Queen Elizabeth I of England

‘A certain degree of success, real or supposed, in the delineation of

Queen Mary, naturally induced the author to attempt something similar

respecting "her sister and her foe," the celebrated Elizabeth. He

will not, however, pretend to have approached the task with the same

feelings; for the candid Robertson himself confesses having felt the

prejudices with which a Scottishman is tempted to regard the subject;

and what so liberal a historian avows, a poor romance-writer dares not

disown. But he hopes the influence of a prejudice, almost as natural to

him as his native air, will not be found to have greatly affected the

sketch he has attempted of England's Elizabeth. I have endeavoured

to describe her as at once a high-minded sovereign, and a female of

passionate feelings, hesitating betwixt the sense of her rank and

the duty she owed her subjects on the one hand, and on the other her

attachment to a nobleman, who, in external qualifications at least,

amply merited her favour. The interest of the story is thrown upon that

period when the sudden death of the first Countess of Leicester seemed

to open to the ambition of her husband the opportunity of sharing the

crown of his sovereign.’

The text above is from the introduction to Sir Walter Scott’s “Kenilworth”.  The great queen of England lived to nearly 70 (born 1533), but it was a life of heavy responsibility, and she seems to have passed weary of life.  The end came on March 24^th, 1603.