Page:Cassell's Illustrated History of England vol 2.djvu/407

A.D. 1558.] complete view of her with these modern lights, we are bound to believe that, as a woman, she was naturally mild, but that the persecution of her own faith, in her mother and herself personally, produced a fatal reaction, which yet, had it not been for the more fatal Spanish marriage, would have been to some extent restrained by her better qualities. 



had assembled on the morning of the 17th of November, unaware of the decease of the queen; but, before noon, Dr. Heath, the Archbishop of York and Lord Chancellor of England, sent a message to the House of Commons, requesting the Speaker, with the knights and burgesses of the Lower House, to attend in the Lords to give their assent in a matter of the utmost importance. On being there assembled, the lord chancellor announced to the united Parliament the demise of Mary, and, though by that event the Commons were dissolved by the law, as it stood till the reign of William III., he called upon them to combine with the Lords, before taking their departure, for the safety of the country, by proclaiming the Lady Elizabeth the queen of the realm.

Whatever might have been the fears of any portion of the community as to the recognition of the title of Elizabeth on the plea of illegitimacy, or from suspicion of her religion, that question had long been settled by the flocking of the courtiers of all creeds and characters to Hatfield, where she resided; and now on this announcement there was a loud acclamation from the members of both Houses of "God save Queen Elizabeth! Long may she reign over us!"

Thus the Parliament, before dissolving, gave full and unequivocal recognition of the title of Elizabeth, and all the necessary Acts of the united Houses were completed before twelve o'clock; and the Lords, with the heralds, then entered the Palace of Westminster, and in due form, by blast of trumpet before the hall door, the attention of the public was called, and the new queen was proclaimed as "Elizabeth, by the grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c." This continuance of the claim on France was a sheer absurdity, as by the ancient and invariable law of that kingdom no woman could succeed to the throne; but it took away all real right of complaint against Mary, Queen of Scots, for quartering the arms of England with her own, the aggression being thus made by Elizabeth on the claim of Mary as queen expectant of France.

Proclamation being thus made in Westminster, the young Duke of Norfolk, earl marshal, attended by a number of the peers and prelates, rode into the City, and there, being joined by the lord mayor and aldermen, Elizabeth was proclaimed at the cross in Cheapside, with the same instant and joyful recognition. The people shouted, "God save the Queen!" The bells from all the churches commenced ringing, bonfires were lit, tables were set out at the doors of the wealthy citizens for the multitude, and wine plentifully distributed. Not only was the death of the late queen forgotten in the universal joy, but all the melancholy circumstances of the time, for most melancholy they were. As we have stated, the season was wet and unhealthy. The fires of Smithfield, under the baleful activity of bloody Bonner, were still blazing; the prisons were crammed with fresh victims; and the power of an incensed Providence seemed to darken the country. The dismal seasons had produced famine, and a terrible fever, supposed to be what is now called typhus, of a most malignant kind, was raging through town and country. So much had it thinned the agricultural population that, combined with the disastrous state of the weather, the harvests had in many places rotted on the ground. Many thousands of the people had perished during four months of the autumn, and amongst them great numbers of the clergy, and no less than thirteen bishops. The joyful news which arrested the hand of the persecutor, seemed like light bursting through the clouds, and gave new hope and spirit to the nation.

For two days Elizabeth, as if from due respect to her deceased sister and sovereign, remained quiescent at Hatfield; but thousands of people of all ranks were flocking thither; and on the 19th her Privy Council proceeded thither also, and, after announcing to her her joyful and undisputed accession, they proclaimed her with all state before the gates of Hatfield House. They then sat in council with her, and she appointed her own ministers, having, no doubt, made all these arrangements with the man whom she had long marked out for her prime minister, Sir William Cecil. This statesman, of the true diplomatic breed, cool as winter's east wind, troubled with no disturbing imagination, no misleading heats of generosity, but far-seeing and subtle, though he could never win the confidence of the late queen, though he had bowed humbly, waited long and diligently, and even renounced his religion to win her favour, had soon caught the sagacious eye of Elizabeth, who had an instinctive perception of men able if not, in the truest sense, great. Cecil had for years been her confidential counsellor. By his shrewd and worldly guidance she had shaped her future course; and in appointing her ministers now, she showed by her address to Cecil that it was for him that she designed the chief post. "I give you," she said, "this charge: That you shall be of my Privy Council, and content yourself to take pains for me and my realm. This judgment I have of you: that you will not be corrupted by any manner of gift, and that you will be faithful to the State; and that, without respect to my private will, you will give me that counsel which you think best; and if you shall know anything necessary to be declared to me of secrecy, you shall show it to myself only, and assure yourself I will not fail to keep taciturnity therein; and, therefore, herewith I charge you."

Besides Cecil, she named Sir Thomas Parry, her cofferer, Cave, and Rogers, of her Privy Council. Cecil 