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 GIRLHOOD OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 171 This fine old conservative lamented that the houses were no longer filled with smoke, which, he said, not only hardened the timber of a house, but kept the good man and his family from taking cold and catching disease. The Princess Elizabeth was twenty years of age when the death of her brother Edward VI raised to the throne her sister Mary. Her conduct at this terrible crisis was equally prudent and right. The ambitious Northumber- land offered her money and lands if she would consent to the setting aside of Mary, and the elevation to the throne of Lady Jane Gray. She simply and firmly replied that, so long as her sister Mary was alive, she had no rights to the throne either to claim or to surrender. During the reign of Mary she was frequently in the most imminent and deadly peril ; not from any hostility borne her by her sister, but through the intrigues of cor- rupt and ill-disposed men who wished to use her intense popularity for their own advantage. In her twenty-fifth year, after a series of vicissitudes and escapes, Elizabeth reigned. On hearing the news of her sister's death, she appeared stunned. Drawing a deep sigh, she knelt down and said : " This is the Lord's doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes." 11