PREFACE. xi 



mestic factions in religion and politics. She was very 

 poor, very thrifty, entirely honest, and, as far as pos- 

 sible, truthful. Her success was complete in every- 

 thing but that in which it was impossible that she 

 should succeed, the restoration of the labourer to his 

 ancient plenty by the reduction of prices to their old 

 levels. No English sovereign has been so popular as 

 Elizabeth was, and none has ever deserved her popu- 

 larity so thoroughly. She directed the revival of con- 

 stitutional monarchy, and has been for three centuries 

 the best friend of the dynasties, because the best type 

 of prince. 



The facts which have been collected in these volumes 

 will throw, it is hoped, a new light on the social 

 history of England during the period comprised in 

 them. But they have also a further significance, 

 because they refer to that succession of events, from 

 which no little part of the interpretation of present 

 economical conditions in England may be gathered. 

 A constitution may be altered or suspended, and the 

 continuity once broken its reconstruction is invariably 

 and inevitably effected on new lines. But the econo- 

 mical history and identity of a nation are, of necessity 

 and in the nature of things, as unbroken as the genera- 

 tions of the people itself. We not only inherit the blood 

 of our ancestors, but not a few of the effects which 

 have been induced on the continuity of our national 

 life ; those which have given that life exceptional 

 strength, and those which make it liable to permanent 

 weakness or occasional social disease. The legacies 



