Elizabeth

(e-liz ah-běth,) queen-regnant of England, B. at Green wich Palace, 1533, was the daughter of Henry VIII. by his second consort, Anne Boleyn. She early evinced a strong attachment to the Protestant faith, on which latter account she, during the reign of her sister Mary, suffered persecution and imprisonment in the Tower of London. Succeeding Mary on the throne in 1558, to the great joy of the nation, she declined a marital alliance with Philip II. of Spain, and re-established the Protestant worship. In 1559 an act of Parliament was pa ed which vested the ecclesiastical supremacy in the crown. In 1562 she despatched money and men to aid the French Huguenots. Peace with France was declared in 1564, after which period a peace of nearly a quarter of a century conduced largely to the progre and prosperity of the nation, both at home and abroad. In 1588, Philip of Spain, to revenge himself upon E., and to vindicate the Catholic cause generally, fitted out that expedition against England known in history as the Spanish Armada. This projected invasion ended in the utter ruin of the Spanish fleet. In 1568, the imprudent rival of E., Mary, driven out of Scotland by her rebellious subjects,sought refuge in England, where she was retained a prisoner, thus giving rise to conspiracy after conspiracy among the English Catholics. After long years of confinement, she was executed in 1587. E. D. in 1603. Her personal character has naturally been depicted in very different colors by the Catholics and the Protestants. Vanity, jealousy, inconstancy, selfishne , unwomanly hardne , and fondne for unworthy favorites such as the earls of Leicester and E ex, are too obvious features of her character; but she was a wise, sagacious, and courageous sovereign; and her patriotic devotion to popular rights, interests, and institutions, gained for her the title of " Good Queen Be ." Her reign, adorned by the names and deeds of Shakspeare, Bacon, Sidney, Spenser, Raleigh, Drake, besides a constellation of le er heroes, statesmen, and men of letters, has been called the "Golden Age " of English history. [s. 325]