Spain and the King of France were both very powerful sovereigns, and each of them had large armies, whilst Elizabeth had no regular army at all. But she knew that as they hated one another more than they hated her, the King of France would never allow the King of Spain to conquer England, and that the King of Spain would never allow the King of France to conquer England. She therefore believed that she would be quite safe from either of them. She made peace with, France, and attended to her own affairs.

2. Elizabeth and the Church. It was more difficult for Elizabeth to know what to do about the Church. More than half the people would have been glad to have been allowed to go on worshipping like their fathers, in the way in which Roman Catholics do now. A small number of people would have liked the services of the English Church of the time of Edward VI. to be revived. A large number of people, who came to be called Puritans, would have been glad to worship as Protestants did on the Continent, very much in the way in which Dissenters do now. Elizabeth was afraid to let either the Roman Catholics or the Puritans have their way. She wanted to keep the peace, and she was quite sure that if either of these had all the churches, those who were not allowed to have the churches would try to get them by force. She did not think of letting both have churches to themselves, as is done now. She was afraid lest there should be quarrels amongst them, and she therefore wished that all men should worship in only one way, and

she hoped that they would learn to be friendly with one another, instead of persecuting one another. She found that Parliament was ready to agree with her in this, and so the Prayer Book which had been made at the end of the reign of Edward VI. was altered a little, and ordered to be used in all churches. No other sort of service was to be permitted anywhere. The bishops who had placed themselves under the Pope in Mary's time were deprived of their bishoprics, and new ones were consecrated. There was to be no inquiry to find out what men believed, or any attempt to punish them for believing either the Roman Catholic or any other doctrine. But the Queen expected that every one should go to church. 3. The Reformation in Scotland.—Elizabeth had a rival in Mary Queen of Scots. Mary was very beautiful and very clever. She had been married to the King of France. Whilst she was away, Scotland was ruled by her mother as Regent. A large number of the Scottish people turned Protestant, and insisted on putting an end to the Roman Catholic worship in Scotland, whilst the Scottish nobles wanted to seize the lands of the clergy for themselves. The Regent, to prevent this, sent for some French soldiers. Elizabeth, who was afraid lest, if the French soldiers conquered Scotland, they would try to conquer England too, sent an army to Scotland, and drove the French out. Soon after this the Regent died. Mary's husband died about the same time, and she came back as a young widow to rule in Scotland. Though she was herself a firm Roman Catholic, the Protestants were so many

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.

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. Many of the English lords were friendly to Mary. The Duke of 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 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

common.