in
the course of a trip the Queen had to cross a muddy place in the road
and hesitated before soiling her delicate slippers, but Sir Walter
Raleigh slipped off the rich blue velvet cloak that he wore and cast it
in the mud in front of the Queen for her to walk upon. He well knew
that she would return the value of the cloak twenty times over in the
benefits she would confer on him, and this proved to be the case.

Sir Walter Raleigh was an explorer as well as a courtier, and had been
interested in the establishing of a colony in the New World, calling
the lands there "Virginia" in honor of the virgin Queen--a name that
has lasted to the present day. And from Virginia the potato and tobacco
were first brought into England--and Sir Walter Raleigh used to smoke
tobacco in a silver pipe, sometimes in the Queen's presence.

The Queen had other favorites beside Sir Walter Raleigh, and chief of
these was the Earl of Leicester. It was believed for a time that she
would marry him--but this did not come to pass. Another of her
favorites was the Earl of Essex, a self-willed and spoiled young man,
who frequently had difficulties with the Queen. On one occasion he
rudely turned his back on her, and Elizabeth retorted by boxing his
ears. Almost always after these affairs Essex left or was sent from
Court, but ultimately was pardoned and returned. The Earl of Essex was
put in command of troops in Ireland, and word of his mismanagement was
soon brought to Elizabeth. When he was recalled and punished he
believed that a great wrong had been put upon him and engaged in a
conspiracy against the Queen. For this he was imprisoned in the Tower
and beheaded.

Elizabeth reigned over England until she was seventy years old. As she
grew older she was troubled with ill-health, but her indomitable spirit
never failed her. She continued to ride until she had to be lifted to
her horse, and she ruled with a firm hand long after her health had
failed and she had grown ill and feeble.

But the end of her life was not happy. The throngs of courtiers who had
offered her the flattery and homage that were so dear to her, found
some excuse or other to go elsewhere and to bow themselves before the
feet of James of Scotland, the son of the unfortunate Mary Queen of
Scots, for James was now the recognized heir to the English throne. One
after one Elizabeth's followers deserted her and at times she was found
alone and in tears by the few faithful attendants t