DIGITISED MANUSCRIPTS

(“383 which has become a more powerful instrument than fleets and armies to check injustice, and advocate the cause of civil and religious liberty. The East India Company came into existence while Elizabeth was on the throne, and the first immediate connexion with our present Indian Empire was formed. The veneration in which her memory is held is still proved even in trifling matters, In the early days of her life she resided at Hatfield, at present the property of Lord Salisbury, and the owner of that noble domain points with legitimate pride to the tree under which Elizabeth sat when she received the news of her accession to the throne. In many of the country-houses she has visited, the bed in which she slept is still shown as the most revered relic. Elizabeth is known to posterity by two names; the ‘Good Queen Bess’ and the ‘Virgin Queen.’ The first of these titles was given her by the humbler portion of her subjects, the latter she earned from the maiden state she preserved until her death. This arose not from any lack of suitors ; no woman ever had so many offers of marriage. There was no marriageable prince or sovereign in Europe, no great noble of her own realm, who did not sue for the honour of her hand. The kings of France, of Spain, and of Sweden, wooed her in vain.