Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-11-27
Misfellat1eous.
THE LOVERS OF ELIZABETH.

The sex of Elizabeth of England was
physiological blunder. Many of her most
serious defects arose from her not having
been man, as Nature must have orgin-
ally designed. With a masculine will,
masculine character, and masculine
ambition, she had all the feminine weak
nesses without any of the feminine graces
or charms. Her vanity was in excess Of
her pride, and, in spite of her unquestion-
able greatness, rendered her ridiculous
through life. She was ever anxious to be
loved, and had the exceeding misfortune
to be least lovable when she loved most.
There was no great need Of affection in
her stubborn spirit, no yearning for SYM
pathy in her self-sufficient nature, no in
appeasable craving for what the romanti
cists would call an intercourse of soul.
she wanted lovers more than love, be-
cause lovers flattered her inordinate vani-
ty, and told her, as lovers usually do, that
which she secretly thought OF herself.
She never tired OF hearing she was the
Virgin Queen, and never acted as If she
relished the arrogated honor. Coquetry
she would have carried to perilous de-
gree, if there had been anything perilous
IN such homely Amazon. Not one of ali
the men she had desperate and protracted
tlirtations with-not even Raleigh, nor
Leicester, nor Essex--cared a maravedi
for her In the way she wished them to;
but from reasons of state, and from motives
of policy they pretended to adore her.
Crafty courtiers as they were, 1t mus,
have been difficult for them to refrain from
laughing in Elizabeths face when thew
called her beautiful, or when they com.
pared her voice to the tones of the Lutte
They had passed through many hardships.
but nothing harder than to address Euryale
in the language becoming to Agiaia.
Raleigh showed his keenness of insight
when he spread his rich mantle beneath
her ungainly feet. and Leicester his un-
derstanding of character when he wrote
to her that her lovely image banished sleep
from his pillow. OF her numerous suitors
none would have given flip for her
heart, but much for her crown-the sole
aim of their gallant masquerading.
The secret loves of Elizabeth and Sew
mour. and Raleigh, and Leicester. and
Essex. and others, have often been writ
ten. and not, it is to be presumed, with
out basis OF truth. But love is a fine
baptism for relations springing from vani.
ty on one side and from considerations OF
diplomacy on the other. The Princess in
her earlier years appeared to be fond OF
Seymour, and it is charitable to think she
was. Pretty stories have been told of the
Countess of Nottingham's Withholding
the ring sent to the Queen by Essex be-
fore his execution. and of the consuming
sorrow from which Elizabeth suffered at.
| ter his death. The stories are dramatic
and interesting; their chief defect being
that they are entirely untrue. The
woman whose reputation had been al
most irreparabiy injured by her connec-
ton with man of whom she could calm.
ly say after his execution, His loss is moi
much; for thongh he had large wit, he
had little Judgment would not be likely
to be troubled by remorse for deliberate
ly sending her nearest friend to the scat
fold.
Elizabeth could not forgive in any of
her sisters the possession of gifts and gra-
ces which she must have been privately
conscious were lacking in herself. Mary
Stuart objectionable offence was beauty
and seductive charm, and her rival was
never able to regard with kindness the
men who, willing to forget the woman in
the sovereign, had sought her hand, and
atterward welded where inclination led
There is species of dismal compensation
in all conditions of life. Ii Elizabeth
failed to awaken in any masculine breast
the flame with which she hoped TO kndlc
the torch of her vanity, and # her vestal
assumptions We're not always credited,
she had the good fortune. so surrounded
was she by distinguished soldiers. states
men, and scholars. to shine with the light
reflected from them, and bear in his story
a glory not her own.-Decemter Galarq.