Among the spirited repartees and impromptus of the queen which have descended to our time is her ingenious evasion of a direct answer to a theological question respecting the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. On being asked by a Popish priest whether she allowed the real presence, she replied,—
Christ was the word that spake it:
He took the bread and brake it;
And what that word did make it,
That I believe and take it.
In an old folio copy of the Arcadia, preserved at Wilton, have been found two interesting relics,—a lock of Queen Elizabeth’s hair, and some lines in the handwriting of Sir Philip Sidney. The hair was given by the queen to her young hero, who complimented her in return as follows:—
Her inward worth all outward worth transcends;
Envy her merits with regret commends;
Like sparkling gems her virtues draw the light,
And in her conduct she is always bright.