ELIZABETHAN REJOICINGS A RETROSPECT THERE is a freshness and verve animating the rejoicings over the Queen's unparalleled reign of sixty years that would do honour to a younger country, and which cannot fail to quicken the pulse and gladden the hearts of her subjects in every part of the empire. Assuredly the England of Victoria, while advancing towards a higher standard of intelligence and refinement, has lost none of the robust strength of character which marked the national life, say, in the 'Spacious days of Great Elizabeth.' The two periods present something in common which arrests attention, and sends the imagination trooping to discover features of identity. In each period, the Elizabethan and Victorian, a queen well-beloved of her people holds sway over the realm-the first for well-nigh half a century, the second overstepping her jubilee by a decade, still reigns over a loyal and devoted people; while the overflowing energies of the teeming multitude find a field for labour and enterprise in countries beyond sea,' where the earth's richest treasures reward their dauntless courage, as did the New World in the days of Elizabeth. Possibly the distant future may look upon the brilliant record of the Victorian era as upon a picture representing the veritable realisation of the high hopes and aspirations of Elizabethan statesmen and pioneers of civilisation. No one can fail to recognise how deeply England to-day is indebted to their wise statesmanship and heroic achievements. A brief retrospect to the jubilant days when the people rejoiced, and their hearts were glad in their idolised conception of 'Good Queen Bess,' will enable us to see something of how we stand in relation to them, their habits and manners. We pass at once under the inspiriting influence of a sense of freedom realised, finding utterance in unrestrained, bounding gaiety; of a love of daring adventure, out of which there sprang heroes worthy of their sea-girt home; while intellect, untrammelled, developed a galaxy of genius up to which men still look for inspiration. The Elizabethan age was rich indeed in every element which tends towards elevating a people to the first rank among nations. The Queen, like her subjects, delighted in joyous displays of pageantry, and a memorable day in the nation's annals was that which broke upon London on the 23rd of November 1558, when Elizabeth set out for her capital attended by a thousand nobles, knights, and gentlemen, and took up a temporary abode in the spacious dwelling of Lord North, the Chartreux-an immense pile of buildings which afforded ample accommodation for her retinue. preparation for her further progress to the Tower, then a royal residence, a prison, a court of justice, and a garrison, the streets along the route had been spread with fine gravel; triumphal arches with appropriate decorations had been hastily constructed, and singers and musicians were stationed at intervals, who sang and played in 'most sweet and heavenly manner.' A vast concourse of people thronged the way, and right lustily did they give expression to their long pent-up love and admiration for the young Queen who, seated on a palfrey, attired in purple velvet, slowly wended her course towards the Tower, attended by the heralds and great officers of State. Simple offerings of flowers were made to Her Majesty by the poor and lowly, and as she acknowledged their gifts and listened to their prayers with winning affability, many a cry was raised for 'Good Queen Bess, God bless her!' and she would answer with a sweet smile, I thancke ye, my goode peuple.' This spontaneous flow of heartfelt greeting all along the route deeply touched Elizabeth, and her emotion on arriving in State at the Tower can be well understood. But a little while before she had entered it at the Traitors' Gate, a terrified and defenceless prisoner, hopeless of deliverance from an ignominious death. While a captive a band of armed guards had broken into her chamber and conducted her she knew not whither, though whispered words of comfort gave her courage. But a little while, and she finds herself again at the Tower re-entering the fortress in triumph, supported by all the great ministers of the realm and the ringing cheers of the good citizens of London. 'Devotion alone,' says Miss Atkin, in her sympathetic Memoirs of Elizabeth, 'could supply becoming language to the emotions which swelled her bosom ; and no sooner had she reached the royal apartments than, falling on her knees, she returned humble and fervent thanks to that Providence which had brought her safely, like Daniel from the den of lions, to behold the day of exaltation.' Yet another and more impressive spectacle in her honour was soon to follow. The morning of the 12th of January 1559 ushered in the longhoped-for event of Elizabeth's coronation, for the celebration of which at Westminster preparations were being made on a scale of pomp and fertility of invention which was to outrival all the high festivals ever before held in the land. Let us take a bird's-eye view of the metropolis as it would appear from an elevation such as the Tower commands. Casting a glance over the scene below we marvel at the narrowness of the streets; they are crooked and ill-paved, and yet, irregular and winding as they are, are singularly picturesque, with their houses built of plaster, cross-beamed, and pinnacled with ornamental woodwork. The upper stories overhang the chambers beneath, and have floating from their windows and turrets banners and pennons of gaily coloured cloth, embroidered with gold or silver, 'needle-work sublime,' which would have done honour to the Bayeux tapestry. These, stretching over the narrow space, unite with similar emblems of festivity suspended from the dwellings on the opposite side; altogether, the ornamental structure of the houses, with quaint gables and overhanging balconies, with flags lazily moving to the breeze -the scene has a very old-world aspect, suggestive of the Orient. But the Thames is the great thoroughfare of London; on its banks stand the famous summer residences of the Tudor princes, the palaces of Westminster, Richmond, and Greenwich; and on the wide, open beach of the Strand are reared the mansions midst spacious gardens of the nobility and opulent merchants of the City, who vie with each other in the grandeur of their equipages, and in all that wealth can display. And right in view, surrounded by a lovely garden stretching down to the river, is the historic Durham House, where the amiable and unfortunate Lady Jane Grey, the nine days' queen, had married Guildford Dudley, and which was soon to pass into the possession of Raleigh, held on leave from the Queen. In this splendid mansion, whose upper rooms take in a sweeping view of the old bridge, the tower of Lambeth Palace, and the waving flags of the Globe, and of the distant pavilions of Paris Garden, would meet in friendly intercourse some of England's foremost men of thought and action, whose genius and enterprise were destined to shape the whole after life of the nation. The eyes of the populace are attracted towards the hundreds of barges lining the river banks, now aglow in all the showy colours and devices that the best craftsmen skilled in all the mysteries of their art can produce to enliven the scene. Each of the splendid array of royal barges is enriched with carved and gilded figures, and decked and trimmed with targets and banners, ancestral armour and escutcheons. And the rowers are attired in gaily coloured livery, each oarsman wearing on his left arm a distinguishing badge, a silver shield on which is engraven the coat armour or other device of his lord. Conspicuous among the crowd of gay craft is the bachelors' barge of the Lord Mayor's company, to wit, the Mercers, furnished with a foist supporting three tops or tiers, and which has artillery aboard gallantly appointed so as to shoot off lustily; add to these a band of musicians braying with a force as if they meant to blow down the Tower. Ringing cheers resound from the banks of the river as leisurely the state barges of the nobility, followed by those of the great City merchants, wend their course towards Westminster, in order to attend Her Majesty back to the Tower, where, according to arrangement, she will occupy the royal apartments for two days. On the morning of the 14th of January 1559, Elizabeth issued from the Tower, radiant in the happiness born of conscious possession of her people's love, loyalty, and devotion to her person and aims. Her presence animates with new life the whole mass of human beings crowding the thoroughfare, and the air is rent with exultant acclaim as cheer upon cheer greets her appearance among them. Remarks pass from one to another that she looks right queenly; that a true daughter of great King Hal has come to her own. There she stands in her sumptuously appointed chariot, in the full glow of maidenly beauty; twenty-five, close upon her twenty-sixth birthday. She is stronglimbed and well-proportioned, rather tall than of middle height; her hair is light golden, and her forehead is high and well rounded; her eyes are brown and lively, full of self-restrained life and fire. The whole of her splendid physique is harmonised by gentleness, grace, and majesty, such as fascinated Essex and Raleigh and all who came into her presence. No brighter vision had ever before broken upon the nation than now appeared before the admiring gaze of the swaying multitude, eager to get a glimpse of their new Queen; and in the eyes of the old she was Aurora, ushering in the dawning of a new and brighter day for England. A new and imposing feature of her retinue through the City was a cavalcade of 'goodly and beautiful ladies, richly appointed. . . . Both they and the lords were habited in crimson velvet, with which their horses were also trapped.' This troop of fair equestrians shed lustre upon the procession and heightened its interest in the eyes of the populace, who saw in the alliance of power with grace and beauty something of romantic charm drawn from the courts of chivalry. But a deeper feeling than this stirred the hearts and revived the hopes of her more sober-minded lieges, who, though full of admiration and pride, welcomed this Tudor princess as a worthy daughter of that overmastering monarch whom they regarded, notwithstanding his flagrant acts of tyranny and violence, as the highest type of English manhood-a monarch who would brook no rival, temporal or spiritual, within his own dominions. The strong arm when invested with every acknowledged authority possesses a fascination for the multitude which always commands their admiration. Among the many incidents of the pageant a few stand out prominently, and may be taken as illustrative of the royal procession. On the top platform of one of the cars is exhibited. The seat of Worthy Governance,' occupied by a living figure representing the Queen. Below are the Cardinal Virtues, trampling upon Ignorance, Vice, and Superstition. In the next are effigies representing a vanishing decay, and an oncoming flourishing commonwealth; in the same car Time, that always tells, holds his daughter Truth by the hand, who presents to the Queen an English Bible. This simple 6 act touches in Elizabeth a chord in harmony with the gift; she graciously accepts it, then reverently pressing it to her lips and heart declares aloud, amid the grateful benedictions of her people, that she values the book above price, that she will read it, and it shall be to her as a pledge made to them that by its teachings she will govern the nation. Another scene represents the Queen as Deborah, the judge and restorer of the house of Israel.' The curious mysteries and moralities posted at different points along the way having been duly explained to Her Majesty are left behind, and the procession has now reached the farther end of Cheapside. Here the City Recorder sees that now his opportunity has come, and stepping forward presents to Elizabeth a bountiful purse filled to the mouth with golden marks, which she takes with alacrity, holding out both hands and answering his harangue 'marvellous pithily,' and in right merry mood; which little incident calls to mind Humboldt's story of his chameleon, which he said possessed a faculty in common with many divines, namely, of directing one eye towards heaven whilst keeping the other turned to the earth. Some charming touches of simple pathos occur on the way to Westminster. One of her attendant knights remarks that 'Yonder is an ancient citizen which weepeth and turneth his face away; how may it be interpreted? that he doth so for sorrow or for gladness?' With a just and pleasing confidence her Grace replied, 'I warrant ye it is for gladness.' The chronicler, overcome with rapt admiration, exclaims, 'How many nosegays did her Grace receive at poor women's hands! How many times stayed she her chariot when she saw any simple body offer to speak to her Grace! A branch of rosemary given her Grace with a supplication by a poor woman about Fleet Bridge was seen in her chariot till she reached Westminster.' And now, having reached the Abbey gates, Elizabeth takes leave of her people, and in a few cordial words thanks them for all they have done for her, and amid thundering applause she assures them that she will ever 'stand their Good Queen.' Glancing across the surface of everyday life in the Elizabethan days of robust manhood, it is interesting to notice the lively, childlike simplicity of manners, the love of showy, brilliant colours worn by both sexes, and to compare these charming characteristics with the sober habiliments and reserved manners of the present day. Here is an example of the man of fashion, the beau-idéal of the metropolis, as he sallies forth into the City to parade himself in the favourite mart of fashionable loungers, St. Paul's Churchyard. His beard, if he have one, is on the wane, but his moustaches are cultivated and curled at the points, and himself redolent with choicest perfumes. Costly jewels decorate his ears; a gold brooch of rarest workmanship fastens his bright scarlet cloak, which is thrown carelessly upon his left shoulder, for he is most anxious to exhibit to the utmost advantage the rich hatchings of his silver-hilted rapier and dagger, the |