observed, those facts against the Catholics which could not be hidden from the other side.* No such spirit ever touched the dogmatic Froude. To him an incident inconsistent with his theory of what the facts ought to be had no existence at all, and he had no sense of humour to save him. Only Froude could have maintained a straight face as, despite his intimate knowledge of his hero's entire history, he set down such a sentence as this:

"It was a cruel fortune which imposed on Henry VIII., in addition to his other burdens, the labour, to him so arduous, of finding heirs to strengthen the (his) succession." ↑

Even Lingard's cat, whose physical troubles so worried his master, could have enjoyed the old gentleman's shout of glee when he first saw this solemn pronouncement.

No attempt has been made to challenge Lingard's supremacy as historian on the Catholic side. No rival has contended for the similar leadership of the Protestant faction. The result of this is, that, as many books of travel are written by people whose acquaintance with foreign lands is confined to the Reading Room of the British Museum, so any diligent student may produce an average history of sixteenth-century England merely by taking Froude and Lingard and striking a balance between the two.

This lack of rivalry where Froude and Lingard are concerned leaves the field clear for what claims to be the first study of the private character of her who is, I believe, by far the greatest woman of history; not only the greatest monarch who has ever occupied the throne of England, but, with the exceptions of Alexander, Napoleon, and Cæsar, the greatest monarch who has ever occupied any throne.

In refuting a complaint that he had recited "the arguments against the religious (Monks), but never for them," Dr. Lingard says: "I cannot possibly conceive to what passages he (the complainant) alludes, unless it be to pp. 229 and 260, where I do mention the charges against them; and I should have been a fool not to do it, since it has been done by every protestant historian before me. Perhaps he (the complainant) would have had me deny the whole charge altogether. I did, indeed, begin by doing The very attempt convinced me that in many instances the charge was To have met the charge by denying it (would have been) contrary to sound policy because it might have provoked some one to lay before the public eye in a pamphlet a review of that mass of whoredom and immorality contained in the M.S., Cleop: IV." Letter to Rev. J. Kirk, November 25, 1820, from Gillow transcript at St. Cuthbert's, Ushaw. The italicized words are crossed out in the transcript.

So. ...

founded.

...

Froude, vol. iii. p. 461 (1858 ed.).

As already indicated, I was, at the beginning, in the attitude of the average individual toward the morals of Elizabeth. I hope that dignity will not suffer if I illustrate this by the composition of the little English girl, who ended her compulsory impressions of the monarch in this style: "Queen Elizabeth was a very improper person; but by reason of great tact she succeeded in being called a Virgin Queen after she was dead."

I had never doubted that Elizabeth was the mistress of Leicester, of Essex, of Ralegh, of Hatton, etc.; and such is at the present moment the practically unanimous opinion of mankind. Such it has been since the death of Elizabeth's contemporaries, and their immediate posterity; and, as we shall see, no other verdict could have been expected in the light of the existing histories.

It was but a little thing which excited my suspicion that the world might have been misled in this matter. Had I not practised law for many years, I suppose that the significance of the incident would have escaped me, as it seems to have escaped my predecessors. The prosecutor, if we may so call him, was too eager to convict-a frame of mind few prosecutors can avoid.

I do not here anticipate particulars, which will be found in the text, but content myself with the statement that the accidental notice of the questionable use of a single word excited my wonder to such a degree that I spent some days in pursuing the clue to its ultimate source, only to find that my suspicions had been more than justified, and that the entire question of Elizabeth's morals must be examined de novo-nay, that, strictly speaking, it had never been examined at all. Even the first steps made it obvious that my first volume on Elizabeth was to be very different from the work that had been planned.

Herein will be found the first collection attempted of all the contemporary evidence for and against the morality of Elizabeth. Most of the evidence will be new to all readers; and much, of the highest significance, has never previously appeared.

Every public and private library that offered hope of harbouring new material has been searched. Not a paper in Rome has been left unseen; my sole aim has been to exhaust the subject upon both sides, and I can confidently assert that this has been done, so far as regards every probable source of information in this and in every other country. Should other evidence hereafter

appear, it can only be in stray documents hidden in unsuspected places. The existence of such documents is not impossible, but can certainly not be considered probable.

As to the volume in general, there is but one more word to be said. After my Royal Institution lectures in 1920, when I first announced some of my discoveries, a well-known historical scholar said that I had developed a new way of writing history. If it be so, it is, I believe, because my main aim has been to set before the reader the evidence itself rather than what I think about it. The solution of the historical problem is thus left altogether to the reader rather than, as hitherto, to the historian.

This effort necessarily results in a book quite different from any that has yet appeared; but I hope that this will be considered its greatest fault.

I cannot close this page without recording my great indebtedness to Mr. Robert Farquharson Sharp, when Superintendent of the Reading Room of the British Museum, for an unique opportunity of uninterrupted, secluded work; to his assistant, Mr. A. I. Ellis, and to H. Dyer of the desk in the North Library, who has saved me many hours of the most exasperating labour. Especial acknowledgment is due to Dr. Aksel Andersson, Director of the Kungl. Universitetets Bibliotek, Uppsala, Sweden; to Dr. Isak Collijn, Director of the Foreign Department of the Royal Library, Stockholm; to Dr. Charles Bratli, the distinguished historical student of Copenhagen; to Dr. Juan Montero, Jefe of the Archivo General de Simancas, Spain; and to Edwin Bonney, Librarian of St. Cuthbert's, Ushaw.

But most chiefly am I indebted to the medical experts, Messrs. Osler, Allbutt, Doran, Keith, and Howard, who in the midst of most insistent demands connected with the Great War, and in more than one instance when well-nigh overwhelmed with the loss of their first-born in that struggle, have given to the world the benefit of their opinions upon the most significant inquiry that can be raised concerning the life of Elizabeth. To that great medical and historical authority, Sir Arthur Keith, who alone made possible these contributions of his distinguished colleagues, I beg to offer this separate statement of gratitude and admiration. Every student of Elizabeth will always, owe him. a heavy obligation.

dx

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Finally, I indite my most profound gratitude to Miss E. M. Smith-Dampier for her critical reading of the MS.—as severe a demand as could be made upon a valued friendship; to Dr. G. C. Williamson, another friend, whose active aid and sound advice have been a continuous inspiration; and to Major George G. Whiffin, late of The Queens, who has given me many days of his time to save my own.

VILLA BELLA VISTA,

EL TERRENO, PALMA DE MALLORCA,
June 26th, 1920.

F. C.