Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-03-10
FAMOUS WOMEN OF HISTORY.
QUEEN -"GOOD QUEEN
BESS"-153316O3.
Copyrighted 1913 by willis J. Abbott

In phrase and fable Queen Elizabeth is
known as Good Queen Bess'' and as
THE Virgin Queen" Our own state of
Virginia was named after her supposed
possession Of the latter virtue by Sir
Walter Raleigh. But historians are dis
inclined to allow her either Of the quail
ties OF womanhood expressed in these ad-
jectives.
1t is by no means wonderful that
Queen Elizabeth developed into q cold,
calculating. cruel and surprisingly able
ruler of England. Consider her parentage.
Henry VIII, an able monarch, but a cold
husband, divorced her mother, Anne
Boleyn. and sent her to the scaffold. The
divorce was intended to make Elizabeth
ineligible to the throne. Henry desired
an heir, and finally got one in the person
Of Edward VI.
Elizabeth was born at Greenwich Pal
ace, September z, 1888. Her birth. because
OF her sex, awakened in the king the
most furious wrath against the hapless
mother. But years after Henry's death
the daughter whom he scorned succeeded
to the throne and gave to England an
administration not exceeded in brilliancy
up to the present day. And yet Eliza
beth never reigned by her right OF birth.
Henry's divorce of her mother made her
technical illegitimacy that Mary Queen OF
Scots based her claim to the throne-and
so claiming 1t lost her head. But by act
Of parliament, confirmed finally by
Henry's will, Elizabeth was declared con-
tingent heir to the throne, to succeed
Edward VI and Mary Tudor, should both
die without issue.
Assembled Throne Acclaimed by All.
The really unexpected happened. The
reigns Of both Edward and Mary were
brief. Neither left q successor, and in
1868 the girl whom Henry had almost
cursed at birth ascended the throne amid
the plaudits Of practically the whole ma
ton. Elisabeth had been well educated
for the station to which she had been
called. Her youth was spent In the house.
hold OF the Queen Catherine Dowager,
the only one of King Henry's wives to
survive him.
OF course, like every girl child, with
even a remote claim of the throne, Eliza
beth had to encounter the schemes of
men DESTROYS of making her marriage
serve their own political ends. Most Sc
rious of these was Lord Seymour. who
had married Queen Catherine before the
funeral baked meats of Henry Wits OBJ
seQuies were cold enough to set forth at
a marriage supper.
Girls Affection Won by a Seymour.
In all essentials Seymour held to her
the position Of q stepfather. yet with his
wife still living he pressed on the girl
the attentions OF lover and would-be
husband. That Elizabeth was impressed
with his devotion seems certain. He was
thirty years her senior, married to the
woman to whom she owed her early edu-
cation, crafty, plotting politician. yet
withal the girl of scant fifteen fell in
love with him. How far her infatuation
led her the history, which Is accessible
to most readers, does not say. However,
Seymour ne'er do well, IL ever there
was one-got himself into trouble and,
while trying him for one 0ffense, his in
quisitors took occasion to investigate his
relations with Elizabeth. She for her
part showed singular acumen In self-de-
Tense, but while she emerged from the
ordeal unscathed, II not wholly unfair
nished she found it advisable to go into
retirement for some time.
The Seymour affair undoubtedly left a
lasting impression on Elixabeth's mind.
He was the first man she ever loved.
Not the only man, however. The cpl
sodeS in her life were many. for first as
heir apparent and finally as Queen of Eng
land. the hands Of many monarchs and
great mobiles were extended to her. But
her grand passion was one Of those ex-
traordinary and inexplicable infatuations
which sometimes seize upon women. The
object Of this passion was the Duke
d'A1encOn, brother of Charles TX OF
France. and the youngest SON Of Cath
crime de Medici. That astute woman,
after falling to interest Elizabeth in her