llow him to proceed no further; and the queen, after
thanking her for this instance of duty, desired to know how she stood
affected to the Swedish proposals. Elizabeth, though exposed to many
present dangers and mortifications, had the magnanimity to reserve
herself for better fortune; and she covered her refusal with professions
of a passionate attachment to a single life, which, she said, she
infinitely preferred before any other.[*] The princess showed like
prudence in concealing her sentiments of religion, in complying with the
present modes of worship, and in eluding all questions with regard to
that delicate subject.[**]

* Burnet, vol. ii. Coll. No. 37.

** The common net at that time, says Sir Richard Baker, for
catching of Protestants, was the real presence; and this net
was used to catch the lady Elizabeth; for being asked, one
time, what she thought of the words of Christ. "This is my
body," whether she thought it the true body of Christ that
was in the sacrament, it is said that, after some pausing,
she thus answered:--

"Christ was the word that spake it;
He took the bread and brake it;
And what the word did make it,
That I believe, and take it."

Which, though it may seem but a slight expression, yet hath
it more solidness than at first sight appears; at least, it
served her turn, at that time, to escape the net, which, by
a direct answer, she could not have done. Baker's Chronicle,
p. 320.

The money granted by parliament enabled the queen to fit out a fleet of
a hundred and forty sail, which, being joined by thirty Flemish ships,
and carrying six thousand land forces on board, was sent to make an
attempt on the coast of Brittany. The fleet was commanded by Lord
Clinton; the land forces by the earls of Huntingdon and Rutland. But
the equipment of the fleet and army was so dilatory that the French
got intelligence of the design, and were prepared to receive them. The
English found Brest so well guarded as to render an attempt on that
place impracticable; but, landing at Conquet, they plundered and burnt
the town, with some adjacent villages, and were proceeding to commit
greater disorders, when Kersimon, a Breton gentleman, at the head of
some militia, fell upon them, put them to rout, and drove them to their
ships with considerable loss. But a small squadron of ten English ships
had an opportunity of amply reven