Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 06.djvu/929

* ELIZABETH. 805 ELIZABETH. bandsuine Lord Admiral Seymour, the brother of the Protector Somerset, had passed the bounds of dceoniin. In Mary"s reign Eliza- beth was flattered by the attentions of her kinsman, the Karl of Courtenay, and she declined the hand of I'hilibert of Savoy, pressed on her by her sister's council. Wiien (Juoen slie refused with some hesitation the otler of Philip II., who was desirous of perpetuating his inUuonce over England, and she began a connection with the Earl of Leicester which seriously compromised her character. If we credit those sources of in- formation which are found in the dispatches of the Bishop of Aquila, anil)assador of Philip II., in London, preserved in the archives of Simancas, not onh" was the moral character of Elizabeth sullied, but even the quality for which she has ever been most honored, her English patriotism, was mere aflcctation. These dispatches represent her as proposing to Spain to become a Catholic and to restore the Spanish ascendency in England. if Philip would support her on the throne as the wife of Leicester. That there is some basis of truth in this revelation can scarcely be denied; but, aside from the fact that the Bishop exag- gerated. Elizabeth, who was often mendacious, was probably deceiving him. If she really in- tended to marry Leicester she was prevented by the advice of her ministers, especially of Cecil. Among less distinguished suitors the Archduke Charles of Vienna and Prince Erie of Sweden urged their suit in vain. Petitions from Parlia- ment to the Queen to marry produced only dig- nified replies that she would attend to the mat- ter when the time came. Catharine de' Jlediei. Queen-mother of France, intrigued to marry her to one of her sons, Henry of Anjou. with wliom she carried on an absurdly ardent courtship for a lady eighteen years his senior. Her last fa- vorite was the Earl of Essex, unworthy but good- looking, whom she had to execute for treason. Xeverthelcss she never let affairs of State be guided by these favorites, but relied on the wisdom of her ministers, chief of whom were William Cecil. Lord Burghley, and .Sir Francis Walsingham. her Secretary of State. Elizabetli's position gave much scope for the development of the unamiablc and ridiculous fea- tures of her character. She was vain in dress, rather mannish in demeanor, and not character- ized by line feeling, but in her reign the reek- less waste of human life which marked the reigns of her predecessors was unknown. The crviel per- secutions of the Catholic seminary priests are in line with the spirit of the times, and are not to be attributed to Elizabeth personally. By her attendants she was feared more than loved. The one quality which never failed her was per.sonal <«urage: and when she chose, her demeanor was stately and royal. Religion was with her. as with a great proportion of the nation at that time, a matter more of policy and convenience than of feeling or principle. She preferred Protestantism because of early associations, and because it gave her the headship of the Church, freed her from foreign interference, and was more acceptable to her ministers and to the nation. In the long reign of Elizabeth the true great- ness of England began. Freed from the posses- sion of those French provinces which rather harassed than enriched, with little domestic com- motion, with no foreign wars, with an almost complete immunity from religious persecution. the nation turned to the arts of peace. An un- equaled literature arose. The age that produced Spenser, Shakespeare, and Bacon couUl not be other than famous. Under Frobishcr and Drake maritime adventure began, and the foundations of the British navy were hiid. Commerce, from being a small matter in the hands of a few for- eign merchants, assumed great proportions. The Exchange of London was opened in Elizabeth's time, and in the charter which she granted to that company of merchants which afterwards took the name of the East India Company may lie seen one of the small beginnings of the vast colonial Rritish Empire. The .social condition of the ]X!opk' also greatly improved in her reign. The crowds of vagalionds which the mcmastic in- stitutions had fostered, and which had l)een in- creased by the eviction of tenants on monastery lands, died out, or were absorbed in industrial employments. The last traces of bondage disap- ])eared. Sinuiltaneously with the growth of greater comfort and intelligence in the people. Parliament began to assert with greater vigor its constitutional rights. The right of the Com- mons to free speech, and to initiate all money bills, was steadily asserted, and the right of the Crown to grant monopolies or to issue proclama- tions having the force of law vigorously assailed, and the reign of Elizabeth may be said to mark the transition from media>val to modern England. There is abundant original material for a biog- raphy of Elizabetli. Chief among the sources is the Caleiiilar of State Papers of her reign, espe- cially the Spaiiiah Series, ed. by M. A. S. Hume (London, I.S!)2-!tn) . li:he Manuscripts at Hatfield House (Royal Historical JISS. Conunission. 1888- 9,t) are most useful: as are the Biir/jhieij Papers, ed. by S. Hayes (London, 1740) and V. Murdin (London. 17")!)) : Si/thicy Papers, ed. by A.Collins (London. 1740) : Miseellaneoas State Papers^ ed. by Earl of Hardwicke (London, 1778) ; and others. Several of the Camden Socieli/ Piihlica- fions are also very useful: Letters of Elizabeth and. James VI.. ed." bv ,T. Bruce (1849) : Macluin's Diarii. ed. by J. G.' Nichols (1848) : and IVrt?- singiiam's Chronicle, Camden Jliscellany (1847- 7.5). The most important contcmjiorary account of the reign is that by V. Caml)dcn. History of Queen Elizabeth (ld-22), and a continuation by Gotlwin in Kennet's Complete Uistory of England (London, 1740). Consult: Strype, .4.n- tials of the Reformation (new ed., Oxford, 1824), a standard for ecclesiastical matters; and D'Ewes. ./ournals of All the Parliaments of the h'eifin of Queen Elizabeth, ed. by P. Bowes (Lon- don, 1082) .which is indispensable. Among modern authorities the most detailed account of the reign is to be found in Froude, Historii of England, vols, vii.-xii. (New York, 1870) ; Wright, Queen Elizabeth and Her Times (London, ISIiS). based on private letters of the reign : Creighton. Queen Elizabeth (London, 1899), a good poi)ular life; but perhaps the best is A. Jessup's excellent ar- ticle in the Dietionarii of Ifational liiofiraphy. Strickland's "Lives of the Queens of England" (New York, 1867) contains a life of Elizabeth which is useful as a per.sonal menuiir, and Wie- sener's La jeunesse d' Elisabeth d'Anglelerre, l,5.i.i-.JS (Paris. 1878. English translation by 0. M. Young. 1879). deals with Elizabeth's youth. For the constitutional development of Elizabeth's reign consult: The works of Hallam, i. eh. 5; Tavlor, ii., bk. iv., ch. 5; Gneist, ii., chs. .'JO-.'je,