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the subsidy, a new deputy, Lord Mountjoy, was subduing the rebels in Ireland. He defeated the joint forces of the Spaniards and Irish, and compelled Tyrone to submit. Tyrone's final submission came in immediately after Elizabeth's death. She had been failing in mind and body ever since the execution of Essex. To the last she persisted in taking her usual exercises of hunting and riding; and when in March, 1603, she grew really ill, she refused to take any sustenance or go to bed. Her kinsman, Robert Carey, went to visit her about this time, and says that he "found her sitting low upon her cushions. She took me by the hand and wrung it hard, and said, 'No, Robin, I am not well' . . . and in her discourse she fetched not so few as forty or fifty great sighs. I was grieved to see her in this plight; for in all my lifetime I never knew her fetch a sigh, but when the Queen of Scots was beheaded." On the 23rd of March she grew speechless, and on Thursday morning her spirit passed away, after she had been supposed to indicate by signs that she wished James VI..of Scotland to succeed her.

So died the great Queen. She had done her work well and nobly, though she could not understand or enter into its results. Whatever may be said of her personal failings, it is at least clear that she had guided England wisely through troublous times. How she had strengthened the people's character was to be seen in ways she little dreamt of-in the struggle for freedom against Charles I.

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CHAPTER X.

Accession of James E.

FEW hours after Elizabeth's death, a meeting

was held at Whitehall, consisting of the Privy Councillors, such Peers as were in London, the Lord Mayor, and a few other persons. To them Cecil submitted a proclamation, which he had prepared, announcing the accession of James VI. of Scotland to the throne of England.

As Elizabeth had never married, the direct line of Henry VIII. came to an end at her death. All through her reign much anxiety had been caused by uncertainty about the succession. Elizabeth could never be persuaded to name her successor. At first this policy was wise, especially during the lifetime of Mary Queen of Scots. The recognition of a Catholic successor would have given a dangerous head to the intrigues of Spain; the recognition of any successor at all would have created a centre for malcontents, and would have weakened the Queen's position. But towards the end of Elizabeth's reign much anxiety might have been spared had the Queen clearly recognised

James VI. of Scotland as her successor.

Still the thought of any successor was distasteful to her. She was afraid lest, if she acknowledged the claim of James VI., he would try to interfere with English affairs; and so she adhered to the policy which had become a habit to her. But her refusal to consider the question of the succession could not keep her subjects from doing so. It was discussed in secret, books were written about it, and many intrigues were carried on.

Many different claims were put forward. Essex had accused Cecil of favouring the claim of the Infanta Isabella, daughter of Philip II. But this claim, though it was a good deal talked about, obtained no countenance except from some of the most violent Catholics. It had been put forward by them, because they saw no other chance of getting a Catholic sovereign. To find any grounds for her claim, they had to trace her descent from Eleanor, daughter of Henry II., who had married Alphonso IX. of Castile. Few even of the Catholics would have been willing to recognise a claim such as this, which ignored the rights of the House of Tudor, and would have handed over England to a foreigner. The real question lay between the Houses of Suffolk and of Stuart, which both sprung from sisters of Henry VIII., as will be seen in the genealogical table. The parliamentary title belonged to the House of Suffolk. An Act of Parliament had given Henry VIII. the right of disposing of the succession

HENRY VII.

TABLE OF SUCCESSION.

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JAMES IV. of Scotland - Margaret Tudor = Archibald,

HENRY VIII.

E. of Angus

LEWIS XII. of France Mary Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk

=

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Arabella Stuart = William Seymour, Earl of Hertford.

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by will, and he had declared in his will that after his own children and their issue the crown should pass to the House of Suffolk. This will led to the ill-fated attempt to place Lady Jane Grey upon the throne. After her execution the claim of the House of Suffolk passed to her sister Catherine, and then to her son Lord Beauchamp. But his claim had been rendered doubtful by uncertainty as to the validity of his parents' marriage. In reality, after the death of Mary Queen of Scots had removed all fear of the succession of a Roman Catholic, little doubt remained as to the right of the House of Stuart.

The House of Stuart derived its claim from Margaret Tudor, Henry VIII.'s sister, who had married James IV., king of Scotland. James VI. of Scotland was the great grandson of Margaret Tudor. But from time to time the claim had been advanced of another descendant of Margaret's, by her second marriage with the Earl of Angus. This was Arabella Stuart, the second cousin of James VI. An opinion was held by some, on legal grounds, that her claim was the better, because she had been born in England. But she was without ambition for herself, and her claim was never seriously brought forward. It was indeed nothing but a burden to her by making her an object of suspicion-first to Elizabeth, and then to James.

It is not strange that amidst these various

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