that she was obliged to allow her subjects to do as they pleased about religion. Elizabeth was not likely to be well pleased with having a Roman Catholic queen so near her, and was therefore not displeased that the Scottish people differed in their religion from their own Queen, as this might make them. less ready to help her against England.

4. Mary Queen of Scots in Scotland.-Elizabeth was the more afraid of Mary because the Queen of Scots was not merely a Roman Catholic, but claimed to have a right to be Queen of England as well as of Scotland. She was the granddaughter of the eldest sister of Henry VIII.; and she said that, as Elizabeth's mother, Anne Boleyn, had never been properly the wife of Henry, Elizabeth had no right to the throne. Elizabeth was therefore not sorry to hear that Mary before long got into trouble at home. She married a foolish cousin of hers named Lord Darnley, and one night the house in which Darnley was sleeping was blown up with gunpowder. He managed to escape, but he was killed in the garden as he was running away. It cannot be said with certainty whether Mary ordered the murder or not, but almost every one in Scotland thought that she did. Her subjects took her prisoner, and shut her up in Loch Leven Castle. She managed, however, to escape, and found some friends ready to fight for her. But she was beaten, and had to fly for her life to England. When she arrived there, she sent to ask Elizabeth to help her to the throne again.

5. Mary Queen of Scots in England.-It was not very likely that Elizabeth would do that. She was

afraid lest the English Roman Catholics might rebel against herself, and set up Mary for their queen. She therefore put Mary in confinement, giving her in charge to the owners of one country house after another, with directions not to let her escape.

Many of the The Duke of

6. The Rising in the North.-The captivity of Mary did not bring peace to Elizabeth. The Pope declared the Queen to be a heretic, and ordered her subjects to refuse obedience to her. English lords were friendly to Mary. Norfolk wanted to marry her, and to share her claim to the English throne. In the north of England most of the people, as well as the lords, were longing to see the old religion restored, as in the days of Henry VIII. they had longed to see the monasteries restored. There was a great rebellion, known as the Rising in the North. The rebels trooped into Durham Cathedral, tore up the Bible and Prayer Book, and found a priest to say mass once more. It was the last time that mass was ever said in any one of the old cathedrals of England. But the greater number of the English Catholics refused to fight against Elizabeth. Her troops put down the rebellion without difficulty. She was usually merciful; but she was too frightened to be merciful now, and large numbers of the rebels were pitilessly hanged. Not long afterwards she learned that there was a plot to assassinate her, and that there had been some talk of sending a Spanish army to England, to put Mary in her place. She discovered that Norfolk knew of this, and she had Norfolk tried and executed.

7. Prosperity of the Country.-Englishmen were

the more ready to support Elizabeth because the country was prospering. There was more trade than there had ever been before, because Elizabeth kept her people at peace with other nations. Men learned to farm better than they had done, and to manufacture cloth at home instead of buying it from abroad. The vessels which carried English productions abroad were very small, no larger than coasting vessels are now, but they were manned with hardy seamen. Almost every one had a share in this increase of wealth. Gentlemen decked themselves in gorgeous attire, and wore silks and velvets of brilliant colours. Other ranks profited in a more sensible way. Meat was eaten where salt fish had been eaten before, and men were all the healthier for it. Houses were built with chimneys instead of holes in the roof, to let the smoke out. Beds were provided with pillows, which a little time before had been used only by sick people. In the reign of Henry VII. the great Earl of Northumberland, when he left one of his houses for a time, took care to have the glass of the windows taken down and packed away, because glass was far too rare and precious to be left to the chance of being broken. In Elizabeth's time the use of glass was becoming common. Even for those who had no money to buy glass or pillows something was done. At first collections of money were made in churches for honest people who were too old or too sick to work; and after a time there was a law, known as the Poor Law, ordering that each parish should provide for all who were ready to work, but could not find work to do

Nobody was to be allowed to starve, and no one who robbed or cheated was to be able to say with truth that he could not keep himself alive in any other way.

8. Ill-feeling against Spain.-All this prosperity made Englishmen honour Elizabeth. At the same time, they disliked Spain more and more every year. Philip II., the King of Spain, who had been the husband of Queen Mary of England, ruled over many countries in Europe, and did all that he could to prevent any one in them from becoming a Protestant. In the Netherlands he had so many people burnt, and he made his subjects pay such heavy taxes, that at last some of them rose in rebellion. Philip had large and brave armies, and he did his best to put down the rebellion. His soldiers and generals were very cruel, and when they took a town they massacred the men and women in it. But the rebels struggled on, and by-and-by there was a free Dutch Republic which Philip could not conquer. The stories of Philip's cruelty were told in England, and set Englishmen against him. Many Englishmen began to think that it was a righteous thing to attack a king who did such things, and they were not at all sorry that there was plenty to be got by attacking him successfully. Besides the countries which he governed in Europe, he had many lands in America, and in these lands there were rich silver mines, from which a large fleet came with silver for him every year. English sailors paid little respect to Philip. They sailed amongst the West India Islands, which belonged to Spain, and bought and sold though he forbade them Many of them sold poor negroes,

whom they had taken prisoners in Africa, without thinking that they were doing anything wrong. Sometimes they attacked and plundered Spanish vessels. Philip whenever he caught them threw them into prison, and sometimes had them treated very badly, because they were Protestants. Though there was no open war against Spain, many Englishmen hated the Spaniards so, that they thought it would be doing a good work to carry off some of all this wealth to England; and all English sailors believed that it was quite fair to fight the Spaniards in America, whether there was war in Europe or not. One of these sailors was Francis Drake. He was born in Devonshire, and the Devonshire sailors were bold and active men. In 1572 he found his way to the New World, landed at Panama, and seized a large quantity of silver. Before he returned he caught sight of the Pacific, threw himself on his knees, and prayed to God that he might one day sail on that sea, where no Englishman had ever sailed before.

10. Drake's Voyage.- Five years later Drake sailed again from Plymouth. He had with him five vessels, so small that they were manned by no more than 164 men. When he reached the Straits of Magellan he knew no better than to pass through that dangerous passage, where the storm-wind blows in wild gusts in the windings of the channel. It was the only way to the Pacific then known, as it was believed that Terra del Fuego was the northern end of a great continent reaching to the South Pole. When Drake's own vessel, the Pelican, at last entered the open sea, it was alone. The other four little vessels had either been sunk or had been driven back.