ELIZABETH.—­And who was Elizabeth?  The daughter of the dishonored Anne Boleyn, who had been declared illegitimate, and set out of the succession; who had been kept in ward; often and long in peril of her life; destined, in all human foresight, to a life of sorrow, humiliation, and obscurity; her head had been long lying “’twixt axe and crown,” with more probability of the former than the latter.

Wonderful was the change.  With her began a reign the like of which the world had never seen; a great and brilliant crisis in English history, in which the old order passed away and the new was inaugurated.  It was like a new historic fulfilment of the prophecy of Virgil: 

    Magnus ... saeclorum nascitur ordo;
    Jam redit et Virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna.

Her accession and its consequences were like the scenes in some fairy tale.  She was indeed a Faerie Queene, as she was designated in Spenser’s magnificent allegory.  Around her clustered a new chivalry, whose gentle deeds were wrought not only with the sword, but with the pen.  Stout heart, stalwart arm, and soaring imagination, all wore her colors and were amply rewarded by her smiles; and whatever her personal faults—­and they were many—­as a monarch, she was not unworthy of their allegiance.

SIDNEY.—­Before proceeding to a consideration of Spenser’s great poem, it is necessary to mention two names intimately associated with him and with his fame, and of special interest in the literary catalogue of Queen Elizabeth’s court, brilliant and numerous as that catalogue was.

Among the most striking characters of this period was Sir Philip Sidney, whose brief history is full of romance and attraction; not so much for what he did as for what he personally was, and gave promise of being.  Whenever we seek for an historical illustration of the gentleman, the figure of Sidney rises in company with that of Bayard, and claims distinction.  He was born at Pennshurst in Kent, on the 29th of November, 1554.  He was the nephew of Robert Dudley, Earl of Leicester, the chief favorite of the queen.  Precocious in grace, dignity, and learning, Sidney was educated both at Oxford and Cambridge, and in his earliest manhood he was a prud’ homme, handsome, elegant, learned, and chivalrous; a statesman, a diplomatist, a soldier, and a poet; “not only of excellent wit, but extremely beautiful of face.  Delicately chiselled Anglo-Norman features, smooth, fair cheek, a faint moustache, blue eyes, and a mass of amber-colored hair,” distinguished him among the handsome men of a court where handsome men were in great request.