ely. The reason,
therefore, that she assigned publicly was, that Philip was a Catholic,
and that the connection could not, on that account, be agreeable to the
English people.

Among the real reasons was one of a very peculiar nature. It happened
that there was an objection to her marriage with Philip similar to the
one urged against that of Henry with Catharine of Aragon. Catharine had
been the wife of Henry's brother. Philip had been the husband of
Elizabeth's sister. Now Philip had offered to procure the pope's
dispensation, by which means this difficulty would be surmounted. But
then all the world would say, that if this dispensation could legalize
the latter marriage, the former must have been legalized by it, and this
would destroy the marriage of Anne Boleyn, and with it all Elizabeth's
claims to the succession. She could not, then, marry Philip, without, by
the very act, effectually undermining all her own rights to the throne.
She was far too subtle and wary to stumble into such a pitfall as that.

Elizabeth rejected this and some other offers, and one or two years
passed away. In the mean time, the people of the country, though they
had no wish to have her marry such a stern and heartless tyrant as
Philip of Spain, were very uneasy at the idea of her not being married
at all. Her life would, of course, in due time, come to an end, and it
was of immense importance to the peace and happiness of the realm that,
after her death, there should be no doubt about the succession. If she
were to be married and leave children, they would succeed to the throne
without question; but if she were to die single and childless, the
result would be, they feared, that the Catholics would espouse the cause
of Mary Queen of Scots, and the Protestants that of some Protestant
descendant of Henry VII., and thus the country be involved in all the
horrors of a protracted civil war.

The House of Commons in those days was a very humble council, convened
to discuss and settle mere internal and domestic affairs, and standing
at a vast distance from the splendor and power of royalty, to which it
looked up with the profoundest reverence and awe. The Commons, at the
close of one of their sessions, ventured, in a very timid and cautious
manner, to send a petition to the queen, urging her to consent, for the
sake of the future peace of the realm, and the welfare of her subjects,
to accept of a husband. Few single persons are offended at a
re