So he continued for about a year, in spite of appeals to the queen.  The adverse party in the council had the predominance.  At last, however, he was granted a degree of liberty, and Francis Bacon tried to conciliate Elizabeth towards her former favourite.  But the unfortunate man allowed his resentment to carry him into dangerous courses.  His house became a rendezvous of the discontented.  Finally, a futile attempt on his part to raise the citizens of London in his favour consummated his ruin.  He was soon a prisoner; his condemnation was now a foregone conclusion; Elizabeth signed the warrant with fingers which did not tremble; and, to the universal astonishment, the favourite was executed.

Elizabeth’s meeting with her last parliament displays in a marked degree the tact which never deserted her when she thought fit to employ it.  Their protest against the practice of monopolies, instead of rousing her ire, brought from her a notably gracious promise to redress the grievances complained of.  This was in 1601.  In the next year, when she became sixty-nine, there was no relaxation in her gaieties; but under the surface, Elizabeth was old and sad.

Her popularity had never been the same since the death of Essex; and the memory of the man she had cherished and finally sent to his doom, well-deserved as that was, was a perpetual source of grief to her.  In March 1603, she was stricken with her last fatal illness.  Yet she would not go to bed.  At last she gave in; she knew herself dying long before she admitted it.

It was uncertain whether even in her last moments she would acknowledge the right of any successor to her throne, but a gesture was interpreted as favouring the King of Scots.  Finally, she sank into a sleep from which she never awoke.  So passed away England’s Elizabeth.

* * * * *

JONATHAN SWIFT

Journal to Stella

The “Journal to Stella,” which extends over the years 1710 to 1713, was first published in 1766 and has often been republished since.  The manuscripts are preserved in the British Museum.  It was at Sir William Temple’s home, Moor Park in Surrey, that Swift came to know Esther Johnson, or “Stella,” who was fourteen years younger than himself.  In 1699 Temple died, and Stella, with her friend, Rebecca Dingley, came to Ireland at Swift’s request.  Their relation has been made a great mystery.  It will perhaps always be doubtful whether he was nominally married to her secretly; the evidence is on the whole against the existence of such a bond.  But to the further question—­why did he not take her to live as his wife—­a sufficient reply may be found in his abnormal nature.  In the “Journal” the word “Presto” refers to Swift himself (see FICTION); “MD” to Stella.

LONDON, Sept. 9, 1710.