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.

Longitude

English clockmaker John Harrison was born March 24, 1693.  Harrison solved a problem that mariners had faced since the beginning of sea-travel; being able to establish an east-west, or longitudinal position.  Dava Sobel's book on the topic is worth the read.  Sir Walter Scott uses the term longitude to add some color to "The Pirate":

'Amongst others, the little bard, who had now got next to our friend Mordaunt Mertoun, evinced a positive determination to commence and conclude, in all its longitude and latitude, the story of his introduction to glorious John Dryden; and Triptolemus Yellowley, as his spirits arose, shaking off a feeling of involuntary awe, with which he was impressed by the opulence indicated in all he saw around him, as well as by the respect paid to Magnus Troil by the assembled guests, began to broach, to the astonished and somewhat offended Udaller, some of those projects for ameliorating the islands, which he had boasted of to his fellow travellers upon their journey of the morning...'

Union of the Crowns

"A fancied moss-trooper, frc.


This was the usual appellation of the marauders upon the Borders ; a profession diligently pursued by the inhabitants on both sides, and by none more actively and successfully than by Buccleuch's clan. Long after the union of the crowns, the mosstroopers, although sunk in reputation, and no longer enjoying the pretext of national hostility, continued to pursue their calling.

Fuller includes, among the wonders of Cumberland, "The moss-troopers: so strange in the condition of their living, if considered in their Original, Increase, Height, Decay, and Buine. "

The quote above is a note from Scott's "Lay of the Last Minstrel", which references the Union of the Crowns of England and Scotland.  On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth I of England died at Richmond Palace, to be followed by James VI of Scotland/I of England.  The moss-troopers operated largely during the time of the English Commonwealth, relying of their knowledge of border bogs for stealthy operations.