ELIZABETH.

Born A.D. 1533; reigned 45 years (1558-1603). Family.-1. Elizabeth was the daughter of Henry VIII. and Anne Boleyn. She never married.

Numerous foreign princes and several of her own nobles aspired to her hand, but she early declared her intention to live and die a virgin queen, and steadfastly adhered to it. Of her suitors the most distinguished were Charles Archduke of Austria, the Duke of Anjou, Eric King of Sweden, Dudley Earl of Leicester, and the Earl of Arundel. The Commons often petitioned her to marry, in order that the question of the succession might be set at rest. She replied on one of these occasions, "Were I to tell you that I do not mean to marry, I might say less than I did intend; and were I to tell you that I do mean to marry, I might say more than it is proper for you to know; therefore, I give you an answer, ANSWERLESS.'

Chronicle.-2. The accession of Elizabeth was hailed by the nation with enthusiastic demonstrations of joy.

"The same day, at afternoon," says a contemporary, "all the churches in London did ring, and at night did make bonfires, and set tables in the street, and did eat and drink and make merry for the new queen, Elizabeth."

One of her earliest measures was to prepare for the restoration of the Reformed faith. Cecil, the Earl of Bedford, and other distinguished Protestants, were joined to the privy-council; Parker, formerly chaplain to Anne Boleyn, was made Archbishop of Canterbury; those who had been imprisoned in the late reign, on account of their religion, were released; exiles were allowed to return; the elevation of the host was prohibited; and portions of the Liturgy, and the Epistles and Gospels, were ordered to be read in English.

Some writers say that Elizabeth sought a reconciliation with Pope Paul IV. According to Hallam, she never contemplated intercourse with him, even "as a temporal sovereign." The alleged reply of Paul was: "England is a fief of the apostolic see; she cannot succeed, being illegitimate; the reigning pontiff cannot reverse the decrees of his predecessor against the marriage."

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The bishops foresaw the coming changes in religion, and refused, with the exception of the Bishop of Carlisle, to assist at the coronation, which took place early in 1559.

On such occasions it is customary to release state prisoners, and it was suggested to Elizabeth that she could not give the people greater pleasure than by releasing the four Evangelists and St. Paul. To this request she readily acceded, and once more the people read the Scriptures in their native tongue.

3. Parliament met shortly after and passed two famous statutes, the Act of Uniformity and the Act of Supremacy. The former was intended to check heresies; the latter to enable the queen to carry out such ecclesiastical reforms as might be found necessary. The laws made concerning religion in Edward VI.'s time were re-enacted; mass was abolished, and the liturgy again brought into use. The establishment of the Church of England was now complete. The new pope, Pius IV., tried to conciliate Elizabeth, but she refused to allow his agent to enter her realm.

4. Elizabeth soon brought the French war to a close by the treaty of Cateau Cambresis (1559), according to the terms of which, Henry II. was to forfeit Calais at the end of eight years or pay a fine of 500,000 crowns. The same year Francis II. and Mary Queen of Scots ascended the throne of France, and openly announced their claims to that of England. Elizabeth retaliated by allying herself to the Scotch insurgent reformers, and supplying them with ships, troops, and money. This assistance enabled them to face the French army then in Scotland, and to compel it to agree to the treaty of Edinburgh (1560), by which it was stipulated that the French should quit Scotland, and that Francis and Mary should desist from bearing the arms of England. Mary returned to Scotland on her husband's death (1561), but refused to ratify the treaty, and still clung to her former pretensions.

She contrived, however, to keep up a show of friendship with Elizabeth, and professed to postpone her title to the English throne during her rival's life. In 1565 she married

Lord Darnley, and the following year gave birth to James I. The marriage was an unhappy one; Darnley was a weakminded profligate, and Mary soon grew tired of him. She dissembled her contempt for him until he was murdered, and then, throwing off all shame, married Bothwell, one of his murderers. The Scotch people now rose in open insurrection and took Mary prisoner (1567). Bothwell escaped, but was taken prisoner at sea by the Danes, and spent the remainder of his life in captivity. Mary was confined in Lochleven Castle, and the crown was bestowed upon her son. She was not long in effecting her escape and reassembling her army, but it was completely defeated at Langside by the regent Murray, and she was then obliged to flee across the border.

5. When Mary took refuge in England, Elizabeth was placed in a very difficult position. She could scarcely espouse the cause of a woman accused of the grossest crimes; it would have been impolitie to allow her to proceed to France; it was therefore determined to detain her in perpetual custody.

This detention was not strictly legal, since Mary was not amenable to English law; yet it was fully warranted by the higher law of necessity, which declares the safety of the state to be of paramount importance. To have allowed Mary freedom was to endanger the religion of England and the crown of Elizabeth.

In 1568 a commission met at York for the purpose of inquiring into the charges alleged against her; but it broke up without coming to any definite decision. A further conference was held at Hampton Court, where Mary's participation in the murder of Darnley was proved beyond doubt. A conspiracy was now formed (1569) for bringing about the marriage of Mary with the Duke of Norfolk, the greatest and richest of English subjects. Elizabeth heard of it, and frequently warned the duke "to beware on what pillow he reposed his head." Her advice was not followed, and he was at length committed to the Tower.

Directly after, a rebellion broke out amongst the Romanists of the north of England. It was headed by the Earls of Northumberland and Westmoreland, and had for its objects-(1.) the re-establishment of

the old religion; (2.) the removal of Elizabeth's evil counsellors; (3.) the restoration of Norfolk to liberty.

The north was the last stronghold of Romanism in England. "There are not," says a letter from thence of this date, "ten gentlemen in this country, who do favour and allow of her Majesty's proceedings in the cause of religion." To cooperate with the rebels, Pius V. published a bull excommunicating and deposing Elizabeth, and absolving her subjects from their allegiance. A fanatic, named Felton, affixed this bull to the gates of the Bishop of London's palace, and suffered death for the offence.

The insurrection was easily crushed. Northumberland surrendered and was executed; Westmoreland died in exile.

Norfolk was released from the Tower on promising that he would not resume his correspondence with Mary. Within two years this promise was violated, and he was now brought to trial on the charge of high treason, found guilty, and executed.

Elizabeth hesitated for some months to sign his deathwarrant, but the Commons were anxious for his execution, and she at length consented. Hallam says, "No one fell by a sentence more amply merited, or the execution of which was more indispensable."

6. From this time to the end of the reign the English Romanists incessantly occupied themselves in attempts to overthrow the throne of Elizabeth. This led to the enacting of several severe statutes. A fine of 201. a month was exacted from all persons absenting themselves from church; and all Romish priests were commanded to depart from the kingdom within forty days, under pain of being adjudged traitors. Several, in consequence of neglecting this statute, suffered death.

Dodd estimated the number of martyrs of the Church of Rome in this reign at 191; but Hallam says, "There is good reason for doubting whether any one who was executed might not have saved his life by explicitly denying the pope's power to depose the queen."

These additional severities multiplied the plots against Elizabeth's life, and the attempts to rescue Mary. One of the most famous of these conspiracies

was headed by a young Romanist named Babington. Its designs were soon made known to the Government, and, in 1586, Babington, with thirteen confederates, was arrested and executed. As Mary herself was cognizant of the conspiracy, it was resolved that she also should be brought to justice. A commission was appointed to try her at Fotheringay Castle (Notts), which pronounced her guilty, and sentenced her to death. Elizabeth signed the warrant for her execution on the repeated entreaties of her ministers, and in February, 1587, Mary perished on the scaffold.

Much undeserved blame has been heaped on Elizabeth for her treatment of Mary; but it is a certain fact that, had it not been for Elizabeth's repugnance to shed her blood, Mary would have been executed long before. When the Commons, in 1572, sent a bill to the Upper House attainting Mary of treason, the queen, to check its progress, prorogued parliament. When, in 1586, the Commissioners pronounced sentence of death, both Houses addressed the queen to carry that sentence into effect. When, in 1587, Elizabeth allowed the execution to take place, the nation evinced such joy that it is evident she could no longer have withstood the popular feeling. Mary died with great firmness after exclaiming, "My God, I have hoped in you! I commit myself to your hands."

7. The most zealous of Mary's persecutors were the Puritans, who regarded Romanism and its adherents with the most intense abhorrence. They first became, prominent in this reign, when, not content with the moderate changes of our noble Reformers, they sought to bring the English Church nearer the model of that of Calvin.

They objected chiefly to the wearing of vestments, to kneeling at the Holy Communion, to the cross in the baptismal service, to sponsors, to lay baptism, to bowing at the name of Jesus, to the ring in marriage, to episcopacy, to forms of prayer, to instrumental church music, and to chanting. Elizabeth herself was strongly opposed to Puritanism, and retained many Romish practices in her own chapel. She struggled hard with her prelates for the retention of images and crucifixes, and is even said to have used prayers to the Virgin. She was greatly opposed to the marriage of the clergy; and