The British nation a history / by George MWrong . her infancy the axeof the executioner lefther motherless. Her sternfather had little love forthe child of a miserablemarriage, and she foundno tenderness in , as a kings daugh-ter, she had the best edu-cation of the time, andcould speak French, Ital-ian, Latin, and Greek, andeven read Hebrew. Shehad a mans mind, a bodyas untiring as her remoteancestor, Henry II, and, like him, the passionate temper that made her burst intooaths and fling the nearest object at the head of any onewho irritated her. Grave statesmen trembled in her p
The British nation a history / by George MWrong . her infancy the axeof the executioner lefther motherless. Her sternfather had little love forthe child of a miserablemarriage, and she foundno tenderness in , as a kings daugh-ter, she had the best edu-cation of the time, andcould speak French, Ital-ian, Latin, and Greek, andeven read Hebrew. Shehad a mans mind, a bodyas untiring as her remoteancestor, Henry II, and, like him, the passionate temper that made her burst intooaths and fling the nearest object at the head of any onewho irritated her. Grave statesmen trembled in her pres-ence ; she was as relentless as Henry VIII, and as profound-ly conscious of her authority as sovereign. Princes,she said, transact business in a princely way and witha princely understanding such as private persons can nothave. Those who spoke to her as well as those uponwhom her eye fell dropped to their knees. Covers were laidat her table with ceremony not unlike that of the priestofficiating at the altar. But with all her strength, Eliza-. the elaborate dress. 300 THE BRITISH NATION beth was a woman, sprightly, fickle, coquettish, delight-ing to be thought beautiful, and with a vain and ex-travagant fondness for dress. Sex played a great part inher statecraft. She encouraged lovers in order to usethem as pawns in her political game, and her grave ad-visers sometimes outlined the terms of affection which sheshould use to a suitor. For twenty years she kejDt Europewondering whom she would marry. There was muchscandal about her moral conduct, but it has proliably littlejustification ; her nature was cold, and she was nevermastered by passion. In everything except dress sheshowed a parsimony almost pitiful. It had its nobler side,for it enabled her by twenty-four years of saving to payoff her fathers debts; and by acting as her own watchfulminister of finance, and refraining from such extrava-gances as the building of great palaces, she lightened thenations bu
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookidbritishnatio, bookyear1910
