ervative of the reformed bodies. It is
often said that it is Protestant in doctrine and Catholic in ritual and
hierarchy. But compared with the Lutheran church it is found to be if
anything further from Rome. In fact the Anglicans of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries abhorred the Lutherans as "semi-papists."

[Sidenote: The Church of England]

And yet the Anglican church was like the Lutheran not only in its
conservatism as compared with Calvinism, but in its political aspects.
Both became the strong allies of the throne; both had not only a
markedly national but a markedly governmental quality. Just as the
Reformation succeeded in England by becoming national in opposition to
Spain, and remaining national in opposition to French culture, so the
Anglican church naturally became a perfect expression of the English
character. Moderate, decorous, detesting extremes of speculation and
enthusiasm, she cares less for logic than for practical convenience.

Closely interwoven with the religious settlement were the questions of
the heir to the throne [Sidenote: Succession] and of foreign policy.
Elizabeth's life was the only breakwater that stood between the people
and a Catholic, if not a disputed, succession. The nearest heir was
Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots, a granddaughter of Margaret Tudor, Henry
VIII's sister. As a Catholic and a Frenchwoman, half by race and
wholly by her first marriage to Francis II, she would have been most
{331} distasteful to the ruling party in England. Elizabeth was
therefore desired and finally urged by Parliament to marry. Her
refusal to do this has been attributed to some hidden cause, as her
love for Leicester or the knowledge that she was incapable of bearing a
child. But though neither of these hypotheses can be disproved,
neither is necessary to account for her policy. It is true that it
would have strengthened her position to have had a child to succeed
her; but it would have weakened her personal sway to have had a
husband. She wanted to rule as well as to reign. Her many suitors
were encouraged just sufficiently to flatter her vanity and to attain
her diplomatic ends. First, her brother-in-law Philip sought her hand,
and was promptly rejected as a Spanish Catholic. Then, there was
Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, apparently her favorite in spite of
his worthless character, but his rank was not high enough. Then, there
were princes of Sweden and Denmark, an Archduke