3. It was no easy task which lay before the young queen. She had to govern a people sharply divided into two parties, calling themselves Catholics and Protestants, ever ready in those days to bite and devour one another. Elizabeth endeavoured from the first to reign, not as queen of this party or that, but as queen of all her people. In her religious opinions, however, she leaned to the Protestant side. She was decidedly in favour of a National Church, in which the Pope had no power, and at her request her first Parliament restored the English Bible and Prayer-book to their former place in public worship. 4. Elizabeth was not without her faults. She was vain and fond of flattery, and sometimes mean and deceitful. But in the management of affairs of state she always sought the greatness of England. Although she had able ministers, she steered the ship of state herself. She loved to pilot her vessel in troubled waters, and to take a zigzag course, but so skilfully did she handle the helm that she avoided the shoals and rocks that lay in her course. 5. Elizabeth's great endeavour was to keep her country out of war. And so well did she succeed that she secured for England almost unbroken peace for thirty years, not peace at any price, but "peace with honour." She never yielded to threats, she never drew back a single inch when the honour of England bade her stand firm. She stood again and again on the brink of war, either with France or Spain. But so jealous were these powers of each other, and so full were their hands of their own home troubles, that the wily queen was able to play off one against the other, and get her own way without going to war. Owing to the long peace she secured, and the strict economy she practised, England constantly grew in prosperity and power. 6. Another lasting good Elizabeth wrought for her country. Before her day Scotland had always joined France when the latter went to war with England, and so close was the alliance at the time of Elizabeth's accession that Queen Mary of Scotland was married to the King of France, and French troops were quartered in Edinburgh. Elizabeth put herself at the head of the Scotch Protestants, who, with the help of her fleet and army, soon drove out the French. This action of Elizabeth put an end for ever to the alliance between France and Scotland. It created a friendly feeling between the Protestants of England and Scotland, and prepared the way for the peaceful union between the two crowns on Elizabeth's death. 7. Happily, that death was far distant, and when it occurred all England was ready to acknowledge James of Scotland as king. But had Elizabeth died young, the country would have been thrown into utter disorder, if not civil war. That danger at one time seemed imminent.