than his or even his wife’s zeal in the cause of popery; and the political motives of his conduct are obvious. In the event of Mary dying without issue, the Queen of Scotland, who was actually betrothed, and soon after married to the Dauphin, stood next in succession to Elizabeth. Supposing the intermediate link in the chain to be broken, the crown of England, united to that of France, would give a fatal preponderance to the already formidable rival of the Spanish monarchy. Philip, therefore, had a direct interest both in preserving the life and conciliating the good will of the princess: he foresaw that the demise of his queen must take place before long, and he had formed the scheme of espousing her sister and successor, for which a dispensation would readily have been obtained from the pope. The reign of Elizabeth began November 17, 1558, when she was twenty-five years of age. Her person was graceful, her stature majestic, and her mien noble. Her features were not regular; but her eyes were lively and sparkling, and her complexion fair. Her spirit was high; and her strong natural capacity had been improved by the most enlarged education attainable in those days. She wrote letters in Italian before she was fourteen; and at the age of seventeen she had acquired the Latin, Greek, and French languages. In addition to these studies she had ventured on the high and various departments of philosophy, rhetoric, history, divinity, poetry, and music. As soon as she was fixed on the throne, her interest and her principles engaged her in plans for the restoration of the Protestant religion. For although Pope Pius IV. promised, on her submission to the papal supremacy, “to establish and confirm her royal dignity by his authority,” yet she must have felt, that with the avowal of popery would be coupled the virtual admission that her father’s divorce from Catherine of Arragon was null and void; and, consequently, that Anne Boleyn was not a wife but a concubine, and her own pretensions to the crown downright usurpation. It was only by rejecting the Pope as her judge that she could maintain her mother’s fair fame and her own legitimate descent. Many writers, Bayle among others, have attempted to prove that she was at heart little more of a Protestant than her father; and her determination to retain episcopacy was sufficient to raise that suspicion in the minds of the adherents to the presbyterian system of church government.