“Queen Elizabeth never saw herself after she
became old in a true glass; they painted her, and
sometymes would vermillion her nose. She had
allwayes about Christmass evens set dice that threw
sixes or five, and she knew not they were other, to
make her win and esteame herself fortunate.
That she had a membrana on her, which made her uncapable
of man, though for her delight she tried many.
At the comming over of Monsieur, there was a French
Chirurgion who took in hand to cut it, yett fear stayed
her, and his death.”
It was a subject which again intrigued Clemens when
he was abroad with W. H. Fisher, whom Mark employed
to “nose up” everything pertaining to
Queen Elizabeth’s manly character.
“’Boccaccio hath A story”
The author does not pay any great compliment to Raleigh’s
memory here. There is no such tale in all Boccaccio.
The nearest related incident forms the subject matter
of Dineo’s novel (the fourth) of the First day
of the Decameron.
The incident referred to appears to be Sir Nicholas
Throgmorton’s trial for complicity in the attempt
to make Lady Jane Grey Queen of England, a charge
of which he was acquitted. This so angered Queen
Mary that she imprisoned him in the Tower, and fined
the jurors from one to two thousand pounds each.
Her action terrified succeeding juries, so that Sir
Nicholas’s brother was condemned on no stronger
evidence than that which had failed to prevail before.
While Sir Nicholas’s defense may have been
brilliant, it must be admitted that the evidence was
weak. He was later released from the Tower, and
under Elizabeth was one of a group of commissioners
sent by that princess into Scotland, to foment trouble
with Mary, Queen of Scots. When the attempt became
known, Elizabeth repudiated the acts of her agents,
but Sir Nicholas, having anticipated this possibility,
had sufficient foresight to secure endorsement of
his plan by the Council, and so outwitted Elizabeth,
who was playing a two-faced role, and Cecil, one of
the greatest statesmen who ever held the post of principal
minister. Perhaps it was this incident to which
the company referred, which might in part explain
Elizabeth’s rejoinder. However, he had
been restored to confidence ere this, and had served
as ambassador to France.
“To save his doter’s
maidenhedde”
Elizabeth Throckmorton (or Throgmorton), daughter
of Sir Nicholas, was one of Elizabeth’s maids
of honor. When it was learned that she had been
debauched by Raleigh, Sir Walter was recalled from
his command at sea by the Queen, and compelled to
marry the girl. This was not “in that olde
daie,” as the text has it, for it happened only
eight years before the date of this purported “conversation,”
when Elizabeth was sixty years old.
