"take care that the people be well armed, and "in readiness upon all occafions.

You that be Judges and Juftices of the Peace, I command "and ftraitly charge you, that you see the laws "to be duly executed, and that you make them living laws when we have put life into them."

Puttenham tells us, that when fome English Knight, who had behaved himself very insolently towards this Queen, while fhe was Princess Elizabeth, fell upon his knees before her, foon after fhe became the Sovereign of these kingdoms, and befought her to pardon him, fufpecting (as there was good caufe) that he should have been fent to the Tower, fhe faid to him, very mildly, "Do you not know that we are defcended of the «lion, whofe nature is, not to prey upon the "mouse, or other small vermin?"

Osborne, in his Memoirs of Queen Elizabeth, tells this story of her :-That one of her purvey-ors having behaved with fome injustice in the county of Kent, one of the farmers of that county went to the Queen's palace at Greenwich, and watching the time when the Queen went to take her ufual walk in the morning, cried out loud enough for her Majefty to hear, " Pray which is "the Queen?" She replied very graciously, "I am your Queen; what would you have with

"me?"

"me?""You (replied the farmer) are one of "the rarest women I ever faw, and can eat no "more than my daughter Madge, who is thought "the properest lafs in the parish, though far “short of you: but that Queen Elizabeth I "look for devours fo many of my ducks, hens, "and capons, as I am not able to live."

The Queen, as Osborne adds, always aufpicious to fuits made through the mediation of her comely fhape, enquired who was the purveyor, and caufed him to be hanged,

What pardon could the Earl of Effex hope from Queen Elizabeth, when it had been reported to her, that he had faid her mind was grown as crooked as her body?

"As to her own perfonal qualities," fays Strype, "she was a Queen that eafily forgave

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private injuries, but a fevere difpenfer of com

mon justice, favouring none in their crimes, "nor leaving them hopes of impunity. She cut off all licentioufness from all, giving no coun

tenance thereunto to any. This precept of "Plato fhe always fet before her in all her doings,

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That laws fhould rule over men, and not that men should rule, and be lords, over the laws. "Befides this, fhe was a Prince that leaft of all "defired

L 4

"defired the estates and goods of her fubjects; "and for her own treafure, fhe commanded it "to be frugally and fparingly laid out for her "private pleasure, but royally and liberally for << any public use, whether it were for common "benefit or domeftic magnificence."

The proficiency in learning of this great Princefs is thus defcribed by Roger Afcham, in his "Schoolmafter :"

"It is to your shame (I speak to you all, you yong Jentlemen of England) that one Mayd "fhould go beyond you all in excellencie of

::

learnyng, and knowledge of divers tonges. "Pointe forth fix of the best given Jentlemen of "this Court, and all they together shew not fo "much good-will, spend not so much tyme, be"ftow not fo many houres dayly, orderly, and "conftantly, for the increase of learnyng and knowledge, as doth the Queene's Majestie "herselfe. Yea I believe, that befide her per"fect readines in Latin, Italian, French, and "Spanish, fhe readeth here now at Windfore "more Greeke every day than fome Prebendarie "of this Church doth read Latin in a whole "weeke. And that which is most praise-worthy "of all, within the walls of her Privie-Chamber "fhe hath obteyned that excellencie of learning, "to understand, fpeak, and write both wittily

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"with head, and faire with hand, as fcarce one or two rare Wittes in both the Univerfities have in many yeares reached unto."

Queen Elizabeth made many progreffes through her kingdom. The account of the preparations made at Canterbury for receiving her Majefty are thus described in a letter of Matthew Parker, Archbishop of Canterbury, copied from the original at the Bodleian Library in Oxford,

SIR,

1

"Gladlie would I do all the fervice I could to "the Queenes Majestie, and to all her Nobiles, "with the rest of her moft honourable household. "I have no other council to followe, but to fearche out what service my predeceffors have been wont to doe. My oft diftemperance and "infirmitie of bodye maketh me not to do fo

much as I woulde. If her Majestie would "please to remayne in my house, her Highness "fhould have convenient rome. And I could "place for a progreffe-time your Lordship, my "Lord Chamberlaine, my Lord of Leicester, and "Mr. Hatton, if he come home: thinkinge "that your Lordfhips will furnishe the places with

your own stuffe. They faie that myne house "is of an evill aire, hanging upon the church, "and having no profpect to loke on the people, "but yet I trufte the conveniencie of the build

ing would ferve. If her Hyghness be minded "to have her own palace at St. Auftens, then "might your Lordships be otherwife placed, with "the Deane and certain Prebendaries. Mr. "Lawte, Prebendary, would fayn have your "Lordship in his convenient house, trusting the "rather to doe your Lordship now fervice, as "he did once in teaching Grammar Schoole in "Stamford, by your appointment. Mr. Bungey "alfo would be glad to have your Lordship in "his lodging, where the Frenche Cardinal laye, " and his house is fayer and fufficient. Mr. "Pearfon would gladly have your Lordship in his faire houfe, moft fit for your Lordship, if you think fo good.

"The custome hath beene when Princes have "come to Caunterbury, for the Bishop the Deane ❝and the Chapter to waite on them at the weft "end of their Churche, and fo to attend on "them, and there to heare an oration.

After

that her Highness may goe under a canopye "till fhe cometh to the middle of the Churche, "where certain prayers fhall be fayde, and after "that to wayte on her Highness through the

ત Quier to the Communion Table to heare the ❝even-fonge, fo afterwardes to departe to her "own lodginge. Or elfe, upon Sonday follow

ing, (if it be her pleasure,) to come from her houfe of St. Auftens by the new bridge, and

"fa