Queen Elizabeth was never an idle woman. Long before day, in winter, she transacted business with her Secretaries of state, heard public documents, and gave her orders concerning them. After breakfast she would promenade in her garden or the corridors of the palace, as the weather prompted, attended by some learned gentlemen of the court, with whom she discussed intellectual topics, and a portion of each day was devoted to study.
She observed strictly all the fast-days prescribed by the church. She was a moderate eater, and seldom drank anything but beer; when she dined in public the table was magnificently spread, with a profusion of costly plate, for she was fond of displaying her riches, particularly before foreign ambassadors. Her cup-bearer always served her on his knees, and music and singing accompanied the banquet.
At supper, when the cares of the day were over, the queen would chat freely and pleasantly with her court, and the evenings were passed with chess-playing, music, or recitations and stories by the famous comedian, Tarleton, and others. She was fond of apes and dogs, but, beyond all, of children, with whom she loved to talk and amuse herself.
As a rule, Elizabeth treated her attendants well; but when her temper got the upper hand, which was not seldom, she descended to the level of a common virago, and more than once struck some maid of honor for a trifling offence. But these outbursts of rage were reserved for the people of the palace; her other subjects witnessed only sweetness and good humor.
Her impulses were good, as she proved in the case of Margaret Lambrun, a Scottish woman, whose husband was supposed to have died of grief because of the tragic fate of the Queen of Scots, in whose service he was. Margaret took the desperate resolution to avenge his death; so, disguised in male attire, she proceeded, with a concealed brace of pistols, to the English court, with the intention of killing the queen with one and herself with the other. One day, when her majesty was walking in the garden of the palace, Margaret made her way through the crowd so as to get near enough to make sure of her aim, but in her excitement she dropped one of the pistols. She was instantly seized, and would have been hurried away to prison but Elizabeth said "she would examine the young man herself."
A.D. 1589. When brought before her Margaret bravely acknowledged who she was, her intended action, and its cause. The queen heard her patiently; then not
