at her disposal. She favored Anjou most, but finally rejected him, ostensibly on religious grounds. Philip II. was now engaged in a plan involving the assassination of Elizabeth, with which Norfolk and Mary Stuart had some connection. It was discovered, and Norfolk was executed. The Alençon marriage project was now resumed. Parliament passed a bill to put Mary Stuart to death, but Elizabeth would not give her consent to it. Meantime, in 1572 occurred the St. Bartholomew massacre, which made the English clamorous for the death of Mary. Elizabeth would not di

ers. The commons were stubborn, but the dispute was compromised, the queen taking half the money without naming her successor. The murder of Darnley led to the overthrow of Mary Stuart, and to her flight to England the next year (May, 1568), when she was made Elizabeth's prisoner. Mary submitted her case to be tried by English commissioners. Serious internal troubles now began, and those from without assumed a critical character. The asylum England afforded to those who fled from persecution in Flanders offended Spain. The English flag was insulted in the gulf of Mexico, and the English minister at Madrid bad-rectly consent to this; but she agreed to a proly treated. The queen retaliated by seizing | treasure found in Spanish vessels which had taken refuge in English ports; and when Alva laid an embargo on Englishmen and their property, she arrested all the Spaniards in England, not even excepting the ambassador. She corresponded directly with Philip II., but that monarch took a high tone, and threatened war. The duke of Norfolk had become attached to Mary Stuart, and Elizabeth bade him be on his guard. He was arrested and imprisoned. The great northern rebellion broke out (1569), headed by the Catholic earls of Westmoreland and Northumberland, but was rapidly crushed by the earl of Sussex, and 800 of the rebels were executed. In 1570 the queen was excommunicated by Pope Pius V., and a copy of the bull was fastened on the gate of the episcopal palace of London by a Catholic named Felton, who was put to the rack and executed. After the failure of another attempt to bring about a marriage between the queen and the archduke Charles, it was proposed that she should marry the duke of Anjou, afterward Henry III. of France, and last of the Valois. When the council was informed of this, one of them observed that the duke was rather young for the queen (Anjou was 20 years old, Elizabeth 37), which enraged her. In this, as in all her negotiations of a similar character, she does not seem to have been sincere; but it was always a source of anger when any one of her suitors saw fit to marry some other lady. Cecil was now created Lord Burleigh, and made lord high treasurer, and Sir Thomas Smith principal secretary of state. Hatton now began to attract attention, being high in the queen's favor because of his personal accomplishments and beauty; and her reputation has been assailed on account of her fondness for him. For his good she despoiled the bishop of Ely of much church property, and wrote him a truculent epistle in three lines. The French marriage project halting, Anjou's mother proposed his younger brother Alençon in his place, who was Elizabeth's junior by 22 years, and as ugly in person as he was morally depraved. Subsequently the negotiation with Anjou was resumed. The emperor Maximilian II. offered the hand of his son Rudolph to the queen, who was more than old enough to be his mother. Henry of Navarre was also placed

ject for giving Mary up to her Scottish subjects, who it was understood would at once put her to death. In 1575 the Dutch offered their government to Elizabeth, whom they respected as descended from Philippa of Hainaut. She did not at first help them, and it was not till 1578 that she agreed to aid them with money and men, on conditions by which she could not lose anything. Ireland gave her great trouble, and the contest which was waged there by Lord Mountjoy was called by the Irish "the hag's war," in derision of the queen. Conspiracies began to multiply around her, naturally having Mary Stuart for their central figure. The Jesuits were conspicuous in these plots, in one of which the Spanish minister Mendoza was implicated, and forced to leave the country. Many persons were executed and others imprisoned. Philip Howard, earl of Arundel, son of the duke of Norfolk, was condemned to death, and died in the tower after a long imprisonment. An association to protect the queen against "popish conspirators was formed by Leicester, and was converted into a statute by parliament, which actually prepared the way for the murder of Mary Stuart, should Elizabeth be assassinated in her name. The discovery of a conspiracy, in which Anthony Babington was a leading actor, which aimed at the simultaneous assassination of Elizabeth and the liberation of Mary, proved fatal to the latter. Her trial has been the subject of bitter discussion. She was convicted of complicity in the conspiracy, and was executed at Fotheringay, Feb. 8, 1587. Elizabeth professed great grief and anger at her execution. It is now pretty well established that her signature to Mary's death warrant was a forgery, and it is beyond doubt that it was sent to Fotheringay castle without her knowledge or sanction. Burleigh was the sender of it, and the forgery is supposed to have been perpetrated by the order or under the direction of Walsingham. Angry as she was, Elizabeth dared to punish no one but the secretary Davison, who was only a tool of the higher ministers; for not only had foreign affairs assumed a serious aspect, but the killing of Mary was unquestionably a popular act with the ruling classes and party. The Scotch people were enraged, and gladly would have assailed their old enemy; but nothing was done. The condition of France

left no room for fear on that side; but the abled to beard Burleigh, until the latter dispope and the king of Spain were active ene- covered that he was in correspondence with mies. Sixtus V. anathematized Elizabeth, and the king of Scotland. Henry IV., having reproclaimed a crusade against her. Philip II. solved upon peace with Spain, to the anger of laid claim to the English crown, as legitimate Elizabeth, offered to mediate a general peace. heir of the house of Lancaster, in virtue of his Burleigh favored this, and Essex took the other descent from two daughters of John of Gaunt, side. In a consultation on Irish affairs, in the who had been queens of Portugal and Castile. royal closet, Essex turned his back contemptuHe made open preparations to enforce this ously on the queen, who struck him on the claim, and the pope promised large conditional head, and told him to "go and be hanged!" aid. Meantime, Drake ravaged the coasts of After a display of rashness and temper the earl Spain, preyed on her commerce, and made a left the presence. While efforts for a reconsuccessful attack on the shipping in the harbor ciliation were making, Burleigh died, Aug. 4, of Cadiz. The English were not backward in 1598. Six weeks later died Philip II. Essex preparing to meet Philip's attack. All parties, returned to court, and shortly after was apCatholics and Puritans, as well as the rest of pointed lord deputy of Ireland, which was in the people, showed a patriotic spirit. A fleet a miserable state. The office was given less in of 180 sail was got ready, commanded by Lord love than in anger, and was the gift of enemies. Howard of Effingham, Drake, Frobisher, and A politician rather than a statesman, and a Hawkins. Two armies were raised, number- knight rather than a soldier, Essex failed ening over 60,000 men. The Spanish armada tirely in Ireland, whence he returned without sailed May 29, 1588, but a storm compelled it permission and entered upon a reckless course to return; and it was not till the end of July of action that ended in his death on the scafthat the two fleets met and joined battle near fold in 1601. Sir Robert Cecil, a son of Burthe English coast. After a series of actions leigh, was now Elizabeth's most powerful minthat lasted several days the Spaniards were ut- ister, and he was in correspondence with the terly routed, the elements greatly assisting the king of Scotland. The queen sought to have English, whose commanders had been serious- Henry IV. visit her at Dover, he being at Caly hampered by the indecision, perverseness, lais, but he contented himself with sending M. and avarice of the queen, who would not sup- de Rosny, later the duke de Sully, as his amply them with provisions or ammunition in any- bassador. Their interviews were interesting, thing like sufficient quantities. The country and in the first she spoke of the king of Scotwas thus delivered from present fear of invasion. land as her successor, who, she said, would be In 1589 an expedition was sent to effect the king of Great Britain. This title originated liberation of Portugal; but though the army with her. Another embassy was sent to Engwas landed and marched to the suburbs of land by Henry, and was well received. ElizaLisbon, the undertaking signally failed. Aid beth's last parliament met in October, 1601. It in men and money was sent to Henry IV. of made great opposition to the oppressive moFrance, then contending with Spain and the nopolies she had granted, and she gracefully league, in 1590-'91. A parliament met in 1593, gave way. In the early part of 1603 (N. S.) and the commons after some contention with she suffered from a complication of complaints, her submitted to the sovereign. The decision but the immediate cause of her death, which of Henry IV. to abandon the Protestant faith took place at Richmond, was a cold. She was annoyed Elizabeth, and she sought to influence buried April 28. Her reign is justly considerhis mind to remain firm, but ineffectually. A ed one of the most important England has plot to poison her was detected, and her phy- known. "The Elizabethan age" is one of the sician, Roderigo Lopez, a Spaniard of Jewish most brilliant periods of English history, and extraction, who had been in her service for the numerous statesmen, soldiers, scholars, and some years, was executed for his part in it. other intellectual personages who then existed, Religious persecutions were now common, and achieved for it a place in the world's annals several noted Puritans were put to death. The that has never been surpassed.-The leading war with Spain was carried on with vigor, and events in the life of Elizabeth are unquesCadiz was taken in 1596, by a fleet and army tioned. Of her personal character various commanded by Howard of Effingham and Es- and wholly diverse views have been formed. sex. The latter was now the principal subject Froude at the close of his elaborate history in England, but the infirmities of his temper thus sums up his judgment respecting her: prevented him from profiting fully by his posi-"Her situation from the very first was extion and the queen's regard. The court was full of intrigues, and Essex, the most generous and imprudent of men, was the victim of all who chose to play upon him. Philip II. having formed a plan to place his daughter on the English throne, Essex was sent to assail the Spaniards at home and on the ocean. He accomplished nothing, which offended the queen; but he soon recovered her favor, and was en

tremely trying. Her unlucky, it may be almost called culpable, attachment to Leicester made marriage unconquerably distasteful to her, and her disappointment gave an additional twist to her natural eccentricities. Circumstances more than choice threw her originally on the side of the reformation. She found herself compelled against her will to become the patron of heretics and rebels, in whose objects she had no

interest, and in whose theology she had no | Philip, having in 1621 succeeded to the crown belief. She resented the necessity while she as Philip IV., surrendered the administration submitted to it, and her vacillations are ex- to the count of Olivarez, and gave himself up plained by the reluctance with which each to pleasure. Elizabeth made vain efforts to successive step was forced upon her, on a road rouse him from his supineness, and to counterwhich she detested. Her keenness of insight act the ruinous policy of his minister. In was not combined with any profound concern 1640, when Catalonia revolted, when Portugal for serious things. She was without the in- separated from Spain, and French armies cotellectual emotions which give human charac- operated with the rebels, the queen appealed ter its consistency and power. One moral in person to the Castilians, and succeeded quality she possessed in an eminent degree: within a few weeks in raising an army of she was supremely brave. For 30 years she was 50,000 men. Then, proceeding to the king's perpetually a mark for assassination, and her pleasure house of Buen Retiro, and holding spirits were never affected, and she was never her son by the hand, "Sir," said she, "this frightened into cruelty. She had a proper boy, our only son, is doomed to be the poorest contempt also for idle luxury and indulgence. gentleman in Europe, if your majesty does not She lived simply, worked hard, and ruled her forthwith dismiss a minister who has brought household with rigid economy. But her vani- Spain to the verge of ruin." Olivarez was ty was as insatiate as it was commonplace. No thereupon exiled, and Philip roused to momenflattery was too tawdry to find a welcome with tary energy. Elizabeth broke off all relations her; and as she had no repugnance to false with her own family, now become the worst words in others, she was equally liberal of enemies of Spain, and took into her own hands them herself. Her entire nature was satura- the administration of the kingdom, while Philip ted with artifice. Except when speaking some at the head of his armies vainly endeavored round untruth, she could never be simple. to retrieve his fortunes. She displayed equal Obligations of honor were not only occasion- wisdom and patriotism in her management of ally forgotten by her, but she did not even public affairs, allayed party strifes by her eloseem to understand what honor meant. Vain quent appeals, and set the example of generas she was of her own sagacity, she never osity by sacrificing her jewels, and reducing modified a course recommended to her by her household expenses to the lowest figure. Burghley without injury both to the realm and Her death was mourned as a national calamity. to herself. She never chose an opposite course without plunging into embarrassments, from which his skill and Walsingham's were barely able to extricate her. The great results of her reign were the fruits of a policy which were not her own, and which she starved and mutilated when energy and completeness were needed. That she pushed no question to extremities has been interpreted by the result into wisdom. She gained time by it, and her hardest problems were those which time alone could resolve satisfactorily. She wished only to reign in quiet till her death, and was contented to leave the next generation to settle its own difficulties. Mercy was the quality with which she was the most eager to be credited. Her tenderness toward conspirators was as remarkable as it was hitherto unexampled. Unlike her father, who ever struck the leaders and spared the followers, Elizabeth could rarely bring herself to sign the death warrant of a nobleman; yet without compunction she could order Yorkshire peasants to be hung in scores by martial law. She was remorseless when she ought to have been most forbearing, and lenient when she ought to have been stern; and she owed her safety and her success to the incapacity and the divisions of her enemies, rather than to wisdom and to resolution of her own."

ELIZABETH (Elisabeth Philippine Marie Hélène), madame, called Elizabeth of France, a French princess, sister of Louis XVI., born in Versailles, May 3, 1764, guillotined in Paris, May 10, 1794. At an early age she distinguished herself by charity and a taste for study, especially of botany. When the revolution broke out, she shared her brother's trials and misfortunes, evincing in all circumstances unfaltering firmness, courage, and sweetness of temper. On Oct. 5, 1789, she succeeded in preserving the lives of several of the royal body guard, threatened by the infuriated mob; in June, 1791, she accompanied her brother to Varennes, and sustained his spirit in their dangerous journey back to Paris; on June 20, 1792, when the populace broke into the Tuileries, her life was in danger from being mistaken for the queen; and in all the perils of that period she retained her wonted composure, and thought only of the safety of her brother and his family. She was incarcerated with them in the Temple, but was separated from the king on his trial before the convention, and afterward from the queen and the dauphin; and finally, although nothing could be adduced against her except her devotion to her brother, was sentenced to death by the revolutionary tribunal. She met her fate with the patience and intrepidity which had marked all her life.

ELIZABETH, Saint, called Elizabeth of Hungary, landgravine of Thuringia, daughter of Andrew II., king of Hungary, born in Presburg in 1207, died in Marburg, Germany, Nov. 19, 1231. At four years of age she was betrothed

| so homely that a duke of Courland who had been betrothed to her refused to marry her. After embracing Catholicism she became the second wife (Nov. 16, 1671) of Philip, duke of Orleans, brother of Louis XIV. At the French court she became distinguished for her integrity and intellect, as well as for her bluntness and eccentricity. She had a cordial hatred for Mme. de Maintenon, and opposed the marriage of her son (the future regent) with Mlle. de Blois, the king's natural daughter. Saint-Simon gives an amusing account of the energetic manner in which she displayed her feelings on the occasion by slapping her son in the face in the presence of the whole court. She often attended Louis XIV. to the chase, and the king enjoyed her wit and originality and esteemed her truthful character. Her predilection for the German language and literature increased the intercourse of French with German scholars, especially with Leibnitz, one of her principal favorites. Her claims to the Palatinate, however, proved disastrous for Germany, resulting in the devastation of that country by the armies of Louis XIV. (1688'93). She wrote various memoirs, which have been several times translated and published in France. Her posthumous letters were also translated into French from the German, and published by P. G. Brunet in 1853; and into English, edited by Holland (2 vols., London, 1867-72).

to Louis, the eldest son of Hermann, landgrave of Thuringia, and according to the custom of the age was transferred to the household of her future husband, to be educated for her expected rank. The nuptials were celebrated when she had reached her 14th year; and continuing the religious practices for which she had early been remarkable, she enlisted the aid of her husband in the charitable works which engrossed her time. Louis joined the sixth crusade, but died before reaching the Holy Land, and his death at once changed the circumstances of the landgravine. Her infant son, Hermann, was declared incapable of succeeding to his father's rule; a party was organized in behalf of Henry, brother of the late landgrave; the castle was seized, and Elizabeth with her three children was turned out of her home without provision, money, or a change of raiment. After living some time in great destitution, subsisting now by charity and now by spinning, she was sheltered by her aunt the abbess of Kitzingen, until a more suitable asylum was found in a castle offered for her use by her uncle the bishop of Bamberg. At the intercession of the friends of the deceased landgrave, Henry recalled her to the Wartburg, and acknowledged the rights of her son; but afterward, in order to live in religious seclusion, and give herself wholly to works of charity, she took up her abode at Marburg in Hesse, where she spent the remaining three years of her life. She wore beneath ELIZABETH CHRISTINA, queen of Prussia, her garment the haircloth of St. Francis, born in Brunswick, Nov. 8, 1715, died Jan. 13, bound herself to obey the orders of her confes- 1797. She was a princess of Brunswick-Besor, dismissed her favorite maids when she vern, and a niece of the empress of Germany, found herself loving them too well, devoted and was betrothed to the future Frederick the her liberal allowance entirely to the poor, and Great, March 10, 1732. Carlyle describes her supported herself by spinning; she ministered as being at that time "an insipid, fine-comto the most loathsome diseases, and even re- plexioned young lady;" and Frederick, who ceived lepers into her house. Her confessor, was compelled to marry her by his father, and Conrad the legate, in compliance with her who was much opposed to the match, said of own wishes, subjected her to unusual penan- her in his letters to Grumkow: "She is not ces. She was buried with great pomp in the at all beautiful, speaks almost nothing, and is chapel near the hospital which she had found- given to pouting." The marriage ceremony, ed in Marburg, and the report of the frequent however, was performed at Potsdam, June 12, miracles wrought at her tomb induced Gregory 1733; and Carlyle says that, "with the gay IX. in 1235 to add her name to the list of temper of 18 and her native loyalty of mind, saints. Her shrine was for ages one of the she seems to have shaped herself successively most famous of Europe, and the altar steps be- to the prince's taste, and growing yearly gracefore it are worn hollow by the knees of pil- fuller and better-looking was an ornament and grims. Her life has been written by many pleasant addition to his existence." Frederick authors, Catholic and Protestant, in many lan-made generous provision for her, and remarked guages. No fewer than 38 published works and 13 MSS. relating her story are catalogued by Count de Montalembert, whose biography was translated by Mary Hackett (New York, 1854). The best Protestant life of St. Elizabeth is that of Justi (Zürich, 1797; new ed., Marburg, 1835). Her husband Louis IV. was also canonized, and their lives have been written together by Simon (Frankfort, 1854).

ELIZABETH CHARLOTTE, duchess of Orleans, born in Heidelberg, May 27, 1652, died at St. Cloud, Dec. 8, 1722. She was a daughter of the elector Charles Louis of the Palatinate, and

in his will: "During my whole reign she has never given me the slightest cause of dissatisfaction, and her high moral character must inspire respect and love." She wrote several works in French.

ELIZABETH CITY, a S. E. county of Virginia, bordering on Chesapeake bay at the mouth of James river, bounded S. by Hampton Roads, and N. by Back river; area, 50 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 8,303 of whom 5,471 were colored. It was one of the eight original shires into which Virginia was divided in 1634. It has a fertile soil, suitable for grain and potatoes.

The chief productions in 1870 were 10,820 bushels of wheat, 78,646 of Indian corn, 6,717 of oats, 15,024 of Irish and 15,879 of sweet potatoes. There were 280 horses, 107 mules and asses, 416 milch cows, 242 other cattle, 134 sheep, and 2,121 swine. Capital, Hampton. ELIZABETH CITY, the county seat of Pasquotank co., North Carolina, on Pasquotank river, 20 m. from its mouth, and 40 m. S. of Norfolk, Va.; pop. in 1870, 930, of whom 421 were colored. It communicates with Norfolk by means of the river, which is navigable by small vessels, and of the Dismal Swamp canal. It has considerable trade, chiefly in lumber and other products of the pine, and contains a flour mill, four saw mills, three schools, a weekly newspaper, and several churches. Several confederate war vessels, which had escaped to this point after the occupation of Roanoke island by the Union forces, were captured or destroyed by a fleet under Commander Rowan, Feb. 10, 1862.

They were discovered in May, 1602, by Bartholomew Gosnold, after whom the town is named; he called the last mentioned island Elizabeth, in honor of the queen, a name since transferred to the group. On a rocky islet situated in a pond on this island a fort and storehouse were built, and the foundations of the first colony in New England were laid. Upon the return of Gosnold, about a month later, the colonists refused to remain, and the design of effecting a settlement was abandoned. Until 1864 the group formed a part of the town of Chilmark. The islands are noted for their beauty, have a delightful summer climate, and afford rare opportunities for fishing. On the E. shore of Naushon is Tarpaulin cove, a harbor much frequented by wind-bound vessels on the passage from Boston to New York. This island, which is well wooded and contains an abundance of deer, was the favorite residence, in the early part of the century, of James Bowdoin, the diplomatist, who had here a fine mansion furnished with a large library, philosophical apparatus, and a picture gallery. It is now the property of a Boston gentleman, who has here his summer residence; and it is much resorted to by artists. Pasque and Cuttyhunk are occupied by New York clubs for boating and fishing purposes. About 2 m. N. and W. of Cuttyhunk and Nashawena is Penikese, comprising about 100 acres, formerly owned and occupied as a summer residence by John Anderson of New York, who in April, 1873, gave the island with the buildings and furniture (reserving the right of residing on a promontory of about 15 acres at the E. extremity) to Prof. Agassiz as a site for a summer school of natural history. He also gave to the institution the sum of $50,000 as a fund for its maintenance. The school, known as the "Anderson School of Natural History," was opened in the summer of 1873, and is to be carried on connection with the museum of comparative zoology at Cambridge.

ELIZABETH FARNESE, queen of Spain, born Oct. 25, 1692, died in 1766. She was a daughter of Edward II., prince of Parma, and of the duchess Sophia Dorothea of Neuburg. Her ungainly appearance and headstrong disposition alienated from her the affections of her mother, and her education was neglected; but those who proposed her as a consort to Philip V. in the hope of making her their tool were greatly disappointed. The king of Spain on becoming a widower in 1714 resigned himself to the guidance of the French princess des Ursins, the favorite of his late beloved queen, and desired to follow her advice in the choice of a second wife. The princess selected Elizabeth on account of her apparent disqualification for an exalted position, and she was married to the king before the end of the year. But the first act of the new queen was to cause the dismissal of the princess, and she soon gained a complete mastery over her weak-in minded husband and over the affairs of Spain. By her ambition and intrigues, and the great schemes of her minister, Cardinal Alberoni, Europe was thrown into confusion. Her eldest son Don Carlos obtained possession of the Two Sicilies. (See CHARLES III. of Spain.) Carlyle, in his "History of Frederick the Great," characterizes her as "a termagant, tenacious woman, whose ambitious cupidities were not inferior in obstinacy to Kaiser Karl's, and proved not quite so shadowy as his."

ELIZABETH ISLANDS, a group of 16 small islands, constituting the town of Gosnold, Dukes co., Mass., lying between Vineyard sound on the S. E. and Buzzard's bay on the N. W., and extending about 16 m. S. W. from Cape Cod, from which they are separated by a narrow channel known as Wood's Hole; pop. in 1870, 99. The principal islands, commencing at the north, are Naushon, about 8 m. long by 1 to 2 m. wide; Pasque, about 2 m. long; Nashawena, 3 m.; and Cuttyhunk, 2 m.; they are separated from each other by narrow channels.

ELIZABETH PETROVNA, empress of Russia, daughter of Peter the Great and Catharine I., born in 1709, died Jan. 5, 1762. After the death of her parents, her nephew, Peter II. (1727-'30), son of Alexis, and her cousin Anna Ivanovna (1730-'40), daughter of the elder brother of Peter the Great, successively occupied the throne of Russia, for which she showed little desire, the pleasures of love, as she used to say, being her supreme good. Anna appointed Ivan, son of Anthony Ulrich, duke of Brunswick, a child but a few months old, heir to the crown under the tutelage of his mother Anna, and the regency of Biron, the favorite of the empress. Thus Elizabeth was for a third time excluded from the throne of her father, but even her freedom was now menaced by the jealousy of the mother of the infant czar, who wished to get rid both of the regent and the princess, and advised the latter to take the veil. Under these circumstances her surgeon and favorite, Lestocq, brought about a con