament.-
§ 7. The gunpowder plot. Sanguinary laws passed against the
supposed abettors. Trial and execution of Garnet, the Jesuit.-
§ 8. The king displays a spirit of conciliation, and re-establishes
order. § 9. State of the population and the country. Disappear-
ance of the feudal system, and the introduction of fresh manners and
customs. § 10. State of the Church.-§ 11. Natural jollity of the
population of England, and their rustic amusements. Advantages
thence derived. § 12. Archbishop Abbot, the Calvinistic divine.

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