DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

13 of the huge American continent, and had extended her sway over Naples and Sicily. She owned the inexhaustible gold, silver, and diamond mines of Peru, Venezuela, the Brazils, and Mexico, and was now preparing to sweep the seas with her tre- mendous fleet, and to invade England with an overwhelming force. France, on her side, had already wrested from England her possessions on the Continent. In Scotland, Elizabeth’s cousin, Mary Stuart, Queen Dowager of France, had become Queen Regnant, and, influenced by her French connexions, put forth claims to the throne of Elizabeth. En- dowed with great personal charms and_ intellectual gifts, but devoid of principle, she succeeded in fomenting discord among the subjects of Elizabeth, gathering many English adherents to her cause, and hiring emissaries to attempt the life of the Queen. Such were the forces against which Eliza- beth had to contend. At home, a discontented people divided against itself by religious fanaticism ; abroad, the ambitious and greedy foreigner. Ruin stared England in the face, her only hope lay in the Queen. The character of Elizabeth presents the greatest contrasts, combining heroic qualities with the mean- est defects. In appearance she was tall, graceful, and dignified, with a_ brilliant complexion and