p.

1603. Elizabeth I. of England died; she was succeeded by James VI. of Scotland, who thus became James I. of the United Kingdom.—Froude, Eng., vol. xii. 580; Green, Eng., p. 453. 1607. The first permanent settlement in North America was made by the English at Jamestown, Virginia.— Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 269.

1609. The Hudson River was discovered by Henry Hudson.-Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 351.

1610. Henry IV. of France was assassinated and his son, Louis XIII., succeeded to the throne.- White, France, p. 296.

1614. New York was settled by the Dutch at New Amsterdam.-Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 359; Irv. Knick. N. Y., ch. viii.

1618. Sir Walter Raleigh was beheaded.-Bright, Eng., р. 601.

1620. Massachusetts was settled by the Puritans at New Plymouth.-Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 387.

1623. New Hampshire was settled at Portsmouth and Dover by the English.-Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 333. 1625. James I. of England died; he was succeeded by his son, Charles I.-Pict. Eng., vol. iii. p. 2; Green, Eng., p. 486. 1633. Connecticut was settled by the English at Windsor. -Loss. U. S., p. 82; Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 548. 1634. Maryland was settled by Lord Baltimore.—Bry. U. S., vol. i. p. 490.

1636. Rhode Island was settled by Roger Williams.Loss. U. S., p. 89.

War.- Gard. Thirty Yrs. War; Rus. Mod. E., vol. i. p. 550.

1649. Charles I. was beheaded and the English Commonwealth was founded.-Hume, Eng., vol. v. ch. lix.; Bright, Eng., p. 608; Green, Eng., p. 555; Rus. Mod. E., vol. ii. p. 137.

1658. Oliver Cromwell died and his son Richard became Lord Protector of the Commonwealth. — Car. Crom.; Green, Eng., p. 579; Rus. Mod. E., vol. ii. p. 146.

1660. The monarchy was restored in England and Charles II. became king.-Rus. Mod. E., vol. ii. p. 167; Pict. Eng., vol. iii. p. 662; Guest, Eng.; Green, Eng.

1663. Carolina was settled by the English.-Loss. U. S., p. 97.

1664. New Jersey was settled at Elizabethtown by the English.-Loss. U. S., p. 93.

1665. The Great Plague raged in London.-Pep. Mem., vol. ii. p. 288.

1666. The Great Fire broke out in London.-Pep. Mem., vol. ii. p. 439.

1674. John Milton, England's greatest epic poet, died.— Mac. Es., vol. i. p. 202.

1682. Pennsylvania was settled by the Quakers under William Penn.-Loss. U. S., p. 94; Bry. U. S.

1683. John Sobieski, King of Poland, compelled the Turks to raise the siege of Vienna.-Creas. Ot. T., p. 292. 1685. Charles II. of England died; he was succeeded by his brother, James II.-Bright, Eng., p. 722; Green, Eng., p. 642.

1642. Cardinal Richelieu died.-James, Louis XIV., vol.

i. p. 19; White, France, p. 311.

1642. Galileo, the great Italian philosopher, died. 1643. Louis XIII. of France died; he was succeeded by his son, Louis XIV.-James, Louis XIV., vol. i. p. 27; White, France, p. 308. 1648. The Peace of Westphalia closed the Thirty Years'

James, Louis XIV., vol. ii. p. 293; White, France, p. 367.

1688. James II. of England abdicated and William and

Mary ascended the throne.-Mac. Eng., vol. ii. ch. x.; Rus. Mod. E., vol. ii. p. 241; Bright, Eng., p. 761.

1692. The Witchcraft delusion raged at Salem.-Ban. U. S., vol. iii. p. 84.

1603. Death of Queen Elizabeth. Accession of James I.

QUI

UEEN ELIZABETH ascended the throne of England in 1558 amid the most enthusiastic rejoicings. The fortunes of the country had sunk to a very low ebb through the bloodshed and misgovernment of the previous reign, and all eyes turned to Elizabeth as the one hope of the nation. In the first speech she made to her Parliament she said that "nothing, no worldly thing under the sun, was so dear to her as the love and good will of her subjects." And these she fully gained. Throughout her reign she was the pride and idol of the English nation.

Elizabeth showed the greatest wisdom in the choice of her counsellors. The chief of these statesmen was Cecil, afterwards Lord Burleigh, by whose advice she was guided in the leading transactions of her reign.

One of her first measures was the restoration of Protestantism. This work was not completed until 1562, when the Church of England was established in its present form through the labors of Archbishop Parker.

There were at this time three religious parties, -the Churchmen, members of the Established Church; the Roman Catholics; and the Puritans, so called because they desired a simpler form of worship than that used by either the Churchmen or the Roman Catholics.

A new law called the Act of Conformity, which allowed no places of worship except those of the Established Church, was the cause of the imprisonment of many Catholics and Puritans. Some even were now put to death for disobeying the new laws with regard to religion.

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As yet no one could realize that differences of opinion on matters of religion as well as other things are natural and even desirable, and that these different feelings and opinions are only the different ways of arriving at the truth, which is too great and high for any one mortal to grasp altogether.

Elizabeth was the last of her family, and if she left no child the young Queen of Scotland would be heir to the throne. But Mary was a Roman Catholic and Queen of France besides. The Protestants objected to her Catholicism, while all parties disliked the prospect of England's ever becoming a dependency of France. Everybody therefore implored Elizabeth to marry. She had innumerable suitors among the crowned heads and great nobles of Europe, but she never would say "no" and she never would say "yes," and in the end she remained the Virgin Queen with her power undivided.

Under Elizabeth's prudent and peaceful administration the country made wonderful growth in wealth and social energy. The commerce of the nation began to develop with great rapidity. The hope of a northern passage to India led to the discovery of Archangel and opened up trade with Russia. Traffic in gold-dust and ivory was carried on with the nations of Guinea, and the fisheries on the coast of Newfoundland were constantly increasing in importance. Sir Francis Drake won renown by making a voyage around the world. Sir Walter Raleigh established colonies upon the American coast.

During these years of quiet progress and development patriotism became more and more a passion in the hearts of men, and whatever might be their religious differences, all took

the political ground of liberty against tyranny, -of England against foreign invasion. We now come to the greatest event of Elizabeth's reign, the defeat of the Spanish Armada. There had long been rivalry between Philip II. of Spain and Elizabeth. Philip had never quite forgiven Elizabeth's rejection of his offer of marriage, and she had aroused his wrath by the assistance (little as it was) which she had given the Netherlanders in their war for independence. The death of Mary Stuart (1587), who had bequeathed her claim to the English crown to Philip, gave him an opportunity to carry out his favorite plan of invading and conquering England. When the English learned that the King of Spain was coming to drive away their queen and make himself king, their hearts all rose-Catholic and Protestant-as the heart of one man. They remembered only that they were Englishmen, and they flew to arms in defence of their country. A fleet of eighty ships-many of them merely yachts-was hurriedly gathered, but at best it was very insignificant compared with the one that was coming. Philip's Armada contained one hundred and eighty vessels, large and strong. They were provided with two thousand five hundred cannon, and were commanded by the best naval officers of Spain. But down under the decks of these noble ships were more than two thousand miserable slaves, chained to the oars and working under the whip of a cruel master. Could an expedition succeed with such a canker hid in its heart? Small as were the English ships they were in perfect trim, and they carried on board the boldest and most brilliant sailors that ever sailed the seas,-Frobisher, Hawkins, and the famous Sir Francis Drake, whose name was a terror to the Spanish. At last the Invincible Armada appeared. As it sailed proudly up the English Channel, the little English fleet, which had been lying in wait at Plymouth, dropped in the rear and began a harassing and tormenting fire upon the enemy.

The Spanish admiral, Medina, tried hard to close upon the English and crush them, but the English ships moved so lightly and were so cleverly handled that the Spaniards could never catch them, while the Spanish shot flew wildly up in the air or down into the sea, doing no harm. At length the Spaniards reached Calais. At midnight Lord Howard, the English admiral, lighted eight fire-ships and sent them down with the tide upon the enemy. The great Spanish galleons cut their cables and drifted in panic out to sea. At dawn the English followed and poured their shot like rain upon the crowded ships. The Spanish began to grow disheartened. They had lost six of their great ships and four thousand men during the week of fighting. A council of war was held, and they resolved to retreat. But they could not go back, for the dreadful little English fleet was behind them. The only course open was to go around the north of Scotland and west of Ireland and so back to Spain. But a mightier foe than the English overtook them. When they reached the Orkneys, the storms of those northern latitudes broke upon them. in great fury and the coast was strewn with the wrecks of the ships and the bodies of the drowned. Fifty wretched shattered ships laden with sick and dying men found their way back to Spain. And this was all that was left of the Invincible Armada.

The defeat of the Armada was the highest point of Elizabeth's glory. Her later years. were sad and lonely. Her great counsellors, Burleigh and Walsingham, and Leicester, the only man whom perhaps she really loved, were all gone. The favorite of her old age was the young Earl of Essex. He was high-spirited, gallant, and accomplished, but Elizabeth's partiality placed him in positions far above his abilities, and eventually did him more harm than good. In 1599 he was sent as lord-lieutenant to Ireland, where a rebellion had broken out and where a wise ruler was needed. Essex,

who was neither wise nor firm, made an inglorious and useless peace-contrary to orders -and then returned to England. Then he entered into a plot to deprive the queen of her advisers, so that, as he said, she might govern of her own free will. His mad scheme failed, and he was tried and beheaded.* Elizabeth was never happy afterwards, and she gradually sunk into a state of melancholy. For days and nights she lay upon cushions on the floor, refusing to take food or medicine, and at last, sinking into a deep sleep, she passed quietly away, in the seventieth year of her age and the forty-fifth of her reign (1603).

No sovereign of England was ever so popular as Elizabeth. She was commanding in appearance, frank and hearty in her address, well educated, and always fond of gayety and splendor. But she had a great many faults. She was vain, fickle, self-willed, arbitrary, and in matters of diplomacy one of the greatest liars of the day. "A falsehood was to her simply an intellectual means of meeting a difficulty." She had a passionate temper, and would frequently interrupt her councils of state to swear at her ministers. But she loved England and always sought its peace, glory, and happiness. She found it plunged in the lowest depths of degradation,she left it mistress of the seas and ranking with the proudest nations in the world.

Elizabeth's reign is one of the most glorious in English literature. Spenser, Bacon, Shakespeare, Sidney, and a host of brilliant writers flourished during this period.

There is a story that Elizabeth had once given Essex a ring, telling him if he was ever in danger to send the jewel back to her and it would save him. When he was condemned to death Essex sent the ring, but by mistake it fell into the hands of his enemies, who of course prevented it from reaching the queen. Two years after the execution of Essex the Countess of Nottingham, who was dying, confessed to Elizabeth that the ring had been intrusted to her, and that her husband had influenced her not to deliver it to the queen.

Elizabeth shook the dying woman and said, “God may forgive

you, but I never will."

Elizabeth was succeeded by James VI. of Scotland, the son of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the nearest heir to the throne. England and Scotland were thus united under one monarchy.

1607. Settlement of Virginia.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth various unsuccessful attempts were made by the English to plant colonies in the New World. They claimed all the country stretching from Halifax to Cape Fear River. This immense territory was divided into North and South Virginia, and in 1606 was granted by James I. to two companies, known as the Plymouth Company and the London Company. The northern portion was granted to the Plymouth Company, who endeavored to plant a colony in the same year at the mouth of the Kennebec River, but the severity of the following winter discouraged the settlers and drove them back to England.

The London Company met with more success. In December, 1606, they sent over a band of more than a hundred persons to establish a colony on Roanoke, where in former years Sir Walter Raleigh had made an unsuccessful attempt to found a colony. But a storm carried the vessels beyond Roanoke into Chesapeake Bay. Coming at length to the mouth of a beautiful river, which they named after King James, the settlers sailed about fifty miles upstream, and there on a peninsula formed by the York and James Rivers laid the foundations of Jamestown (May, 1607), the oldest English settlement in America.

Unfortunately, the majority of the new-comers were "poor gentlemen," who were not only unaccustomed to labor but who also looked upon work as a degradation. Such men were ill fitted to become pioneers in a new country. Their idle and vicious habits brought great suffering upon themselves and reduced the colony to the verge of ruin. The management