24. The Last Days of Elizabeth. 1601-1603.—These were the last words spoken by Elizabeth to her people. She had many faults, but she cared for England, and, more than any one else, she had made England united and prosperous. She had found it distracted, but by her moderation she had staved off civil war, till the country had rallied round the throne. No doubt those who worked most hard towards this great end were men like Burghley and Walsingham in the State, and men like Drake and Raleigh at sea; but it was Elizabeth who, being what she was, had given to each his opportunity. If either Edward VI. or Mary had been in her place, such men would have found no sphere in which their work could have been done, and, instead of telling of 'the spacious times of great Elizabeth,' the historian would have had to narrate the progress of civil strife and of the mutual conflict of ever-narrowing creeds. The last days of the great queen were gloomy, as far as she was personally concerned. Burghley, the wisest of her ministers, died in 1598. In his last days he had urged the queen to bring to an end the war with Spain, which no longer served any useful purpose; and when Essex pleaded for its continuance, the aged statesman opened the Bible at the text, "Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days." In 1603 Elizabeth herself died at the age of sixty-nine. According to law, the heir to the crown was William Seymour, who, being the son of the Earl of Hertford and Lady Catherine Grey, inherited the claims of the Suffolk line (see pp. [411], [435]). There were, however, doubts about his legitimacy, as, though his parents had been married in due form, the ceremony had taken place in private, and it was believed by many that it had never taken place at all. Elizabeth had always refused to allow her heir to be designated; but as death approached she indicated her preference for James, as having claim to the inheritance by descent from her own eldest aunt, Margaret (see p. [411]). "My seat," she said, "hath been the seat of kings, and I will have no rascal to succeed me." "And who," she added, "should that be but our cousin of Scotland?"
Books recommended for further study of Part V.
Brewer, J. S. The Reign of Henry VIII. from his Accession to the Death of Wolsey.
Dixon, Canon R. W. History of the Church of England from the Abolition of the Roman Jurisdiction.
Froude, J. A. History of England from the Fall of Wolsey to the Death of Elizabeth. Vols, v.-xii.
Motley, J. L. The Rise of the Dutch Republic.
—— The History of the United Netherlands.
Mullinger, J. B. History of the University of Cambridge. Vol. ii.
Strype, J. Annals of the Reformation.
—— Life and Acts of Aylmer.