On the accession of her brother Edward VI she en- countered other risks than those she had been previ- ously exposed to. In her infancy her hand had been designed for the duke of Orleans, third son of Francis I ; it was offered to the earl of Arran, and declined Vty him ; it was then proposed for Philip of Spain. Un- der Edward VI, admiral Sej^mour, the brother of the lord protector, hesitated between seeking the hand of Mary, Elizabeth, or the lady Jane Grey. He finally accepted that of the queen dowager, but did not dis- continue his amorous attentions, and renewed his ad- dresses to the princess Elizabeth on his wife's death. Her fair fame was impeached hy her encouragement of his devotions ; and this furnished one of the charges against him which resulted in his execution.
New dangers encompassed her on the death of her brother. Dudley, earl of Northumberland, father of the earl of Leicester, the subsequent favorite, had per- suaded the boy-king, in his last illness, to set aside both his sisters on the ground of their illegitimacy, and to Ijequeath the crown to the lady Jane Grey (great-niece of Henrj'- VIII), who had recently been married to his fourth son, lord Guilford Dudley. Rid- le}^, bishop of London, preached vehemently in favor of lady Jane, and against any supposed title of Mary and Elizabeth, both of whom were regarded as Roman Catholic, and favorable to the restoration of the old relifjion. Northumberland offered lands and money to Elizabeth to induce her to renounce her claims, but she adroitly evaded his proposals.
The legitimacy of Mary was declared by Parlia- ment, which thus stigmatized anew the birth of Eliza- beth. She conformed to the rites of the Roman Cath- olic Church with some reluctance, but was viewed with suspicion. In 1554 she was implicated, in connection with her dissolute suitor, Courtenay, earl of Devon- shire, in Wyat's conspiracy, and was confined to the Tower for two months. Her death was demanded ; but Philip II, now the husband of Marv, interposed, and she was put under surveillance at Woodstock. Philip proposed to bestow her upon Emanuel Phili- bert, duke of Savoy, who afterwards married, accord- ing to the provisions of the treaty of Cateau-Cambre- sis, Margaret of France.
These points may appear trivial in a rapid notice of the life and reign of Elizabeth, but they affected both III.— L
the development of her character and the policy of her government. The death of queen Mary exposed her to untried difficulties, requiring discernment, resolu- tion, and singular good fortune. Her accession to the throne was unchallenged in Parliament, and was heard with demonstrations of joy by the populace of London. She herself, however, in her retiiement at Hatfield, recognised the gravity of the occasion. She had been declared illegitimate and incapable of the crown by her father, by her brother, by the Star-Chamber, by the Convocation, and twice Ijy act of Parliament. For the last twenty years the religion of England had been determined by royal edicts and parliamcutar}' enact- ments. The majority of the people were Roman Catli- olic in consequence of the measures of the late reign. Elizabeth, in the presence of her dying sister, had "prayed God that the earth might open and swallow her alive if she were not a true Roman Catholic." But, if Roman Catholicism remained the national creed, her tenure of the crown would be wholly precarious, as the illegitimacy of her birth would be inevitably and irre- fragably maintained. The superior title of Mary, queen of Scots, would prevail, perhaps, with the aid of French arms, while the Brandon or Suffolk line might seek Spanish support. Roman Catholic her government could not be ; but, if she renounced Rome, she united the religious with the political enthusiasm of France, under the instigation of the Guises, against her reign, and alienated or provoked Philip II, then aspiring to universal dominion, and having in his own person some claims to the English throne, which he after- wards advanced. He had hastened to tender his wid- owed heart and hand to the new queen immediately on the death of her sister. Could she venture to re- ject it at once, while his party "was still strong, and in possession of all places of influence in England^ — while her own throne was still uncertain ? She temporized, she coquetted, she entertained his proposals till she could reject them. She did not fully renounce the old and lately restored religion. She retained the cruci- fix and lights in her private chapel, and throughout her life addressed prayers to the Virgin. But she gradually abolished the most distinctive practices of the Papal Church, and established by act of Parlia- ment her ecclesiastical supremacj'. Her own Protes- tantism was always political rather than religious; the creed was less important to her than the political submission of the people. Her first measures were very cautious, and were adroitly introduced by her great minister. Sir William Cecil, who guided her councils till his death, forty years after. So insecure was her hold upon the sceptre, that in the year of her coronation her title was denied by pope Paul IV, and also by John Knox, who had written a diatribe against the intolerable regimen of ivomen, and who at this time addressed a letter to the queen to persuade her to sur- render her crown.