CHAMBERS'S INFORMATION FOR THE PEOPLE. 



been established in Ireland, the great bulk of the 

 people continued to be Roman Catholics. Sir 

 John Perrot, the deputy, proposed to improve the 

 country by public works and English laws. A 

 series of rebellions under chiefs named O'Neill 

 the consequence, and the English government 

 was maintained with great difficulty, and at an 

 enormous expense. The rebellion of Hugh O'Neill, 

 whom Elizabeth had tried to conciliate by making 

 Karl of Tyrone, was particularly formidable. The 

 English officers were at first unsuccessful, and 

 met with some serious defeats. In 1598, Tyrone 

 icd so great a victorv, that the whole province 

 of Munster declared for him. He then invited the 

 Spaniards to make a descent on Ireland, and join 

 him. The queen sent over her favourite, the Earl 

 of Essex, with 20,000 men ; but he did not proceed 

 with vigour, and soon after found it necessary to 

 return to England to justify himself. Next year, 

 Tyrone broke a truce he had formed with Essex, 

 overran the whole country, and acted as sovereign 

 of Ireland. 



Elizabeth now selected as her deputy for Ire- 

 land, Blount, Lord Mountjoy, who was in every 

 respect better fitted than Essex to conduct such 

 a warfare. In 1601, 6000 Spaniards landed in 

 Kinsale harbour, for the purpose of supporting the 

 Irish. Mountjoy immediately invested the place, 

 and prevented them from acting. Tyrone marched 

 from the south of Ireland to their relief, and was 

 met and overthrown by a much inferior English 

 force, after which Kinsale was surrendered. About 

 the time when Elizabeth died (1603), Tyrone sub- 

 mitted, on condition of his life being spared, and 

 Ireland was once more reduced under the authority 

 of the English crown. 



CONCLUSION OF THE REIGN OF ELIZABETH. 



It is remarkable, that while Elizabeth increased 

 in power and resources, she became more noted 

 for feminine weaknesses, and it even seemed likely 

 that she would bestow her hand upon some mere 

 court-minion of handsome exterior her favourites 

 were Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, and Robert 

 Devereux, Earl of Essex. The latter acquired 

 popularity by acquitting himself brilliantly as the 

 leader of an expedition which took Cadiz. After 

 his failure in Ireland, however, and the humilia- 

 tions which were in consequence inflicted upon 

 him, he made a desperate attempt at an insurrec- 

 tion in London, with the view of seizing the queen's 

 person, failed, was captured, found guilty of treason, 

 and beheaded (1601), at the age of thirty-three. 



About the close of 1601, Elizabeth fell into a deep 

 hypochondria or melancholy. On the 24th of March 

 1603, she expired, after a reign of nearly forty-five 

 years, during which England advanced politically 

 and commercially from the condition of a second- 

 rate to that of a first-rate power, and the Protes- 

 tant religion was established on a basis from which 

 it could never afterwards be shaken. 



The reign of Elizabeth saw the commencement 

 of the naval glory of England. The rise of a 

 commercial spirit in Europe, which in 1492 had 

 caused the discovery' of America, and was again 

 acted upon by the scope for adventure which that 

 discover)' opened up, had latterly caused great 

 attention to be paid to nautical affairs in England. 

 Englishmen of all ranks supported and entered 

 into enterprises for discovering unknown tcrri- 



143 



j tories ; and under Drake, Cavendish, Raleigh, 

 and Frobisher, various expeditions of less or more 

 magnitude were sent out, Drake being the first 

 man to sail round the world in one voyage, and 

 Raleigh introducing the potato -plant and the 

 practice of tobacco-smoking. The colonies of 

 North America were now founded. On the 

 last day of the year 1600, a charter of privilege 

 was granted to a Company of London merchants 

 trading to the East Indies, which developed into 

 the celebrated East India Company. 



The chief articles exported from England to the 

 continent were wool, cloth, lead, and tin ; formerly, 

 these had been sent in vessels belonging to the 

 Hanse Towns certain ports of the north of 

 Europe, possessing great privileges but now 

 English vessels were substituted for this trade. 

 Stocking-weaving and the making of sailcloth, 

 serge, and baize, took their rise in this reign. The 

 progress of other arts was much favoured by the 

 bloody persecution of Protestants in the Nether- 

 lands, which drove into England great numbers of 

 weavers, dyers, cloth-dressers, and silk-throwers. 

 Theatrical amusements became popular in this 

 reign, although, of course, only in London. At 

 the end of Elizabeth's reign, the population of 

 London was about 160,000 ; and the whole king- 

 dom probably contained about 5,000,000 inhab- 

 itants. 



THE STUARTS JAMES I. 



The successor of Elizabeth, by birthright, was 

 JAMES VI. OF SCOTLAND (styled JAMES I. OF 

 ENGLAND), although by the will of Henry VIII. 

 the crown should have been given to the descend- 

 ants of Mary, Duchess of Suffolk. This prince 

 had now arrived at the prime cf life, and had been 

 married for some years to the Princess Anne of 

 Denmark, by whom he had two sons, Henry and 

 Charles, and one daughter, named Elizabeth. He 

 immediately removed to London, and assumed 

 the government of England ; while his native 

 kingdom, though thus united under the same 

 sovereignty, still retained its own peculiar insti- 

 tutions. At the suggestion of the king, who 

 wished to obliterate the distinction of the two 

 countries, the common name of Great Britain 

 was now conferred upon them. King James was 

 an oddity in human character. His person was 

 naturally feeble, particularly in the limbs, and 

 he had no physical courage. He had, however, 

 considerable capacity for learning, some acute- 

 ness, and even wit ; but was pedantic, vain, and 

 weak. He believed kings to be the deputies of 

 God, and accountable to God alone for their 

 actions. 



Notwithstanding the energy of Elizabeth, the 

 popular spirit had gradually been acquiring force 

 in her reign. It was chiefly seen in the acts of 

 the Puritans, who, from the fervour of their de- 

 votions and the strictness of their manners, were 

 not unlike the Scotch Presbyterians. King James 

 found considerable difficulty at the very first in 

 controlling this party, and evading their demands. 



The disappointment of the Catholics, on the 

 other hand, who looked for kindness, if not patron- 

 age at the hands of the son of Queen Mary, on 

 finding that the severe laws against them were 

 not to be relaxed, led to a conspiracy on the part 

 of thirteen gentlemen of that persuasion, of whom 

 the chief was Robert Catesby. It was arranged 



