Where so many episodes are sketched, few of course can be fully developed; but there is a vivid manliness of the classic English type in such portraits as Lord William Howard and Sir Ralph Bagenhall--poor Sir Ralph, who declares that "Far liefer had I in my country hall Been reading some old book, with mine old hound Couch'd at my hearth, and mine old flask of wine Beside me," than stand as he does in the thick of the trouble of the time; and who finally is brought to his account for not having knelt with the commons to the legate of Charles V. We have a glimpse of Sir Thomas Wyatt's insurrection, and a portrait of that robust rebel, who was at the same time an editor of paternal sonnets--sonnets of a father who loved "To read and rhyme in solitary fields, The lark above, the nightingale below, And answer them in song." We have a very touching report of Lady Jane Grey's execution, and we assist almost directly at the sad perplexities of poor Cranmer's eclipse. We appreciate the contrast between the fine nerves and many-sided conscience of that wavering martyr, and the more comfortable religious temperament of Bonner and Gardiner--Bonner, apt "to gorge a heretic whole, roasted, or raw;" and Gardiner, who can say, "I've gulpt it down; I'm wholly for the Pope, Utterly and altogether for the Pope, The Eternal Peter of the changeless chair, Crowned slave of slaves and mitred king of kings. God upon earth! What more? What would you have?" Elizabeth makes several appearances, and though they are brief, the poet has evidently had a definite figure in his mind's eye. On a second reading it betrays a number of fine intentions. The circumspection of the young princess, her high mettle, her coquetry, her frankness, her coarseness, are all rapidly glanced at. Her exclamation-- "I would I were a milkmaid, To sing, love, marry, churn, brew, bake, and die, And have my simple headstone by the church, And all things lived and ended honestly"-- marks one limit of the sketch; and the other is indicated by her reply to Cecil at the end of the drama, on his declaring, in allusion to Mary, that "never English monarch dying left England so little": "But with Cecil's aid And others', if our person be secured From traitor stabs, we will make England great!" The middle term is perhaps marked by her reception of the functionary who comes to inform her that her sister bids her know that the King of Spain desires her to marry Prince Philibert of Savoy: "I thank you heartily, sir, But I am royal, tho' your prisoner, And God hath blessed or cursed me with a nose-- Your boots are from the horses."