460 THE FELICITIES OF QUEEN ELIZABETH. 



in the very hour before her death, she delivered him 

 these words to relate unto the king : &quot; That she 

 &quot; had ever found the king very constant and firm to 

 &quot; his purpose of advancing her ; for first, from the 

 &quot; estate of a gentlewoman only, and no way pretend- 

 &amp;lt;e ing to noble titles, he raised her to the honour of 

 &quot; a marchioness ; next, he vouchsafed to make her 

 &quot; his consort both of his kingdom and bed : and 

 &quot; now that there remained no higher earthly honour, 

 &quot; he meant to crown her innocency with the glory 

 &quot; of martyrdom.&quot; But though the messenger durst 

 not relate these words to the king, who was already 

 inflamed with new loves, yet certain tradition, the 

 conserver of truth, hath conveyed them to posterity. 

 Another principal thing, which I cast into 

 Queen Elizabeth s felicity, was the time and period 

 of her reign ; not only for that it was long, but also 

 because it fell into that season of her life, which was 

 most active and fittest for the swaying of a sceptre, 

 for she was fully five and twenty years old (at which 

 age the civil law freeth from a curator) when she 

 came to the crown, and reigned to the seventieth 

 year of her life ; so that she never suffered either the 

 detriments of pupilage, and check of an over-awing 

 power, or the inconveniences of an impotent and 

 unwieldy old age; and old age is not without a 

 competent portion of miseries, even to private men ; 

 but to kings, besides the common burthen of years, 

 it brings for the most part a declining in the estates 

 they govern, and a conclusion of their lives without 

 honour. For there hath scarce been known a king 



