fastidious queen.

Then, too, the story of Leicester's marriage with Amy Robsart is
something more than a myth, based upon an obscure legend and an ancient
ballad. The earl had had such a wife, and there were sinister stories
about the manner of her death. But it is Scott who invents the
villainous Varney and the bulldog Anthony Foster; just as he brought
the whole episode into the foreground and made it occur at a period
much later than was historically true. Still, Scott felt--and he was
imbued with the spirit and knowledge of that time--a strong conviction
that Elizabeth loved Leicester as she really loved no one else.

There is one interesting fact which goes far to convince us. Just as
her father was, in a way, polygamous, so Elizabeth was even more truly
polyandrous. It was inevitable that she should surround herself with
attractive men, whose love-locks she would caress and whose flatteries
she would greedily accept. To the outward eye there was very little
difference in her treatment of the handsome and daring nobles of her
court; yet a historian of her time makes one very shrewd remark when he
says: "To every one she gave some power at times--to all save
Leicester."

Cecil and Walsingham in counsel and Essex and Raleigh in the field
might have their own way at times, and even share the sovereign's
power, but to Leicester she intrusted no high commands and no important
mission. Why so? Simply because she loved him more than any of the
rest; and, knowing this, she knew that if besides her love she granted
him any measure of control or power, then she would be but half a queen
and would be led either to marry him or else to let him sway her as he
would.

For the reason given, one may say with confidence that, while
Elizabeth's light loves were fleeting, she gave a deep affection to
this handsome, bold, and brilliant Englishman and cherished him in a
far different way from any of the others. This was as near as she ever
came to marriage, and it was this love at least which makes
Shakespeare's famous line as false as it is beautiful, when he
describes "the imperial votaress" as passing by "in maiden meditation,
fancy free."

MARY QUEEN OF SCOTS AND LORD BOTHWELL

Mary Stuart and Cleopatra are the two women who have most attracted the
fancy of poets, dramatists, novelists, and painters, from their own
time down to the present day.

In some respects there is a certain likeness in their careers. Each