35. One great improvement was made in dress in this reign, by the invention of stockings, which, for a long time, were all knitted; but they were found much more convenient than the cloth hose, that everybody used to wear, till then. 36. Queen Elizabeth died, after a long, prosperous and peaceful reign, of forty-five years, in 1603, having named for her successor, her cousin, James Stuart, king of Scotland: and thus the two kingdoms of England and Scotland came to be united, and took the name of Great Britain. QUESTIONS. 1. What was the character of queen Elizabeth? 4. What was the fashion of riding at this period? 5. Mention the good and bad features of Elizabeth’s government. 6. How were new manufactures brought into England, and what were they? 8. What provision was made for the poor? 9. When was the Royal Exchange built, and by whom? 10. What was the origin of the East India Company? 13. Who was the first English captain that sailed round the world? 15. What honors were bestowed on him on his return? 19. How was the slave trade begun? 26. What was the Spanish Armada? 29. What celebrated author lived in this reign? 36. When did Elizabeth die? CHAPTER XV. THE STUARTS. FROM THE UNION TO THE REVOLUTION.--1603 TO 1689. [Illustration: CROMWELL EXPELLING THE MEMBERS OF PARLIAMENT.] 1. The people of Scotland did not like the union of the two kingdoms, at first, because the king and many of the nobility went away to live in London, which, as there was little trade, left Scotland in a very poor condition; and it was a long time, indeed, not before the people had experienced the great benefits of British trade and commerce, that they began to feel as a part of the English nation; but now that the English and Scots have become like one people, it is certainly much happier and better for both. 2. James had not been king two years, when a conspiracy was formed against the government, called the Gunpowder Plot. I cannot tell you for certain by whom it was contrived, but it was a wicked scheme to blow up the houses of parliament, when the king, and most of the lords and commons were there assembled; but, happily, it was discovered a short time before the meeting of parliament, and all the greatest men in the country were saved from a dreadful death. 3. James the First was not a good king, for he had a mistaken notion that a king ought to do whatever he liked; and that, if he wanted money he had a right to make new taxes, without the consent of parliament, and, in fact, he thought it unnecessary to have any parliament at all, and he taught his son Charles to be of the same opinion, which was the cause of that monarch’s untimely fate, and the civil wars that you will presently read about.