end her order in
person," said the keeper,--and Elizabeth's life was saved. For Mary was
furious when she learned how her counselors had tried to take the law
into their own hands, and in spite of their remonstrances Elizabeth was
soon afterward taken from the Tower and set at liberty.

Queen Mary died in 1558, when Elizabeth was twenty-five years old, and
as it was known that Elizabeth would now come to the throne, there was
great rejoicing throughout England. Bonfires blazed and bells were
rung; and in joy at the accession of Elizabeth the people forgot to
mourn for the dead Queen, whose gloomy reign and religious cruelties
had caused her to be feared and hated everywhere.

From the first day of her reign Queen Elizabeth showed that she was a
Protestant at heart and she put an immediate end to religious
persecution. But Elizabeth was too shrewd to take any steps that would
cause the Catholics to hate her. She wanted the love and respect of her
entire people, and always shaped her course in such a way that she
could gain the good will of the greatest number of her subjects.

Elizabeth hated war and carried on her rule in such a way that she
could avoid it as far as possible. She encouraged trade and commerce
and learning and the sciences, and had in her possession long lists of
her subjects who had shown great ability, either as soldiers or
sailors, or in the fields of art and scholarship. As she rewarded such
men richly, the ambition of all Englishmen was to make themselves
worthy of being placed on one of these lists.

As a result of this policy, which was almost unparalleled in the
history of the world, England began steadily to forge ahead in the
occupations of peace, and a number of great and illustrious men sprang
into fame. The poet Shakespeare commenced to write his immortal plays,
and Spenser and Bacon both made deathless contributions to English
literature. The great explorers, Martin Frobisher and Sir Francis
Drake, brought back from their voyages priceless knowledge of
geography, and many treasures and discoveries to enrich England. The
English statesmen Cecil and Walsingham followed a shrewd and
far-sighted policy, allowing England to grow strong through the wars of
other nations without engaging in them herself, and put a stop to the
former extravagant proceedings in which the public money had been
wasted.

But in spite of her desire to keep out of war, many troubles beset
Elizabeth. In Scotland the